World Wide Work

diw@negp.gov.in

amitabh.kant@nic.in

Dear Sir :

Many thanks for your invitation to attend the inauguration ceremony of Digital India Week , at the hands of Shri Narendra Modiji , on 01 July , at the Vigyan Bhavan

I am honored but regret my inability to attend due to indifferent health

I do hope my past suggestions , in respect of " Digitized E - Governance " , will be given a few minutes for discussions , during the week-long deliberations

For your ready-reference , these are reproduced below

with regards,

hemen  parekh

hcp@RecruitGuru.com

www.B2BmessageBlaster.com

(M) 0 - 98,67,55,08,08

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VotesApp

Here is a suggestion to IIT-Bombay , to develop a voting app , to be called VotesApp. Highlights of VotesApp :

Ø  An Android app which can be downloaded from Google Play / Android Zoom / GetJar and the official web site of Election Commission of India

Ø  It will be pre-loaded on 220 million Aakash tablets  which Govt of India plans to distribute to students

Ø  It will also be pre-loaded on those Smart phones ( to be called, “ Dharati “ ? ), which Govt of India plans to distribute free to 400 million “ poor “ Indians , before 2014 National elections

Ø  All tablet / smart phone manufacturers will be encouraged to pre-load VotesApp

Ø  Using this app , a voter can register at Election Commission web site, where he will enter the same data which he has submitted for his Aadhar card, including Aadhar card number (Unique Identification No)

Ø  All of these details will be verified by Aadhar database

Ø  Obviously , those who have not obtained their Aadhar card , will not be able to use VotesApp . They will need to visit nearest polling booth

Ø  Upon correct verification , Aadhar Database will permanently link the person’s Aadhar number with the mobile number from which  registration is done, and issue a Password

Ø  An under aged person will not be allowed to register

Ø  A person will be able to vote only from that mobile number

Ø  After login on first screen, user will be asked to select one option from > Panchayat Election > Municipal Election > State Assembly Election > Lok-Sabha Election

Ø  Upon selection, user will be presented with the list of candidates contesting , from which , he can select only one by ticking a checkbox. There will be also a choice , labeled “ None “

Ø  A long press on a candidate’s name will display details of his declared assets as also his criminal record

Ø  After ticking / selecting a candidate, voter will click on  “ VOTE “ button, whereupon his vote gets registered and VotesApp gets inactivated

Ø  Once a voter registers on Election Commission web site , he cannot go to a poling booth and vote physically

Ø  In less than one year , Govt of India will recover the cost of 220 million Aakash tablets and 400 million” Dharati “ smart phones , through this customized / personalized / shrinking of EVMs ( Electronic Voting Machines ) to a hand-held device. And imagine the millions of man-hours saved !

Ø  And the beauty is , no one can capture this booth , or conduct exit polls ! What will “ experts “ discuss on TV channels ?

Ø  What next ? Election Commission “licensing “ this App to other countries ?

 *    hemen   parekh    (   18   Dec   2012   )

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I SIN><U SIN

That could be the name of an android app ( I Seek It Now > < U Solve It Now )

To be developed by India’s Central Home Ministry for successful implementation of proposed,

“ Delivery  of  Services  Act “

The app will come pre-installed on those mobile phones which Government of India plans to distribute FREE , to some 400 million “ Poor People “ of India , before the 2014 National Election ( and on those 220 million Aakash Tablets )

Issuer will enter the Mobile No and that person’s Aadhar Card No, in a computerised central database , before issuing the phone

Hence , no need to login to the App , whose screen will read,

“ I wish to send my complaint to the following department :

• National Commission for Women

• Garbage Clearance

• Water Supply

• Electricity Supply

• Roads Repair

• Rationing ( Food Distribution )

• Police

• Bus Transport

• Railways

• Post

• Employment

• Education

• Irrigation

• Building Permits

• Revenue / Land Records

• Anti Corruption

• Other ……………………………………….etc

(List should not exceed 50)

Touching name of any department name will open a SMS message box where the user will type out his complaint ( in a language of his choice )

There will be option to speak-out and record voice message , for illiterate users

Touching SEND button will transmit the complaint and within minutes, user will receive SMS reply , giving,

• Name of Officer responsible

• Office Landline No

• Mobile No

• Email Id

• Complaint No

• Expected date of solving

Bingo !

Then publish online , a tabulation of departments , arranged in the descending order of the no of complaints received / cleared / pending!

This frugal innovation will bring in Good Governance all over India

Request Nandan Nilekani / Sam Pitroda to help out , even though they may be busy implementing my earlier suggested app , 

“ VotesApp “

I have no doubt that the political party which promises , “ I SIN >< U SIN “ ,  will get voted to power in 2014

*   hemen   parekh   (  29   Dec   2012  )

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Digital    Locker    Project

Dear Shri Ravishankar Prasadji :

Business Standard ( 23 May 2015 ) writes about an initiative of Department of Electronics and Information Technology , to create " Digital Lockers "for Indian Citizens , where they can store their important documents on internet

This crowd-sourcing project is supposed to work as follows :

*   Citizens scan their documents on a scanner and then upload those

     images in personal Digital Locker ( User ID / Secure Password ? )

*   Special S/W will break-up each document image into hundreds of mini

     images ( of a few characters each )

*   Each mini-image will be SMSed to 2 persons ( having Smart phones ? ),

     who will type out the characters in TEXT (  WORD format ?  )

*   These typed TEXTs will get uploaded into document-owner's Digital

     Locker

*   If both these " typed texts " match perfectly ( like CAPTCHA ), it will

     replace that mini-image in the document

Apparently , the idea is to crowd-source the Smart Phones / human resources of millions of Indian Citizens - much like the 30 year old SETI project

But before taking a final decision to go ahead , I feel following questions need to be answered :

*  How much will it cost to develop / deploy the required software ?

*  Let us assume that there are only 10 documents per citizen ( on an

    average ) , taking the total to 12.5 BILLION documents to be scanned

    If each document-image has to be broken-up ( again , on an average ),

    into just 10 mini-images , that would mean 125 BILLION mini-images !

*  Now , if each mini-image has to be sent to 2 smart-phones , that

    would require , 250 BILLION smart phones  !

    Now , of course , there are no more than 250 million smart phones

    That would require Govt to send to each smart phone owner , 1,000

    mini-images  !

    And let us assume that each mini-image contains , just 10 characters,

    ( most likely , it will contain 50 characters )

    That would require each smart phone owner to type out 10,000

    characters  !

*  Why would ordinary Indian smart phone owner take time and trouble to

    type out 10,000 CAPTCHA-like characters ?

*  How will you motivate them ?  By paying  ?  How much  ?  Total cost ?

*  How many years will it take to implement entire project  ?

*  Do our 1.25  Billion ( document-owning ) citizens have easy access to

    scanners ( to scan their own documents ) and to broadband ( to upload

    into personal Digital Locker )  ?

*  On the other hand , is it not far easier for these citizens to use the built-in camera of their

    smart phones to take photos ( essentially , " images " ) of their documents and directly

    upload to their Digital Lockers  ?  After all , with built-in mega-pixel camera , every smart

    phone has become  a " Personal Scanner "  !

*   Why not take help from Global Software Companies to automatically

     convert those scanned document images into WORD texts , using OCR

     technology ?

     Latest OCR soft ware have better than 95 % accuracy

     Then let the document-owner access OCRed documents in his personal

     Digital Locker and EDIT the documents thru his mobile / PC / Tablet  ?

     Let the onus for accuracy be with the document owner

     I am sure , you are aware of the GOOGLE-BOOK project , under which ,

     Google has scanned and OCRed and converted to text , billions of pages !

*   Or , why not get Indian Software Giants to develop a Mobile App ( to

     be called , DigiDoc  ?  ) to enable a document-owner to simply read 

     out aloud , each of his document , into the smart phone , to convert it

     into a TEXT , using " Speech-to-Text " technology ?

    Let the document be in any official Indian Language

    And ask the Software Company to make the " Speech-to-Text " software ,

   " Self Learning " as millions of document owners " correct " online thru   

    " Editing " , all those words , mis-spelled by the software  !

    

    I believe , the " Bye-Product " of this " Self Learning " software could well

    re-define concepts such as >  E Governance  > National Integration  !

  

     The document owner will speak out , his :

    >    Digital Locker Number

    >    Aadhar Card Number

    >    User ID

    >    Password

    >    Document Name

    >    Meta-tags / Keywords

   When Mobile App acknowledges these details and connects him with his Digital Locker , he will be prompted to " read out " his document

Later on , he will be enabled to " View " his document online and EDIT it , wherever " Speech-to-Text " software has made any mistakes

Dear Ravishankarji ,

I urge you to evaluate the alternatives suggested by me , before taking a final decision

with  regards,

hemen  parekh

Mumbai

hcp@RecruitGuru.com

(M) 0 - 98,67,55,08,08

www.hemenparekh.in

May 25 , 2015

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Make  it  A  Reality

Objective of tomorrow's MINT closed door event ( as reported in Ads ) is :

"...to examine the implications of this vision  and propose what's needed to make it a reality  "

Here is one of the things that I think is needed :

Treat MII ( Make In India ) on par with MOM ( Mars Orbital Mission )

We have all seen MOM control room on TV , with dozens of scientists glued to respective computer screens , monitoring every aspect of the Mission

And , whenever required , taking " Course Correction Actions " in real time

For MII ( Make In India ) too , we need such  Control Rooms

One at the HUB ( in DIPP ) and one each in State Capitals ( Spokes )

The concerned officers will monitor :

>    Web Site Traffic ( better than Google Web Analytics )

  

      Who is visiting from where and looking at which pages , and doing what , and for how long ...etc

>    Message Traffic

       From server log of B2B web site , monitor which FOREIGN COMPANIES are blasting ( We are interested to talk to you ) messages to

       which INDIAN COMPANIES

>    Action Traffic

       B2B server sending out ( within ONE MINUTE ) , full details of above-mentioned messages to,

       *    Indian Diplomatic Missions abroad to get in touch with the Message-Sending FOREIGN COMPANIES , offering instant help

       *    Chief Ministers / Industry Ministers / Industry Commissioners etc of the STATE GOVERNMENTS , where Message-Receiving INDIAN

             COMPANIES are located ( - expect a fierce / healthy competition amongst States to locate project in their States ! )

>    Project Monitoring

      Implementation of each project ( above a certain value ) being  monitored using PERT technique ( Mr Rice would appreciate this )

To make MOM , a " reality " , cost the country , some Rs 430 Crores - and time of some 100 scientists

I believe CONTROL ROOMS ( War Rooms ? ) of Make In India , may not cost more than Rs 43 Crores ( - all put together )

And some company like Infosys / TCS / Wipro , may be able to construct - and operationalize  - such rooms ( Hardware and Software included )

within 3 months - given the challenge to raise our " Ease of Doing Business " rank from 142 to 42  !

*    hemen   parekh   /   18   Nov   2014

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Thursday, 3 April 2014

E - Governance ?

Can e-Governance help eliminate corruption  ?

Most certainly

Look at the following , partial list of Central and State Agencies set up to fight fraud , money-laundering , corruption , tax-evasion , economic crimes etc :

>  Public Accounts Committee           (  PAC  )

>  Central Vigilance Commission        (  CVC  )

>  Central Information Commission     (  CIC  )

>  Research and Analysis Wing           (  RAW  )

>  Serious Fraud Investigation Office   (  SFIO  )

>  Information Bureau                        (  IB   )

>  Economic Offence Wing                   (  EOW  )

>  Central Bureau of Investigation        (  CBI  )

>  Department of Revenue Intelligence (  DIR  )

>  Comptroller and Auditor General       (  CAG  )

>  Anti Corruption Bureaus ( States ).... (  ACB  )

>  Enforcement Directorate                    (  ED   )

>  Lok  Ayuktas    (  States   )

>  Lok Pal           ( Central  )

Despite such an army of Agencies , how do corrupt manage to get away  ?

Or , in case caught , manage to delay delivery of punishment for years  ?

No doubt , there must be several reasons , including , inter - agency rivalry to get credit - something difficult to eliminate altogether

But , I believe , the most important reason is :

Lack of a COMMON  / COMPUTERIZED database of all offences / cases / persons being investigated

And , which is readily " Accessible " to all of these Agencies , all over the country ( 24 * 365 )

Already , every Agency compiles huge dossiers on " Suspects " in its own 

" Departmental Database " , which is never shared with other Agencies ,

leading to ,

>   Huge amount of duplication of efforts / information

>   Fractured / scattered profiles of " Suspects "

>   Enormous waste of time / resources

What will help  ?

>  Dismantling of individual departmental databases

>  Merging of all Agency-wise databases into a SINGLE / UNIQUE database

>  All Agencies to enter their findings / data / info into this COMMON

     database , with nothing preserved on local computers

>  All data-entry FORMS to be ONLINE . No paper forms at all

>  All local computers connected to ultra-secure Network ( Encrypted )

>  " Access Rights " to individuals , based on Biometric Identification

Will BJP want to make this , a prominent promise in their Poll-Manifesto , likely to be released on 7th April  ?  ( Congress /  AAP missed this boat  ! )

It is high time political parties stop talking of motherhood in vague terms and start telling the voters ,

" If you vote us to power , this is precisely what we will do , to bring about E-GOVERNANCE  - and do it within 6 months of assuming power "

*  hemen  parekh  (  04  April  2014  /  Mumbai )