The 10th National Conference on E-governance was recently held at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh under the aegis of the Department of Administration reforms, PG and Department of Information Technology, GOI and Department of Information Technology, Madhya Pradesh. The objective of the conference was to develop regional and national e-governance strategies by providing a forum for discussion amongst all stakeholders in the e-governance domain. The theme of this conference was “Enabling Government to Accelerate Transformation.”
Awards Presented
The conference was inaugurated on 2nd February by the Hon’ble Minister of state in the Ministry of Personnel & Parliamentary Affairs, Public Grievances & Pensions Sh Suresh Pachauri, and was graced by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Sh. Shivraj Singh Chauhan. An exhibition showcasing various e-Governance initiatives was also organized on the venue.
The inaugural session also witnessed the presentation of 15 National Awards for e-governance by the Chief Guest for exemplary initiatives taken in the field of promoting excellence in e-Governance. Many of the awards winning Projects were either executed by NIC or with the technical supports of its centres across India.
While unveiling the e-Readiness Assessment Report 2005 for States and UTs and referring to e-Governance as “the fifth revolution”, Sh. Pachauri emphasized the key role that ICTs can play in enhancing the efficiency of Public Services Centres in 6 lakh villages of India. These centres will be Internet and Broadband enabled and will provide a host of government and private sector services.
Emphasizing on the need for a transparent and accountable government, he said that while the Right To Information (RTI) legalizes a citizen’s right to information access, the NeGP provides a platform to achieve the same through ICT.
The 5 Plenary sessions of the Conference brought to light issues as diverse and yet as intricately linked as e-Readiness and Roll out, People and process, Resources and Mobilization, Community Participation in e-governance and Integrated Rural Services Delivery. As the panelists and delegates discuss these issues, some elements kept cropping up again and again. On the top was the issue of empowerment and accountability. It was strongly felt that, not only as it important to offer e-services to people but also it is equally important to create awareness amongst them so that they can avail of the services and the service providers can be held accountable.
Sh. R Chandrashekhar, Additional Secretary DIT, stated that though awareness about e-Governance is still at an embryonic stage in India, but the over whelming responses to this conference (over 1300 delegates from across the country attended the conference) proves that the day is not far enough when India would be setting new heights in this sector. He said that the Conference serves as a platform for exchange of information, discussion and resolution of common problems in the field of e-governance. Concurring with Sh. Chandrashekhar, the additional secretary DAR and PG Sh. Rahul Sarin stated that Good Governance is now universally recognized as a necessary pre-requisite and poverty reduction and amongst the many initiatives towards making good governance a reality, freedom of information and enabling access to services to all have captured the centre stage.