By V.P. Prabhakar-* The Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) project is a mission mode project under National e-Governance Plan being implemented by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
The project, which was launched on a pilot basis by the Union Home Minister, Mr. Sushil Kumar Shinde, in New Delhi on January 4, 2013, aims at creating a comprehensive and integrated system and a nation-wide networked solution for connecting more than 15,000 police stations and nearly 6000 higher officers in 28 states and seven Union Territories of the country for sharing of real-time crime and criminal information. Further, the project also envisages establishment of a comprehensive and strong monitoring and coordination mechanism both at states and at the Centre and a robust governance structure to achieve the outcomes and objectives of the project.
The project has been conceptualized on the principle of ‘Centralised Planning and Decentralised Implementation’. A Core Application Software (CAS) is being developed with common definitions, scheme and specifications at the central level which would be handed over to the states/UTs for state-specific customization. However, states/UTs which have been allowed to continue to run their existing applications have to align their existing software to facilitate information exchange with CAS.
The states/UTs have complete operational independence in project implementation. A strong governance mechanism with various committees has also been created as a part of CCTNS project to ensure quality and timely completion of the project.
Objectives of CCTNS: The objectives of the scheme are (i) Make the police functioning citizen-friendly, transparent, accountable, effective and efficient by automating the processes and functions at the level of the police stations and other police offices at various levels. (ii) To improve delivery of citizen-centric services through effective usage of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) (iii) To provide police with the tools, technologies and information facility for faster and more accurate investigation of crime and detection of criminals. (iv) To improve police functioning in various other areas such as law and order, traffic management, curbing organized crimes, resource management etc. (v) To facilitate collection, storage, retrieval, analysis, transfer, and sharing of data/information among police stations, districts, state headquarters and other organizations/agencies, including those at Government of India level. (vi) To enable and assist the senior police officers for better management of the police force. (vii) To keep track of the progress of crimes and their criminal investigation and prosecution, including progress of cases in the courts (viii) Reduction in manual and redundant record keeping.
e-Services under CCTNS : The CCTNS project aims at providing online services to the citizens. The indicative e-services which are yet to be implemented are:
(i) Filling of complaints/information with the concerned police station (ii) Obtaining the status of complaints or cases registered at police stations (iii) Obtaining copies of FIRs, post-mortem reports and other permissible documents etc. (iv) Details of arrested persons/wanted criminals and their illegal activities etc. (v) Details of missing/kidnapped persons and matching them with arrested, unidentified persons and dead bodies. (vi) Details of stolen/recovered vehicles, arms and other properties. (vii) Submission of requests for issue/renewal of various NOCs, clearances and permits and status of such requests online. (viii) Verification requests for servants, employment, passport, senior citizen registration etc. (ix) Portal for sharing information and enabling citizens to download required forms/certificates etc.
Key Milestones Achieved: The details of the key milestones achieved under CCTNS scheme are:
(i) Initiation of capacity building infrastructure and training was done in June 2010. (ii) Submission and review of state plans by states/UTs to Union Ministry of Home Affairs in July 2010. (iii) Appointment of Central Project Management Consultants (CPMCs) and State Project Management Consultants (SPMCs) (iv) Preparation and submission of CCTNS Project Monitoring and implementation reports by states/UTs to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). (v) Appointment of Software Development Agency (SDA) by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) (vi) Appointment of Central Project Management Unit (CPMU) by NCRB/MHA. (vii) Project Implementation and Monitoring (PIM) evaluation and approval by NCRB/MHA. (viii) Finalisation of the pilot states for the implementation of CCTNS project. Workshops held for pilot states. (ix) CCTNS Core Application Software design and development by software Development Agency (SDA). Release of the first build of CAS by SDA in October 2012. (x) User acceptance testing of CAS with the states/UTs. (xi) release of Data Migration Utility to states/UTs by NCRB. (xii) Appointment of Network Connectivity Agency (BSNL) for CCTNS project. (xiii) Completion of site surveys by BSNL across all states/UTs and establishment of CCTNS National Data Centre at New Delhi. (xiv) Formation of CCTNS Network Committees at the states/UTs. (xv) Initiation of the certification process of CAS by Software Testing Quality Control (STQC).
Present Status: The following are the key achievements which depict the present progress status of the project:
(i) Selection of System Integrator (SI) by all the states/UTs: Twenty eight states/UTs have signed their respective system integrator (SI) contracts. The resources have been deployed by the SI at the states/UTs and work has started.
(ii) Selection of State Project Management Units (SPMUs): Thirty states/UTs have signed contracts with their respective SPMU. Resources have been deployed by the SPMUs at the states/UTs and work has started.
(iii) National Data Centre (NDC) has been set up in Shastri Park, New Delhi.
(iv) NDC-Disaster Recovery Centre (DRC) replication of data is to be implemented after connectivity is established between the two centres.
(v) Network Connectivity: Subsequent to the completion of network connectivity surveys at states/UTs, Networking Agency (BSNL) has signed the Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with 27 states/UTs and eight states have been given permission to go for SWAN connectivity or they already have operational network.
(vi) Capacity building infrastructure – District Training Centre (DTC), Regional Training Centre (RTC), Police Training Centre (PTC), State Crime Records Bureau (SCRB): Completed in 31 states/UTs.
(vii) Capacity Building (Training): Total 7,03,781 trainings have been imparted.
(viii) Formation of District Mission Teams at states and UTs has been completed in 33 states/UTs.
(ix) Total funds of Rs.428.58 crore have been released to states/UTs as grants-in-aid under CCTNS project. Out of this Rs.189.29 crore had been utilized till February 28, 2013.
(x) Sixteen CCTNS state data centres have been operationalised.
(xi) Proof of Concept (PoC) with CDAC for multilingual requirements in CAS is complete and its demo was conducted on September 9, 2012.
* The writer is a veteran journalist