IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

Shri A.Raja, Minister of Communication and Information Technology has said that about one lakh Broadband enabled service centers will come up in the country by March 2008 at a total cost of Rs. 5400 crore. One center will come up for every six villages with all e-governance services. Rs 1600 crore will be put up by central government and the rest by the private sector under the Public Private Partnership (PPP). The Minister was speaking at the eIndia 2007 Conference which he inaugurated here today. The Minister said that for implementation of e-governance, government on its part is trying to provide basic infrastructure including internet, window Facilitation center and last leg connectivity for implementation of e-governance, but participation of private sector and citizens is a key factor for providing totally transparent services to the public.

The application of IT to government processes, e-governance in short, can have a profound impact-on the efficiency, responsiveness and accountability of government, thereby, on the quality of life and productivity of citizens, especially the poor, and ultimately, on the economic output and growth of the country as a whole, the Minister added.

Shri Raja said that the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology has wide ranging activities from spreading of IT to masses to ensuring speedy IT led development. With Information and Communication (ICT) at its core, Department of Information Technology (DIT) has initiated the National eGovernance Plan (NeGP). It is an ambitious programme aimed at improving the quality, accessibility and effectiveness of government services to citizens and businesses with the help of information technology. It has enabled convenient and transparent access to the government and private services while providing equitable opportunities to all. It is also been used as an effective tool to drive administrative reforms within the government, and can change the perception of people about the government. In addition, it has created a national IT backbone for fast, reliable and efficient connectivity, data storage and access. The Indian economy is growing at a steady rate of 8-9 per cent. For this growth to be sustainable there is a need to increase efficacy of business processes especially those directly controlled by the government. NeGP in its current form consists of Mission Mode Projects (MMPs)and Functional components to be executed over a four-year period. Many states have started preparing Detailed Project Reports for implementation of these Mission Mode Projects. Many Ministries have initiated the process for designing Mission Mode Projects and are in the implementation phase currently. For implementing these MMPs, NeGP envisages putting in place a core infrastructure comprising State Wide Area Network (SWAN), Common Service Centres (CSCs) and State Data Centres (SDCs) which shall be used across MMPs for delivering desired services, he added.

Shri Jainder Singh, Secretary, Department of Information Technology also spoke on the occasion. Shri M.P.Narayanan, President CDMS welcomed the gathering. The four day International Conference is organized by the Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies. Representatives of various Government Departments,UNDP etc are participating in the Conference.

Autor(en)/Author(s): SRK/ska

Quelle/Source: Press Information Bureau, 31.07.2007