The Centre has suggested the Uttarakhand government to set up a ‘virtual cadre’ for eGovernance taking a cue from Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, which already have taken the first steps towards this direction.
By Sanjay Singh
The Centre’s letter to the state in this regard appears to be a move towards the implementation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Digital India’ mission.
The Centre has recently written to the Uttarakhand government to consider implementing the proposed scheme which the Expert Committee on HR policy for eGovernance has recommended. The panel was set up in pursuance of the decision of the Prime Minister’s Committee on the National eGovernance Plan (NeGP).
“The scheme is suggestive and it would be for respective state governments to consider adapting the scheme depending on their requirements,” R S Sharma, Secretary in the Union IT Ministry, has communicated to the Uttarakhand’s Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar in his letter.
At a meeting on September 8, Kumar discussed the issues relating to setting up of a virtual IT cadre with the senior officials of the state’s IT department. He has directed the authorities concerned to select at least three resource persons from each government department to ensure maximum use of IT for “good governance”.
As per the suggested scheme for virtual IT eGovernance cadre for states/UTs, the officers for the cadre should be selected from the existing state government employees.
There is also a proposal for the mission mode project (MMP) — a project within the National eGovernance Plan (NeGP) that focuses on one aspect of eGovernance, such as banking, land records or commercial taxes.
“Full time mission leaders may be appointed for implementation of IT projects with outlays greater than Rs 50 crore. The mission leaders shall work exclusively for implementation of eGovernance mission mode project. They shall be part of state virtual IT e-Governance cadre,” said the suggested scheme.
About 2-5 per cent of the existing strength of officers and staff at different levels could be selected into virtual cadre. The scheme made it clear that percentages are only indicative and the state governments may decide the category of posts and also decide on the number/percentages.