Achievements

i) Completed a comprehensive system study on various aspects of local government functioning.

a. The seven volumes of system study manual were later approved by the Director of Panchayats as their official operations manual.

b. The first volume of the system study manual was accepted by the State Planning Board as the official training manual on decentralised planning process as early as 2000.

c. The system study manual of IKM has become the background material for several publications of KILA and Cap Deck. details>

ii) Developed ninety-six versions of standalone application software modules (details>) forming part of twelve application suites for various aspects of LSGI functioning, the development being tried out and improved using Barry Boehm's Spiral model of Software Development and Enhancement.

iii) Published the first text book on Computer fundamentals in Malayalam.

iv) Published thirteen Manuals, three Exercise Books, one FAQ and two general training materials on various aspects of application use and deployment (details>) .

v) Trained 2971 persons in various aspects of computer use, application handling, deployment and implementation. Another 12,807 persons were given orientation or involved in various workshops conducted by IKM (details>).

vi) Compiled databases on various aspects of plan implementation, local body functioning and ICT development in the state during the last several years (details>).

vii) Developed several methodologies of ICT applications in the context of a developing country, some of which are of general interest whereas others are context specific(details>).

viii) Established web sites for 1215 local self government institutions comprising local level statistics, maps and several other aspects of demography, polity, administration and resource management (http://www.localgovkerala.net.).

ix) Pilots going on in 145 grama panchayats, three Municipalities, five Corporations (details>).

x) Pilots running in the four Corporations for the last eighteen months have by now handled more than 16 lakh transactions amounting to more than Rs.87 crore. Premises mapping exercise launched in the Corporations as part of the second phase of implementation in two of these locations would greatly enhance the tax collection of the Corporations.

xi) Site readiness ensured in 528 local bodies and pursued in 687.

xii) District level pilot for integrated monitoring, DPC strengthening and provision for block level helpdesks ongoing.

xiii) District level pilots for Sevana rollout initiated in two districts and is about to be initiated in one more district.

xiv) Janasevana Kendrams established in 12 locations, due to be initiated in 3 more locations.

xv) State level cadastral system being established.

xvi) Brought out 13 publications on various aspects of LSGI functioning. xvii) Handled all aspects of plan processes including logistic support for finalising guidelines, G/N proforma, expenditure reporting; publishing, printing, distribution and collection of plan formulation and expenditure details in all the 1215 LSGIs during the tenth five year plan, data-entry of these plan formulation and expenditure details (details>).

xviii) Handling various aspects of reforms in property tax, accounting including preparation of draft act, rules, manuals etc.

xix) Continued support to the Kerala Development Program, Decentralisation Support Program (LSG component) and Modernising Government Programme (LSG component) and Service Delivery project (LSG Component) including preparation of documents, proposals, IEC material etc.

xx) Initiated computerisation of Provident Fund of employees in Panchayats.

xxi) Launched the most extensive computerisation programme using Indian Languages:

a. Initiated discussions with Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) for finalising and resolving the problems with the Malayalam fonts, especially those for web-based applications and Indian language for application controls

b. IKM has developed a number of applications in multilingual interface including Malayalam, Kannada and Tamil

c. Initiated pioneering work on Malayalam OCR

d. OCR for handwritten numerals has also been developed and is undergoing finalisation. This would have a tremendous impact on the digitisation of accounts data in LSGIs.

xxii) Worked out a detailed programme for ICT dissemination through social animators and was involved in the orientation, training and monitoring social animators in each local body in Malappuram district as part of the Akshaya project and is also the programme management agency in the Akshaya state level rollout. These are in addition to the computerisation of election results during the Panchayat-Nagarpalika elections 2000, identification training and positioning of Data Mechanic Trainees, Master Trainers, Technical Asistants and Mission Co-ordinators in all the 1215 local bodies, Plan consolidation exercises during the ninth five year plan and various other technical support activities for the peoples plan campaign cell including preparation of micro watershed maps for the entire state.

Considering the accomplishments of IKM, organisations like ITU and MIT, Government of India have made the following recommendations:

i) The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the apex body for ICTs in the United Nations, has short listed the IKM initiatives as one of the most promising initiatives across the globe (http://www.itu.int/itunews/issue/2003/06/government.html

http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/wsis-themes/ict_stories/Informationkeralamissioncasestudy.html)

ii) Based on the studies conducted by the Ministry of Information Technology, Government of India, has signed an MoU with the Government of Kerala for technical assistance in e-governance, in which IKM is mentioned as one specific project