Assam is showing the way with digitization

Duina Barbaruah

(dwinakashyap@gmail.com)

Assam is taking a big/giant step towards digitization with the launching of the Sadhbhavana portal by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in Guwahati on February 1, 2022.

The Sadhbhavana portal aims at disposing of old files pending at the Assam Secretariat for a couple of decades, some even dating back to the 1990s. These files, gathering dust at different blocks of the Secretariat, have become not an only eyesore but also a grim reminder of the fact that 'what would have been the fate of these persons who must have had gone from pillar to post to get them cleared, but to no avail. Even some must have had passed away by now and must be squirming in their graves. Even their kith and kin who might have had made several rounds to the Secretariat from distant parts of the state to get the files cleared might have beaten the dust.

What is abominating and detestable is the fact that files relating to pension gathered dust on the shelves with employees' organizations claiming to redress grievances of the employees looking the other way, much to their dismay and consternation.

With this gloomy backdrop with frustration creeping in among a section of the retired and serving employees of the Secretariat, the government headed by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma decided to step in to provide succour to them. And the way forward, it evolved after meticulous planning is to come up with an innovative portal Sadhbhavana to come to the rescue of around one lakh employees in distress.

Today, the much-talked-about portal is going to be finally launched after the pre-run to avoid hassle-free operation. Hectic discussions were held by the Chief Minister with the IAS, senior and junior administrative officials thrice to ensure that the portal can deliver services to the employees, past and present, without any hiccups.

With employees pinning lots of hopes that this portal will be able to address their litany of woes, Chief Minister Sarma, who is supervising the entire exercise, is leaving no stone unturned that it comes up to the expectations of the employees looking for respite and even beyond that.

Employees can now upload their file numbers in the portal from the confines of their homes or a public facilitation centre. They will get to know the status of their applications within a stipulated timeframe - whether it has been accepted or rejected on what grounds. This will surely eliminate the middleman from the process, saving the cost of transportation and time as employees will not have to come to Dispur to meet the dealing assistant or the officer concerned to enquire about the status of their files and to get the stagnating files moving at a snail's pace.

This project must be replicated in due course of time encompassing the directorates and at the district and subdivisional levels. Here also, there is a huge backlog of files gathering dust.

Another major project that deserves mention is the Right to Public Services Portal launched by Union Finance Minister and Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman in Guwahati on October 7 last year. The web portal facilitated by the World Bank-financed Assam Citizen-Centric Service Delivery Project falls under the ambit of the Right to Public Services Act, 2012. The RTPS portal aims to improve the accessibility in the delivery of select public services in the state.

Through this web portal, the citizens can apply online for notified public services and receive timely services. The project aims at strengthening institutional operations and to aware citizens of their rights and also encouraging citizen engagement and participation in the service delivery process.

In the first leg of the initiative, 54 notified public services are available, that include, among others, a certified copy of jamabandi, non-encumbrance certificate, office mutation for property ownership, registration of property documents, marriage registration, duplicate vehicle registration, ownership transfer for a vehicle, registration and renewal in employment exchange, migration certificate - SEBA and AHSEC.

Yet another offshoot of digitization is Mission Basundhara under the aegis of State Revenue and Disaster Management Department. Aimed at resolving land-related issues, Mission Basundhara evoked tremendous response with more than eight lakh applicants filing online. So far more than two lakh applications, around 25 per cent cases, have been disposed of in a record span of little over one-and-a-half months. And this is remarkable by any standard, more so, when festering land-related problems take decades for settlement! The Government has set the project on a mission mode to dispose of all land-related applications by May 10 this year when the State Government completes one year in office.

These steps initiated by the BJP-led Government at the State of ushering in a Digital Assam is in sync with that of the BJP Government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Centre. PM Modi launched Digital India to transform the lives of the people way back in 2015. The Digital India Programme has three clear objectives. It was to leverage technology for - i) transforming the lives of people, ii) expanding economic opportunities, iii) creating capabilities in certain strategic technologies.

How the Indian economy has bounced back post the COVID pandemic, a lot of that has to do with the strong foundations laid by the Prime Minister under the Digital India programme. People in the remotest part of the country could be reached with the click of a button and every penny was directly transferred into the accounts of beneficiaries. Digital India is no longer being seen as any regular government initiative. Digital India has become a way of life, particularly for the poor, marginalized and those in the government.

Thanks to Digital India, our nation has witnessed a more human-centric approach to development. Using technology on such a large scale has brought about several life changes for our citizens. The benefits are for everyone to see.

The Modi-led government has successfully created a market for digital and tech solutions but it has made technology a key part of all schemes.

The governance model is 'Technology First'. Through technology, human dignity has been enhanced. Crores of farmers receive monetary support in one click. At the peak of the lockdown, it was the technology that ensured that India's poor received proper and quick assistance. The scale of this relief has few parallels. Buoyed by the successes of Digital India in the last six years, the Modi-led Government aims to scale up the digital revolution to a new level in the years ahead. The Prime Minister has the vision to develop India into a $5 trillion economy by 2024. And the Ministry of Electronics and IT has also prepared a roadmap to develop India as a $1-trillion digital economy.

Creating a faceless, paperless, cashless and digital interface between government and citizens have helped in curbing corruption, delays in service delivery and leakages. The next level of digitization in governance will strive to digitize the internal processes of the government. The use of data analytics and artificial intelligence will also help in the effective evaluation of performance and develop system automation for the future.

The Modi-led Government aims to set up one lakh digital villages in the next few years with an array of citizen-centric services so that people living in villages do not have to visit towns to cater to their needs. As easy, economical and reliable internet access to citizens is of paramount importance, the Government is also working on liberalizing public Wi-Fi hotspot services, which may help revolutionize internet access in the country.

The Government has recognised the great potential of startups in transforming the economy and unleashing tech-driven transformation. Besides friendly policies, the Government is exploring ways and means to improve the participation of India's startups in the digital transformation. India has close to 60,000 start-ups, the third-largest start-up ecosystem in the world. With 90 unicorns, India is the third-largest unicorn hub behind the US and China.

India's growing digital profile has made it a data powerhouse. The Government is contemplating a personal data protection law that will not only address the privacy concerns of individuals, curb misuse of personal data, but will also be an enabler for creating a vibrant and resilient data economy.

Changes in the economy due to growing digitization are leading to changes in job roles, skills and human resources. As the digital economy will also require honing of skills and retraining of human resources, the Future Skills online platform for training and retraining the country's IT workforce has been launched by the Prime Minister. Technology is the driving force as to how people-oriented schemes have transcended files and changed the lives of people at such a speed and scale.

And it is with such speed, Assam has to move on to become one of the five developed states of the country - one of the mantras of the Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma-led BJP Government.

And it is digitization alone that can make it happen.