The public can now download government-approved and tamper-proof birth/death/marriage certificates directly from the Internet, without having to go to the panchayat or municipality offices, thanks to the software developed by the Information Kerala Mission (IKM), as part of its e-governance mission.
All births and deaths occurring in hospitals are being directly registered and stored in the databank through 529 hospital kiosks in public and private hospitals across the State. The IKM is also in the process of making available on-line, all birth and death registrations in the State since 1970, which is a mammoth task, the Minster for Panchayats and Social Welfare, M. K. Muneer, said here on Tuesday.
Kerala has taken a quantum leap in e-governance and is ahead of any other State in the country, with a host of software applications that has been developed for making public utility services easy and accessible to people, he said, while addressing mediapersons. The IKM will soon be setting up information kiosks in all grama panchayats with touch-screen facility, which will provide information to people on all the services that can availed of from the local bodies. In the first phase, birth/death/marriage registration certificates, building permits, property tax and all applications regarding social security pensions will be made available on-line, Dr. Muneer said. The IKM is also in the process of developing a single-window system which will bring together all on-line public utility services through the website, Surekha. Applications for availing oneself of various services from the government can be submitted on-line or “e-filed” with digital signature once this becomes full-fledged.
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The IKM has completed linking all grama panchayats in Idukki district, except Edamalakkudi, via fibre optics network as part of a national project. By March 31, all the 978 grama panchayats will be linked. Steps were also on to establish “wifi hotspots” in all grama panchayats under the Smart Panchayat project,Dr. Muneer said.
Software developed by Information Kerala Mission
Information kiosks to be set up in all grama panchayats