Govt launches initiative to standardize its web portals

With many departments approaching private vendors for creating and hosting their websites, not only is it posing data security risks to the state government but has also raised concerns about limited public accessibility.

In an effort to address this issue, the government is now insisting all the departments to stick to the Karnataka State Data Centre for management of their respective websites.

A recent government order in this regard pointed out that several departments whose websites are being managed by private entities, were neither following the national Guidelines for Indian Government Websites (GIGW) nor were they ensuring accessibility to all. Many websites are not ensuring that the websites open to Kannada content when a user logs in. They are also not following guidelines to ensure that the websites are accessible by differently-abled citizens, the government order said, asking departments to follow the standard format.

Ensuring that the website opens to Kannada content, displaying the state government logo, Chief Minister's name, respective minister's name and official contacts are all part of the standard format for Karnataka government websites.

According to Belur Sudarshan, Chief Minister's e-governance advisor, bringing all the department websites on a common platform is a long-standing issue. The government is now making an endeavour to ensure that all the department websites are hosted by the Karnataka State Data Centre to ensure data security and a standardised format.

It is also in the process of providing a Kannada URL link for all websites, to help people who want to access government departments in the regional language, he explained. During the H D Kumaraswamy government, there was a circular issued to standardise the websites. With the government order now, this has been made mandatory, he further said.

According to sources in the e-governance department, there are about 1,000 websites of the Karnataka government, including the local bodies, of which only about 250 are in the standard format.

Tech expert and activist Omshivaprakash opined that individual departments need training and technically trained staff to adopt these common guidelines. "Departments find it easier to outsource it to private entities than go through the government process. Even after getting a website developed, management and maintenance is a big challenge. As for security issues, the State Data Centre has to take control of hosting and offer secure infrastructure services," he said.