NIC Videoconferencing Services

Online Inauguration of Greater Ranchi, Ranchi University and Sports Complex by the Hon’ble Deputy Prime Minister Shri L.K.Advani remotely from the Morhabadi Ground, Ranchi - 15th November 2002
From NIC Ranchi Unit

On the auspicious occasion of the 2^nd Anniversary of Jharkhand State on 15^th November, 2002, Hon’ble Deputy Prime Minister, Shri L. K. Advani inaugurated three proposed sites namely Greater Ranchi at Sukurhutu, Ranchi University at Jamuari, Pithoria and Sports Complex at Kolhia Kanadu, Pithoria all located in Kanke Block at Ranchi. These locations are about 25 KMS from the main town. In order to lay on-line foundation stone by Hon’ble Dy. PM, National Informatics Centre, Jharkhand State Unit was entrusted with the task of establishing Video Conferencing facilities using SCPC DAMA VSATS at the above three remote sites.

The main function was organized at Morhabadi Ground located in the main town of Ranchi. This place was provided with NIC Video Conferencing facility using ISDN line. The Hon’ble Deputy Prime Minister addressed the three sites from the Morhabadi ground and subsequent upon his announcement of inauguration, the Hon’ble Minister, Building Development, Shri Sadhanu Bhagat at the Greater Ranchi Site, Hon’ble Minister of State, Human Resource, Shri Sudarshan Bhagat at the Ranchi University site and the Hon’ble Minister of State, Sports, Arts, Culture & Youth Affairs at the Sports Complex site unveiled the respective foundation stones in front of the officials and the huge crowd witnessing the great moments of the Technological Development of the state.

Dedication of Powergrid's HVDC Project to export Eastern Region Surplus power to Northern Region at low cost by Honourable Prime Minister Shri A.B.Vajpayee - 12th November 2002

Honourable Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated the Sasaram HVDC Back-to-Back project commissioned by Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd over Videoconferencing on 12th November 2002. Honourable Prime Minister was accompanied by Shri Anant G. Geete, Hon'ble Union Minister of Power and Smt. Jayawanti Mehta, Hon'ble Union Minister of State for Power.

Hon'ble Prime Minister Shri A.B.Vajpayee inaugurated the HVDC by pressing computer button which triggered the 500 MW HVDC BAck to Back Trasmission System located near Sasaram in the State of Bihar. This high technology project is going to play a vital role in feeding 500 MW of power-to-power deficit Northern Region on continuous basis.

At Sasaram, Powergrid Chairman Shri R.P.Singh along with Shri Shakeel Ahmed Khan, Hon'ble Energy Minister of Bihar and Hon'ble Energy Minister of UP Shri Ram Veer Upadhyay graced the occasion.

NIC has set up Portable VSAT and Videoconferencing at Sasaram and was connected over high speed satellite network of NICNET with Delhi.

Inauguration of Chattisgarh Land Record Computerisation Project - Live Coverage through Videoconferencing and DPC - 1st November 2002
From NIC Chattisgarh Unit

On the 1^st Nov’2002, the Chief Minister of Chattisgarh had inaugurated the Chattisgarh Land Records Computerization project named as ‘Bhuiya’. The required software was provided by the NIC, Chattisgarh state unit for the purpose. The project was simultaneously launched on pilot basis in 16 out of total 98 Tehsils of the state. The computer-generated Record of Rights (RORs) had been distributed to selected villagers by the Chief Minister on the occasion thus marking the beginning of project implementation. The entire inauguration ceremony which lasted around two and a half hours was attended by a host of Ministers, senior officers of Govt. of Chattisgarh, Director General of NIC, Officers of ISRO and other leading personalities of the State.

NIC had setup three video-conferencing equipments at Raipur, Marwahi (Tehsils of CM’s constituency) and Kondagaon (District Bastar) to enable live coverage of the inauguration. While the VC unit at Raipur was connected through three ISDN lines, the equipments at Marwahi and Kondagaon operated through makeshift V-SATs. The three sites were linked together and controlled through MCU of VC division at NIC HQ, New Delhi. At NIC HQ, the VC output was also fed to Direct-PC hub enabling broadcast of the coverage through DPC to all its nodes in the country. Throughout, the Videoconferencing had been uninterrupted and the reception quality was very good. According to the feedback received from various districts the audio and video received through DPC was also stable and excellent. The entire arrangement and performance of VC and DPC was equally appreciated by all those present in the function.

Honourable Minister for Sugar Cane Shri Fteh Bhadure's interaction with District Administration of 38 Districts in Uttar Pradesh - 1st November 2002
From NIC Lucknow Unit

Hon. Minister Sugar Cane Shri Fateh Bhadure along with Secretary Shri A. K. Bit & Shri Anant Kumar Singh, Cane Commissioner, UP held a videoconferencing session with 38 Districts of Uttar Pradesh on 1st November 2002. The Videoconferencing review was also attended by Finance Controller Cane Department, Dy. Cane Commissioner Lucknow, Joint Cane Commissioner UP, Dy, Can Commissioner (GAD), MD’s, District Cane Officer from Lucknow, Chief Engineer Cane Department, Dy. Cane Commissioner (Administration), Chief Publicity Officer Hq., Dy. Cane Commissioner (Sugar), Dy. Cane Commissioner (Purchase) of Computerization of Survey report, Progress of Ambedkar Village, Cooperative Society Budget, Mills repair work, Computerization of Mills etc. A 19 point agenda was discussed by Hon. Minister who sat through for almost 7 hours of conferencing.

During the session Commissioner talked to the Dy. Can Commissioner, District Can Officer & Managing Director’s of Sugar Factories & other Officials of respective District’s. Hon. Minister appreciated the Video Conferencing facility established by NIC in all the districts of Uttar Pradesh.

Inauguration of Optical Fibre Link of Powergrid between Mumbai - Lucknow by Honourable Prime Minister of Shri A.B.Vajpayee - 19th October 2002

Powergrid launched its Optical Fibre Link between Lucknow and Mumbai on 19th October 2002. The OFC link was inaugurated by Honourable Prime Minister Shri A.B.Vajpayee whoc was chairing the inaugural function from Raj Bhavan, Lucknow. The inauguration tooko place over videoconferencing by connecting Raj Bhavan, Lucknow with Mumbai and Delhi. At Mumbai Honourable Governor of Maharashtra and at Delhi Honourable Chief Minister of Delhi Smt. Sheila Dikhisit were present.

The Videoconferencing link was established over the Optical Fibre link of Powergrid and was conducted at 2 Mbps speed. This was the first time Videoconferencing was conducted using such a high bandwidth.

Videoconferencing Division provided the technical support to Powergrid in establishing the video link between the three places.

Inauguration of H.E.A.B.Vajpayee School of Excellence for Communication and Information Technology by Honourable Prime Minister Shri A.B.Vajpayee - 1st October 2002

Honourable Prime Minister Shri A.B.Vajpayee inaugurated the H.E. A.B.Vajpayee School of Excellence for Communication and Information Technology located in Ulanbator, Mongolia on 1st October 2002 over Videoconferencing.

The project envisaged setting up Computer Lab, Data Communication and Networking Lab, Server lab and Videoconferencing facility at H.E.A.B.Vajpayee School of Excellence for Communications and IT and setting up of IT Infrastructure at Community Information Centres located at 5 locations in Mongolia. The School will offer state of art facilities to the students. Distance Education programmes will also be conducted between India and Mongolia using the Videoconferencing system. Each CIC will have data communication and Internet facilities with client-server systems. The CIC will cater to the general public providing e-mail, Internet and propagation of computer awareness in the remote parts of Mongolia.

The project was implemented by NIC/NICSI under the guidance of Department of Information Technology, Government of India. An agreement has been signed between India and Mongolia for cooperation in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

Inauguration of Videoconferencing facility between Allahabad High Court and its Bench at Lucknow - 10th September 2002

Video Conferencing facility has been inaugurated by Hon'ble Mr. Justice Shyamal Kumar Sen, Chief Justice at Allahabad High Court and its Bench at Lucknow on 10th September 2002 at 5.00 p.m. On this occasion, the Chief Justice said that videoconferencing facilitywould be a great step forward in effective and time efficient judicial administration.

On this ocassion, Hon'ble Chief Justice had direct conversation with Justice Mr.Vishnu Sahai, Senior Judge, Lucknow Bench and addressed to other Hon'ble Judges present at Allahabad and Lucknow. The usefulness of VC facility in Courts was also highlighted by Hon'ble the Chief Justice. He also appreciated the efforts put in by National Informatics Centre in popularizing Videoconferencing in this field.

Gramin Shikhsya Abhiyan in Jharkhand Inaugurated by Honourable Prime Minister - 28th August 2002

Honourable Prime Minister Shri A.B.Vajpayee inaugurated Gramin Shikhsya Abhiyan in the State of Jharkhand over Videoconferencing on 28th August 2002 over Videoconferencing. A remote village of Jharkhand "Konjhari" was connected over NICNET for the conference. Honourable Chief Minister Shri Babu Lal Marandi along with his State Minister for Science & Technology and Education were present in the Konjhari village and interacted with Honourable Prime Minister.

Honourable Prime Minister dedicated the Gramin Shikhsya Abhiyan programme for the State of Jharkhand and interacted with the Children & teachers present in the village. Honourable Chief Minister of Jharkhand appreciated the effort put in by NIC.

A Mobile VSAT & Videoconferencing system was installed at Konjhari Village by NIC.

Honourable Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology Shri Pramod Mahajan dedicated VSAT-based Community Information Centre (CIC) projects in 487 blocks spread over 8 North - Eastern States including Sikkim. The project was taken up by the Department of IT and the Ministry of Communications and IT, is primarily aimed at bridging the digital divide and providing connectivity at the grassroots level, particularly in those areas where the benefits of development have not percolated down to the community.

The CIC's would provide an interface between the citizen and the government, provide connectivity through the NICNET, enable e-mail and web-browsing facilities, familiarize the use of computers among children and generate employment.

The establishment of the CICs constitutes a tremendously challenging task in view of the remoteness of the area and the difficult mountainous terrain. In a region where good communication is lacking, satellite based links to the world outside will usher in a revolution in socio-economic development.

The inaugural ceremony was uplinked live by NIC over the CIC network and the audio video was received by the CIC centres located in the remote areas of North - Eastern States. The Digital Video Broadcasting setup was installed by NIC Videoconferencing division at the location.

Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inaugurated Videoconferencing network between its four other offices which includes, CBI-Kolkatta, CBI-Mumbai, CBI-Chennai and CBI Academy, Ghaziabad respectively on 9th August 2002. Shri Pramod Mahajan, Honourable Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Government of India presided over the function from CBI-Hqrs, Delhi and inaugurated the videoconferencing network.

Honourable IT Minister emphasized the need for Videoconferencing for the premier investigating agency of India which will enable faster communication between the regional offices of CBI with the headquarter will eventually help CBI to dispose pending cases as quickly as possible. The CBI officials at these three locations can now interact with Director, CBI Shri P.C.Sharma without coming over to Delhi thus saving a lot of expenses for the organisation. Honourable Minister also interacted with the remote locations over videoconferencing. The inaugural function was also attended by Secy, DIT.

NIC/NICSI has implemented the project using SCPC DAMA VSATs technology at a record time of two months. CBI-Director, Shri P.C.Sharma thanked and appreciated the efforts put in by NIC/NICSI in providing the communication facility at such a short time. In the second phase 10 more locations of CBI will be provided with the communication facility to enable data to be sent to the central server located in CBI headquarters in Delhi from the branch offices.

Conference Between Commissioners and Secretary's of Different Department of Orissa State Government - 27th July 2002
From NIC BBSR Unit

Another successful Video Conferencing session was held on 27-July-2002. This is the longest session of Video Conferencing ever held in CM Office, Orissa. The duration was from 11 AM to 2-15 PM & then 3:30 PM to 6:30 PM. The conference was extremely successful. The Members like Agricultural. Prod. Commr, Secy. Agril, Secy, Water Resources, Secy, Revenue, Spl. Relief Commr. & Development Commr. all were satisfied with today's session with all the Collectors of the State. The discussion was relating to Drought situation in Orissa.

Inauguration of "YUGVEENA" library and community Hall at Bareilley - 11th July 2002
From NIC Bareilley Unit

Mr. Ram Naik, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, GOI inaugurated "YUGVEENA" Library and Community hall at Bareilly Cantonment, Bareilly on 11/07/2002 in the presence of Mr. Santosh Gangwar, Minister of State of Petroleum & Natural Gas and Mr. C.L. Gupta , Minster of State for Defence.

NIC has organised a V.C. Session on this occasion. Mr. Santosh Gangwar has communicated Dr. N. Vijayaditya, DG NIC & Mr. Ragesh Gera, TD , VC Group for about half an hour. Brij. B.S. Chaudhary & Ms. Bhawana Singh, Chief Executive Officer, Bareilly Cantonment Board also participated in the V.C. Session. All the participants has highly appreciated the efforts of NIC officails for the conduction of the VC.

The Videoconferencing session was conducted over ISDN lines between Bareilley and New Delhi.

Honourable Chief Minister of Orissa Shri Naveen Pattnaik meets District Administration of Sambalpur District - 3rd July 2002
From NIC BBSR Unit

Another successful feather added to the Cap of Video Conferencing Team. Video Conferencing was held on 3rd-Jul-2002 between Hon'ble Chief Minister, Orissa along with his Officials (Total 8 in No.) with District Collector, Sambalpur. In Sambalpur 4(Four) other Collectors were also present from adjacent Dists. The discussion was about the implementation of PM Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSRY) & CRF (Central Road Fund).

The meeting lasted for about an hour. The Conference was very successful without any problem. The Video & Audio quality was really praiseworthy. This boosted several other Officers, who enquired about the Technology, Cost Factor etc. Some Officers even opted for VC, instead of going to Delhi to hold meetings with different Ministries. All are quite impressed with the success of the VC.

Inauguration of Himachal Pradesh Videoconferencing Network - 2nd July 2002
From NIC Himachal Pradesh

Videoconferencing was inaugurated by Hon’ble Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Shri Prem Kumar Dhumal on 2^nd July 2002 from NIC Dharamshala District Kangra. Honourable CM interacted with with Shimla and Mandi District as well over videoconferencing. Hon'ble CM interacted with the Mr. Harsh Gupta, IAS, Chief Secretary of Himachal Pradesh in Shimla and cleared some of his files from Dharamshala itself and instructed the Chief Secretary to follow accordingly. Chief Minister of HP Inaugurating VC

Hon'ble CM said that VC will remove the barrier of geography in doing business and it will also cut the travel cost. He said that "I’ll try to extend this service in all the districts of Himachal Pradesh so that projects can be reviewed from Shimla itself and one can interact face-to-face with the respective Deputy Commissioners to review the projects."

He said Govt. has given the clearance for setting up separate 1^st IT University in Himachal Pradesh on 01-07-2002 . He said that now citizens grievances can be solved through this system.

Before the Video Conferencing inauguration he inaugurated the 1^st e-Governance Centre in Himachal Pradesh established with the help of District Administration and NIC Himachal Pradesh. Hon’ble CM presented the Driving License, Vehicle Registration Certificate, Land Deed Registration to the citizens.

Chief Secretary, Government of Orissa meets District Administration of Koraput Districts - 27th June 2002

The Video conferencing between Chief Minister Office, Orissa & Collector, Koraput was held on 27th June at 6 P.M. Four Collectors( Collector - Koraput, Collector - Nowrangpur, Collector - Rayagada & Collector - Malkangiri) were present during the conference along with their PD, DRDA's. Superintendent Engineers and Executive Engineer's of rural development and Rural works. Chief Secretary present in the CMO office reviewed the Officials present at Koraput.

The VC session was lasted for 1 (one) Hour. The Videoconferencing was held at 384 Kbps speed and was a grat success. All the participants present in the conference were immensely impressed with the quality of audio/video during the conference.

Honourable Chief Minister of Orissa Shri Naveen Pattnaik meets Collectors - 3rd June 2002

This started at 5:45 PM & ended at 7:00 PM. Common people from the dist. of Sambalpur also participated in the discussion of "Mission Shakti" programme. The Chief Minister appreciated the efforts of NIC for the purpose & Addl. Secy. to CM also thanked NIC for their efforts. One Senior Officer commented this as another page added in E-Governance.

Inauguration of Rajasthan Videoconferencing by Hon'ble Chief Minister - 20th June 2002

Shri Ashok Gehlot, Chief Minister Rajasthan Inaugrated the Multi site Video Conferencing at NIC Jodhpur on 20-6-2002. V.C. held among sites Raipur Chhatisgarh, NIC Jaipur, NIC New Delhi & NIC Chandigarh. During this session he talked to Sh. Mahendra Karma, Min. of I.T. & Industries Chattisgarg, Sh. R.K. Nair, Addl. Chief Secretary, Rajasthan & other senior officers. At the time of Videoconferencing, in Jodhpur Studio many leading politicians & officers were present including Sh. Man Singh Deora, Chairman R.H.B., Sh. Rajendra Singh Solanki, Sec. UIT, Sh. Jugal Kabra, MLA, Sh. Rajat Kumar Mishra, Distt. Collector, Sh. Manohar Kant, Div. Comm., Dr. Bhupendra Singh, DIG ACB, Sh. Bhupendra Kumar Dak SP (City), Sh. Govind Narain, SP (Rural) Jodhpur. The session was lasted 20 minuites and completed Successfully. The response was very good. All present officials were happy to have such interaction and appreciated the NIC's efforts.

Honourable Chief Minister of Bihar Inaugurates BIEC Web site - 8th June 2002

Hon'ble Chief Minister of Bihar Smt. Rabri Devi inaugurated BIEC web site and Intermediate Result Declaration from her residence on 8th June, 2002. Others dignitaries presents were Shri Laloo Prasad Yadav, The Chief Secretary, IT implementation in Education Sector, Vice Chairman BIEC, President RJD, Minister Education. DG ( NIC ) participated the inaugural function through video conference from Delhi His speech highlighted the IT implementation in Education Sector. The conference was connected over ISDN lines using a speed of 384 Kbps.

Honourable Chief Minister of Orissa Shri Naveen Pattnaik meets Collectors - 3rd June 2002

Honourbale Chief Minister of Orissa Shri Naveen Pattnaik hold a videoconferencing 3rd June by interacting with Collectors of Balangir, Boudh, Sonepur and Nuwapara respectively. The conference was successful and appreciated by all the participants including Hon'ble Chief Minister who has asked the State Government officials to utilise the facility of conference provided by NIC to bridge the distance gap between the State Government and the District Administration.

Secretary, DIT, Chaired a review meeting of the CIC Project at Kolkata on June 5, 2002. The conference was attended by all the IT Secretaries of the 8 North Eastern States. The meeting venue was also connected over Videoconferencing with NIC VC centres at all the eight NE State Centres to enable the SIO's and other State Government officials who were not able to travel to Kolkata. The meeting lasted for more than 3 hours. Secretary (DIT) along with DG, NIC and other dignitaries were present in the conference.

Honourable Chief Minister of Orissa Shri Naveen Pattnaik meets common people - 30th May 2002

The Video-Conferencing between the Hon'ble Chief Minister, Orissa and the Dist. Collector, Koraput held on 30-May-2002 at 12 Noon was really a great success. This lasted for 1Hr 20 Minutes. The great thing was that Hon'ble Chief Minister, Orissa talked directly with the common people at Koraput. He took more time with the common people than the Collector, Koraput.

The Hon'ble Chief Minister, Orissa is immensely impressed with today's VC performance. He took some on-line decision there. He also directed then & there to the higher officers for immediate upgradation of the VC studio and thanked NIC for the same.

Orissa Videoconferencing inaugurated by Honourable Shri Pramod Mahajan, Minister of Communications and Information Technology and Honourable Chief Minister of Orissa Shri Naveen Pattnaik - 22nd May 2002
From NIC BBSR Unit

Honourable CM of Orissa Shri Naveen Pattnaik inaugurated the SCPC DAMA VSAT based Videoconferencing network in Orissa in 7 districts on 22nd May 2002. Honourable Shri Pramod Mahajan, Minister of Communications and Information Technology also participated in the conference from Delhi. The conference lasted for half an hour. The Videoconferencing was inaugurated in Kalahandi, Balangir, Koraput, Cuttack, Sambalpur, Berhampur districts and CMO, Bhubaneswar. Some of the feedback received are enclosed below -

"Yes, it was a good show and we must appreciate the effort of the VC Division as well as all our DIOs, and Mr. Gera, Mr. Patra and Mr. Malay Pattnaik. I congratulate all of you for this success."

Shefali Dash
Dr. Shefali Dash
Senior Technical Director
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The VC session with Hon'ble Union Minister, Communication & Information Technology and Hon'ble Chief Minister, Orissa went off fine without any problem. This lasted for nearly 15 minutes.

Hon'ble Chief Minister and his Officers (Secretary and Addl. Secy.) were really impressed and praised the success. They are looking forward for such type of more VC sessions in future.

Hon'ble Chief Minister discussed the official activities with the Collectors of the concerned districts. for more than One Hour without any interruption.

Congratulations to all the members.

Regards,

Malay Patnaik
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The inguration of VC system went very fine . The following is the opinion given by Collector Ganjam .

" This makes me feel that we are in 21st Century . Our direct interaction is very very useful with senior officials in presence of Hon'ble C.M . Many problems which can't be expressed individually can be said collectively . I hope this goes on . In fact all Blocks should have this facility of communication . I hope NIC goes ahead with such modern communication methods in future "

Sd\-
( Sanjeev Mishra , IAS )
Collector ,
Ganjam
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During the video conferencing of the inaguration of VC, every thing went very smoothly .
Three Collectors ( Cuttack, Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur) have participated in the
conferencing from VC studio, NIC, Cuttack .

Regards,

Mamata Khamari,
DIO, Cuttack

Following are the opinions given by the Collectors.

1. "This is a very versatile facility and of immence use in close monitoring."
Sd/- 07.05.2002
(Collector, Kendrapara)

2."The conference was excellently arranged."
Sd/-07.05.2002
(Collector, Jagatsinghpur)

3."This world class facility is the first step towards e-governance."
Sd/-07.05.2002
(Collector, Cuttack)
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Mr. Harak Singh Rawat, Cabinet Minister of Revenue and Disaster Mitigation and Management of Uttaranchal Government, from NIC - USU Secretariat, Dehradun, chaired the VC Session. He had a brief discussion with Commissioner and DM of Nainital Commissionaires.

The session was attended by Principal Secretary Revenue Mr. S.K. Das, Additional Secretary Mr. Sohan Lal at Dehradun and Mr. Rakesh Sharma Commissioner Kumaun Division and Mr. Amit Ghosh, DM Nainital at Nainital. In addition to this a number of persons from press and media were also present.

Meeting of Commissioner and Collectors with Chief Minister of Chattisgarh - 20th May 2002
From NIC-Raipur Cell

A meeting of all Commissioners and Collectors of the Chattisgarh State through Videoconferencing has been organized from the NIC, CGSU VC center on 20.05.2002. The Hon'ble Chief Minister Mr. Ajit Jogi has reviewed various precautionary measures being taken by the administration of all districts to ensure protection of the Paddy in view of the ensuing monsoon and issued suitable instructions regarding this.

The VC, which was through MCU Delhi, lasted for two and a half hours from 12.00 AM. The participating officers present at Bilaspur, Bastar and Raipur interacted with CM (at NIC, Raipur VC centre). The VC session was well coordinated throughout and concluded uninterrupted.

Board of Revenue, Government of Uttar Pradesh Videoconferencing Session - 13th May 2002
From NIC-Lucknow Cell

It is to inform you that Shri S. N. Shukla Member, Board of revenue held a Video Conferencing from Yojana Bhawan Videoconferencing Studio on 13/5/2002 from 4.00 PM to 6.00 PM. During this session he talked to Commissioners, DM's of Meerut, Saharanpur, Barielly, Moradabad, Agra, Kanpur, Jhansi, Banda(Chitrakoot Dham) Division. Through Video Conferencing, Mr Shukla monitor the progress of main & misc, electricity,trade Tax, Irrigation, Revenue Collection etc recovery. At the time of videoconferencing, Secretary (BOR) & other officials were present. The session was lasted two hours and completed
Successfully. All present officials were happy with the Videoconferencing facility.

Inauguration of IT Setup at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kabul, Government of Afghanistan has gone very well. Around 50 participants were present in this event, in which 35 were Media persons.

Inauguration was done by H.E. Minister of Foreign Affairs, Interim Administration of Afghanistan. Ambassador of India Mr. Vivek Katzu was also present in this occasion. Hon'ble Foreign Minister received one mail from yahoo account, which is sent by Director General, Information Technology and also surfed the Internet. He also told that speed is very good.

Hon'ble Minister told in the press conference that we flown together on 29th April, 2002 and NIC team met him in the plane itself and conveyed about this project. He himself hardly accept that Afghan will be connected through Internet in such a short period of time with the hard work of NIC team members.

Hon'ble Minister has appreciated the efforts made by NIC team. He expressed his valuable thanks to all the team members including Ambassador of India and courtesy extended by Government of India.

H.E. Governor of Uttar Pradesh holds Videoconferencing to review the 5 Point Programme - 24th April 2002
From NIC-Lucknow Cell

H.E. Governor of Uttar Pradesh, his Advisors, Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary and other Secretaries held a Videoconferencing on 24th April 2002 to review the progress of 5 point (like Power, Water, Purchase of Wheat Etc.) with the Commissioner and District Magistrate of all the districts of Uttar Pradesh.

Feedback received from State Informatics Officer, NIC, Uttar Pradesh Shri S.B.Singh after successful completion of the conference is worth mentioning -

"I would like to congratulate all the Group Members of VC Division (NIC HQs.) and my DIOs/DIAs for making untiring efforts to make the event a grand success. It was a rarest occasion for us where His Excellency The Governor of U.P., his Advisors, Chief Secretary, Principal Secretary and all the Secretaries to the Governor and senior bureaucrats of the state participated in the Video Conference.

On successful completion of the conference, His Excellency made a very encouraging remark in the Visitor's Book and wished such a technological revolution by NIC will go a long way in promoting e-Governance in the state.

He wrote - "Video baithak ne prashasan ko chust karne ke kaam mai bahut acchha yogdaan diya hai. Meri mangal kaamnaa hai ki iski prabhvishnuta nirantar barhti rahe."

The VC continued successfully for two and a half hours continuous. During the session the H.E.'s message broadcast was followed by interactions with District Magistrates/ IG/DIG/SSP of at least 30 districts.

Once again, I would like to congratulate all our DIOs/DIAs in particular for extending their full cooperation during the trial run and the actual VC. The support extended by the VC Division of NIC HQs is indeed laudable. It is because of their efforts that the program went on smoothly in spite of the frequent last moment changes in the schedule during the VC. They
deserve our sincere appreciation.

We wish similar opportunities come our way to let us serve the society better."

Videoconferencing Session with All Commissioner's of Uttar Pradesh - 1st April 2002
From NIC-Lucknow Cell

Mr. S. N. Shukla, Senior IAS, Member, Board of Revenue, UP held a Video Conferencing from Yojana Bhawan Videoconferencing Studio on 1/4/2002 from 4.00 to 6.00 PM. & on 2/4/2002 from 4.00 PM to 6.30 PM. During these session he talked to all commissioner's of UP. Through Video Conferencing, Mr Shukla monitored Revenue collection,
main & misc. dues. At the time of videoconferencing, Secretary (Revenue) and other
officials were present. The session was lasted approximate five hours and completed
Successfully. All present officials were happy with the Videoconferencing facility.

The video-press conference between PIB Hqs. and NIC studios at Chennai,
Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Bhopal and Guwahati was held on 28th Feb between
4.00 PM and 6.00 PM. Media persons assembled in respective locations participated
and interacted with the panel comprising Finance Secy, Revenue Secy,
Economic Advisor to FM, PIO, Chairman CBDT, Chairman CBEC and AS (Budget).

The conference was successful. PIO and the panelists appreciated the efforts
of NIC.

The VIDCON Division at NIC Hq. and NIC officers in the State Units at
Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Bhopal and Guwahati worked in tandem to
make the event a success.

PIO has thanked NIC for the event.