E-Government News

RBC, 26.02.2006, Astana 18:56:15.Kazakhstan will put into effect its "e-government" system in mid-April, head of Kazakhstan's Information and Telecommunications Agency Askar Zhumagaliyev said. Some 32 of the 34 state bodies and institutions already have their own websites, forming the infrastructure for implementing the e-government portal. The people of Kazakhstan can take advantage of the portal's interactive information services, such as obtaining tax declaration forms and licenses over the Internet, and online shopping. In addition, all Kazakh residents will be assigned identification numbers which are to be quoted in their new passports and other documents. This electronic number will help identify the person on the Internet, and serve as an access key to officials and various services. Source: http://www.rbcnews.com/free/20060226185615.shtml

Technology commentator Bill Thompson has been betraying confidences on his weblog. And he is not alone. This week I was at an invitation-only event organised by the Judge Business School in Cambridge. During the evening session about the future of the media, I made lots of notes on my laptop. I suspect that the tapping away irritated the person sitting behind me, but it is the best way I have found to make sure I pay proper attention, and I tried to type quietly. Afterwards I went home, tidied up the resulting 2,500 words of text and posted them on my personal weblog. I took out the comments that I thought might be too revealing, cleaned up most of the spelling, cut the boring stuff, added some relevant links and hit publish. It is the sort of thing I do quite often, partly because once I have written the notes, it seems a shame not to share them and partly because I like to contribute to the ongoing public conversations around subjects that interest me, like e-democracy, the future of the internet or the politics of the wired world. In this case the distinguished panel was discussing the future of the media industry, and all three of them had a lot of interesting things to say. I was there to speak about blogging, and the challenge it poses to the practice of journalism and the profitability of media corporations, so it seemed like a good idea to blog their debate to show them how it all works. Honour code Unfortunately the organisers had forgotten to tell us that our meeting was held under the Chatham House Rule. This is a convention, named for the London headquarters of the prestigious Royal Institute of International Affairs, that means everything said is non-attributable. Nobody writing or talking about what was discussed is supposed to say who said what, nor the identity of who was there. It is somewhere between a private, off-the-record meeting and a public event, and is generally very useful because it means that people are encouraged to speak frankly without worrying that their words will be in all of the papers or the net the following morning. Of course, it is an honour code and the only real sanction on anyone who breaks it is that they do not get invited to those sorts of meetings in future. This is just as well because I had broken it, and by the time I realised it was rather too late to do anything about it - my blog entry was out there, being indexed and cached and linked to. I think I have been forgiven, and being the token blogger meant that I could use it to make a useful point to the assembled experts, because my indiscretion made it very clear that in a blogged world just calling something private is no longer enough. It only takes one person who does not realise or who decides that the rule makes no sense and the details can leak out. Information control You do not even need to know the phone number of a friendly journalist any more. A Blogger account will do just fine. Of course, some still attempt to control what is said. Google, home of all the world's information, famously insists on a no-blogging rule for its invitation-only Google Zeitgeist events. This seems to stick because those invited are either loyal to the company or so keen on retaining their exclusive status that they decide to follow along. In the past we might be indiscreet with other people's secrets, but even if we told a few friends, it would not matter too much. Now the global conversation that is currently taking place in and on the millions of blogs is increasingly well-indexed and cross-linked. Mention someone and they may well notice within hours thanks to Technorati or Delicious. Cross-link to another post and you become part of the fabric of the blogosphere. And once your material is out and cached by Google or simply referenced and copied on other blogs, then it is hard work indeed to remove it from the public sphere. Slip of the keyboard Those who would like to control the free flow of information, whether they are organising invitation-only events or running the government in a closed society, need to realise the significance of this change. The blogosphere has shifted the boundary between private and public, and made it much, much easier for anyone who desires it to engage in the public sphere. If I had been acting maliciously then I could, of course, have set up a new Gmail account, created a Blogger identity using it and then posted my report anonymously. I suspect that this would not have worked since I was the only person with a laptop in the room, but normally it would have been effective. Our normal assumptions about what is and is not public, or about the proper limits on how widely we should share the things we see or hear or learn, no longer apply, but we have yet to figure out a new set of norms. We need to do something about this, and fast, because otherwise we'll see more slips of the keyboard like the one I made. Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4747818.stm

UNDESA (Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat) published a compilation of innovative e-government solutions, services and applications with elements of transferability and adaptibility by users. 74 cases, from 38 countries has been chosen. The Compendium does not promote one solution over another, but rather exposes e-government practices that place the citizen in the forefront. It contains practices from all regions, while maintaining a geographical distribution. The main objective is to create a venue for promoting innovative and transferable e-government solutions, services and products developed and yet to be developed by national or local governments. These cases concern all aspects of the Information Society as, for example : - Telecentres in Egypt or Uganda - e-Health networks in Kenya, Tunisia, India, or USA - e-Government strategies in Mozambique, Australia, Bahrain, India, Japan, South Korea, Danmark, Estonia, France, Irland, Spain, UK, Canada, Mexico. - Local portails in The Cap (South Africa), Brisbane (Australia), Seoul (South Korea), Upper Hutt (New Zeland), Vienna (Austria), Issy-les-Moulineaux (France), Bremen(Germany), Eindhoven (The Netherlands), Fife Region (UK), Vancouver (Canada), Sunnyvale (USA) - e-Learning in Tunisia - Use of ICT for agriculture, in China - e-services in India, Singapour, Belgium, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay - e-Participation in South Korea, Singapour, Austria, United Kingdom, Peru Download the report (PDF format - 194 pages) Source: http://www.forum-edemo.org/article.php3?id_article=585

The government was talking sense when it decreed that all local councillors should have their own web presence. But take-up has been slow. Michael Cross finds out why Since the end of December, by central government edict, every English council has had to "provide every councillor with the option to have an easy-to-manage set of public web pages". Most authorities claim to have met the target in theory. In spirit, however, it has been missed by a mile. Paul Evans, head of the Councillor.info scheme to provide elected members with a web presence, says only a tiny percentage of councillors use their sites to do anything more than list contact details. In an era when blogging is commonplace in public life, this disengagement by local democracy is an anomaly. Article continues One reason is a rule banning local authority sites from carrying material that could be deemed political. Councillors wanting to do anything adventurous with the web have to set up personal sites, which are often at least four clicks from the council's home page. Deterrent Lewisham councillor Andrew Brown, who this week celebrates two years of blogging from his site www.20six.co.uk/cllr_andrew_brown says the ban is a deterrent. The 36-year-old charity worker created his blog on his own initiative, entirely separately from his "official" council site. "The policy means I have two sites to keep up to date. It would be nice if I just had the one, and it was the one I wanted it to be." Brown's blog gets about 80 unique visitors a day. Significantly, more find it via Google than through the council's website, he says. The visitors are "a bit different to the usual people who contact me. Some are officers, some are political opponents hoping I'll slip up, but I keep coming across local people." Overall his blogging experience has been "almost entirely positive". Legal guidelines on blogs published by the local e-democracy project, sponsored by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, say that a council could technically get into trouble even by linking to a personal site containing political content. "The government's code of recommended practice on local authority publicity states that council resources should not be used to publicise individual councillors." However, the guidelines say that as creating a link involves only a minimal use of resources, so long as a council offers links even-handedly to the blogging pages of every individual council member who wants them, then this is unlikely to infringe the rules, "although there is no clear guidance or case law on this point". Brown says he has shown the guidelines to his council's lawyers , but they are taking a fairly cautious line. "They're waiting for what the government has to say rather than what the national project has to say," he says. London borough of Kingston councillor Mary Reid, who chairs the e-democracy project - and runs her own blog at www.maryreid.org.uk - says that councils should not worry about links, provided there's a disclaimer. "They're already linking to MPs, why not to their councillors?," she asks. Kingston already has six blogging councillors, from all three parties. Evans says that most councillors need a great deal of hand-holding before they get to this stage. Councillor.info, a service offered by the internet cooperative Poptel, has done deals with 21 English authorities to give them facilities to create a basic web presence. "The only way to get councillors to run good sites is to remove all the obstacles and give them as much advice, help and encouragement as they need," says Evans. Councillor.info has launched a new mentoring service to help councillors get on the web. A new study on the benefits of e-democracy carried out for the national project finds that if just one councillor at each local authority blogged, between 350,000 and 2.5m citizens would read a councillor blog each month. Business case The report, produced by the Improvement and Development Agency, claims there is a clear business case for e-democracy, which it defines as any application of e-technology that enables or enhances the interaction between government and its stakeholders with the goal of raising engagement and participation in democratic processes. E-democracy's paybacks include helping councils meet the demands of central government's comprehensive performance assessment in areas such as safer and stronger communities, sustainable communities and transport, healthier communities, and children and young people. There are also cash savings. The report says Bristol conducted 12 consultations in 10 months using e-panels at a cost of £40,000. "To do this by conventional means would have cost a total of £96,000," says the report. Elections pose a new challenge for councillor bloggers. The legal guidelines warn that resources spent on the web may count towards total limits on election expenditure: "Even if the limits on such expenditure are not exceeded by a councillor there may be a separate obligation on local authorities that should exercise caution in providing links to party political blogging pages during a pre-election period. Such links might be treated as donations that are not permitted under the legislation or may unlawfully confer a benefit on candidates who are sitting councillors, over other councillors." A new study, Political Blogs - Craze or Convention? published by the Hansard Society charity, says that blogs are a potent new force, but advises politicians not to get carried away. "Politicians, who are used to shouting through megaphones and broadcasting through microphones, will not find it easy to adjust to a communicative ecology where the stage belongs to everybody," it warns. "The problem facing politicians who blog is that they are professionally implicated in the very culture that blogging seeks to transcend," says the report. "Blogging politicians are always going to be seen as a little bit like those old Communist apparatchiks who had to sit in the front row at rock concerts and pretend to swing to the beat." Links Find your local councillor: www.councillor.gov.uk E-democracy project: www.e-democracy.gov.uk Source: http://politics.guardian.co.uk/egovernment/story/0,,1714670,00.html

By Rebecca Mutunga THE drive towards e-governance for Kenya and other African countries has received a major boost from the Commonwealth Business Council (CBC) and EzGov Europe. Both organizations have signed a MOU, aimed towards bankrolling this project, whose key motivation is to improve service delivery in government. The MOU will see both organisations work together to deliver electronic service delivery solutions for e-government to Commonwealth countries and other government markets worldwide. The agreement was signed prior to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHoGM), which was held in Malta. The CBC’s e-government programme is part of the ongoing plan to bridge the digital divide and is aimed at helping countries develop and implement their individual e-government programs at both central and local government levels. In Kenya, the project is being implemented under the cabinet office, Office of the President. The implementing unit is the Public sector Reform Program.The Permanent Secretary incharge of the project is is Ms Grace Nyakeya. With this partnership, the CBC will now incorporate EzGov’s proven e-Government solutions. Dr Kaul, Director General of the CBC, said “We are delighted to be working with EzGov”, he added, “EzGov has very successfully delivered transformational government solutions in the USA, UK and other countries, and we are very pleased to be able to leverage this experience and expertise for the benefit of the countries we work with.” , Dr Kaul said. The Commonwealth is linked in many ways, not least by a shared language, shared legal and accounting standards and shared culture. Many Commonwealth countries (such as Australia, Britain, Canada, India, Singapore and Malaysia) have significant experience of implementing very successful e-government initiatives that have been delivered in conjunction with private sector technology companies. There are significant benefits and opportunities for the Commonwealth and for the private sector to collaborate on e-government delivery programs, encompassing the key areas of policy, people and infrastructure. Already today e-government is proving that it can help public administrations to become more productive and offer personalised services for all, in an open and transparent way. The CBC and EzGov partnership will help governments realise the advantages of e-Government - through open, scalable and flexible solutions. “EzGov’s proven technology, flexibility in product architecture and their experience in working with the large scale transaction requirements of central and local governments were key driving factors behind the decision to work with EzGov,” said Anoop Singh, Director of CBC Technologies - the CBC’s technology division which works with many national and regional governments on creating best value Public Private Partnerships for international technology projects. Frank Moyer, President of EzGov Europe, said, “We are delighted about this very strategic partnership. By sharing our best practices and experiences with the CBC, we will be able to help the CBC achieve their ambitious goals for bridging the digital divide within the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth Business Council (CBC) was established by the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 1997 to involve the private sector in the promotion of trade and investment. The CBC is the trade and investment arm of the Commonwealth, a voluntary group of 53 nations working together on shared objectives including culture, trade, and development. Source: http://www.timesnews.co.ke/21jan06/business/buns1.html

By Wayne HansonToday, e-government channels of government access and interaction consist of telephone, fax, Web sites, e-mail, RSS feeds, and cable airings of everything from C-SPAN's coverage of Congress, to the local city council discussion of sewer repairs. But there are even newer forms of digital access, collaboration and participation that are gaining momentum and might have the potential to make e-government a bit more personal. In a Feb. 2005 story, writer Blake Harris chronicled the impact of Web logs -- "blogs" for short -- on politics, news reporting and government. Shortly after becoming Utah's CIO in 2001, Phillip Windley began blogging personally, and encouraged IT staff throughout the state to blog. His personal blog continues. Blogs are a form of "social software" defined by Wikipedia -- which is itself a form of social software -- as software that: "... enables people to rendezvous, connect or collaborate through computer-mediated communication and to form online communities." The term, Wikipedia goes on to say, could encompass older media such as mailing lists and Usenet, but most often refers to newer forms such as blogs and wikis. Wikipedia is free to use, and is now much larger than the more traditional encyclopedias that cost hundreds of dollars, sit on a bookshelf, and are typically updated with yearbooks. In fact, said Christopher Allen last week at the CIO Academy in Sacramento, Calif., not only is Wikipedia more comprehensive than a popular hard-bound encyclopedia, a recent test of accuracy found comparable mistakes in both. However, while the mistakes in Wikipedia were immediately corrected, they still stand in the hard-copy encyclopedia. Social software is not alien to government, in fact one of the first examples, called EMISARI (Emergency Management Information Systems And Reference Index) was developed by government. EMISARI provided a sort of chat capability via teletypewriters connected over telephone lines to a computer. Social software categories are of two types, said Allen: synchronous and asynchronous. CompuServe's chat room in the 1980s is an early example of synchronous, he said, that followed a CB radio model with different channels for different purposes. A more recent example is instant messaging. Asynchronous applications include e-mail which Allen said became social software with the invention of blind carbon copy or bcc. Discussion lists are a form of asynchronous social software that have persistence, and enable a review of past discussions by date and time, by subject etc. Subetha for the Macintosh, and Moon Edit for Windows allow collaborative document work and editing, and can be used during teleconferences, for example. Too Much Communication? Most wikis keep track of changes and who made them, because not everyone is careful of facts and some deliberately add false, or slanderous material. If that happens, the entries can be deleted and the perpetrator blocked from further participation. Social software also gets spammed, said Allen, and is vulnerable to ads, flame wars and other nuisances. Other Examples Flickr, said Allen, is a photo sharing site. Del.icio.us allows sharing of bookmarks with others. Another type of social software is a mashup. A mashup uses RSS and XML open standards. Chicagocrime.org is a mashup of Google maps and police crime information, said Allen, so that residents can check up on crime in their neighborhoods. Source: http://www.govtech.com/gt/articles/98498

The Vietnamese government officially launched its web site last week to offer information online about Vietnam, the government’s first step toward working online with residents and implementing e-government. The website at, www.vietnam.gov.vn or www.chinhphu.vn, has been developed by the Government Office and will provide online transactions for residents and government agencies. It will also provide information on government management, economic and social reports, and gather information from lower-level government agencies. “The government web site is also a focal point for information-sharing activities of administration at all levels, aiming at government services online and interaction online between the government with citizens and businesses as part of the implementation of public administration reform, pursuing transparency and openness in service to citizens and businesses,” said Prime Minister Phan Van Khai. PM Khai said the site aims to promote dialogue between the government, Vietnamese people and investors in and out of the country to find the best solutions to develop the country. The site will also help the international community understand Vietnam. Doan Manh Giao, head of the Government Office, said the site will have live Q&A sessions with government officials and lodge specific motions from citizens in June after the office finishes the first phase of site development focusing on uploads Vietnam’s monthly socio-economic development information. The web site showed commitment by the government to improving the efficiency of the government apparatus and performance. Optimising the use of information resources will help the government achieve specific outcomes. “The site will help build greater trust from local residents in the government through promoting policy transparency and openness, as well as in clarifying the accountability of government agencies - the objectives of good governance,” said Giao. The site has a database of 20,000 pages and links to several sites, including: more than 30 ministries and agencies; 60 provinces and cities, including their geographic information systems; 20 large enterprises, both domestic and foreign-invested; and the web pages of foreign embassies based in Vietnam. There is also information on key national programmes, major national economic zones and industrial parks and export processing zones in Vietnam. The site will be available in English as of September once the site enters the second phase of its projects. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the public administration reform program, which started five years ago, still has not fixed problems in government transactions with citizens and enterprises. Most public administration procedures are illogical and are not of the most pressing importance to the government, which includes the Prime Minister and cabinet members. Giao said the government understands e-government is more about government than technology. That means that following the public administration reform agenda, the government has been working on improving efficiency, fighting corruption, better coordination among government organisations at all levels, streamlining administrative procedures, reducing red tape, institutional reform, and strengthening the capacity of human resource. “These are the conditions for e-government to be useful for the citizens,” Giao said. Source: http://english.vietnamnet.vn/tech/2006/01/533407/

Respectively Worth $679,000 and $664,000 HONG KONG, Feb. 16 /Xinhua-PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- China Expert Technology, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: CXTI - News), a company that specializes in providing large scale network infrastructure construction mainly for e-government projects for communities and municipal governments in China, has been awarded two e-government contracts respectively worth $679,000 and $664,000 for Jinjiang City and Dehua City, Fujian province to construct their 1st phase Unified Command System. The Unified Command System is aimed to link up the Police Department, Fire Department and Road Traffic Department respectively for these two cities. Under the contracts, CXTI will be responsible to provide system planning, hardware platform setting, software development and system installation. The Jinjiang project has been commenced in December 2005 and will be completed in March 2006. The Dehua project will be commenced in March 2006 and completed in July 2006. Mr. Huang Tao, Chairman of the Board of Directors of CXTI stated, ''In China, the public needs to dial 110 for police, 119 for fire and 122 for road accidents. The Ministry of Public Security has urged to set '110' to be a unified emergency number by the end of 2006 throughout China. The Unified Command System designed by CXTI helps to enhance public convenience and corporation among different departments so that the city government can response faster and more effectively to emergency calls. CXTI will vigorously explore and obtain more e-government related projects in other municipalities.'' About the e-government project: The e-government project is aimed to establish a national electronic government system, in which the existing and expecting government networks and applied systems can be combined to form united technology standard and regulation and consequently a united national government service platform. The term e-government is a process in which the government is able to take advantage of modern information and communication technologies to integrate the management and service on Internet, optimize and reform the government structures and working processes, and provide good and standard international administration and service to the society beyond time and space limit. About China Expert Technology, Inc: CHINA EXPERT TECHNOLOGY, INC. ("CXTI") is a company listed on the OTC BB in the USA (Trading Symbol: CXTI), with its subsidiaries (collectively the "Group") situated in Hong Kong and China. The Group is specialized in providing large-scale network infrastructure construction (mainly e-government projects) for communities and municipal governments in China. The Group also utilizes its network with experts from various universities in China to deploy business and IT consultancy services to corporations in Hong Kong and China. The Group's existing major clients includes municipal governments, government authorities and other technology firms in China. Its income is derived mainly from four areas, e-government, technology achievement appraisal, expert consultation and project database. Safe Harbor under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: The statements which are not historical facts contained in this press release are forward-looking statements that involve certain risks and uncertainties including but not limited to risks associated with the uncertainty of future financial results, regulatory approval processes, the impact of competitive products or pricing, technological changes, the effect of economic conditions and other uncertainties as may be detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. For more information, please contact: China Expert Technology, Inc. Phoebe Lam Tel: +852-2802-1555 Fax: +852-2583-9222 Email: investorrelation@chinaexpertnet.com Source: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060216/hkth004.html?.v=18

MUSCAT — This is the first example of the Sultanate’s policy to introduce e-governance, where people will conduct their entire businesses with a public institution, electronically. In the past, when students got their examination results, they and their parents had to undertake an expensive and time-consuming process to visit many institutions, fill in many application forms, and then had to wait sometimes for weeks, hoping to achieve their aims. In order to make the process much easier and less expensive, the Ministry of Higher Education has decided to centralise the procedures. Accordingly, the Higher Education Admission Centre (HEAC) has been set up to be responsible for the processing of all admissions, using a new computerised system. From April 1 until June 1, 2006, students will be able to apply for upto 20 programmes simply by submitting a single electronic application, from any computer which is connected to the Internet. The 20 choices may be taken from all the external or internal scholarships, as well as all the programmes of study available in all the public and private institutions in Oman. A minimum of six choices must be made. When applying for the 20 choices, applicants must put them in order of preference. This is very important because the basic aim of the system will be to offer each applicant the highest preference to which they are entitled. Centres which have suitable access to the Internet will be available at which applications may be submitted. Through the schools, HEAC will notify students about the nearest local centre at which they may submit their application. The purpose is to ensure that there will be no need for applicants to travel long distances or suffer great expense. Through the schools, HEAC will also distribute a student guidebook. This will provide all the details about the new system. In addition, the guidebook will also show the details of every scholarship and all the programmes which are available in all the institutions. This will include information about the entry requirements, programme content, etc. For the first time, therefore, in a single guidebook, applicants will be able to get details about all programmes, instead of having to contact each institution as in the past. Source: http://www.timesofoman.com/newsdetails.asp?newsid=25857&pn=local

The Ministry of Company Affairs is all set to implement its flagship e-Governance initiative known as MCA21 with the launch of the Pilot at Coimbatore on 18th February. It is the first flagship project of the Government of India to provide a comprehensive set of services to the stakeholders through an e-Governance mode. The Ministry has called upon all the existing and future Directors to immediately apply for allotment of Director Identification Number (DIN) and the professionals and company Directors required to sign the documents to be filed under the Companies Act, to procure Digital Signature Certificates (DSCs) as essential pre-requisites for e-filing. The Ministry has launched a new Portal www.mca.gov.in and all details have been placed on this website to assist the stakeholders in getting ready for e-filing. The MCA21 project implementation commenced with the signing of the contract with the selected operator M/s Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. on 01.03.2005. The project provided for an implementation period of 60 weeks and thereafter an operation period of 6 years. The project is being implemented as per schedule as it goes live across all the locations throughout the country by 24th April, 2006 marking the completion of 60 weeks. The Ministry, with the implementation of the project, seeks to support the Government’s vision of establishing a healthy business eco-system and reposition the Ministry of Company Affairs to fulfil the aspirations of its stakeholders in the globally competitive 21st Century environment. The project serves the interests of all its key stakeholders, primary being the Businesses and Corporates, by enabling them to have simple, hassle-free interaction on compliance matters. The MCA Portal will serve as a uniform, single point for filing all statutory returns. The Public in general will benefit through on-line access to public records. Similarly, the Financial Institutions will have the facility of easy registration and verification of charges from anywhere in the country. While the Employees of the Ministry will have an environment conducive to promote efficiency and effectiveness, the Government would be in a position to play its regulatory role through transparent means and effective compliance management. This project will cover all the services provided by the Registrar of Companies starting from the incorporation of a new company. The current scope covers all the nationwide offices of the Registrar of Companies and the four Regional Directorates besides the Secretariat at Delhi. The services, presently in the scope of Official Liquidators, are proposed to be taken up subsequently in an independent Second Phase. In order to provide significant value addition to the stakeholders, the corporate documents that are in paper form have been digitised and the same will be made available over the Internet to investors and public. This has been a very involved exercise and has taken significant effort and focus of the Ministry. The Ministry has adequately addressed the concerns of transition from a manual mode to e-Governance mode as the project provides for setting up of Facilitation Centres at 53 locations throughout the country where the stakeholders can visit and avail of the services made available at these centres for e-filing, scanning, etc. In addition, a Central Help Desk facility is being set up to address the problems faced by the stakeholders in switching over to the new system. “I look forward to a pro-active participation from the Industry, the Businesses, the Professionals and the Employees of the Ministry in making this initiative successful and seek their fullest cooperation in this venture”, the Minister said. Once implemented throughout the country, the project would enable delivery of services with speed, transparency and certainty to all the stakeholders for which performance level benchmarks have been clearly defined both for the Facilitation Centres as well as the Back Offices. The World Bank ranked India at the 77th position in its Doing Business in India Report 2005. The implementation of this programme should improve this ranking among the top ten. The project implementation team from the Ministry and the TCS have consulted the professionals and the industry representatives at various stages of the solution development so as to meet the expectations of various stakeholders and ensure the ease of transition. Five Banks, namely, the State Bank of India, the Punjab National Bank, the Indian Bank, the ICICI Bank and the HDFC Bank, are partners in the project with a network of 200 Branches throughout the country to accept payments for MCA services through multiple modes. The State Governments have been approached to authorize the Ministry of Company Affairs to generate the stamp papers electronically to address this outstanding issue and 11 States have already issued the requisite authorizations with another 8 States having responded positively on this account. The Ministry hopes to enlist the support of all the States and the Union Territories on this account by the project implementation completion date. Source: http://www.indiainfoline.com/news/news.asp?dat=75519