2013-10-03



Shri Pranab Mukherjee

The President of India

“I believe that a multi-pronged strategy involving technology development, new marketing methods, precision in farm operations and innovative policy instruments is required to ensure agricultural sustainability and food and livelihood security and I would stress the importance of due attention to modernising food storage and its distribution”

Rashtrapati Bhavan has a hallowed existence in the annals of democracy. It is the residence of the President of the largest democracy in the world and it is a living heritage. Few official residential premises of the Head of the State in the world will match the Rashtrapati Bhavan in terms of its size, vastness and its magnificence. It is a historical monument with immense significance in Indian social and political life. It is open for public viewing on selected days with a view to educating the public on various aspects of its archaeological, historical and social significance.

“e-Governance leads to the creation of equity and access, it creates a general feeling of prosperity,” says Suresh Yadav, IRS, Officer on Special Duty to the President, President’s Secretariat, Rashtrapati Bhavan

Launch of E-MVS

Earlier, Rashtrapati Bhavan was open to a limited number of people who used to send written requests for permission. Visits to Rashtrapati Bhavan were open on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The timings for the visits were from 0930 hrs to 1130 hrs and from 1430 hrs to 1600 hrs. This system was opaque, inefficient and out of bound for the common citizens. The President in his assumption speech mentioned our motto – ‘All for knowledge and knowledge for all.’

Taking an inspiration from this philosophy, it was decided to make access to this institution transparent, easily accessible, and equitable for the citizens by using modern technology. The idea is to provide quality services to the citizens who want to visit the Rashtrapati Bhavan. With this ideal in mind, the E-Management of Visitors System (E-MVS) was launched. Rashtrapati Bhavan is probably the first Head of the State office to introduce online visitors’ management system, which makes use of barcoded security systems for monitoring the visitors. The success of this initiative is inspired by the President’s desire to bring this temple of democracy within the reach of common citizens and students.

The project was conceived to provide equitable access to the citizens with a unique experience for enhancing their knowledge about the Indian democratic system. The priorities of the project were to bring this living heritage to the younger generation. Date of launch of the system was 21st December, 2012. The first visit to Rashtrapati Bhavan through this system took place on 3rd January, 2013.

Role of various stakeholders in making E-MVS

• Security team, Delhi Police – to gear up for this change and be ready to use barcode system
• Household team of Rashtrapati Bhavan – for identification of in-house guides,providing basic amenities like drinking water facility and tea/coffee etc.
• CPWD – ambience improvement and designing of museum and garden routes
• A rt Section – upkeep of museums
• e-Governance – Development, design, implementation and monitoring of online system for Visitors’ E-management
• P ress Division – for press release prepared by E-governance section for educating the citizens about the change of procedure for use in electronic and print media.

Highlights of the E-MVS Initiative

The online E-MVS has brought complete transparency and online monitoring of the requests. With the new procedure in place, the visitor will get SMS alerts at the time of registration as well as at the time of approval. He/she also gets an email of the final approval specifying the details about day, time, entry gate number and necessary security instructions. These details and approval are now available to the visitors in advance ranging from one month to two months. Scholar Guide Module is also used for allocation of roaster duties to the guides, who are trained to show around the visitors and handle them efficiently.

This initiative is unique and it uses the online Visitors’ Management system for booking visits to Rashtrapati Bhavan with bar coded security features. The registration form of the visitor contains the photographs, name, address, identity card details, email and other verifiable parameters. The bar code issued at the time of approval of the request is available at the Reception for issuing the visitor’s pass. This ensures the verification at the Reception in the shortest possible time and also in advance to the security. The access is available to Delhi police to check the authenticity of the applicant. In future, this system will be integrated with Criminal Trafficking Network System to weed out unwanted elements.

In times to come the system will be further upgraded to make all the parameters of visitor available at the security gates through a display medium. The system will also be extended to monitor the movement of visitor within the premises by using the RFID tag system. This system is replicable at a minimal cost as it was designed and implemented in-house. This has extendable features depending upon the needs of the organization. This process has made the visitor approval process for the citizens, paperless and environment-friendly.

The new system has increased efficiency exponentially. The registration process is without payment interface and registration and approval processes are intimated through SMS and also a final mail is sent. The requirement of manpower is less now and the approval can be done on the same day. Therefore, the new system has brought increased efficiency, less human resources and faster approval and registration process. The outcome has been highly effective and the same has been widely appreciated by the visitors by sending positive feedback. The changed system has generated patriotism amongst the visitors after visiting the Office of Head of the State, which is seen as a living heritage.

Strategies adopted

This project was implemented within five months of the thirteenth Presidency. For this project, the following strategy was adopted:

Use of e-Governance for equitable access to the citizens

Registration process to be free from human intervention at the receiver’s end.

On-line approval to avoid bureaucratic delays

Creation of front office and back office to cut down on the Hierarchies

Revamping the entire structure for taking around the visitors to the museums and

the Mughal Garden by creating two defined circuits

Engagement of young generation, fresh from universities as Scholar Guides for the visitors

Comprehensive data structure at the time of registration to address the security concerns in the current security environment.

All information available on the website of the President of India through a weblink ‘On-line Booking to visit Rashtrapati Bhavan’.

Advance Information to stakeholders like the Members of Parliament in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha

Advance information to the public in the form of press release and through social media for educating them to the new procedure.

Transition to the new procedure through effective change management

Regular interaction with all internal stakeholders like Police, Military Wing,Household section and e-Governance

Facelift of souvenir shops and the basic amenities like drinking water and tea/coffee etc. to the visitors at strategic locations

This is a multi-disciplinary Project involving different organs of Rashtrapati Bhavan under the mentorship of Secretary to the President. This is an in-house concept developed by E-Governance, President’s Secretariat. Currently the initiative is fully functional and irreversible. It has got the attention of the public and the media. This is a low cost solution and already sustained for a fairly long period since its launch in December, 2012. It is worth noting that the Project has been conceived, designed, developed and implemented in a short period of time.

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