SAP, IIM-S ON E-ENABLEMENT IN MEGHALAYA

SAP, IIM-S ON E-ENABLEMENT IN MEGHALAYA

SAP India, a subsidiary of SAP AG, as part of its CSR activities, announced an initiative to improve citizen services and village administration in the Shillong region by deploying a cloud based e-governance solution. This is an extension of a similar model that SAP pioneered with the SODA village in Rajasthan. In order to ensure transformation at the grassroots, SAP has collaborated with the Rajiv Gandhi Indian Institute of Management-Shillong (RGIIM-S) for this project. 

“Contributing to the development of rural India is a major focus of SAP’s CSR initiatives,” said, Peter Gartenberg, Managing Director, SAP India. “By collaborating with RGIIM-S, We are striving to make village administration more effective, transparent and accountable in delivering citizen services. We intend to effectively use our expertise in the North East region and create a scalable model to go to the 600,000 similar villages across India.”

As a part of the project, SAP will automate several operational areas including, tracking and control of funds; budget and expense management, accounting; management of local assets; project and scheme implementation and citizen services. SAP will also facilitate trained resources to operate the solution, and provide its expertise during the course of the project. RGIIM-S will provide SAP with the necessary advisory support to gain understanding of the local environment, help identify project sites and liaison with local administration bodies where required.

Configured on SAP Business ByDesign, a fully integrated business management solution delivered on demand, this project will result in improved transparency, control and governance. It will be initiated at the semi-urban localities of Mawlai Nonglum and Mawdatbaki, and will subsequently be rolled out to a village Dorbar jointly identified by SAP and RGIIM-S.

“SAP’s project for the Mawlai area will provide the local headman and citizens reliable access to records and services, better insight into budgeting and spending, and support quicker decision making, without a complex and cumbersome IT infrastructure”, said, Prof Keya Sengupta, Director, RGIIM-S. “We are pleased to collaborate with SAP on this initiative, and will support this by way of advising SAP on the local aspects through RGIIM-S Centre for Development for the North East Region (CEDNER),” she added. 

“Initiatives like these echoes SAP's global interest in helping Governments run better,” said Adaire Fox-Martin, Senior Vice President Industry Business Solutions, SAP Asia Pacific Japan “SAP's strategy for an inclusive, effective and transparent government includes good governance, user empowerment, community engagement and improving services for rural and urban resilience. We intend to replicate this unique paradigm in many more villages and hence improve lives.”

RGIIM-S is an autonomous management school set up by the Government of India, with a vision of expansion and mobilisation of facilities for offering good quality management education, research and dissemination of information in the North Eastern region of India. Till date the Institute has by means of its expertise and innovative approaches stood committed to the idea of being socially relevant in the area of its operations.

Posted 1 minute ago by Nksagar

Bashar al-Assad may step down

BY SAGARMEDIA ON AUGUST 23, 2012

 

A top Syrian minister has held out the prospect of strongman Bashar al-Assad stepping down as part of a peace deal and said the govt is ready to enter into a dialogue with Opposition on the issue of Assad’s exit but it should not be a pre-condition for talks.

 

International powers including the US have long said Assad should step down as part of any negotiated settlement to end 17 months of bloodshed that activists say has killed 23,000.

The comments from Syria’s Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil came following talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and other Moscow officials who are keen to keep their sway over the Soviet-era ally in case of the fall of Assad.

Jamil rejected the idea of making Assad’s resignation the condition for any future negotiations – a demand made not only by the armed opposition but also Washington and several big European states.

But he said the president’s departure could be a topic of discussion.

“As far as his resignation goes – making the resignation itself a condition for holding dialogue means that you will never be able to reach this dialogue,” said Jamil.

But the minister added in remarks translated into Russian: “Any problems can be discussed during negotiations. We are even ready to discuss this issue.”

The United States announced on Monday that it would be promoting Assad’s resignation during meetings with new UN peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi despite his initial refusal to back the idea.

Kofi Annan’s recent replacement had earlier this week said it was still too early for him to say whether pushing for Assad’s ouster was the right strategy at this point in the conflict.

US pressure on Syria escalated still further on Monday when US President Barack Obama implicitly threatened to launch an attack should the Damascus regime deploy a chemical weapons stockpile it acknowledged having only last month.

The US leader said pointedly that he had not ordered military engagement against the Syrian regime “at this point”.

But Assad’s use of chemical weapons “would change my calculations significantly”, said Obama.

Jamil waved off the threat as part of US election politics rather than an actual declaration of intent.

“Obama’s threats are simply propaganda linked to the US elections,” Jamil told reporters on Tuesday.

Jamil was paying his second visit to Moscow in two weeks in a bid to put the fishing touches on a framework agreement for fuel supplies and other urgent Russian assistance and loans.

The country’s top aid negotiator admitted that he had failed to secure a financial rescue promise on this occasion because the Russians preferred to talks about the fighting now raging on the ground.

“The issue of a Russian credit was discussed during my previous visit,” Jamil confirmed in reference to his early August appearance in Moscow. “This time, we focused more on political issues.”

The comment appears to betray a growing impatience by Russia to achieve some sort of progress toward peace talks it has been backing in the face of escalating violence and little sign of concession from Assad.

Russia has adamantly defended Syria against the threat of foreign military invasion and still continues to formally supply Assad with heavy weapons under contracts it signed before the fighting broke out.

But its efforts to get new international talks going on Syria at the United Nations ended in fiasco earlier this month when most world powers pulled out.

Many of them called Russia’s efforts futile because of the sides’ vast diplomatic differences and the rapidly growing death toll on the ground.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow could adopt no other position.

“There should be no interference from the outside,” Lavrov said after his talks with the Syrian minister.

“The only thing that foreign players should do is create conditions for the start of dialogue,” Lavrov said.