E-governance roadmap for 10 departments

The e-governance roadmap for 10 key departments of the state government is expected to be readied in six months, keeping in tune with the IT department's commitment to improve service delivery through adoption of latest technologies.

Globally reputed consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers which was roped in by the state government to spell the future e-governance roadmap has prepared its report on 21 departments. The report is an overview of the preparedness of these departments to implement e-governance initiatives. The report has also shed light on the manpower and hardware requirement for such departments.

“PwC has already given its report on 21 departments. Our next step is to prepare detailed project reports (DPRs) for these departments. In the first phase, DPRs will be compiled for 10 departments. Once the DPRs are ready, we will be in a position to assess the investment needed to implementing e-governance initiatives. There is definitely a substantial requirement of hardware and manpower at different levels for implementation of the e-governance schemes,” said state Chief Secretary B K Patnaik.

The DPRs for two departments- civil supplies and cooperation is already through while for other departments like agriculture, health & family welfare, housing & urban development, rural development, works and panchayati raj are expected to be readied within six months, said a highly placed official source.

Certain core applications will be common to all departments including salaries, office management and litigation management.

Plans are also afoot to come out with a dedicated policy for IT hardware manufacturing for attracting investors in the sector. The move follows direction given by the Centre to all states to frame such policies for boosting growth of the IT hardware sector. It may be noted that states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarata have already formulated sch policies.

“We are working on a focused policy for the IT hardware sector. The policy will aim at pulling IT hardware manufacturers to the state to set up their facilities. This policy will be distinct from the ICT (information & commission technologies) policy which is also in the works. The policy will spell out the unique advantages of Orissa and will strive towards making the state as one of the most sought after hubs for IT hardware manufacturing,” said the source.

He did not divulge the time-frame for finalizing the proposed policy.