14-Mar-2018: Certificates of Appreciation to 34 ministries/departments for implementation of e-office programme
Dr Jitendra Singh presented the Certificates of Appreciation to 34 Ministries/departments for implementation of e-office programme in their respective ministries/departments. The awards have been given by the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India.
Implementation of e-office programme is a remarkable achievement for which the awardee ministries/departments needs to be complemented for their efforts. Government has always worked with the motive of ‘maximum governance, minimum government’ with citizen-centric approach.
The Minister appealed to the state governments to adopt the practices of good governance. He said that now the DARPG is organizing regional conferences on good governance and best practices in various parts of country, so that the good practices can be replicated in other parts of the country. These efforts have started showing results. He also appealed to the other departments and ministries to follow the same practices and shift to e-office.
The ministries which were awarded have implemented e-office upto 80% and above. In the long-run shifting to e-office makes the functioning in the offices smooth. Other ministries will also follow this practice.
E-Office is one of the Mission Mode Projects under Digital India Programme. The e-Office solution enables core operations of the Government at all levels to be performed in a virtual ‘paper-less’ environment. This application is, thus, a major step in realizing the objective of an open and responsive Government.
The Government intends to make all its’ Ministries/Departments paper-free in the near future. The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DAR&PG) is the nodal Department for implementation of e-Office project. National Informatics Centre (NIC) is the technical partner in this project. DARPG is committed to implement e-Office across all Central Ministries/Departments.
Since August 2016, DAR&PG is coordinating with all Central Ministries/Departments through rigorous review meetings on the status of implementation of e-Office and is also submitting a fortnightly status report to Cabinet Secretariat. DAR&PG has also set up a Project Management Unit (PMU) to monitor the progress of implementation of e-Office by Central Ministries/Departments. As the result of this continuous and proactive monitoring, the level of Ministries/ Departments on e-Office has risen from 6 to 34. The number of active e-files has increased from 7,848 to 7,33,374 during the period.
2-Oct-2017: Odisha government creating land bank for industrial allocation
The state government of Odisha is creating a 1.2 lakh acre land bank across the state for allocation to the industrial sector to avoid a repeat of the Posco fiasco. In order to cut red tape and wrangling with local issues in the land acquisition process, the state government is acquiring government land for industrial use and proposes to offer it with all facilities in place.
Odisha government has created a huge land bank and has identified areas across the state to bring under one umbrella for the industrial sector. Already, the land bank has reached 57,655 acres. With the creation of the land bank, the industry department is looking for investment in various sectors including steel, aluminum, Agro and food processing based units, apparel, IT and plastic units that will further create employment potential.
It is a plug-and-play kind of model wherein the facilities related to water, power, roads and all clearances are in place. The companies need to only make the payment of base premium upfront for the land and the annual rent for rest of the 90 years (their lease).
15-Sep-2017: Assam forms ‘State Capital Region’ around Guwahati
In line with the National Capital Region, Assam will have a State Capital Region encompassing Guwahati and its peripheral areas with the passing of a bill in the state Assembly. The Assembly recently passed Assam State Capital Region Development Authority (ASCRDA) Bill 2017 to set up the regional authority for preparation of a plan for rapid development of the SCR.
The SCR shall comprise the districts of Kamrup Metropolitan, Kamrup, Nalbari, Darrang and Morrigaon, fully or partly. Capital Guwahati is in Kamrup Metropolitan district. ASCRDA will be the overall authority to direct, implement and monitor the development of SCR. ASCRDA will be headed by the State Chief Minister.
It will prepare a regional plan for the area and coordinate the preparation of functional plans, regional plans, development schemes and project plans by the authority itself as well as by the municipal corporations, local bodies, panchayats and different government departments. The body will be entrusted to organise and oversee the financing of selected development projects in the State Capital Region through government funding as well as other sources of revenue.