Govt must implement e-governance: Minister

The government said on Wednesday that electronic-governance was fast emerging as a vital tool in achieving good governance and that a plan needs to be readied to implement the same in various ministries and departments.

"A five-year 'IT Vision' and 'Annual Action Plan' also needs to be prepared by every ministry and department," Minister of State for Home, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Harin Pathak said at the 5th IT managers conference in New Delhi.

He said e-governance was rapidly gaining importance, especially with regard to improving efficiency, transparency and making the interface with government user- friendly.

"E-government denotes the application of ICT (information and communication technologies) to the processes of government functioning in order to bring about better governance. This has often been termed as SMART (Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive and Transparent) government," Pathak said.

The minister said senior officers of the rank of joint secretaries have been designated as IT managers to provide leadership for various e-governance initiatives. They function as champions for governance reforms and for introduction, promotion and sustenance of various initiatives in e-governance.

He said the prime minister has taken keen interest in the scheme for e-governance under the Tenth Five Year Plan, adding the states should also develop their own infrastructure to facilitate interfacing with measures that were being taken by the central ministries.