Computerization and Networking of Treasuries in Jharkhand

The extent of networking and computerization of treasuries in Jharkhand makes them as one of the most modern and integrated treasury system in the country. When one makes this assertion, people generally dismiss this as a mere publicity gimmick. Unfortunately we, in this part of the country, have started believing in the stereo type that anything in technology happens first in states like !", #arnataka or $u%arat before it can be replicated in &tates like 'ihar, Jharkhand or U". The fact of the matter is that the above assertion is true. (onsider following facts) *i+ The operations of all thirty one Treasuries,&ub Treasuries in Jharkhand are fully computerized and they are net-worked with the &tate -ata (enter with high speed leased lines. also with high

*ii+ !ll the Banks which conduct the business of the Treasuries are linked with the State Data Center and the concerned Treasuries speed leased lines. *iii+

The details of every bill, which is passed in any of the treasuries are made available to the &tate ./ and the 'anks on a real time basis. 0n other words, the entire system is web-based and the data is kept on a centralized basis in the &tate -ata (enter in 1anchi.

2. There have been some ma%or changes in the procedures and processes of the bill clearance during the past 2 3 years. (onsider following facts) i. "reviously, list of bills passed by the Treasury used to go in paper form to the 'ank as a debit-scroll. The bills were bunched together with each advice of about 45 bills. When the bills passed by the treasury used to reach the bank for payment, bank would match the bill with the debit scroll before making payments. This procedure was there so as to ensure that fake bills did not get en cashed. 6ow no debit scroll goes to the 'ank. !s soon as a bill is passed by the Treasury, the information becomes available, instantly, on the computer screen of the 'ank 'ranch. When the bill reaches the bank, the 'ank makes the payment and, instantly again, the payment information becomes available to the Treasury 7fficer on his computer screen. ii. 0t used to take months together to prepare the Statement of ccounts of each Treasury. !$, as also the 8inance -epartment used to remain busy monitoring the &tatement of !ccounts. 6ow each Treasury is able to prepare its &tatement of !ccounts for a month by the 4th of next month. The size of the pay bills used to be that of an ! 2 paper *a paper *four times the size of a normal page+. The officers had to put their signatures at seven places *without knowing as to what they are signing on 9 the writing on the pay bill paper bore no relationship to the contents of the bill: +. ;ach salary bill also had a number of &chedules for the payments,deductions made from the salary. There used to be separate Schedules relating to "rovident 8und,

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0ncome Tax, $roup 0nsurance &cheme and recoveries of .ouse 'uilding !dvance etc. 7n an average, each pay bill used to have five such <&chedules=. The &chedules used to go to various offices after clearance of the bill by the treasury. 8or example, the schedule relating to $"8 used to travel to the $"8 office and it was >uite natural that many of the schedules used to be lost,misplaced in the transit resulting in serious information gaps relating to contributions,deductions made on account of $"8 contributions for which the concerned officers used to suffer harassments. Now the !ay Bill of an officer is an -" size single sheet# There is %ust one signature and there are no &chedules. The best part of it is that the information provided there is legible and correct. 6ow all the deductions and contributions become a p?art of the database and there is no need to keep accounts for various deductions at various places. iv. "reviously, bills presented at the treasury used to be checked manually for a number of things like availability of allocations *remember the !nimal .usbandry scam where money was withdrawn without allocations@+, correct heads and --7 (odes etc. 6ow the bills are generated on the computer and the information is already available to the Treasury 7fficer about the bills, which are going to be presented in the near future. ;ach &alary bill generated by the system has a control number and when it is presented at the Treasury, the Treasury 7fficer %ust retrieves the bill from the computer through the control numbers. This has made the life of the people of the Treasury office very easy as they do not have to repeatedly enter the data every month for every bill. ;arlier the 'ill clerks in each department used to take weeks together to prepare bills. 6ow, they are able to prepare bills through the computer in no time as the details of previous monthsA salary bills etc. are already available and with minor modifications, they are again re printed. This has ensured accuracy of the salary bills, correct heads and better account keeping.

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3. The system has resulted in overall improvement in pro$iding better ser$ices to the stake-holders. (onsider following facts) i. 8or getting $"8 accounts, the employees had to run from Treasury to Treasury and used to collect TB 6umbers and what is described as C(ollateral ;videncesC of their deposits. 6ow they can see their accounts online. 0n fact, the $overnment has now started the service of regularly informing the employees about their contribution through &D& at the end of each month. This &D& includes the amount of contribution, Treasury Boucher *TB+ number and date of deduction. 0t has simplified and eased the work of Bill Clerks who can now prepare bills in no time. 0t has also made life easier for %fficials in the Treasuries because they do not have to prepare &crolls, check bills for various errors and make entries in various ledgers for preparing the accounts at the end of each month. The Drawing & Disbursing %fficers 'DD%s+ can now prepare their statutory

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reports online. The Banks do not have to worry about the receipt of &crolls, illegible,incorrect heads of account and amounts etc. 6ow it is flashed on their computer screens with no ambiguity. E. Fastly, the system has also enabled better fiscal management and planning at macro-le$el. (onsider the following i. !s each employeeAs data relating to salary, scale of pay etc. are available on the system, it is possible to calculate the re>uirement of salary and other allowances for all employees of any -epartment or organization with high degree of precision. There were examples of surrender of hundreds of crores, especially in -epartments with large employees like ;ducation and .ealth on account of salary as the salary re>uirements were not correctly estimated. 6ow with the precise data available, it is possible to compute the salary re(uirements with high degree of accuracy. 0t is possible to set and enforce policies relating to withdrawal from the Treasury. !s an example, if the &tateAs fiscal position deteriorates and $overnment has to put certain restrictions on withdrawals of certain categories of expenditures *e.g. arrear bills or other bills relating to contractors etc.+ it can be easily done centrally. The computer will %ust not allow the clearance of the bills for which restrictions have been imposed by the 8inance -epartment. &imilarly, if there are temporal restrictions *for example the -epartment should not spend more than 45G of the allocations within the first six months of the financial year+ this can also be implemented. The 8inance -epartment has now access to withdrawal)e*penditure figures "eriod wise, Treasury wise, -epartment wise and .ead wise. There is now no need to call for the information from each -epartment regarding the progress of expenditure as this information is available centrally. !s information relating to all the employees and their -epartments are available, it is possible to do better resource planning. 0t is also possible to estimate the pensionery liabilities or the payments of the $"8 etc. 0n other words, financial,expend planning of the state has become highly scientific and precise.

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4. We do not intend to stop here. We are already in the process of developing an +ntegrated ,inancial -anagement System, which will integrate planning, budgeting, sanctions, allocations and withdrawals so that the entire financial system of the &tate works in an integrated and connected manner. H. !ll the above has been possible because of two important facts. The first is the availability of the &tate -ata (enter and the second is the availability of the &tate Wide !rea 6etwork. The &tate has been able to leverage the power of connectivity of Jhar6et and &tate -ata (enter to achieve an 0ntegrated Treasury &ystem christened as Kuber.

I. The &ystem is also a fine example of perfect coordination between the 0T and 8inance -epartment of the &tate. 'oth the -epartments have worked together to ensure that we achieve the target of developing an integrated system of the treasuries. 0n fact the 8inance -epartment has been very proactive in process reforms. 0t would have been nearly impossible to change forms, processes and even system of bill preparation in the normal course but for the personal interest of the 8inance &ecretary. The !ccountant $eneral has also been very helpful in going ahead with changes. J. 8inally 60( has also done a commendable work in developing the entire software from the scratch. !ny consultant would have charged huge amounts for this work. There are no consultants in this pro%ect.