A wireless PC and a camera mouse for the visually challenged… a biometric ration card… software to analyse elections… a mobile phone based news services for villages… some of the finalists of the
NASSCOM Foundation’S 3rd annual Genpact NASSCOM Social Innovation Honours – 2011 to recognise innovation in the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for social development. The annual Honours aim to showcase projects that demonstrate best practices through exemplary use of ICT in areas of social transformation. The winner will be announced at the NASSCOM India Leadership Forum 2011on February 8. We bring you synopses of the shortlisted finalists.

Name of the Project:Synopsis/Category /Location
BangaloreOne- E-Governance Department, Govt.of Karnataka:Provides information on various government services for citizens. For e.g. RTO services like renewal of licenses, collection of road tax, payments against challans through multiple delivery channels like Electronic Kiosks, mobile phones and the Internet/ICT led innovation by govt.dept/body-/Bangalore
MNREGS--Commissionerate for rural Development, Dep.of Rural Development,Govt.of Andhra Pradesh with TCS:Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) passed in September 2005, guarantees 100 days of wage employment in a year to every rural household across the country. MGNREGA in collaboration with TCS created a sofware which generates job cards to the unemployed people of Andhra Pradesh to do unskilled manual labour with the help of the Gram Panchayat/ICT led innovation by govt.dept/body-/Hyderabad.
Sanjeevani-MOBILE TELE-ONCONCOLOGY UNIT--Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC). Provides screening camps for cervical cancer detection and treatment for initial stage of cervical cancer in the northern five districts of Malabar region of Kerala. Ladies with initial stage cervical cancers are given treatment inside Sanjeevani with cryotherapy/ LEEP surgery minimizes the travel cost to the hospitals and is affordable/ICT led innovation by govt.dept/body-/ Thiruvanthapuram. Blind Helper---- Mohit Khanna & Anurag Mishra: It is a wireless PC so the visually challenged can use it very easily, conveniently and quickly. Also, they can operate the computer from any corner of the house.A PC that comprising of a special 7-keys wireless keyboard, PC Side Hub, PC Side Software (E-Vision), Special Smart Home Extension Cable and Wireless Headphones. There is no need of a Braille keyboard so it is cost effective/ICT led student innovative concept /Meerut.
The Kabadiwala--Pavan Murali & Gayatri Hegde: An online customized portal and a SMS based solution that connects Kabadiwalas with households as well as recyclers/ICT led student innovative concept /Mumbai.
Explore--Samiran Saha & Group: A software application whose foremost objective is to help the visually impaired or cognitively impaired user by using automation and speech interfaces. It is a cost-effective and a hugely valuable answer for the average computer user/ICT led student innovative concept /Mumbai.
Panini Keypad--Luna Ergonomics: Allows one to write in an Indian language on the phone faster than one can write in English on an equivalent phone. The technologies are already deployed on the phone for Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Punjabi and work continues to include many others./ICT led innovation as a business model / Ahmedabad.
Sarvajal--Piramal Water Private ltd:'Sarvajal-Water for all' an initiative to provide clean and purified water to regions where water-borne diseases are high/ICT led innovation as a business model / Hyderabad.
Muti-Biometric ID Project--4G identity private Ltd: A Multimodal-Biometric system based ration card that are issued to citizens to avoid fraudulency in the tribal areas (Face + 10 Fingers + 2 Iris) /ICT led innovation as a business model /Hyderabad.
Aarogyasri Health Insurance Scheme--Aarogyasari Health Care Trust: A first-of-its-kind innovative scheme being implemented in the State of Andhra Pradesh from 1st April 2007. The scheme is a unique PPP model in the field of Health Insurance, tailor made to the health needs of poor patients and provides end-to-end cashless services for identified diseases through a network of service providers from Government and private sector/ ICT led innovation by not for profit organization /Vishakhapatnam.
Camera Mouse--Vision Aid Charitable Services Society: Helps visually impaired people read small print on their home television screens. It is a hand-held computer mouse like device that has to be connected to a common television screen. This will help magnify and display small printed text onto the Television screen with high degrees of magnification(20 X). It can be used for writing as well as reading/ICT led innovation by not for profit organization /Mumbai.
Blind with Camera--Beyond Sight Foundation: A programme for the visually impaired, where they learn the art of photography. The visually impaired use various tactile, audio clues, visual memories of sight, the warmth of light and cognitive skills to click a picture/ ICT led innovation by not for profit organization /Pondicherry.
Same Language Subtitling--Planet Read and IIM Ahmedabad: SLS is simply the idea of subtitling the lyrics of existing film songs (or music videos) on TV, in the ‘same’ language that they are sung in. SLS on songs causes automatic and inescapable reading practice and overcomes the motivational barrier to reading practice in weak-readers. It is Karaoke on Bollywood for mass reading/ICT led innovation by multistake holder partnerships/Hyderabad.
Election Watch Software--Association for Democratic Reforms and Webrosoft:Election Watch Software (EWS)is a web based application that is created to streamline data entry and data analysis of data pertaining to background (educational, criminal & financial) information of candidates contesting elections. EWS generates data used in the SMS Campaign where it provides a user with information of candidates in his constituency on the user’s mobile phone/ICT led innovation by multi stake holder partnerships/Bangalore.
Tsunami Early Warning System--Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) and Tata Consultancy Services(TCS):Developed in 2005 at the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services to monitor earthquakes in real-time, around the globe: The system monitors and tracks potentially large magnitude earthquakes called “tsunamigenic” earthquakes in tsunami parlance/ICT led innovation by multi stake holder partnerships/Mumbai.
Reinventing Education Programmes--IBM India Private Ltd: It enables teachers of select Govt. schools in two States in India to transform their classrooms into ‘thinking classrooms’ through innovative use of ICT and other modern tools. IBM is working with school partners throughout the world to develop and implement innovative technology solutions designed to solve some of education's toughest problems/ICT led innovation through corporate social responsibility/New Delhi
Patient Management Software For Learning Disability--TATA Interactive Systems/Tata Interactive Systems’ (TIS) initiative began with the aim of making people aware of and helping persons with learning disabilities.TIS has developed a patient-management software that helps the learning disability clinic to maintain a detailed and hassle-free database of the LD certified students. It also helps to manage the increasing number of new applications.ICT led innovation through corporate social responsibility/Gwalior Madhya Pradesh.
Cine Art 2010--PVR Nest(Network for Enablement & Social Transformation):The program has touched over 300 children with special economic needs and over 10,000 children from schools across Delhi by exposing them to movies and workshops that enable them to understand their relationship with social and cultural environment every year/ICT led innovation through corporate social responsibility:Noida Uttar Pradesh.
Health Automation And Management Services--Anurag Srivastava and Group: The HAMS (E-virtual Medical Home) is a single window IT enabled solution for health related problems and issues. Online appointment and Online consultation saves the time of patients as well as doctors by building an efficient & effective healthcare management system increases the chance of quick diagnosis and proper treatment/care. Through SMS alerts/IVRS integration (in local language) for various services /updates people get themselves aware of current epidemics, seasonal diseases, dieticians, health camps and local medics in urban as well as in rural areas/ICT Innovation by an Individual / Group/Bangalore.
Gaon Ki Awaaz--Sunil Saxena and Satyendra Pratap: Most villagers in India have no access to information that is relevant to them and can improve or enrich their lives. They can neither read newspapers nor watch television because of widespread illiteracy and lack of electricity. Gaon Ki Awaaz is India’s first mobile news and information service developed for rural India. It uses a mobile phone to provide information that is relevant to villagers; it is about them, by them and for them; and is in a language that they can understand.ICT Innovation by an Individual / Group/Hyderabad.
A Multi line Refreshable Braille Display--Paul Gerad D'Souza: The computer revolution has left the visually impaired community behind as there is difficulty in producing Braille electronically at an economically feasible price. A Refreshable Braille Display is a tactile computer peripheral that will help bridge the gap that visually impaired face while using a computer.It is a computer interface that will restore Braille as a primary means of literacy and information exchange for the visually impaired community. As small as a laptop computer, this device will give the visually impaired comparable functionality and utility value/ICT Innovation by an Individual / Group/Thiruvanthapuram.
Fuller details at http://www.nasscomfoundation.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=91&Itemid=187  

January 22 2011