The National Informatics Centre (NIC) is the main science & technology organisation of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

's Union Government

Government of India

The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...

 in informatics services

Informatics (academic field)

Informatics is the science of information, the practice of information processing, and the engineering of information systems. Informatics studies the structure, algorithms, behavior, and interactions of natural and artificial systems that store, process, access and communicate information...

 and information-and-communication- technology (ICT) applications. The NIC is a part of the Indian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology

Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (India)

The Ministry of Communication and Information Technology is an Indian government ministry. It contains three departments:*Department of Telecommunications*Department of Information Technology*Department of Posts...

's Department of Information Technology.

It has played a pivotal role in steering e-governance applications in the governmental departments at national, state and district levels, enabling the improvement in, and a wider transparency of, government services. Almost all Indian-government websites come under NIC.

Field of work

The NIC offers telecommunications-networking

Telecommunications network

A telecommunications network is a collection of terminals, links and nodes which connect together to enable telecommunication between users of the terminals. Networks may use circuit switching or message switching. Each terminal in the network must have a unique address so messages or connections...

 services including K_u band

Ku band

The Kμ band is a portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies. This symbol refers to —in other words, the band directly below the K-band...

 (TDMA, FTDMA, SCPC & satellite broadband

Satellite Internet access

Satellite Internet access is Internet access provided through satellites. The service can be provided to users world-wide through low Earth orbit satellites. Geostationary satellites can offer higher data speeds, but their signals can not reach some polar regions of the world...

) VSATs, wireless metropolitan-area network

Metropolitan area network

A metropolitan area network is a computer network that usually spans a city or a large campus. A MAN usually interconnects a number of local area networks using a high-capacity backbone technology, such as fiber-optical links, and provides up-link services to wide area networks and the...

s (MANs) and local-area network

Local area network

A local area network is a computer network that interconnects computers in a limited area such as a home, school, computer laboratory, or office building...

s (LANs) with gateway

Gateway (telecommunications)

In telecommunications, the term gateway has the following meaning:*In a communications network, a network node equipped for interfacing with another network that uses different protocols....

s for Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

- and Intranet

Intranet

An intranet is a computer network that uses Internet Protocol technology to securely share any part of an organization's information or network operating system within that organization. The term is used in contrast to internet, a network between organizations, and instead refers to a network...

-resource sharing

Shared resource

In computing, a shared resource or network share is a device or piece of information on a computer that can be remotely accessed from another computer, typically via a local area network or an enterprise Intranet, transparently as if it were a resource in the local machine.Examples are shared file...

.

It is the network infrastructure

Infrastructure

Infrastructure is basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function...

 and e-governance support to India's central government

Central government

A central government also known as a national government, union government and in federal states, the federal government, is the government at the level of the nation-state. The structure of central governments varies from institution to institution...

 and state government

State government

A state government is the government of a subnational entity in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or be subject to the direct control of the federal government...

s, union-territory

Union Territory

A Union Territory is a sub-national administrative division of India, in the federal framework of governance. Unlike the states of India, which have their own elected governments, union territories are ruled directly by the federal government; the President of India appoints an Administrator or...

 administrations, administrative divisions and other government bodies. The NIC assists in implementing information-technology projects, in collaboration with central and state governments, in the areas of:

Organisation

The NIC is a part of the Indian Ministry of Communications & Information Technology's Department of Information Technology and is headquartered

Headquarters

Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...

 in New Delhi

New Delhi

New Delhi is the capital city of India. It serves as the centre of the Government of India and the Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. New Delhi is situated within the metropolis of Delhi. It is one of the nine districts of Delhi Union Territory. The total area of the city is...

. It has offices in all 28 state capitals and 7 union-territory headquarters and almost all districts. At New Delhi Headquarters, a large number of Application Divisions exist which provide total Informatics Support to the Ministries and Departments of the Central Government. To cater to the ICT needs at the grassroots

Grassroots

A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...

 level, the NIC has also opened offices in almost all district collector

District collector

The District Collector is the district head of administration of the bureaucracy in a state of India. Though he/she is appointed and is under general supervision of the state government, he/she has to be a member of the elite IAS recruited by the Central Government...

ates.

NIC computer cells are located in almost all Ministry bhawans (buildings) of the central government and Apex offices including the Indian Prime Minister

Prime Minister of India

The Prime Minister of India , as addressed to in the Constitution of India — Prime Minister for the Union, is the chief of government, head of the Council of Ministers and the leader of the majority party in parliament...

’s office, the Indian Presidential Palace (Rashtrapati Bhavan)

Rashtrapati Bhavan

The Rashtrapati Bhavan or The Official Residence of the Head of the State is the official residence of the President of India, located at Raisina hill in New Delhi, India. Until 1950 it was known as "Viceroy's House" and served as the residence of the Viceroy and Governor-General of India...

 and India's Parliament House (Sansad Bhavan).

Services

The NIC offers a host of services including:

• computer-aided design
  Computer-aided design
  Computer-aided design , also known as computer-aided design and drafting , is the use of computer technology for the process of design and design-documentation. Computer Aided Drafting describes the process of drafting with a computer...
  
   (CAD)
• digital-signature
  Digital signature
  A digital signature or digital signature scheme is a mathematical scheme for demonstrating the authenticity of a digital message or document. A valid digital signature gives a recipient reason to believe that the message was created by a known sender, and that it was not altered in transit...
  
   certification
• geographical-information system
  Geographic Information System
  A geographic information system, geographical information science, or geospatial information studies is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographically referenced data...
  
   (GIS)
• domain-name registration
  Domain name registry
  A domain name registry is a database of all domain names registered in a top-level domain. A registry operator, also called a network information center , is the part of the Domain Name System of the Internet that keeps the database of domain names, and generates the zone files which convert...
  
   for gov.in
  .in
  .in is the Internet country code top-level domain for India. The domain is operated by INRegistry under the authority of NIXI, the National Internet Exchange of India. INRegistry was appointed by the government of India....
  
   and nic.in
  .in
  .in is the Internet country code top-level domain for India. The domain is operated by INRegistry under the authority of NIXI, the National Internet Exchange of India. INRegistry was appointed by the government of India....
  
  
• informatics
  Informatics (academic field)
  Informatics is the science of information, the practice of information processing, and the engineering of information systems. Informatics studies the structure, algorithms, behavior, and interactions of natural and artificial systems that store, process, access and communicate information...
  
  
  • biomedical informatics
  • patent
    Patent
    A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
    
     informatics
  • rural
    Rural
    Rural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
    
     informatics
• internet data centre
  Data center
  A data center is a facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems...
  
   (IDC)
• mathematical modelling and simulation
• computer networking
• office-procedure automation
  Office Automation
  Office automation refers to the varied computer machinery and software used to digitally create, collect, store, manipulate, and relay office information needed for accomplishing basic tasks. Raw data storage, electronic transfer, and the management of electronic business information comprise the...
  
   (OPA)
• training
  Training
  The term training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. It forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at institutes of...
  
  
• videoconferencing
  Videoconferencing
  Videoconferencing is the conduct of a videoconference by a set of telecommunication technologies which allow two or more locations to interact via two-way video and audio transmissions simultaneously...
  
  
• website hosting & website development

Publications

The NIC publishes an E-Governance

E-Governance

Several dimension and related factors influence the definition of eGovernance. The word “electronic” in the term e-Governance implies technology driven governance...

quarterly entitled "Informatics" in both print and PDF format. The current Chief Editor is Neeta Verma, Senior Technical Director of NIC. The publication is made available at Informatics Website. Current issue is October 2010 edition.