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India's first computerised village council in Kerala

By Sanu George, Indo-Asian News Service

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 14 (IANS) A Kerala village is all set to create a record -- as the first to have a fully computerised grassroots administration in India.

The Vellanad 'gram panchayat', or village council, 20 km south of this city, will be declared fully computerised Wednesday by state IT Minister P.K. Kunjalikutty.

The Information Kerala Mission (IKM), a project of the state-owned autonomous institution, Centre for Development of Imaging Technology, took up the computerisation of Vellanad.

The entire cost of computerisation came to Rs.600,000. "It took IKM almost a year to fully computerise the village council," said the Local Self-Government Minister Cherkalam Abdullah at a news conference here Tuesday.

"As a result, certificates for deaths, births, marriages and taxes will be ready for villagers in a matter of minutes."

IKM has developed 12 different packages for application at the village level.

A survey of the socio-economic status of villagers, a databank on the qualifications of the unemployed in the area and the financial position of the administration will be among information now available at the click of a mouse.

Staff at Vellanad has undergone two computer-training programmes, and a final one is scheduled to commence on January 20.

IKM is hoping that the forthcoming Global Investors Meet on January 18-19 will help spot a suitable investor to take up computerisation of all 1,214 local bodies in the state.

Among the biggest project proposals of the local self-government ministry is one worth Rs.7.5 billion that is getting ready to be showcased at the meet.

--Indo-Asian News Service