National Informatics Centre
Science and technology agency of the Government of India
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The National Informatics Centre (NIC) is an Indian government department under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).[4][5][6]
 | |
| Abbreviation | NIC |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1976 |
| Type | Digital information |
| Headquarters | New Delhi |
| Location |
|
Region served | India |
Official language | English and Hindi |
Director General | Abhishek Singh[1] |
Parent organisation | Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology |
| Budget | ₹11.5 billion (US$140 million)[2] |
| Staff | 3500 (April 2023)[3] |
| Website | www |
| ASN | |
| Traffic Levels | 70–80 Gbit/s |
It provides infrastructure, IT consultancy, IT services including but not limited to architecture, design, development and implementation of IT systems to central government departments and state governments, helping in implementing the digitization initiatives of Digital India.[7]
The organisation also carries out research in the IT domain and recruits various scientists and Scientific/Technical Assistants. The organisation's primary function is to cater to ICT needs at all levels of governance and facilitate digital access to government services for citizens.
History
The National Informatics Centre (NIC) is an Indian government department under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). Established in 1976, NIC provides information technology infrastructure and support to central and state government ministries, departments, and agencies. It is responsible for the development, maintenance, and operation of government IT systems, networks, and data centres, and supports the delivery of digital services by public authorities.
It had an annual budget of ₹11.5 billion (US$140 million) for the year 2018–19.[2] Most of this is spent in providing free services to various government departments.
Infrastructure and services
National Informatics Centre Services include:[8]
- Digital Government Research Centre (DGRC)
- Government Local Area Networks (LANs)
- Video conferencing
- National Knowledge Network (NKN)
- Mobile competency centre
- Email & messaging
- Remote sensing & GIS
- Webcast
- Domain registration
- National Cloud
- Command and control
- NICNET
- Data centre
- Security
- Blockchain Technology
NIC's Network, "NICNET",[9] facilitates the institutional linkages with the Ministries/Departments of the Central Government, state Governments and District administrations of India.[10] NIC is the primary constructor of e-government applications.[11] It also manages the National Knowledge Network.
Data centres and offices
In 2018, NIC opened its fourth data centre in Bhubaneshwar to complement its existing data centres in New Delhi, Hyderabad and Pune.[3] In addition to the National Data Centres, NIC offices include Head Quarters situated in New Delhi and has State Centres in all 36 states and Union territories.[12][7] This is supplemented by 741 district offices.[7]
National cloud
National Informatics Centre developed GI Cloud named as MeghRaj. This project was launched by Government of India for cloud computing in February 2014.[13][14] MeghRaj Cloud offers a variety of service model like platform as a service (PaaS), infrastructure as a service (IaaS), software as a service (Saas), virtual servers, Kubernetes containers, dev ops, etc.[15] In April 2023, Jio Platforms secured a ₹3.5 billion (US$41 million) contract to manage and improve the cloud services of National Informatics Centre (NIC) for five years for onsite maintenance at various data centres in Delhi, Pune, and Bhubaneswar.[15][16]
Centres of Excellence
The following CoE (Centre of Excellence) has been established:
- Artificial intelligence
- Blockchain technology
- Microservices
- Data analytics
- Application security
NIC established the Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence in 2019 to explore more opportunities for AI applications in governance. In 2020, the Union Government and NIC has launched the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in blockchain technology in Bengaluru.
Bharat Maps
Bharat Maps is a web mapping service maintained by the National Informatics Centre.[17] The project was implemented in the 2004–09 five-year cycle and the data is derived from Survey of India, Registrar General of India and Indian Space Research Organization.[18] The maps are used by various government departments for official purposes and is also available for the use of consumers.[18]
National Portal of India
NIC maintains the National Portal of India. The portal contains the Constitution of India,[19] and has a design objective to a single point to access the information and services of the Government of India.[20]