State Assembly to be e-Vidhan-connected

The Odisha Legislative Assembly would be connected to e-Vidhan very soon, said Union Parliamentary Affairs Secretary Surendra Nath Tripathy.

The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has chalked out a national plan to digitise legislative business all over the country through the eVidhan project. In National eVidhan Project, Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, all Vidhan Sabhas and Vidhan Parishads would be included, said Tripathy.

The Ministry is the nodal body for the eVidhan project, which has come up with a budget of Rs 750 crore.

Accordingly, the Government of India has asked the Odisha Legislative Assembly authorities to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) for digitisation of legislative business.

The Secretariat of Odisha Assembly would be preparing a DPR of Rs 19.39 crore, out of which the Centre would provide Rs 12 crore for undertaking the project, said Tripathy.

Odisha Legislative Assembly Secretary Amiya Kumar Sarangi is in touch with senior officials of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, said sources.

With a fully functional eVidhan, all transactions in both the Houses of Parliament, Vidhan Sabhas and Vidhan Parishads would be available with a click of the mouse.

While there are 31 Vidhan Sabhas in the country, there are seven Vidhan Parishads in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

The e Vidhan application is a mission-mode project to digitise and make the functioning of Parliament and State legislatures less-paper. In fact, it is part of the broader Digital India Programme of the

Government and is likely to contribute to the cleanliness and environment by reducing the use of papers to a great extent, said he.

The Ministry is taking all the necessary steps for rolling out the project in all the States at an early date.

One of the key components of the strategy devised for implementation of the project is to create Project Monitoring Units (PMUs) both at Central and State levels, said an official.

So, the Odisha Government would create a PMU along with the State Legislative Assembly for implementation of the eVidhan applications, he added.

Once the DPR is prepared by the OLA, the Ministry would scrutinise the project and release funds to implement the project on a fast-track basis.

In the meantime, several State Legislatures, including Karnataka, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura, Sikkim, Punjab and Delhi have already presented the DPRs with the Ministry.

Union Secretary Tripathy has been instrumental in digitising the entire file works in the State Secretariat of the Government of Odisha while he was the Information Technology Secretary.

Now, the Odisha Secretariat Workflow Automation System (OSWAS) is working in a flawless manner and has contributed hugely by reducing paper in the office system of the Odisha Government, senior officials pointed out.