The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis presented the National Awards for e-Governance for the Year 2015-16 in Nagpur today. The awards were given for exemplary implementation of e-Governance initiatives. The awards were given away at the end of the 19th National e-Governance Conference which concluded in Nagpur today.The Governance is a part of service delivery mechanism which ensures citizens to provide services in proper, transparent & time bound Manner. Governance with accountability Transparency and Innovation- ‘GATI’ will lead country to the path of development by overcoming the challenges ahead of the nation, said the Chief Minister of Maharashtra Shri Devendra Fadanvis while addressing the Valedictory function of 19th National e-governance conference.
The Chief Minister honored 18 winners of national-e-governance awards in 12 categories for their outstanding achievement in the field of e-governance. Addressing the Valedictory session of conference Chief Minister stressed upon transparent and efficient mechanism in administration to achieve citizen-centric service delivery. The business process re-engineering is very essential for ease of doing business. Emphasizing on innovation, he told that people’s participation is very essential while designing the governance system. He also informed about Government of Maharashtra’s project ‘Aple Sarkar’ which has made about ‘42’ services online. He also hoped to launch 150 services in total for convenience of service delivery to the citizens.
Among the National E-Governance Award Winners, Shri Alex Paul Menon, District Collector, Balrampur, Chhatisgarh, who is the project-head of ‘Chhatisgarh online school monitoring system (COSMOS) Balrampur’ won the gold award in the category of excellence in Government process-re-engineering. Silver award in the same award category was given to the Social Justice Department of Madhya Pradesh for the project ‘SAMAGRA Portal’ – which is an initiative to implement integrated social security programmes. For its online tracking system for missing children (Track Child), Department of Women & Child Development, Government of West Bengal won gold award. In the category of innovative use of technology in e-governance, EPFO, (Employment Provident Fund Organization), Delhi under Ministry of Labour and Employment, has won the gold award for its successful implementation of universal account number programme. In the same category, Delhi Police won the silver award for its lost report application. Maharashtra Remote Sensing Applications Centre, Nagpur has won Gold award for innovative use of GIS Technology in e-Governance.
The award for Best stall was given to ‘ANMOL’ project of Madhya Pradesh Government while G.H. Raisoni College of Engineering, Nagpur and Ramdevbaba Kamala Nehru College of Engineering won the award for e-learning. Other award categories includes, incremental innovation in existing projects, best district level initiatives in citizen centre service delivery through ICT, innovative use of mobile technology in e-governance. Besides, sectoral awards in the fields like financial inclusion, innovative use of ICT by Central Government, PSU’s, State Government were distributed. Before the valedictory session, plenary session on cyber security framework for citizen centric services, decade of e-governance –way ahead, technology enabled education were addressed by distinguished experts on the subject. The Secretary of Department of Administrative Reforms, Public Grievances (DARPG), Shri Devendra Chaudhry explained the importance of plenary sessions held during the conference where various industry experts and enthusiastic youths have actively participated in the brainstorming discussions with e-governance experts.
The Universal Account Number (UAN) programme of the Employees Provident Fund Organization under the Ministry of Labour & Employment bagged the Gold in innovative use of technology in e Governance. Through UAN, active employees are provided a universal number which can be linked to various provident fund account numbers provided to them while working in different organisations. A single account number can be used through all of workers’ employments with various organisations. Thus the UAN facility enables workers to transfer their provident fund deposits while switching jobs anywhere in India easily. IRCTC’s New Next Generation e-Ticketing System bagged the Gold in innovative use of ICT in Central Government PSUs category. IRCTC’s new Next Generation e-Ticketing System offers improved online rail ticket booking and checking of ticket reservation status.
Maharashtra Remote Sensing Application Centre, Nagpur bagged the award in innovative use of GIS technology for its Maharashtra Geology, Mining Information System (Maha-GeoMin). The Award in the category of Use of ICT for development by Non-Government organisation went to Western Union, Mumbai for its collaboration with India Post for money transfer. The Paddy Procurement Automation System of Odisha, Village Profile Planning Atlas of Gujarat, Delhi Traffic Police Mobile App, online hotel reservation system of Himachal Tourism were also among the winners of National e-Governance Awards. Maharashtra’s Energy Minister and Nagpur Guardian Minister Shri Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Secretary of Department of Administrative Reforms, Public Grievances (DARPG), Shri Devendra Chaudhry, Shri Swadhin Kshatriya, Principal Secretary, Information Technology, Government of Maharashtra, Sh. Vijay Kumar Gautam, Principal Secretary (Information Technology), Government of Maharashtra were prominent among those present. Large number of delegates and award winners from various states and organizations, students were present at the valedictory session of the conference.