3 Nov : The two-day Capacity Building Workshop on e-Governance got underway this morning at Zonal Council Hall, Kohima. The participants of the first day included legislators, Administrative heads of departments, members of Commissions, Secretaries, Additional Secretaries and Deputy Commissioners.
Addressing the gathering, Nagaland Governor, K.Sankaranarayanan said that the Workshop would go a long way in making e-Governance a priority area for all Government departments and ensuring that all Departments take steps to improve their systems of public service delivery, which will ultimately benefit the citizens. He said that technology has the potential to make interactions between Governments and Citizens a much more satisfying experience for the citizens and this can change the normal perceptions that people have about Governments.
Governor said that e-Governance and IT applications will benefit people in Nagaland much more on account of the hilly terrain and general feeling of remoteness both with respect to mainland India as also within the State. He said that very often people of Mon and Tuensang feel that they are remote and cut off from Kohima and Dimapur also. This remoteness and distance can be bridged by use of technology and the Governor said that having a robust IT infrastructure with good connectivity and offering of public service can greatly improve Governance and bring Government closer to people. The Governor hoped that the Workshop will be able to address the key challenges and with experts from renowned institutions, it will come up with strategies and solutions that can push IT and e-Governance projects in Nagaland.
State Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio in his speech said that in the 21st Century, e-Governance has become synonymous with Good Governance. He said that the DAN Government has declared 2008-09 as the Year of Capacity Building, and a very important component of Capacity Building is to reform and renew the system of governance and delivery of public services to regain public trust. He said that there is need to re-design procedures and processes to make them simple and user friendly for the citizens. Information Technology and e-Governance gives us tool to facilitate this process, he added.
Rio reiterated the Mission Statement of the State Government’s IT Policy and he said that in order to fulfill the objectives outlined by the IT Policy, the e-Governance Road map has been framed. He also outlined various strategies for e-Governance in the State along with the identified sectors. Rio mentioned that in order to facilitate growth of IT and ITeS industry in Nagaland, we need capacity Building of the youth to equip them with skills that will help them in getting jobs in this sector. As part of Capacity Building, Rio said that Government of India need to support training of youth in IT, ITeS and BPO skill training. He said that the State is also in the process of establishing an IT park in Dimapur for which help and support from various quarters is needed to ensure that IT companies actually come forward with substantial investment in Nagaland.
The Chief Minister announced on the occasion that the Department of IT would be giving out laptops computers to all the 60 Legislators, 11 Deputy Commissioners and 9 (nine) other senior officials. Laptops to the Governor, the Chief Minister and the Speaker, NLA were given out during the inaugural function.
Speeches were also delivered by Vice President, NISG, Sanjay Murthy, IAS on the topic ‘Transforming Government Service Delivery’ and by Prof Subhash Bhatnagar from IIM, Ahmedabad on ‘Leadership for e-Gov Project Implementation’.
Welcome address was delivered by Secretary, IT, Abhishek Singh, IAS and Chairman’s remark was given by Chief Secretary, Nagaland, Lalhuma, IAS.