Over the years, many different State Governments and Central Ministries have taken steps to bring about an e-Government era. On many different levels, people have worked hard to improve how public services are delivered and make it easier to use them.

India's e-Government has grown steadily from the computerization of government departments to initiatives covering the finer points of governance, such as putting the needs of the people first, focusing on service, and being open and honest. As a result, the country's strategy for e-Government has significantly changed from earlier e-Government projects.

What is TNeGA?

As a State Nodal Agency, Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency (TNeGA) was to support and drive all e-Governance initiatives of the Government of Tamil Nadu to bridge the knowledge gap between the development and use of new technologies in Government Departments. The Information Technology and Digital Services Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu are primarily in charge of TNeGA. Moreover, TNeGA is responsible for all e-Government initiatives in Tamil Nadu. 

The TNeGA is in charge of all e-Government projects in Tamil Nadu. In addition, the TNeGA portal helps people access the e-district application, which is the state government's portal for computerizing services for the public. People can sign up for the portal to use all Tamil Nadu Government's services. In this article, we look closely at the different services that the TNeGA portal has to offer. Moreover, the TNeGA is working on several e-Government projects to make all government services, where possible, available to the average person quickly and straightforwardly. 

"Governments are transitioning from digitizing records to digital governance, where the emphasis is not just on efficiency but also on effectiveness, transparency, and trust-building, as a result of the rising adoption of ICT technology,” says Sri Krishnakanth Prabhala – Head, COE in Emerging Technologies, Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency. 

“We at CEET help the government provide innovative services such as crop advisory, grievance redressal, and many more by utilizing emerging technologies like AI/ML, Blockchain, SaaS, and Big Data platforms. The movement's guiding principle is delivering what citizens want when they need it, not when they ask for it." he added. 

TNeGA research projects have received the NASSCOM AI GAME CHANGER AWARDS for the past two years. It is included in the Top 50 AI Game Changers Compendium. The following are the notable AI research initiatives of TNeGA.

Uzhavan predictor: AI-Pest and Disease detection

Uzhavan predictor is an innovative crop diagnosis system that can find the pests and diseases hurting a crop. It's a way to send corrective measures for Maize and Paddy via SMS based on a photo sent by the farmer through the app. 

This AI-powered mobile app has assisted over 150,000 farmers. Therefore, it was accessible to farmers, who could rely on it.

“Farmers need to find a strategy to boost output since they are under a lot of pressure to satisfy the rising demand. There will be more people to feed in 30 years. Additionally, since there is a limited supply of fertile soil, standard farming methods will need to be modified.” says Chockalingam - Tech lead AI, TNeGA.

“AI has the ability to transform the way we think about agriculture by bringing about numerous advantages and allowing farmers to produce more with less work. However, AI is not a self-contained technology. Artificial intelligence (AI) is the next phase in the transition from conventional to creative farming. AI can support already-used technology.” he added.

ePaarvai: AI-Based Cataract Detection System

Another game changing initiative from TNeGA is ePaarvai. ePaarvai is a smart mobile app that uses AI to figure out if a person has cataracts in their eyes. TNeGA researchers used computer vision and its most advanced object detection model, with Multi-class classification, to figure out how to solve the problem.

The main goal of ePaarvai is to create a standard way to screen, track, and keep an eye on patients with cataracts.

"To solve the problem, we used computer vision and its state-of-the-art object detection model. We used a Pytorch framework, to classify the model with more than one class. We made a dataset that was big enough and well-labeled enough to get good results." says Priyanjit Ghosh - consultant at TNeGA (AI/ML initiatives).

Furthermore, records are moved to digital format, making them easy to find. The ePaarvai has checked out over 10,000 people from 38 districts in Tamil Nadu. So far, more than 1,000 people have had surgery on their cataract eyes.

FRAS: Face recognition-based attendance system

TNeGA made the Image Analytics Device (IAD) for a facial recognition-based attendance system. The goal of FRAS is to solve the problems of manual attendance systems and save time without adding any complexity. A low-cost, lightweight edge computing system runs on its own and is connected to a secure network through a camera built into the system.

The whole system and architecture have a standalone edge computing that runs a light DL-ML model on top of it. The researchers have made a dedicated image dataset, improving performance metrics like the model's ability to recognize things in exceptional cases. Image Analytics Device (IAD) is a custom-made device made in-house that uses decentralized network architecture to make the AI inferences listed above. It doesn't need any internet or API to recognize things, which cuts down on the time it takes to process.

More than 3,500 users access this application to automate attendance systems in government organizations and institutions.

Future Plans

The TNeGA Center of Excellence for Emerging Technologies (CEET) is to catalyze the spread of new ideas among the targeted government entities. As a result, a variety of stakeholders can work together on a variety of projects. Bridge the gap between the product and the need, would make it easier for industry, government, academia, and non-governmental organizations to work together.

On the technology side, the TNeGA is improving the AI model to make it more accurate and cutting the time it takes to report from 24 hours to less than 12 hours. Researchers are also moving toward reinforcement learning by giving the AI system a wider range of data so that it can learn on its own and improve.

On the user side, the department is encouraging people to get the Uzhavan app for their phones. There have been more than 500,000 downloads so far, and the department's goal for the next 18 months is to reach 12,000,000. Now, 19 services are available through the app, and all future services will only be available through the app. So farmers can get all of their services through one app. As more services are added to the app, farmers eventually download it, and the number of people who use it grows.

Furthermore, TNeGA is currently working on numerous AI technologies. Future TNeGA projects employ computer vision, time series, and pattern recognition. The applications focus mostly on the healthcare and agriculture sectors.