By year-end, govt services in State will be just a click away

The oft-repeated phrase 'running from pillar to post’ (depicting the plight of the common man who is made to approach one authority after the other for availing services) may well be on its way out. A plan to deliver a number of government services electronically to the public in the State under a national scheme is inching closer to reality. The Karnataka e-District project under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) has already shortlisted 369 services from 28 State government departments. Authorities said that the e-District project in the State will be rolled out by the end of the year. Fully funded by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) under the Union Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the e-District project is intended to enable "electronic processing and delivery of high volume of G2C (Government to Consumers) services at the district level and below”. Documents available with Deccan Herald show that the Directorate of Electronic Delivery of Citizen Services under the State e-Governance Department, the nodal agency implementing the plan, has so far accessed 1,856 government services from various departments and identified at least 1,270 for integration. Out of this, 369 services from 28 departments were ultimately shortlisted. More are being shortlisted. A detailed project report (DPR) of the e-District project has already been approved by DeitY and a MoU has been signed with it in this regard. The project will be implemented in two phases. "The State Cabinet gave its clearance for the project in January this year and issued an order for its implementation. We are presently in the process of negotiating with departments for their consent letters. By the end of this year, we will roll out the project,” said Takhat Singh Ranawat, Director, Directorate of Electronic Delivery of Citizen Services. Nine services of the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB) have been shortlisted for the project. These include issuing duplicate marks cards, retotalling of marks, revaluation of answer sheets, issuing birth certificates based on SSLC exams, migration certificates and photocopies of answer scripts. Once the e-District project comes into force, students no longer need to physically go to the KSEEB office for such documents as a portal will provide all the services. Other services such as filing and keeping track of RTI (Right to Information) applications and grievances are also to be integrated into the e-District project. Some of the largest number of services have been identified in the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department (68) and Department of Public Instruction (36). Scholarship schemes from various departments - Social Welfare (5), Backwards Classes (6), Tribal Welfare (5) Minorities (12) - have also been identified. Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra and Odisha have already implemented the e-District project. Deccan Herald