The Hindu Business Line : Parliamentary panel for placing e-governance plan before Cabinet

EXPRESSING dismay at the lack of a formally approved document on the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) two years after the programme was conceived in 2003, a Parliamentary panel has recommended that the `NeGP document' should be placed before the Cabinet at the earliest to put implementation of various projects on a fast track.

"The committee have expressed their displeasure to learn that although the NeGP was conceived in mid 2003, the DIT has not even been able to develop a formally approved document on NeGP till date. The committee have considered it a matter of great concern as it was necessary for a clear articulation of Government policy on e-Governance," the 22nd report of the Standing Committee on IT (2005-06) on implementation of e-Governance Projects pertaining to IT Department, said here.

It suggested that the `NeGP document' be placed before the cabinet without further delay "so that the various projects under it find a defined track to move ahead towards the destination of implementation at a faster speed."

The report suggested that the IT Department should take steps to prepare and finalise the estimates of not only the total requirements of funds under NeGP but also for each of the Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) and key components with a well-defined sharing pattern of funds amongst the Ministries, Departments and State Government. "They have further desired that planning for funding mechanism for e-Governance projects should be based on the annual maintenance charges for both the systems and software," it said.

Taking note of the huge capacities created by entities such as PowerGrid and GAIL, the committee mooted that user Ministries and States utilise and share the infrastructure available with Railways, Department of Telecom (DoT) and other organisations, in order to bring down the cost, and speed up the rolling out of the NeGP.

It also called attention towards the lack of long-term planning with regard to technically-qualified professionals who would be required for implementation of the e-Governance projects.

"The Department should assess the actual requirements of skilled manpower in different areas of e-Governance projects by taking inputs from various departments so as to make a long-term comprehensive planning of recruitments of new people as well as imparting suitable and timely training to the existing manpower," it said.

Expressing concern over the attrition rate of the IT skilled workforce in the Government sector, the committee recommended that IT Department should work out a strategy to retain the technically-qualified manpower and explore the possibility of providing advanced training, better promotional avenues, and suitable financial incentives to encourage them to continue with the Government organisation for longer tenure.

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