NEWS

15th National e-Governance.... destination Bhubaneswar

By VARINDIA - 2012-02-22

15th National Conference on e-Governance was convened at KIIT Convention Centre, Bhubaneswar, Odisha. The Chief Minister of Odisha, Sri Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the event. Other dignitaries who were present in the conference were Union Minister Sri V. Narayan Swamy, Union Minister of State, Sri Sachin Pilot, Chief Secretary Sri Bijay Kumar Patnaik, Secretary, DARP, Govt. of India Sri Ramesh Chandra Mishra, Secretary IT, Sri P.K. Jena. The conference was held on 9th and 10th February 2012 under the joint auspices of the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances and Department of Information Technology, Govt. of India along with Department of Information Technology, Govt. of Odisha.

The theme of the conference was "Towards Effective Electronic Service Delivery". The two day conference provided a forum for serious discussions on critical issues by the e-Governance community of the country. It explored how government departments can work collectively to simplify access to public information from anywhere, anytime, and to everybody, ensure the accuracy and privacy of the information they share and analyze large data repositories to support actionable decision-making especially at the lowest level of governance in Gram Panchayats and Municipalities. The conference also provided a platform to understand and improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the local governance and capacity required for successful and sustainable implementation.

Odisha, Shri. Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare; Shri. R C Misra, IAS, Secretary-Personnel, DAPG, GOI; Shri. P K Jena, IAS, Secretary IT, Govt. of Odisha and Shri. B K Patnaik, IAS, Chief Secretary, Govt. of Odisha (extreme right)

In his inaugural speech, Sri Naveen Patnaik shared, "My Government having recognised the importance of the sector has adopted a pro-active policy in promoting investment in the IT sector for economic development. India has been one of the fastest growing economies since the 1990s. Not only has the growth been stable, it has also opened up opportunities for people of both rural and urban areas. This phenomenon is primarily led by the service sector which is a key factor in India's current economic development. Transparency and accountability are necessary hallmarks of good governance."

He further added, "Several Governments have now come up with various technology enabled services to simplify service delivery by Government agencies. As the use of information and communication technology has already been demonstrated in many areas in our country, I do believe that e-Governance is going to be a major game changer. It is important for Governments both at the centre and the States to think of effective and people friendly e-Governance strategies for providing solutions to governance problems. I am happy that the Government of India has come up with an ambitious National e-Governance Plan and has created a common infrastructure such as State Wide Area Networks, State Data Centre, Common Service Centres and State Service Delivery Gateway, to provide similar services and exchange of data across multiple Government Departments. Our Government has put in place the infrastructure as required under National e-Governance Plan."

The Govt. of Odisha has developed a number of successful e-Governance initiatives like, e-Registration, e-Commercial Tax Automation, e-Treasury, e-Grievance Redressal, Electronic management of CM's Relief Fund, universal e-admission to all +2 and +3 Colleges, e-district, e-Municipality, e-Panchayat, e-Sishu and e-Pragati for tracking of children from delivery to primary schooling etc.

Rajendra S Pawar
Chairman, NASSCOM

Many presentations were delivered on different topics related to better governance. The e-service presentation session emphasised on e-service delivery and how it helps the government get closer to the citizens by creating awareness about their rights and empowering their participation. The discussion was focused on the benefits of e-Service delivery, current state of e-delivery in India while also touching upon the mission mode projects and Imperatives for Successful e-Service Delivery. It was concluded that e-Service delivery is an effective and efficient tool available to the government for development of the society, and the initiatives taken up signify the government's commitment to such a delivery mechanism. Multiple challenges remain for successful implementation of different projects, but once these are addressed, the government will be able to realize its vision of providing services to each and every citizen of the country.

However, ensuring information dissemination to all requires active participation from all stakeholders including the government, public bodies, citizens, media and civil society. The public bodies need to adopt technology aggressively. They also need to embark on a journey of cultural change that takes them from being secretive to being open.

The use of technology by various departments needs to be followed up with a more planned approach targeted at reducing barriers to information flow. Leveraging existing infrastructure like the State Wide Area Network (SWAN), State Data Centre (SDCs) and CSCs is the way forward for aggressive implementation of IT programmes.

Ajay Sawhney
President & CEO, National
e-Governance Division. DIT, GOI

S.Mohini Ratna
mohini@varindia.com