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Govt sets first goal towards paperless office

To begin with software developed by the National Informatics Centre of the Planning Commission for tracking and monitoring of files is to be utilised in all the ministries.

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This software has already been tested in the civil aviation ministry.

The plan for the programme has been narrated in a paper titled 'Citizen's rights to information', prepared by Cabinet Secretary T S R Subramaniam. The paper, carried in the latest issue of Telematics India, lays down the principles under which the government departments would service information requests of citizens.

The next step would be to create a local area network up to the level of the section officer. On this, the NIC software would be utilised to create a file tracking and monitoring system.

This alone would require training of 15,000 staff from the level of section officers upwards.

Forty departments have been already linked with the NIC facilitation centres in Delhi where information regarding the working of the departments is available to the general public.

Later, similar centres would come up in states. In Tamil Nadu, 10 centres have been set up at Madras. It has also plans to set up similar centres in district headquarters where NIC has set up data centres.

Details of the public distribution system will be made available through information booths. Forty such booths will be opened in Delhi and 500 in other parts of the country this year.

Details about public distribution systems and distribution of food grains, kerosene, and sugar will be available through these booths.

This is also expected to act as a check against corruption in the system. Later these booths will be converted into one-stop shops for all government information like distribution of passport forms and education scholarship information.

NIC will have a key role to play in this government going online plan. It has the necessary network and expertise, having set up a countrywide network of gathering and processing government information.

NIC is also placing budget details in all district centres through its network on the budget day itself.

UNI

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