When it comes to being e-savvy, the big and more advanced states seem to be taking a backseat, when compared to the small ones and lesser developed states.
While Haryana, Jharkhand and West Bengal are ready to roll out of the Centre initiative of National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), the more developed states like Maharashtra and Karnataka are lagging behind.
R Chandrashekhar, additional secretary, IT department, told FE of the 4,562 proposed common services centres (CSCs) in Jharkhand 4,506 are already completed, while in Haryana 920 out of the 1,159 are ready.
The remaining work in both the states is likely to be completed by the month-end. Even West Bengal is likely to complete its rollout by May-end, he added.
In fact, Bihar, too, is progressing well and would complete the rollout by October, almost six months ahead of UP, which is slated to complete the process in March next year.
However, according to Chandrashekhar, the delay in the case of Uttar Pradesh can be attributed to a large extent to the assembly elections held last year, which held back the state from initiating the e-governance programme due to the model code of conduct.
Complimenting IT officials for the progress that the UP has made, he said that it was in league with Gujarat and Maharashtra as the aspiring leaders in this scheme.
??UP is among the top ten states when it comes to rating the readiness of states in establishing CSCs. After having signed the service agreement on April 8 this year, digitalisation of services in the state would be ready by the end of this fiscal,?? he said.
Speaking on the sidelines of the state-level e-governance workshop in Lucknow on Thursday, Chandrashekhar also said that of the total 80,000 CSCs to be operational throughout the country by the end of this fiscal, 8,000 are already operational.
While inaugurating the workshop, UP chief secretary PK Mishra said the state government has been according top priority to the information technology and added that the role of IT in good governance cannot be ignored.
??In order to make e-governance successful and to create a fruitful impact, it is imperative that the scheme be implemented through the public private partnership (PPP) model.??
Stating that the government has chosen six districts to implement the project on a pilot basis, Mishra said that though the time schedule for these districts to make the CSCs fully functional has
been fixed for September, district magistrates of those
districts where work is
completed before time, will
be rewarded.
The districts chosen for the pilot project are Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Sitapur, Sultanpur, Gorakhpur and Rae Bareilly.
Principal secretary, IT and Electronics, UP, VN Garg said in order to provide better services, especially to the rural communities, the state has been divided into 7 zones for the establishment of 17,909 CSCs. ??Through these centres, citizen-centric services such as revenue, home, medical, health administrative reforms, urban development, social welfare, food and civil supplies, etc, would be delived in the first phase.??