Port Blair, Oct. 8: Considerable improvement has been seen in connectivity soon after the commencement of CANI undersea cable project in A&N Islands in the year 2020. The Tele-density is the parameter used to ascertain the mobile connectivity and as per data available the total Tele-density in India is 92 percent while in A&N Islands, it is 178 percent. Before the laying of CANI, the bandwidth was 4.1 Gbps which was through satellite and it increased to 200 Gbps after commencement of Under Sea Cable. It means that the Telecom Service Providers can hire upto 200 Gbps and they have so far purchased 138 Gbps in all segments and they include BSNL, Airtel and Reliance Jio.
As the population increases and as per the requirement of people, the Telecom Service Providers can hire more Gbps. The number of wired connections was 13584 which have increased upto 44943. The number of mobile connections was 4.76 lakh and it is 7.07 lakh at present. The speed of internet, which was 1 Mbps has now increased upto 300 Mbps through wired connection while the internet speed over mobile is between 15-20 Mbps. Though the connectivity has improved after CANI project, there are still shortcomings as some Islands like Katchal, Teressa, Chowra, Little Nicobar, Rutland, Strait Island which are not connected with CANI project. Apart from this, approximately 200 villages are still there which are not connected for which two types of works have been undertaken. First is the project by USOF, DOT GoI, that is 124 Base Transmission Station (BTS) which is executed by M/s Reliance Jio. These 124 BTS Project will provide 4G coverage by erecting 83 New Towers covering 36 uncovered villages and along National Highways. The second project approved by the GoI is 4G Saturation Project executed by BSNL. Through this Project, 88 New Towers covering 101 uncovered villages has been planned and also upgraded 80 existing 2G/3G Towers into 4G Towers covering 125 villages. In total, 226 uncovered villages will be covered through 4G saturation under this project. The Department facilitated for allotment of land, obtaining Forest Clearance etc. in a time bound manner. Implementation of the project is being monitored at the highest level in Administration and at GoI level. GoI has given timeline to RJIL and BSNL to complete the installation of mobile towers by Dec. 2023. Apart from this, an in-principle approval has been received by the GoI for Redundancy project under which sea cable will be laid from Bhubaneshwar to A&N Islands. This will also act as a back -up for the existing CANI project. The under sea cable will land at Diglipur at first and thereafter, it will cover other Islands such as Shaheed Dweep, Chowra, Teressa, Katchal and Little Nicobar too in a ring, the DPR for which has been prepared by TCIL. The DOT, GoI is in the process of obtaining Cabinet approval which is expected by December, 2023 and the project is expected to be completed by end of 2025. All major inhabited uncovered Islands will be covered by this project in the second phase. This will help us to cope up with the major fault if any, occurs in CANI project and also saving of annual hiring charges of Rs. 315 crores for transponders. The BharatNet project of GoI to provide cable connectivity through BSNL to 70 Panchayats, 7 Blocks and 4 Tribal Councils has been completed. Under this project, every Gram Panchayat has cable connection through which internet connection is being availed through FTTH by households, Primary Education Centres and PHCs. The IT Department hopes that after completion of different projects, the issue of connectivity in A&N Islands will be solved.
Support in e-Governance:
Under e-district, 109 Citizen centric services from 11 Departments have been completed. These services have been developed and managed by SOVTECH. In addition, 5 Government to Business (G2B) Services have been computerized. Further, NIC has also developed applications for 135 services in different Departments including 28 services where the benefits are transferred to eligible beneficiary through DBT mode. Thus, there are total 249 e-Services implemented as on date. The Department is in the process of identifying more services that are being provided in offline mode for its computerization.
There are issues at times of online delivery of services are delayed. To overcome this, efforts are also on to implement a ‘Citizens Charter’ which has been sent to the MHA for its approval. Once it is approved, a timeline will be fixed for delivery of services. Further, implementation of e-District services is also monitored by the Chief Secretary during the inter-departmental meetings.
Implementation of e-Office for ensuring transparency, efficiency and accountability:
e-office has been implemented in A&N Islands in record time. The implementation of e-Office commenced from last week of August 2022 including PSUs, Autonomous bodies, Societies, Colleges and completed by December, 2023. 54 Departments/ PSUs/Autonomous bodies and sub-offices are on-boarded and about 4500 users are actively using the e-Office. Implementation of e-Office is also monitored by Chief Secretary during the weekly inter-departmental meeting with Senior Officers. Efforts are on to onboard the left out Departments / Sub-Offices in remote Islands also to onboard on to e-Office in a time bound manner.
Support provided by IT Department in online recruitment and conduct of CBT mode of exam:
An online application (eRecruitment Portal) was developed for the benefit of all the aspiring applicants for online submission of application for recruitment anytime and from anywhere. About 45,000 applications were submitted through the portal by the candidates for different posts. For the first time, the A & N Administration conducted Computer Based Test (CBT) mode of exam, which is an online mode of examination. The CBT mode recruitment exam ensures free and fair examination with utmost transparency.
Common Service Centers (CSCs):
As on date total 104 CSCs (54 CSCs in South Andaman District, 44 CSCs in North & Middle Andaman District, and 6 CSCs in Nicobars District) are operational across A &N Islands. All 249 services of various Department of A&N Administration are offered through CSCs. In addition, various services and programmes of Central Government are also provided through these CSCs. The average footfall is around 200 per month.
Future plans of IT Department to start ventures like Incubation Centre as being done in mainland:
There are two issues being faced by Administration. First is the issue of connectivity of both mobile & internet in remote Islands. CANI has improved the connectivity. BharatNet project has been completed under which 1550 FTTH connections have been provided by BSNL to the rural households. Two more projects viz. 124 BTS of Reliance Jio and 4G saturation project by BSNL will be completed by the end of this year. With the completion of both these projects, the issue of connectivity will be solved to greater extant. Implementation of CANI-Phase-II by 2025 will ensure connectivity to remote Islands also. As far as the issue of employment is concerned, the IT Department requests the youth and the people in general to make productive use of internet to increase their livelihood, capacity building and learning etc. Nowadays, the facility of online marketing, digital marketing are available which can be done sitting at home. IT related jobs will only be possible when IT City or Software Technology Park is established in A&N Islands. An effort was made during the year 2017-18 during a meeting with NASCOM, an organization of software developers for setting up of the same. After corona, things have changed and big companies like TCS have started working in Hybrid model. However, during a meeting called by Secretary (IT & Electronics), the A&N Administration requested for appointing a Consultant to suggest a feasible model for A&N Islands, considering its geographical location. Apart from this, 104 Common Service Centers has been made functional which provides employment to one or two persons in each CSC. Efforts are on to increase more CSCs in different parts of these Islands. A 16-seater accommodation was also started for startups at Industries Department for IT & IT related services. Before corona, 8 entrepreneurs started working there, but after corona they preferred to work from home. Further, with the inauguration of CANI and better internet services, entrepreneurs started working from home avoiding paying a small amount for the accommodation provided to them with all required and basic facilities. For major employment in IT sector, the Administration is working towards appointing a Consultant for suggesting a hybrid model for setting up an IT City & Software Technology Park in A&N Islands, paving the way for more employment generation.