NISG’s LARGEST INVESTOR is UNDP not NASSCOM or Govt. of INDIA

 NISG’s LARGEST INVESTOR is UNDP not NASSCOM or Govt. of INDIA 

Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2006 08:52:41 -0800 (PST)
From: “Venkat Kumaraswamy” <vmkumaraswamy@yahoo.com> 

Subject: NISG’s LARGEST INVESTOR is UNDP not NASSCOM or Govt. of INDIA
To: “eGovINDIA Group” <egovindia@yahoogroups.com>, kemal.dervis@undp.org, “eGov GOK” <egovgok@yahoogroups.com>
CC: maxine.olson@undp.org, zephirin.diabre@undp.org, hafiz.pasha@undp.org, jan.mattsson@undp.org, david.lockwood@undp.org, terence.d.jones@undp.org, darshak.shah@undp.org, mari.matsumoto@undp.org, vmkumaraswamy@yahoo.com

Mr. Kemal Dervis 

Administrator

United Nations Development Programme
One United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017 USA
Telephone: (212) 906 5317
Fax: (212) 906 5364

kemal.dervis@undp.org

 

Dear Mr. Kemal Dervis,

NISG which had been formed under the auspicious of UNDP had been left free of any control mechanism in India to be handled by three – four bureaucrats in India.

So far, whatever money that had been used by NISG had come from UNDP only.

No private partner had come forward to invest in it.

NASSCOM, which is the largest private partner in NISG had not invested any amount in NISG, save for some software contribution which is unnecessary as open source software is available totally free of cost.

UNDP had committed its $30 million to be spent only through the NISG. In short NISG means UNDP.

UNDP Funds Invested in NISG, a private limited company which does not come under Indian Parliament control procedures and NISG’s non transparent Activities, raising serious concerns about the credibility of the UNDP in India.

So far, the officials of UNDP in Delhi had failed to look into the long term implications of these corrupt deviations in terms of the credibility of UNDP.

The very fact that the claim of the officials of NISG that they had looked into the complaints  against them and found them to be unsubstantiated shows that things are not happening the way UNDP would like it to happen.

 

UNDP cannot be a mute  spectator anymore.

UNDP has to seek withdrawal of its association from NISG. It would be just and proper for UNDP to realign with a Government of India organization such as National Informatics Centre (NIC) which is fully under the control and supervision of the Indian parliament.

 

This would save the name of the UNDP for the time being and in the long run too.

 

I hope I have made things clear for you to do the follow up.

 

Thanks.

 

V.M.Kumaraswamy, MBA

949-857-8578 and 714-357-0206

USEFUL LINKS for UNDP.

 

NISG has been incorporated as a not-for-profit Company under Section 25 of the Companies Act, at Hyderabad on the 28th of May 2002.

The following is the important corporate information.

Memorandum of Association ( Click here to download )   http://www.nisg.org/docs_pdfs_ppts/docs/MOA.doc Articles of Association ( Click here to download)   http://www.nisg.org/docs_pdfs_ppts/docs/AOA.doc Authorized share capital of NISG : Rupees Twenty Five Crores

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NISG & Microsoft MoU – Read between the lines.

NISG & Microsoft MoU – Read between the lines.
nsninfo@yahoo.com wrote:
Sat, 22 Apr 2006 02:58:20 -0700 (PDT)

how can a government body which is also
given the responsibility of writing the RFPs of many
eGovernance projects for central government and state
governments and its CEO is also on the NeGP panel can
take funds from Microsoft.

Either MS has to be blacklisted for “influencing”
government machinery or “NISG” to be relieved of
government projects. (please refer to CEO-NISG own
remarks which means this MoU is creating a bias
towards MS for all the eGov projects…is it a
co-incidence that ILIS project was awarded to Wipro on
MS Technology  immediately post this MoU?? )

The objective is to create a body which is technology
agnostic.
THE MoU
Microsoft signs agreement on e-Governance with NISG 
New Delhi, December 7,2005: Microsoft India-announced
the signing of agreement with National Institute for
Smart Government The agreement will aim at
accelerating the application of Information Technlogy
in the area of e-Governance. Microsoft is supporting
the Government of India’s National e-Governance
program by establishing an e-Governance Investment
fund (“Investment Fund”) and e-Governance Innovation
Centre (“Innovation Centre”)

NISG will be Program Manager for the Investment Fund
and Innovation Centre. Microsoft and NISG will pursue
the following objectives

Enabling research and solution frameworks for
Governments in jointly identified areas
Create new class of applications and solutions that
focus on optimizing the delivery of government
services in identified areas
Create a framework and architecture to incorporate the
use of information technology in the functioning of
the various government      departments
Create a lab environment through an e-Governance
Innovation Centre in Delhi, for Government and their
agencies to experiment     with the new range of
technologies that can be applied in e-Governance and
Conduct appropriate research and proof of concept for
applying emerging technologies like Smart
devices,RFID,Smart Cards in    e-     Governance
Solutions.
Microsoft will also work with NISG to help adopt and
implement interoperability solutions in e-Governance
applications and will also share its knowledge and
experience in working with government across the world
on e-Governance projects

Microsoft has agreed to deploy a sum in Indian Rupess
equivalent to USD Two Million (“Grant”) spread over
three years in the Investment Fund as a commitment to
the Government of India’s e-Governance initiatives.
The funds shall be deployed pursuant to Project Plans
approved by a steering commitee.

Mr. J Satyanarayan, CEO of NISG said “I am confident
that this joint endeavor between NISG and Microsoft
will result in ideas, concepts and tools that will be
fundamental significance to the e-Government scenario
in the country”

“At Microsoft we are committed to leveraging our
international experience to develop innovative and
unique solutions that are relevant and customized for
the benefit of Indian citizen” added Mr. Ravi
Venkatesan, Chairman, Microsoft India.

Time to Think and Take Action

__________________________________________________

On 4/27/06, eGov INDIA <egovindia@yahoo.com> wrote:

This is a valid question.

Discuss this more and write letters to NISG and DIT and GOI.

or Reply all to this email. It reaches all.

Already NISG under Satyanarayana had championed the cause of Ram Info tech / CMS consortium (Hyderabad) by making them a successful bidder for Bangalore one project. The Bangalore one project had been conceived and executed for their benefit only. A PIL  before the Karnataka High Court is pending on this issue. One of the issues raised is the MoU between Karnataka Government and Microsoft. There is also a complaint before the Karnataka Lokayukta against Rajiv Chawla on the Bangalore One case.

The next in line is the e-procurement project. In the name of introducing centralized e-procurement system, certain officers in Karnataka government with the help of NISG have configured the tender documents thorough PWC to bring in C 1 India Limited. It is known to everyone that C 1 India is a partner of PWC. This is a gross impropriety. Because the consultant cannot take part in the tender. Here the consultant’s (PWC) partner C 1 India has been taking part in all these tenders and bagging contract too!

How long NISG can get away like this?

And all through NISG has been implementing ONLY Microsoft technology.
This private company is definitely not a blessing for the nation.

V. M. Kumaraswamy
______________________

vishal singh <josecy.vsingh@gmail.com> wrote:  Thu, 27 Apr 2006 11:06:36 +0530

Does India Need monitory support from MS?

Are we progressing in IT due to charities?

This is a National Shame that profit making commercial companies are allowed to influnce our decision making.

MoU has become an instrument to bye pass normal competitive route to business.

We must understand that ultimately it is profit that is driving these organisations and they can smell opportunities and are fearfull of competition, so they take the MoU route.

There should be a dsicussion on validity of MoU route itself. This is high time that we decide about it.

Is there a legal validity of MoU? Can it be enforced in court of law?

Regards

Vishal

________________________________

Umashankar C <umashankarc@yahoo.com> wrote:
Thu, 27 Apr 2006 10:19:20 -0700 (PDT)

27-4-06

Dear all,

This is indeed  a gross impropriety and illegal too.
If the CVC is petitoned, the same would be taken up immediately.

As of now this matter is being discussed in the e-groups only. But the moment it comes in the regular national press, this would open a can of worms.

NISG has no business to cheat the vendors who believe in honesty and integrity.
It cannot champion the cause of PWC / C1 India anymore.

Umashankar

_____________________________________

Umashankar C <umashankarc@yahoo.com> wrote:
Thu, 27 Apr 2006 10:22:07 -0700 (PDT)

Dear all,

Signing an MoU with Microsoft was easy for NISG because it is a private limited company. It is easy to influence all States using NISG making them accept only microsoft technology.
Is that the reason why it had been formed as a private limited company?

Umashankar

_________________________________________________

nsninfo@yahoo.com wrote:

4/28/2006

India doesn’t require donations from IT MNC’s but look
at the problem area in detail…e.g.

World Bank fund for Karnataka Urban Development Project
(Nirmal Nagara Project) comes bundled with obligation
that the application will be provided by eGovernments
Foundation which claims that it is an NGO with
no-profit motive but it supports Oracle as a
Database!!! hence at least USD 250 K will be spent by
GoK to run a so called ZERO COST Application!!!

USAID funds for Panchayat comes bundled with an
obligation that the application has to be on Microsoft
Platform (e,g, Uttaranchal)

UNDP funds for CIC project comes bundled with
obligation that it has to be bundled with MS
Technology; Bangalore1 Project

Hence even if we restrict IT MNC’s from signing MoUs
then also they will come out with new ideas on how to
promote their meager technologies.

Therefore again it is the responsibility of the
government bureaucrats to adopt a technology neutral
RFP process to remove all these barriers.  Or adopt
only ONE TECHNOLOGY END TO END and stop this
discussion completely.

The responsibility also lies on the Government
Institutional Pillers like NISG, DIT, DARPG, CGG etc
to adopt a technology independent and process reforms
based methodology for selection of solution vendors.

Time to Think & Take Action
___________________________

The role of NISG. Should a private limited company control the Indian e-governance movement?

The role of NISG. Should a private limited company control the Indian e-governance movement?

It is a peculiar happening in India that a private company registered under Section 25 of the Indian Companies Act (National Institute of Smart Government) has been controlling the e-governance activities of not only the central government but also many state governments. The states stand in queue before this private company to receive funding assistance for their e-governance activities. This group is of the opinion that NISG had directly encouraged corruption and lack of transparency. It has been promoting certain chosen corporate for the detriment of a host of companies which believe in honesty and fair play. 

Readers and all may take an appropriate view on this subject based on the huge volume of materials written on the egovINDIA group.

National Institute for Smart Government (NISG),

National Institute for Smart Government (NISG), Hyderabad is a not-for-profit company incorporated in 2002 with NASSCOM (National Association of Software and Service Companies), Central and State governments being the principal promoters.

NISG is being shaped as an institution of excellence in the area of e-Governance with focus on developing appropriate architectures and standards, providing high-level consultancy services and capacity building at the national level. NISG is constituted under a Public Private Partnership model with a view to combine the immense potential and resources of the private sector with the principles of accountability and transparency of the public sector. The goal of NISG is to lead the nation to a preeminent position in providing integrated online services to the citizens and businesses.