Maharashtra Government

Introduction

Maharashtra is one of the largest states in India. The state is considered among the most progressive states in India due to its history of social reforms and economic progress. In keeping with this tradition, the Government of Maharashtra (GoM) was keen on modernizing it's vast administrative infrastructure by ushering it into the digital age. The mission statement of GoM's IT Policy formulated in 1998 is, "Empowerment through Connectivity" and this forward-looking document aims to give citizens, "Anytime, Anywhere, Anyhow," access to government services, while keeping administrative costs low.

With 91 million citizens, 500,000 employees across the state, 7,000 employees working at Mantralaya (the state headquarters) and 29 departments, bringing in e-governance was a massive task. To accomplish this task, GoM set up the Directorate of IT to computerize government departments and offices in Maharashtra.

The computerization initiative encompassed payment gateways for services rendered by government organizations, computerization of land records, Government to Citizen (G2C) programs that help citizens monitor the progress of their applications for government services, collection of sales taxes etc. To facilitate easier communications among government departments, a web based workflow system was also planned.

Challenges

E-government projects are vast in scale and implementation. Issues of cost, project scalability, support and security are paramount in such cases. GoM's officers estimate that over a million people will access its e-government services across 250,000 locations through browser based interfaces.

Most governments, even in prosperous countries are strapped for cash and are therefore seriously considering alternative to expensive proprietary software. Due to the scale of implementations, the proprietary software model of paying for each copy of a software program escalates the implementation cost. A related issue is that procurement processes in most government departments are slow and tedious. The process of procuring additional copies of a proprietary program therefore hampers the speed with which e-government programs can be scaled up.

In a geographically vast state like Maharashtra, support in remote locations becomes a serious issue. Downtime due to viruses or system crashes disrupts the services that can be delivered to citizens. Therefore, the systems have to be as robust as possible.

Security is a perennial concern in e-governance projects since sensitive data flows through the entire network. The government needs to share data with citizens on a constant basis and ensure that this data is not tampered with. Data entered in by citizens also needs to be handled with extreme care.

The government's needs are constantly changing and therefore, the system also had to have the flexibility to allow frequent changes in an affordable manner.

Solution

The Government of Maharashtra evaluated several options before choosing to standardize on Red Hat Linux. It had used proprietary versions of Unix in the past but found it expensive because it had to pay its software vendor for every minor modification. Other proprietary software programs were also considered but licensing costs, security issues and the non-availability of source code made GoM finally decide in favor of deploying Red Hat Linux and open source software for it's e-government initiative.

The IT team of GoM has developed a database, groupware and office application suite based on the Linux, Apache, DB2, PHP architecture for its basic computing needs. This suite is being rolled out across 380 locations in Maharashtra.

The e-government applications developed by GoM are:

Kosh Vahini (Treasury Management): The state of Maharashtra had revenues of Rs 6,24,620 million in 2003-2004. This revenue is now being tracked through GoM's Linux-based treasury management system, Kosh Vahini. This is one of the few treasury management systems implemented in any state government in India and enables GoM to track its receipts and liabilities on a daily basis. This helps GoM decide if new schemes need to be launched to generate revenue when there is a shortfall in receipts. It also helps the government take more informed decisions when there is a surplus of receipts. Before this system as implemented, it took 3-4 months for the monthly reports to be consolidated.

Kosh Vahini runs on Red Hat Linux, IBM x360 servers and the DB2 database.

SETU (Computerization of Citizen Facilitation Centers): In Marathi, (the language of Maharashtra), "Setu" means "bridge" and the SETU project is meant as a bridge between the government and its citizens. Over 93 certificates and permits routinely required by citizens are issued through the SETU centers operational in 250 locations.

The SETU project has helped citizens get faster access to government services. Computerization has enabled the monitoring of service delivery. Citizens can now track the progress of their applications online and eliminate multiple visits to government offices for status checks. Unlike the past, the SETU centers give a clear commitment of the dates when the certificates, permits etc will be issued and these commitments are monitored strictly by the government. SETU has speeded up the delivery of services and thereby improved the image of the Maharashtra government.

The 250 SETU information centers have been set up across Maharashtra in partnership with the private sector. The servers at the SETU centers run a mix of Windows and Red Hat Linux. GoM is now standardizing on Linux for the servers at all 250 locations. Apart from Red Hat Linux and Windows, SETU runs on IBM x360 servers and the DB2 database.

DJMS (Document Journey Management System): is a bilingual (English+Marathi) workflow system that enables the exchange of government files across various departments. Citizens filing petitions and grievances initiate many government processes. In the old manual system, tracking the status of these files was cumbersome. The new online system allows for instantaneous checks on the status of the files and the action taken on them. DJMS is accessible through the GoM's Mahanet network that has been set up at 47 locations across the state.

DJMS runs on Red Hat Linux, IBM x360 servers and the DB2 database.

LMIS (Land Records Management System): Land is the primary economic possession of the majority of the citizens of Maharashtra and having access to clear titles enables citizens to leverage their property through mortgages etc. GoM has implemented its land records system at 380 locations across Maharashtra. The system has made it easier for citizens to obtain their land records and eliminated the time spent in various government offices to obtain the same.

LMIS runs on Red Hat Linux, single-processor Xeon servers and the DB2 database.

Benefits

Mukesh Khullar, Secretary, Information Technology, GoM says that the Maharashtra Government's experience of using Linux and open source software across GoM's various applications has been very encouraging. He says that, over the last two years of using Linux, GoM has found that the open source operating system delivered more than they expected. The combination of Red Hat Linux and open source software has been cost-effective and user-friendly, says Khullar.

Nitin Gadre, IT Director, GoM says that GoM's experience with Red Hat Linux and open source software has been so satisfactory that, as a policy, GoM has decided to develop all new applications on Linux. By deploying Linux and open source software, GoM has made rapid progress in using IT to make government administration more effective at a cost far lower than that of comparable e-governance projects in India.

Rishikesh Ranjan, Under Secretary (Projects), GoM, says that the per-seat license fees charged by vendors of proprietary operating systems would have greatly escalated the cost of implementing GoM's e-governance projects. Ranjan says that, with Linux there is no incremental cost incurred when GoM adds more clients. With proprietary software, GoM tended to over spend, as it would buy 20-50 percent more licenses than it currently needed to provide for future growth or a sudden increase in demand.

"With proprietary software, we would procure the licenses but not know if we will use it," says Ranjan. "On the other hand, with Linux and open source software, we are paying for what we are actually using-support, development, trouble shooting. Wasteful expenditure gets minimized when we deploy open source software like Red Hat Linux."

In developing and implementing customized applications, open source proves to be advantageous because customers are not locked into a particular vendor, says Khullar. With GoM's previous Unix-based systems, even minor modifications were costly and dependent on the OS vendor.

Security is another advantage that leads GoM to choose Linux over other operating systems. "The Government is a public body and we have lot of information to share. Our applications are of day-to-day use and we cannot afford to have government services denied to users. The security of Linux is far, far superior to other operating systems that are subject to continuous attacks from viruses and therefore we chose it as our operating system," says Khullar.

Gadre says that GoM has Linux based applications running on their systems for the last two years and they haven't faced any major problems till date.

GoM's confidence in the stability and security of Linux lead it to deploy the operating system at remote locations too. Initially, users were hesitant but once they started using Linux, the misgivings disappeared. "Linux is not that complicated and Red Hat's support backed us up," says Khullar.

Ranjan adds that GoM has deployed 380 Linux servers across Maharashtra and after training its employees on maintenance, backup and other issues; the systems have been running smoothly. These servers were configured at factory sites and shipped to remote locations where they have been functioning smoothly. "The beauty of Linux is that once it is setup, there are hardly any issues," says Ranjan.

Conclusion

Apart from licensing costs, GoM has also been able to realize huge savings due to the fact that Linux can be run on commodity hardware from Intel and other hardware vendors.

"We are insisting now that Linux be used across all departments of the state government. We are porting more and more applications to Linux and implementing it in more locations," says Khullar.

GoM's case illustrates why Linux and other open source programs are gaining popularity with governments, the world over. The use of Linux, open source software and commodity hardware has helped GoM provide "Anytime, Anywhere, Anyhow," access to its citizens while keeping a tight leash on administrative expenses.