Himanshu Acharya writes– GSWAN– Backbone of Gujarat Govt(1)
Himanshu Acharya writes– GSWAN –Backbone of Gujarat Govt(1)
By Himanshu Acharya
Ahmedabad, DeshGujarat, 4 November, 2009
Today I am going to talk about GSWAN project, which is the backbone of all IT (voice, video, data) related projects in Gujarat since 2001 (Including SICN, SICN is for Gandhinagar only). You all have gone through SICN project in previous post. As per the CISCO (Leader in Networking domain); GSWAN is the second largest IP based network in the ASIA region.
GSWAN stands for Gujarat State Wide Area Network. Network which connects each and every Gujarat Government offices through IP network up to TALUKA level and in today ‘s date almost at the village level(more than 11,000 villages covered out of total 18000 villages in Gujarat).
The most amazing thing here is that GOG (Government of Gujarat) has used single network(GSWAN) to connect all the GOG offices in Gujarat since 2001 itself, while so called advanced state in IT called Andhra Pradesh has used individual network, based on different topologies to connect major Govt. departments. You will really amazed by knowing that the State of Andhra has recently given contract to M/s TCS to do State Wide Area Network just like Gujarat in August-2009. You can judge the difference.
For all technical and non-technical readers some preamble:
Central Government(Government of India) has made one independent body called “National Informatics Centre “ (almost during 1985) having main office in Delhi. It has one state NIC centre in each state which helps individual state Government to fulfil their IT related requirements. Services of NIC are available to all states much before the 1995 and till date.
But as usual to distinguish in each and every field, Gujarat Government has setup “Gujarat Informatics Limited “in 1999 sidelining NIC in Gujarat. After that in 2000 Gujarat Government has started implementing this GSWAN and SICN project under guidance of rare available IES officers in India (Indian Engineering Service….just like IAS,IPS). His name is Shri R. K . Dave. We can say he is the father of both projects. Under his leadership both projects had been operational within a short span of 9 month to 1 year.
Technical detail of GSWAN project is available here:
For your curiosity, central Government has launched SWAN (State Wide Area Network) project/policy in 2004 for state wise uniform network. They have accepted Gujarat as roll model, because Gujarat has already done it way back with IP protocol, while other states had used some other topology and protocol (mostly failed).
Sadly, in today’s date very less number of states has done the same. While in other hand, Gujarat has successfully extended the network up to village level. Out of total 18,000 villages more than 11000 villages have GSWAN connectivity in today’s date.
Structure of GSWAN:
1. More than 25,000 email user id created with different types of internet/intranet access based on their parent departments.
2. Each have to login into client first (authorize) and then they can access internet.
3. Video conferencing facility is made available up to District and Taluka level whenever GSWAN is made available to the Taluka level offices (2-3 instruments in Taluka level office)
4. In disaster event, OB VAN is there in four zones of Gujarat. Which can easily make available telephone, VoIP and network available in any geographical are of GUJARAT or INDIA.
5. VoIP phone made available in district and Taluka level offices.
6. All offices up to Taluka level can communicate with their parent department through voice, video and data.
7. Common portal for accessing email & common services. Email is also available in outlook on intranet.
8. Webcasting can be avail for specific function, Govt program etc on GSWAN network.
9. GSWAN is common network platform for all departmental application like treasury, IWDMS,HMIS, IFMS etc.
Security of GSWAN:
Security is almost full proof here through software like VLAN, partitioning, CYBEROAM, use of public IP address etc while at hardware level it used firewalls, routers for the same.
In part-II we will cover Various stages of GSWAN from 2001, Usage of GSWAN, Benefit of GSWAN, Future Plan , personal experiences etc. It is true that in the term of IT industry Gujarat is way behind Karnataka, AP and some other states, but it is very much true and fact that Gujarat is the way ahead of same states in the usage of IT in the Governance (E-governance). It is possible due to GSWAN only.
November 4th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Dear Himanshu Acharya,
Thanks for sharing the information.
Gujarat government has spent a lot effort and money on E-Governance but I would not call it E-governance because all government website and email addresses are just static……like dead body.
They do not respond. There is no provision to do your essential work online without visiting a goverment office. GoG’s E-governance websites can just provide you some information or form downloads, at most.
Whereas in developed countries, you can do anything online like .. pay your electricity, water or gas bills, Pay tax for your vehicle, Pay house tax, Pay stamp duty for newly purchased properties, Apply for your driving license or anything for which you have to visit government office and have to deal withcorrupted government officers in India. These all things can be done online if government is willing.
Websites can also provide current status of any pending work with government offices. Such combination of effective governance and technology can reduce corruption greatly if anyone is willing to implement it.
But things become so transparent, how can “babus” make you fool and get bribe from you ?
November 4th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
gswan was a long long project compared to its size…. what could have been made in a year… took 7-8 years to complete….
November 4th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
THANKS HIMANSHUBHAI : VERY INFORMATIVE ARTICLE.MAKES US PROUD OF GUJARAT AND GUJARAT GOVERNMENT.
November 5th, 2009 at 5:17 am
@gujarati bhai you are 100% right. i know 7-8 years back people were working on this backbone of gujarat and they were enjoying and having fun. my colleagues who would get last semester training due to some kind of influence would not work at all and just get the certificate without reason. although it could be a great idea and is not seen in any other state but you must agree that it took a lot lot time than what it should have taken
November 6th, 2009 at 6:21 am
@Gujarati & rakesh mahajan: Please not one thing Government is not there to spoon-fed people, it is there to serve people at end-level, it does not have to look only for educated people like us, it includes villagers, adivasis , ALL. So don’t complain at each and every level, accept the facts and put all your efforts to work for society with the Government. Gujarat has set the Singapore and US as the technological roll model and on the way to close to them, it is in middle way so appreciate it that it is very much ahead than other Indian states instead of pinpointing some of the facts (mostly ill-informed).
Also please note that this project has not any finish deadline, it is there for the maximum utilization and Govt is utilizing optimum currently.
For your information:
If you are from ahmedabad and want to know what schemes can be available for Children, farmers, BPL card holders and general citizens click here. It will also give you much much information about ahmedabad district.
http://ahmedabaddp.gujarat.gov.in/ahmedabad/
If you are from ahmedabad and want to know what online facilities available in district and upto which level, click here. It comes under revenue department.
http://www.ahmedabad.gujarat.gov.in/
Overall to be aware of various E-gov applications in Gujarat, go through
http://www.indg.in/e-governance/ict-initiatives-in-states-uts/e-governance-in-gujarat/view?set_language=en
See what world Bank says about Gujarat: e-Governance impacts Gujarat :: Corruption reduced, tax revenues increase at interstate border checkposts
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTINFORMATIONANDCOMMUNICATIONANDTECHNOLOGIES/EXTEGOVERNMENT/0,,contentMDK:20871863~menuPK:702592~pagePK:64020865~piPK:149114~theSitePK:702586,00.html
Local Ahemedad Muncipal Corporation e-gov website which won best AMC award recently. City civic Center is the key of its success.
http://www.egovamc.com/
November 6th, 2009 at 6:21 am
A brief details about the development of e-governance in the Ahmedabad District.
• Connectivity
o GSWAN Connectivity established upto taluka level All talukas are connected with GSWAN LAN with approx 80 nodes has been established at Ahmedabad Collectorate and is connected to GSWAN
• Jan Seva Kendra operational at all Talukas
• One Day Governance is operational at all Talukas
• Land Records has been totally computerized for all talukas and online mutation is working for all talukas except
City Taluka
• Computerized Ration Card is being issued at all talukas
• Ahmedabad Collectorate Inward Registry is fully computerized and online Worksheet is taken by each branch.
• Appeal Cases of Collectorate Ahmedabad is fully computerized. Printout of the order of the Appeal Case is available at Jan Seva Kendra at Rs.5/- per page. Also status of the case can be enquired in Jan Seva Kendra.
• All the records of the Record Branch is digitized for easy search.
• Computerized Payslip/Paybill is being issued from Account Branch, Collectorate
• Following other database available with Ahmedabad Collectorate
o Pending Cases of various courts under Collectorate
o NA Cases at Chitnis
o Sub Registrar Data – from 1994 till now
o Works carried by out District Planning Board
o Establishment Section of the Collectorate