Mission Mode Projects Research Articles

Promoting Millets Production for Ensuring Food and Nutrient Security in Tamil Nadu

Millets offer significant advantages in terms of production and consumption. They have a lower water requirement compared to other crops and are resilient in nature. Furthermore, when positioned correctly in the market, millets can yield higher returns even in their raw form. Additionally, millets are packed with nutrients, surpassing those found in traditional grains. Millets have been a traditional food, nutritive and by processing it could be made preferable to consumers of all age groups. Livestock feed has greatly benefited from this material. Therefore, it is imperative to prioritize research and development in the areas of production, processing, and value chain management. Over the course of a century's worth of dedicated research and development efforts, TNAU has successfully introduced 5 high-yielding hybrids and 33 varieties in sorghum, 10 high-yielding hybrids and 9 varieties in pearl millet, as well as 15 varieties in finger millet and 21 varieties in small millets. State and Central Governments have also initiated various mission mode projects since last 10 years for promotion of millets among farmers and consumers. Millet product processing interventions are focused on improving nutritional value, convenience and shelflife. New extruded products (vermicelli and noodles), flakes, savory snacks, nutrition bars, cookies, etc. are being developed to attract youth. Raising awareness of the health and nutritional benefits of millet products is imperative for India, which has substantial youth population. Thus promoting millets will enable better returns to farmers and also ensure nutritive food for the people.

Vulnerability of Construction Workers During COVID-19: Tracking Welfare Responses and Challenges.

This paper takes stock of the cash assistance provided by the government to construction workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the role of the state construction welfare board has been crucial, some existing issues related to boards and challenges emerged during the crisis have also been discussed. Results show that cash benefit through direct benefit transfer has partially helped workers to overcome their financial distress, but 65% workers did not receive any benefit due to various issues related to registration and seeding of bank accounts with Aadhar. Sluggish process of registration has been a major issue which is being addressed by different mechanisms, but results would be known later. Proper cess collection and its utilisation is still an important issue as 61% of the cess collected in 2019 was not utilised. Even during the crisis, 15% cess was used at most in direct benefit transfer and in-kind (food distribution) support. Majority of the states are running a number of welfare schemes, but the coverage is poor despite proper guidelines set under the Model Welfare Framework of the Ministry of Labour and Employment. The objectives of Mission Mode Projects are appreciable, but the outcomes are not known even after the completion of deadlines. Above all, the emerging issues of maintaining health and hygiene at worksite and living place and getting vaccinated are major challenges for the sustainability of the construction sector. Hence, a collective effort of the government, employers, and workers’ organisations is the need of the hour.

Impact of Soil Rejuvenating Scheme on Income of Cotton Farmers – An Evidence from Kalaburagi District of Karnataka

Rainfed areas are not only thirsty but also hungry for nutrients and are hotspots of poverty, malnutrition, and degradation of natural resources. Looking into these aspects, the Government of Karnataka has implemented a mission mode project called “Bhoochetana” meaning “reviving the soils” to benefit dryland farmers for sustainable use of natural resources in Karnataka. This scheme aimed at enhancing the yield level of major dryland crops through integrated crop management (ICM) practices. The study has been conducted in the Kalaburagi District of Karnataka State, where the majority of the area under agriculture is rainfed and cotton is one of the major rainfed crops grown on a large scale. The study revealed that the yield of the main product from cotton production for Bhoochetana beneficiary farmers was higher with 23.18 quintals per hectare compared to non-beneficiary farmers with 21.36 quintals. The results of partial budgeting showed that, a net gain of ₹ 4660 per hectare was obtained by Bhoochetana scheme beneficiaries over non-beneficiary farmers. The study highlighted that, there is a positive significant effect of the scheme on the production of cotton. Therefore, the policies must focus on long-term soil, water, and other natural resource conservation practices to achieve sustainability in agriculture.

Precast Concrete Sandwich Panels for Mass Housing Systems: Plan and Design Strength Requirements

Ambitious mission mode project ‘Affordable Housing for All’ proposed by the Government of India requires an innovative technology for speedy construction of cost-effective residential housing systems. Precast concrete sandwich panels with reinforced concrete wythes, expanded polystyrene core and truss shear connectors can be considered as a suitable alternative to conventional brick masonry walls and reinforced concrete floors. In this paper, a typical plan for mass housing systems is arrived and concrete sandwich panels are proposed to be used in the mass housing systems. In the proposed housing plan, the dimension of each room was selected based on length and width of the concrete sandwich panels (achieving dimensional co-ordination). The design strength of concrete sandwich panels is obtained from the experimental studies available in the literature and compared with actual loading effects on the mass housing system with the proposed plan. The study shows that concrete sandwich panels can be used for acting as load bearing walls and floors in housing systems. The study also indicates that dead weight of the housing systems could be reduced significantly by using concrete sandwich panels. Further experimental and analytical studies are required for assessing the structural behavior of the housing systems with concrete sandwich panels under lateral loads.

Means to Classify the R&D Projects on the Criticality Dimensions

The evaluation of the complexity of research and development (R&D) projects is critical for the successful management of projects. In Defence, R&D projects could be classified as mission mode (MM) projects, technology development (TD) projects, science and technology (S&T) projects, infrastructure facilities (IF) projects, and product support (PS) projects. This study is focused on the assessment of the complexity in the five categories of the R&D projects, and it is based on the survey (with about 179 respondents) undertaken by considering about 40 attributes. The purpose of this exercise is to rank the five types of projects based on their complexity. A series of algorithms such as K-means clustering, analytic hierarchy process, modified TOPSIS method, and Henry Garrett ranking technique were applied to arrive at the results. Thus, a scenario analysis framework in terms of different methods is portrayed to select the appropriate ranking of the critical project.

Service quality perception: A study of common service centers operating in rural areas

Maharashtra Government has implemented e-Governance project in the various government offices to improve the delivery of government services in transparent manner. Amongst the various projects Maha e-Seva Kendra project has been started to provide the services such as various online certificates to the people residing in Maharashtra. Maha e-Seva project is implemented in urban as well as in rural areas under the Revenue Department as a Mission Mode Project of National e-Governance Plan to provide the government services more efficiently to the citizens. So there is a need to assess the efficiency of the implemented project in terms of citizen’s satisfaction and service quality. The present research study is conducted in the rural parts of Kolhapur district. Perception of citizens regarding service quality of Common Service Centers operating in rural areas is assessed by using SERVQUAL Model. The study deals with the facilities and services provided by the Common Service Centers. Keywords: Service quality, SERVQUAL, Maha e- Seva Kendra, Common service centers, e-Governance.

Study of e-governance in India: a survey

E-governance is the process of delivering public services to citizens through the info. + communication tech. with reliability, transparency, efficiency without breaking the concept of cost-effectiveness. Governance can be felt omnipresent (24 × 7, globally). This work explores the growth and development of e-governance in India. Though the concept of e-governance was started in the eighth decade of the 20th century, it entered a second phase (organised/wireless + satellite) in India with NeGP-1.0 in 2006. In the beginning, existing manual processes were computerised without changing the original manual data acquisition, etc. We can say that the existing manual process was made workable on the computer. It was felt that, shall it not be better to introduce digitisation at the very early stage (grass root level of governance)? This idea took the shape of Digital India, in 2014. The translation converted to transformation. We also explore the implementation of e-governance projects. Various Indian states have implemented many mission mode projects successfully. It shall empower citizens by permitting seamless access to the government services. There are some difficulties and obstacles in e-governance implementation. This study is an effort to identify them.

Reply: Prevalence of hypertension and prehypertension in schoolchildren from Central India.

Sir, We thank commenter(s) for taking interest in our study titled “Prevalence of hypertension and prehypertension in schoolchildren from Central India” Published in the May–August 2019 issue of the journal.[1] Our study was conducted as part of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Jai Vigyan mission mode project on “community control of rheumatic fever/rheumatic heart disease” (2007–2014). We used the “Fourth Report on the Diagnosis, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure in Children and Adolescents” published in 2004 because it was the only reference standard available till 2017 when we conducted the study.[2] The study of Sayeemuddin et al. referred by the commenter(s) was also based on the same reference standard.[3] To the best of our knowledge, the study of Sayeemuddin et al., from a single center, based on selected group of children from higher social strata, without any multivariate analysis, has not formed a basis for creating Indian pediatric population blood pressure reference centile curves.[3] We have included children from different socioeconomic backgrounds in our study to take care of possible variation in blood pressure that might occur based on nutritional, ethnic, and socioeconomic variables that has been referred by the commenter(s). Financial support and sponsorship The present study was conducted as part of Jai Vigyan Mission mode project on “Community Control of Rheumatic fever/Rheumatic Heart Disease” and funded by the ICMR, New Delhi, India. Conflicts of interest There are no conflicts of interest. Acknowledgment We acknowledge the valuable guidance from late Professor R. Tandon for designing and conducting the study.

Empirical Attenuation relationship for Peak Ground Horizontal Acceleration for North-East Himalaya

Empirical Attenuation relationship for Peak Ground Horizontal Acceleration for North-East Himalaya

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY):A Step towards Eradicating Financial Untouchability

Financial untouchability is a phenomenon that results from certain situations that prevents people to access formal financial systems. In the absence of a formal financial system, people are forced to go to local money lenders who charge exorbitant interest rates from poor people. Financial untouchability also creates the problem of social discrimination. The only solution to fight with the evil of financial untouchability is promotion of financial inclusion, which may be defined as the process of ensuring access to financial services and timely and adequate credit where needed by vulnerable groups such as weaker sections and low income groups at an affordable cost. Financial inclusion can be achieved by ensuring access to financial services, affordability of services, and actual utilization of financial services. In order to promote financial inclusion, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) was launched across the country. It is a mission mode project of the Government of India. The scheme aims to ensure universal access to banking facilities in each and every household of the country. The scheme has provision of opening a zero balance account with free debit card and inbuilt accidental insurance. It also includes program of financial literacy, access to credit, and insurance facility. The present study made an attempt to study the effectiveness of PMJDY by analyzing the effectiveness of the financial literacy program and awareness towards PMJDY. The study was carried out among workers in working in Central University of Rajasthan and villagers of Bandrasindri village in Ajmer district of Rajasthan. The primary data was gathered in the form of discussions held with respondents in 2015. The secondary data were collected from various published and non-published sources. The findings of study showed that still, there is a long path which needs to be covered to eradicate financial untouchability in a real sense from our country.

E-Readiness of India with Reference to National e-Governance Plan

days, Indian Government is coming up with the formula of 'minimum government and maximum governance'. This means providing a citizen centric and transparent but fast and simple governance which is only possible through the extensive use of information technology and leveraging digital government. In this direction, India has been harnessing the benefits of ICTs through their intensive program of National e-Governance Plan in 2006 with its 27 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs). The present paper is an attempt to evaluate India's e-readiness through different world class reports and indexes, and compare the status with the world leader to find out the areas of concern as the obstacles and challenges for being e-ready. The paper further describes the initiatives taken by the govt. of India to overcome these issues. Keywords-Readiness, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), e-Governance.

Electronic government procurement implementation in India: a cross sectional study

In the recent past, electronic procurement has drawn lots of attention in India due to its potential of bringing transparency and efficiency in public purchases. The Government of India launched National E-Government Plan in 2006 with e-procurement as integrated Mission Mode Project. The purpose of this paper is to assess the status of e-procurement implementation in India for government procurements. The paper delves into the co-relation between e-procurement system utilisation and e-readiness level of each state government and union territory in India. The research entailed census survey which was complemented by qualitative case studies and analysis of data hosted on e-procurement portals. The study brings out that there is significant co-relation between e-readiness level and utilisation of e-procurement system by a state. Barring few states where top leadership support has been a key factor behind success of e-procurement implementation in remaining states the system is under-utilised.

A Study of Seismograph Setup in Schools to Educate and Awareness Programme for Students

Satish Saha*, R Vijaya Raghavan, ANS Sarma, G Suresh, A Sateesh, PR Jitendar and D Srinagesh CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Uppal Road, Hyderabad-500007, India _____________________________________________________________________________ Abstract: In this article efforts have been made to describe how education and awareness programme on seismograph setup helps the school students to learn more about the occurrence of earthquakes and safety measures to be adopted during the earthquake. Soon after the Bhuj earthquake of January 26, 2001, a mission mode project in seismology was initiated by the Government of India with a view to create new scientific and technology (S&T) base and appropriate human resources for mitigating the adverse impact of earthquake hazard. Ministry of Earthquake Sciences (MoES), Government of India has sponsored this project to CSIRNational Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Hyderabad to setup 80 broadband educational seismographs in secondary schools in the earthquake prone region of Western Maharashtra. A educational seismograph setup in secondary school campus creates interest among schools students to know more about a felt earthquake in the area or destructive teleseismic earthquakes. The schools teachers shall be trained on operation of seismograph, seismic data retrieval, analysis and locating the earthquakes. The trained teachers disseminate this knowledge to the school students year after year. It also aims at motivating scientists for spreading knowledge beyond the boundaries of their institutions to create awareness among the students.

E-Procurement Implementation: Critical Analysis of Success Factors' Impact on Project Outcome

The 21st century has seen migration of many governance functions and services to Internet. The terms like e-Governance and m-Governance are no more unfamiliar words but are political reality. The adoption of e-procurement by government entities to optimise and economise public procurements has been the buzzword of transparent governance. In fact e-procurement has been touted as panacea for corruption and bureaucratic red-tapism. Literature is replete with studies which underline numerous benefits of migration of procurement functions to Internet. However, e-Government procurement has not taken off in India through it is an Integrated Mission Mode Project as a part of National e-Governance Project (NeGP) launched by Govt of India in 2006. A recent review of the e-procurement implementation by DIT, Ministry of Communication & IT brought out that the progress e-procurement project implementation has been dismal. In this backdrop, we undertook study of contemporary research literature to identify Critical Success Factors for e-procurement project implementation. The research methodology followed included analysis based on an elaborate study of e-procurement literature, pertinent government orders and multinational/ international agreements to identify Critical Success Factors. The study concludes that existing literature indicates flat nature of CSF i.e. there is no relation with the stage of e-GP implementation vs significance of a CSF. Therefore, existing CSFs and their study models do not aid managerial decision making by project managers. Finally, the paper brings out research gaps and suggests direction for future research for making e-GP a success in India.

National Soil Information System (NASIS) and Land Resource Mapping for Perspective Land Use Planning and Pragmatic Farm level Planning

The complexity of soil variability, the purpose and use of soil survey information, soil classification and mapping at different scales are discussed. The need for a simplified National Soil Classification System based soil mapping for farm level land use planning at village / watershed scale is illustrated and reiterated. The paradigm shift from Soil Mapping to Land resource mapping at village level by detailed soil survey and socio-economic survey is emphasised for embarking upon a National Mission Mode Project, which will help in the development of Soil productivity indices and Rating, Land Capability Classification system and a National Portal on soils of India making Agro-Technology transfer both seed centric and soil driven.

Employees Adoption of E-Procurement System: An Empirical Study

Today, organizations are investing a lot in their IT infrastructure and reengineering their business processes by digitizing firms. If organizational employees will not optimum utilize its IT infrastructure, the productivity gain reduced enormously. In Uttarakhand e-procurement system implemented by public sector under e-governance integrated mission mode projects. So, there is need to find the determinants which influence employee’s adoption and uses of e-procurement systems. This research study assesses the organizational and individual determinants that influence the use of e-procurement system in Uttarakhand public sector. This study provides managers with the valuable information to take intervention programs to achieve greater acceptance and usage of e-procurement system. Data collected for this study by the means of a survey conducted in Uttarakhand state in 2011. A total 1200 questionnaire forms were distributed personally and online to employees using e-procurement system in Uttarakhand.

E-Government Procurement Implementation: Necessity of National Procurement Law

The benefits of e-procurement implementation for public procurement is a well research area. The adoption of e-procurement results in cost savings to exchequer by increasing operational efficiency, transparency, competition among bidders and organizational effectiveness through automation of manual processes. The review of contemporary research literature brings out procurement process engineering, change management and top management support as some of the critical success factors for e-procurement project implementation. It is also well known that NeGP project was launched in 2006 with e-Procurement as integrated Mission Mode Project. A recent review of the e-procurement implementation by DIT, Ministry of Commn & IT brought out that the progress in this area has been dismal. Barring few states like Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh etc, the project has not taken off. This lack of progress (when seen in the light of rampant corruption in India) becomes a cause of serious concern. In this backdrop we undertook study of various statues, rules and government order governing public procurement in India. In order to develop better understanding of the research domain we undertook template analysis of successful e-procurement implementation by State Governments of Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. In addition, we interacted with some of the stakeholders to elicit their views on how a legal framework could help in smoother and faster roll out of e-procurement projects in public sector. The research methodology followed included analysis based on an elaborate study of various government policies and guidelines and their impact. Fact findings are provided through journal articles, information hosted on government portals, statues, rules, regulations and government resolutions relating to e-procurement and government purchasing. The study concludes that since “Procurement” doesn’t figure in either State List or in Concurrent List, therefore Indian Parliament can make law on the subject for the entire country. However, no separate law governing public procurement has been enacted in India. Finally, the paper brings out broad contours of a modal procurement law that would expedite the e-procurement implementation in India in an optimal manner.

India's Approach in Constructing One-Stop Solution Towards e-Government

The spinning of time the wheel has seen a lot; but the best gift of mankind to mankind is the discovery of Information and Communication Technologies, the tool that gave birth to the big bang theory of electronic-Governance in the universe of countries and nations. The explosive ingress of technology into every facet of life has changed how people exist, how they work, how companies do business and how governments serve their communities. e-Governance has given new dimensions to the system of governing nations and enhancing citizen services by making the process of governance and public administration much more efficient and effective. e-Government reveals the ultimate visions for public administrations and governments to undergo a huge modernization and reorganization. E-governance has played an essential role in improving governmental processes (e-administration), connecting citizens (e-citizens and e-services) and building external interactions (e-society). With the inclusion of e-governance in governing process came the concept of Single Entry National Portal i.e. One Stop Government which efficiently integrates public services from a citizen's point of view. Such Portals help the citizens and other stakeholders to have a 24 × 7 × 365 access to public service authorities and the services being provided by them at a single point. The various Government Departments at Central, State and Local level collect, use and manage large volumes of information/services and to ensure effective access to government policymaking and operations as well as to ensure government accountability, the public needs consistent, predictable access to government information. One Stop Government Portals step in here and provide full entree to its citizens making their lives easy and smooth. This paper discourses the significance of One Stop Government accentuating india.gov.in, The National Portal of India. The National Portal of India is a huge and comprehensive repository of information and data regarding the citizen services available in India. india.gov.in, is a Mission Mode Project under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), of the country implemented with an objective to provide a single window access to the information and services of the Indian Government at all levels, from Central to the State Government, from the District Administration and to the village Panchayats, all for the citizens and other stakeholders. The National Portal india.gov.in, acts as a front end to various e-Government initiatives and a gateway to over 6000 websites providing a variety of information and services being provided by different Indian government departments at multiple levels. It is a reservoir of resources and provides in-depth information about the India and its various aspects. india.gov.in plies valuable information to a wide variety of target audience encompassing the citizens, government, business strata and overseas Indians. The National Portal of India is one stop portal for all those who need information on anything related to India, from paying utility bills to accessing information on welfare schemes in different economic sectors, from obtaining licenses/certificates to apply for Indian passport india.gov.in has it all!

Change Management for e-Governance

Change Management for e-Governance

Citizen-Led Participatory E-Governance Initiatives: An Architectural Perspective

There are many successful information and communication technology (ICT ) initiatives in India, oriented towards rural development, with a focus to address specific issues of rural citizen. National e-Governance plan (NeGP) recognizes the potential of ICT interventions and plans for suitably selecting important and successful ICT initiatives, with an objective to include them as missionmode projects for scaling up. Another objective of NeGP is to provide a portfolio of services to the citizens through common services centres (CSC) integrated with e-government backbone to not only set up a good e-governance system, but also to establish a support structure. NeGI plan outlaY is Rs. 12000 crores with the mandate to complete the mission in next three years covering 100,000 CSCs and involving 600,000 villages. This provides an opportunity to look into the strategic issues in rural e-govemance. E- governance initiatives are mostly mooted by government administration, non-governmental organization (NGOs), cooperative as well as private sectors. Like any ICT project, e-governace projects call for “usability and user-centred design”, since the ultimate beneficiary is the “user”. The similarity between users in “rural development initiative” and that of a “business process initiative” is that the uesr ultimiltely ends up using the technology, and it is imperative that technology needs to be accepted. But the real task is to create a “demand-driven , citizen-led ICT initiative for the rural sector” , Mostly, pilot projects are based on sheer innovating frameworks, either through a development agency or through bureaucratic set-ups to support governance issues. Many frameworks are incubated with active support from government and funding agencies. While innovation is essential for any model to be accepted, it is important that projects need to move out of “incubators” and translate its success through transformation from “supply-driven” concepts to “demand driven” and sustainable process improvement imperatives. Scaling up of ICT initiatives is also another issue that requires support from users. However, in the Indian context, ICT acceptance and its uability in rural area are not easy. NeGP critically recognises these issues while embarking on such an enterprise level action through CSCs. E-governance architectures are also being conceptualised. In this paper, we discuss a possible process view related to e-governance architecture ,with due emphasis on citizens' participation and their contribution to the architecture, leading to sustainable information systm plan ning and implementation strategies. We also narrate a case which supports this view of e-governance architecture for scale-up.