CHAPTER - XIII

PROGRESS OF COMPUTERISATION

13.1 Year 1999-2000 may be called as "The year of IT" in the Department. In close cooperation with NIC, computerization activities were taken up in a big way, touching the new heights in overall development of IT infrastructure in the Department of Coal.

13.2 In tune with the National Policy with its motto of "IT for all by 2008" and "networked government", the Department of Coal, has come up with the Five Year IT Plan describing its needs and requirements of the informatics and the action plan to implement the activities in a phased manner. The IT plan aims at the enhancement and augmentation of the informatics culture in the department leading to improved workflow and information management as well as transparency in the working style with increased trained staff.

13.3 Windows NT based high speed ethernet LAN has been established in the department. All sections and officers have been equipped with Windows'95 based Pentium workstations and printers enabling them to work on latest GUI packages like WORD, EXCEL, Internet Explorer, Outlook Express         etc.  The LAN is part of larger state of  art  network of the Shastri Bhawan Intranet.  Users can connect   into the network  and gain secure access  to all Internet features  like electronic  mails,  the  World Wide Web, Telnet and FTP. Coal workgroup has been created which facilitates different sections in the department to securely share the information providing speedy day to day operations.   Many valuable resources are also being shared over this network proving it to be quite cost effective.

13.4 Besides this, the Department has a Pentium server under Unixware 2.01operating system, which provides multi user environment for over fifty terminals. Several databases and information systems have been planned, designed, developed and implemented and are being implemented in the department on various key parameters to strengthen the monitoring, streamlined and safe storage and fast retrieval of data in desired formats. These include:

Trends Monitoring System on Production , Despatches & Stocks
Product-wise  monitoring   on   production   & despatches
Daily result monitoring
Rail Movement monitoring
Demand & Offtake       
Consumer wise Despatches
Project monitoring             
Equipment monitoring
Coal Linkages to Power Houses
Annual Budget Monitoring
System for phasing of budget
Expenditure Control System
Pendency monitoring system
Document Tracking system
Information System on VIP References
ACC Decisions Monitoring System
Incumbency Database
Public Grievances Monitoring System
Facilitation Counter Information System
Target   Oriented   On-Line  Tasks/Events  Monitoring
Payroll & GPF accounts system
VIP Reference Monitoring System

13.5 Department of Coal launched its website on 26 ^th January, 2000. It offers information on topics like functions and responsibilities, organisation setup, policies & guidelines, latest statistics on coal data etc. The site can be viewed in English and Hindi at the address - http://coal.nic.in It also provides links to the related sites of the coal PSUs.

13.6 Department of Coal along with NIC Cell coordinated the process of looking into Y2K related problems both within the Department, its subordinate offices and PSUs. It closely and systematically monitored the Y2K compliance activities ensuring smooth roll over into the Year 2000.

13.7 VIP Reference Monitoring System (VIPRMS) has been implemented in the department from January, 2000. It helps in systematically monitor the pendency of the VIP references in sections with reasons.

13.8  Parliament Questions & Answers are now being emailed to the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Secretariat for keeping these contents of the Department on their Website for future references. A systematic procedure has been developed and implemented in the Department to ensure that all the questions are prepared by the sections, converted in the desired format and sent in time to the defined destination.

13.9 Department has initiated efforts to bring all its subordinate offices and PSUs on computer network to transfer / capture information / data and online interaction using high speed computer communication network.

13.10   Department of Coal has achieved increased user awareness on usage of computers. Tendency to  work on the computer has been developed in all the users in the Department. Extensive use of computers   has  virtually  sidelined the time consuming  manual  working  in the department. The introduction of world wide web browsing facility has also enhanced the information retrieval mechanism.

13.11   Department has arranged with NIC to train their staff  on  the   new  Windows LAN environment   and applications implemented   for their use. Various demonstrations and classes have been arranged to train them. On  the job training  has  been planned   and  imparted   to   the   users    to   avoid inconvenience   for the users in  finding  time  from their busy day schedule for training. Various familiarisation programs  and training classes   have been are being arranged with NIC to enable the officials to update them with          the   latest developments. The department has purchased several books on computers and related topics to enhance the process of building the IT skills within the Department.

13.12   Department of Coal  is planning  to systematize various systems already  implemented with  the help   of  NIC  to   get maximum  throughput. New applications in  latest  state  of   the art  software packages  are also being designed with the help of   NIC  which  will  enable  users  to  work  in GUI environment .

13.13     Department has witnessed the progressive use of Hindi on computers. This has been initiated with the installation of Hindi software in the department.

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