The Hindu              01.02.2014

Thrissur wins national e-governance award

Staff Reporter

District-level initiative in citizen-centric service delivery

The prestigious national e-Governance awards for 2013-14 were declared at the 17th national conference on e-Governance that got under way here on Thursday.

The Thrissur district administration has won gold in the best district-level initiatives in citizen-centric service delivery through Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for its System for Attumanal Neutral Distribution.

The awards were declared in 11 categories. The Union government’s Centre for Railway Information System won gold in the category of excellence in government process re-engineering for its Control Office Application.

Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Affairs of the Gujarat government won the silver for bar-coded ration card and biometric food coupon.

The Department of Information and Technology of the Andhra Pradesh government won the gold in the category of outstanding performance in citizen-centric service delivery for its Meeseva Portal. Karnataka government’s Department of Administration Reform won the silver for its Sakala portal. The Urban Administration and Development Department of Madhya Pradesh won the gold for its automated building plan approval system in the category of innovative use of technology in e-Governance. Directorate of Sports and Youth Welfare from the same State won the silver for its ICT application for excellence in sports.

The Revenue Department of Karnataka government won the gold in the category of innovation in existing project for its electronics integration of Bhoomi with stakeholders while the Haryana government’s Revenue Department’s integration of property registration and land records won the silver. The District Collector’s office of Kolhapur in Maharashtra won silver for the web-based Collector’s information system.

The Union government’s Department of IT won the gold in the innovative use of GIS technology in e-Governance for the Delhi State Spatial Data Infrastructure Project.

The Gujarat government’s Industrial Extension Bureau of Industries and Mines Department won the silver for its Investors Support System software.

The Times of India             01.02.2014 

Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation to host eighth flower, fruit and vegetable show

NAVI MUMBAI: Citizens will get a chance to enter Wonders Park in Nerul free of cost on February 7, 8 and 8 for the flower show organized by the civic body.

The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) is gearing up to organize its eighth flower and fruit show next week. Two hundred large and small pavilions will be set up by various government organizations, nurseries, NGOs, housing societies and environmentalists.

Hundreds of varieties of flowers, flowering plants, ornamental plants, orchids, indoor plants, cactus, bonsai and unique vegetable and fruit plants will be on display. Apart from those, another 50 stalls will be put up to sell plants and gardening-related equipment and instruments.

Workshops and lectures will be held every day from 3-5pm. Plant lovers will be given tips on planting, growing a kitchen garden, identification and selection of seeds, proper methods of watering, pruning, cutting and cropping plants. There will also be lectures on choosing the correct soil for certain types of plants. The speakers will tell visitors how to conserve water and still have a healthy plant without using fertilizers and pesticides.

A quiz competition for school children will be held every evening and various plants and saplings will be given away as prizes.

"We want to spread knowledge about the necessity of plants and their benefits. We want more citizens to participate in our green drive," said Chandrakant Tayade, garden officer. The show will be inaugurated by Thane guardian minister Ganesh Naik and mayor Sagar Naik on February 7.

Citizens will get the chance to enter wonder park , Nerul in free of cost on 7th , 8th and 9th February , as the park will be open to all for Flower show. Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation ( NMMC) will organize their 8th Flower and fruit show during those three days. Two hundred large and small pavilions will be put up by various Government organisations , nurseries , NGOs , individuals , housing societies and environmentalists. Hundreds of varieties of flowers, flowering plants like ornamental plants , orchids , indoor plants , cactus , bonsai;, variety vegetables and fruit plants will be on display. Apart from those , another 50 stalls will be put up to sale plants and gardening related equipment and instruments.

Workshops and lectures will be held every day from 3-5pm. Plant lovers could get the opportunity to known and learn about plantation , kitchen garden , Terrace garden ,selection of seeds , watering , pruning , cutting, cropping , about soil , irrigation and fertilizer. They will be taught to make manure at home and more about pesticides. Competition for school children will be held every evening. Horticulturists will deliver lectures on new technologies like tissue culture plantation , drip irrigation ,different types of compost making and many more. "We want to spread knowledge about the necessity of plantation and its benefit. We would like to see that more and more citizens should come forward to make the city greener by planting trees and making gardens," shared Chandrakant Tayade, the Garden officer from Civic body.

The Flower and Fruit show will be inaugurated by Thane Guardian Minister Ganesh Naik and Mayor Sagar Naik on 7th February at 10am at Wonder Park , Sector-19, Nerul. The show will be open from 9am-9pm and entry is free.