JOIN USAll govt services to go online by 2014
Also, two of the government offices, the Cabinet secretariat and the Department of Revenue in the Finance Ministry would soon be “paperless” and other Central government departments is on their way to be fully computerised, he said, after a review meeting on Friday of the apex committee on National e-Governance Plan (NeGP).
Other than Chandrasekhar, UIDAI Chairperson Nandan Nilekani, National Knowledge Commission Chairperson Sam Pitroda and Nasscom President Som Mittal were among those who attended the meeting.
The services now available in online form are just 14 of the 27 Mission Made Projects of the NeGP. The rest of the services will be functional by 2014, according to the Cabinet secretary.
To enable all this, connectivity is being enhanced through State Wide Area Networks (SWANs) ensuring a minimum of 2 Mbps connectivity upto block levels. SWANs are now operational in 23 states, and will start functioning in rest of the states by March 2011.
Aiding the project will be the State Data Centres (SDCs), which will serve as repositories of data at the state level. Detailed project reports for SDCs in 31 states have been approved and bid process has been completed for 16 states. By December 2011, all 31 SDCs will begin operations.
80,000 CSCs to set up
Also, more than 80,000 common services centres (CSCs) have been set up across the country and this might grow to 1,00,000 by March, 2011. The total estimated CSCs is 2,50,000 by 2012, covering all Panchayats.
The cost of the entire project is estimated at Rs 40,000 crore, of which about Rs 10,000 crore had been spent, Union IT Secretary R Chandrashekhar said. The projects are being carried out on private-public partnership.
The services available online include mobile computer applications, pensions, central excise, income tax, passport, banking & insurance, land records, road transport, common services centre, e-courts, national service delivery gateway & India portal.