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— G.R.N. Somashekar

(From left) Mr H.D. Kumaraswamy, Chief Minister of Karnataka, Mr Jean Philippe, President, Microsoft, and Mr Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman, Microsoft India, at the MoU between the Board for Information Technology Education Standards (BITES) and Microsoft in Bangalore on Monday.

Our Bureau

Bangalore, Sept. 24 What’s next in e-governance for Karnataka? Microsoft has ideas and initiatives up its sleeve, even as the paperless office system of administration is getting ready to be rolled out in a few weeks’ time.

Microsoft Corporation India on Monday extended a letter of intent for an e-governance project to the Karnataka Government. An efficient and transparent system of public administration is the proposed outcome.

The State Government, according to the letter of intent, could rope in Microsoft Corporation India, especially Microsoft Consultancy Services (a team of global consultants), for furthering the use of information technology for better delivery of services, particularly in the remote corners of the State.

The Government will explore the possibility of deploying Microsoft applications in the fields of education, government-citizen (G2C) delivery services, e-governance, management information systems, and initiation of a paper-less office system of administration, the letter said.

“We want to go beyond just a paperless office,” said Mr Rohit Kumar, Country Head, Public Sector, Microsoft India, speaking to Business Line. In a paperless office, the flow of files between various departments of the Government is automated, and the monitoring, tracking of progress of files, is made easier by going digital.

Now, the company wants to improve the information flow, which will lead to better productivity. “The Karnataka Government has a mature level of e-governance implementation. We want to take the next step,” he said.

The company has introduced an education programme to help train students. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the Board for Information Technology Education Standards’ (BITES) to begin a seven month long training programme, part of the Microsoft Education Alliance Program.

BITES is an autonomous non-profit society set up by the Government of Karnataka, the IT industry, and academia. Mr Jean-Philippe Courtois, President, Microsoft International, was present on the occasion.

He leads sales, marketing and services for all regions outside the US and Canada and directs the company’s engagement with Governments around the globe.

Microsoft will also provide access to its latest developer tools and select beta products to students and will also set up a portal for lecturers to share and communicate with other faculty worldwide under the ‘Faculty Connection initiative’.

A trainers’ training programme will also be conducted by the company.

More Stories on : E-Governance | Karnataka

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