J&K Ranks First among UTs in e-Governance Services Delivery

Jammu & Kashmir ranks first among all Union territories in terms of e-Governance service delivery, allowing it to save approximately Rs 200 crore per year on the carriage of physical files during the Annual Durbar move between the two capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar.

This was stated today in the presence of Union Ministers of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy, and Space, while releasing the National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment report, prepared at the initiative of the Union Ministry of Personnel's Department of Administrative Reforms.

The Minister praised the Jammu and Kashmir UT for achieving this position with an overall compliance rate of nearly 90%. Dr. Jitendra Singh informed the National Workshop on e-Office and Launch of National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment (NeSDA 2021) that Jammu and Kashmir were assessed for the first time in NeSDA 2021 and scored the highest among all UTs for six sectors. He stated that with the implementation of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 on October 31, 2019, J&K became the first UT in the country to have a Good Governance Index and was also the first to launch a District Good Governance Index for 20 districts of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in January of this year.

Dr. Jitendra Singh stated that the operationalization of two Secretariats in Jammu and Kashmir was made possible by e-Office, putting an end to the annual Darbar move, which carried over 300 truckloads of files between the two capital cities of Srinagar and Jammu. This also saved Rs 200 crore per year and resulted in an uninterrupted work culture throughout the UT, with no official break of six weeks for file organization in Jammu and Srinagar, respectively.

According to the Minister, the adoption of e-Office enabled the simultaneous operationalization of both the Jammu and Srinagar Secretariats and was one of the most significant reforms related to the Darbar move practice.

Dr. Jitendra Singh released the second edition of the National e-Government Service Delivery Assessment 2021, or NeSDA 2021, today. The report has been prepared to assess the effectiveness of states, UTs, and central ministries in providing online services to citizens. The report also makes recommendations for governments to improve their e-Government service delivery systems.

Dr. Jitendra Singh stated that 28 Ministries/Departments have already adopted e-Office version 7.0, which, along with digitization of central registration units, enabled the creation of paperless secretariats in which receipts, files, and correspondence move online. He stated that the migration schedule for the remaining 56 Ministries/Departments has been developed and that all Ministries will have e-Office version 7.0 by February 2023. The Minister added that non-performing officials can no longer hide files due to the limited file movement with four levels of submission and the adoption of the desk officer system.

Referring to some of the success stories, Dr. Jitendra Singh stated that the e-Office enabled the Central Secretariat to continue operating during the pandemic and lockdown. During this time, Deputy Secretaries, Joint Secretaries, Additional Secretaries, and Secretaries had access to the Virtual Private Network and could make policy decisions on e-files.

According to Dr. Jitendra Singh, India's e-Governance policies have improved, and citizen satisfaction levels have risen; in many ways, technology has succeeded in bringing government and citizens closer together.

In conclusion, Dr. Jitendra Singh expressed satisfaction that, in terms of State portals, Kerala has emerged as a front-runner, and that the progress made by Tamil Nadu, Jammu, and Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh in NeSDA 2021 has been commendable. Rajasthan, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, and Meghalaya have topped the service portal rankings. All states and territories have improved their promotion of integrated service portals and the number of services available on their state portals.

V.Srinivas, Secretary, DARPG, stated in his address that DARPG currently monitors e-Office adoption on its dashboard on a daily basis, submits progress reports on e-Office implementation in its monthly DO letters to the Cabinet Secretary, and circulates information to the Council of Ministers. Furthermore, DARPG has instituted recognition certificates for institutions that achieve 90 percent e-Office digitalization. Because of their tireless efforts, e-Office has seen a significant increase in the number of instances and users.

In NeSDA 2021, 1400 services were assessed across all States and UTs, up from 872 in 2019, representing a more than 60% increase. According to the results of a nationwide citizen survey conducted during the study, 74% of respondents are satisfied with the e-Services provided by the states and UTs. Citizens most frequently used e-Services in the Finance and Local Governance & Utility Services sectors. Higher citizen satisfaction has resulted from the rising trend of e-Services delivery shifting from single silo departmental portals to integrated/centralized portals.