After much hard work, in 2001, the Governments of India
and Assam had crafted uplifting, forward-looking and
exemplary visions for each and every district in the state.
I have visited the well-maintained Web sites of several of
the 22 districts in Assam where the vision documents are
published for perusal by the citizens of the districts and
the world at large. The vision documents embody a
collection of many excellent ideas that are achievable
through good government and dedicated work over many
years. Each document is the result of extensive thoughts
and deliberations, and thus very impressive.
Recently I re-read the "VISION DOCUMENT 2006" for
Dibrugarh district (http://dibrugarh.nic.in/report.htm). It
states the standards and the yardstick by which the
district administration will be applauded for success or
criticized for failure to achieve the goals it has set for
itself. Among other matters the document promises
empowerment of women; gainful employment; self-
sufficiency; environmental protection; making the
government simple, transparent, accountable and
responsive; and ensuring for its people a strong voice in
the governance of the state. It is clear that this document
does not represent the vision of some particular
politicians or some particular political party. It is the vision
of a government, and it is reasonable to presume that all
government machineries are working harmoniously to
achieve these goals.
In 2004, we are already midway towards 2006. As of
today, it is however not clear whether the district is
moving in the right direction with appropriate speed as
per the vision document from 2001. The vision Web sites
maintained by the National Informatics Center (NIC)
office in Dibrugarh and other district headquarters have
not given much information in this regard. Certainly, the
NIC district offices have played a leading and visionary
role in being the harbinger of information revolution to
district administrations in Assam and elsewhere in India
by providing learning and familiarization opportunities to
high-level bureaucrats, by computerizing administrative
data for achieving efficiencies and disseminating
information to citizens as well as the outside world alike.
Recently, almost all 200 or so administrative Blocks in
Assam, and about 400 in all of the Northeast have been
connected to the central network through NIC using the
auspices of the Community Information Centers (CICs)
located in rural colleges, higher secondary schools and
Block offices. All CICs are equipped with modern
technology and are manned with highly skilled local
manpower. We hope to see the CICs play an active and
effective role monitoring all the development activities in
the Block or village level. We expect the CICs to collect
realistic data and provide them on their Web sites as a
public service. We understand that CICs are government
supported, but it would be a great exercise in transparent
and responsible governance to have a watchdog
organization within the government with access to
technology that is able to publish its findings on the
Internet for citizenry as well as others .
Vavani Sarmah, Secane, Pennsylvania
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