SAP Empowers Government To Deliver Faster, Simpler Citizen Services

Sagar Media Inc: New Delhi India : Aug.08,2013.

SAP India, a subsidiary of SAP AG, has reaffirmed its commitment to improve impact of ICT intervention in the area of good governance in the country by launching three new solutions powered by SAP HANA.

The three new applications - Rakshak , TracOHealth and The “Milk Co-operative” Experience, conceived, designed and developed by SAP Labs India, will enable Government organisations and departments to enhance service delivery and responsiveness, and improve preparedness, prevention, safety and security outcomes in real-time in an unpredictable world.  

“The convergence of cloud, mobile, social and big data is reshaping the future of e-governance, empowering consumers and changing the ways Public sector and Internal security organisations will deliver citizen services in the future,” said Suprakash Chaudhuri, Managing Director, SAP India & Subcontinent. “Powered by SAP HANA, our new solutions will empower our customers to deliver new and innovative services to address today’s and tomorrow’s challenges in real-time without disrupting their business operations,” he added.

With an aim to empower the government institutions with an effective and modernised functioning of its system, the new offerings are a step towards creating a real time platform for bridging the rural – urban divide and augment the safety and security programs undertaken by the government.  

“The profound changes and growth in urban settlements require fresh thinking and creativity around how government organisations can run better,” said Mathew Thomas, Vice President- Strategic Industries, SAP India. “The new solutions focuses on helping government organisations address the issues associated with the drive for smarter economies, the need for sustainable growth and the power to positively impact the lives of people,” he added .

With these new offerings, SAP aims to help customers automate several operational areas including, tracking & control; streamlining of procurement systems, budget and expense management, project & scheme implementation amongst others to turn data into actionable information and deliver services efficiently.  

 The new solutions launched today include:  TracOHealth - Aimed at paving way for an inclusive approach to better collaborative outcomes in the area of child health, the TracOHealth helps in maintaining all the health related information for a lifetime of every child across India. TracOHealth leverages the power of Aadhaar (UID) to uniquely identify  beneficiariesand has been architected and designed with the ability to work even in the remotest corners of the country. Powered by SAP HANA, with both web and mobile interfaces, TracOHealth provide real time analytics that help health authorities optimise resource utilisation.  

 The Milk Co-operative Experience – Designed to contribute to the socio economic development, this cloud based, data and analytic technology offers dairy cooperatives gain real-time visibility on the procurement to plan its production and distribution. It allows the complete milk procurement process to be captured at-source resulting in transparent milk procurement and facilitating electronic payment to farmers in their respective bank accounts.  

SAP Rakshak 2.0 – With the intent of reinforcing the law and order scenario in the country, SAP Rakshak offers real time information for crime incidents happening across states to all the law enforcement agencies, both state and central. This solution is equipped to assist the security agencies in better decision making and to, build strategies to improve law and order situations. With built-in analytical capabilities such as simulation of what-if scenarios, the platform can dramatically improve speed of response, resource and budget utilisation.


Technology, in the last decade and half, has brought sweeping changes in the style of governance.  Technology innovations from SAP can help governments in their mission to achieve more with fewer resources. With more than 1,250 public sector organisations in 70 countries, SAP has transformed operations at all levels to help them serve citizens better. Customers that have recently adopted SAP for Public Sector solutions in India include Department of Post, Power Grid Corporation of India Limited, Government of Andhra Pradesh (Treasuries and Accounts), Ministry of Company Affairs, Bharat Dynamics Limited, Electronics Corporation of India Limited, Assam Power Distribution Company Limited and Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Company Limited.

The Promises and Perils of Geoengineering

PRESS RELEASE Wednesday, August 7, 2013 Contact: Supriya Kumar, skumar@worldwatch.org, (+1) 202-745-8092, ext. 510 For more information: http://www.worldwatch.org/promises-and-perils-geoengineering           The Promises and Perils of Geoengineering          Worldwatch Institute examines the potential consequences of using geoengineering as a climate quick fix  Washington, D.C.---Geoengineering, by definition, is any deliberate large-scale manipulation of the planetary environment to counteract human-caused climate change. As the planet continues to warm, the potential solutions offered by geoengineering are tempting, and several serious projects are actively being pursued. In the latest edition of the Worldwatch Institute's (www.worldwatch.org) State of the World 2013: Is Sustainability Still Possible?, Simon Nicholson, Assistant Professor in the School of International Service at American University, examines the pros and cons of such an approach to responding to climate change. The technological prospects for geoengineering are vast, and fall into two main camps: Solar Radiation Management (SRM), a tactic that aims to reflect solar radiation back into space so that it is not absorbed by the atmosphere. The intent is to counteract heat-trapping gases by scattering or deflecting some percentage of incoming solar radiation by, for instance, streaming sulfate particles into the stratosphere or launching sunshades into space.  Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR), an approach that involves drawing large amounts of carbon out of the atmosphere, and storing it where it won't cause future harm. Land-based ideas have included carbon dioxide scrubbers that would pull large quantities of carbon dioxide straight from the air, or growing forms of biomass and then reducing it to charcoal, which can be buried. Ocean-based ideas mostly involve the cultivation of plankton, which take in carbon from the atmosphere and bring it to the bottom of the ocean with them when they die. "SRM strategies are receiving the bulk of the attention," says Nicholson. "It is hard to see a CDR scheme coming online quickly enough or being deployed at a large enough scale to make a real dent in the atmospheric carbon load." Yet Nicholson warns that solar radiation management is not any kind of real answer to climate change. "At best, SRM can reduce the planet's fever for a period," he says. "Talk of geoengineering is gaining traction because it has the appearance of an easy, sacrifice-free approach to tackling climate change. It is critically important to recognize that there are sacrifices, some obvious and some harder to spot, associated with the bulk of geoengineering schemes." In his chapter, "The Promises and Perils of Geoengineering," Nicholson outlines some of the consequences that may arise if geoengineering is pursued: Climate Catastrophes: The most obvious concern is the potential for causing catastrophic and irreparable damage. Even with computer models and endless calculations, there are still potential unforeseen problems that may occur with any such large-scale plan, due to our still limited understanding of the world's climate system. Political Dilemmas:Large-scale climate engineering may curtail the will to develop other forms of climate-protecting actions. If changes in the climate affect various parts of the world, the question of who ought to control the thermostat also raises issues. Less influential countries may be left to suffer as world powers dictate climate behavior to their advantage. Militaries may be able to start using the weather as their greatest weapon of mass destruction. Rogue Actors: In October 2012, an American took a ship off the shore of Canada and dumped about 100 tons of iron sulfates into the Pacific Ocean, in hopes of creating a carbon sink. As threats about rising temperatures increase, it is possible that more individuals and organizations will risk taking the climate's condition into their own hands. With outlined principles and public decision making, however, geoengineering does have the potential to become one method to battle climate change. Some scientists have suggested a "soft-geoengineering" approach, in which changes we make are still widespread, but are reversible and predictable. Examples include painting roofs white to reflect sunlight, or building up carbon in soil and vegetation. "The need is for a middle ground," says Nicholson. "Not geoengineering as a techno-fix but rather geoengineering as one small part of an effort to steer the world to a state of rightness and fitness in ecological and social terms." Worldwatch'sState of the World 2013, released in April 2013, addresses how "sustainability" should be measured, how we can attain it, and how we can prepare if we fall short. For more information,visit www.sustainabilitypossible.org.