Shabir Ahmad Bhat
Digital Governance is the trend of modern times. Only the medium of digital Governance can now ensure corruption free Governance with fast access to the masses .Digital governance is a framework for establishing accountability, roles, decision-making, and change management authority for an organization’s digital presence. Having a well-designed digital governance framework minimizes effort and cost and ensures digital business maturity.
We are well aware that
India is rapidly moving on the path of a digital revolution powered by a young population with a median age in the 20s, increasing broadband and internet penetration, exponential data uptake, and, most importantly, the government’s focus on digitalisation.
Until the abrogation of the article 370 in the year 2019 , for more than 7 decades the developments related to the digital or e governance in Jammu and Kashmir had remained very dull.
As a matter of fact, just some days back the,
Chief Secretary (CS) Arun Kumar Mehta Monday said that the Digital J&K initiative was aimed at providing discrimination-free and corruption-free governance to the people of J&K.
Speaking at the Digital J&K Week 2022 function that concluded here Monday, Mehta, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said that during the ongoing digital revolution, feedback from thousands of people could be gathered in a minute which could efficiently reveal the true face of the services offered by the government.
He said that people could easily learn about the development works being done anywhere in J&K through Jan Bhagidari online platform.
In the Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of the country the Government is recognizing importance of Data. major aspect of the digital economy is data. We must fully comprehend the issues surrounding data as a new resource. Technological progress has facilitated an exponential increase in the capacity to collect, transmit, process and analyse data. Global Internet Protocol traffic, a proxy for data flows, grew from about 100 gigabytes per day in 1992 to more than 45,000 gigabytes per second in 2017. According to the UNCTAD report, traffic in 2022 will exceed all the internet traffic up to 2016.
Just recently, Emphasizing the need to take effective measures providing last mile solution in digital services for the people of J&K, the Lt Governor directed the stakeholders to formulate short-term goals of 3-6 months & long-term vision statements to transform core ICT infrastructure, governance & services for ease of living, accessibility, innovation to transform J&K into digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.
On the other hand of the spectrum,the Lt Governor Manoj Sinha also launched ‘Digi Dost’ program aimed at developing a strong network of digitally empowered young volunteers at District, Block and Panchayat level who can work as the brand ambassadors for Digital J&K and Digital India to achieve maximum mobilization and awareness on digital services. ‘Digi Dost’ volunteers will also assist in digital service delivery, data collection, training, spreading information regarding Digital India campaign and make the people aware about cyber hygiene and cybercrimes.
The Jammu and Kashmir Government after the abrogation of article 370 is taking rapid strides in ensuring digital governance takes firm roots , be it to minimize the human interface, take new people friendly initiatives more mediums of digital Governance are being used. The experts are applauding the efforts of Jammu and Kashmir Government in ensuring swift digital governance.
Many reforms that have been taken to enthuse new life to the digital initiatives is the series of programmes and initiatives started in this regard.
such reformative measure is ‘Budget Estimation and Allocation Monitoring System (BEAMS)’. It empowered the J&K citizens to oversee works being executed in their areas on a real time basis.
The administration has successfully implemented innovative initiatives in this regard which inter alia included BEAMS, online submission of bills through J&K PaySys, mandatory administrative approvals, technical sanctions and e-tendering, digital payments, GFR, GeM and related measures which have greatly helped the financial systems in J&K to be at par with any other developing financial system in the country.
Also digital governance has been introduced in all important land records system
Aapki Zameen Aapki Nigrani initiative is one of the flagship programmes launched by the government of J&K to bring ease, transparency and convenience for citizens about land records, an official spokesperson said recently .
Under this initiative, he said, public users can search and view copies of scanned data online on CIS Portal- http://landrecords.jk.gov.in/. The initiative facilitates easy online access to the Land Records System, thereby reducing manipulation of the Land Records and improving the efficiency of Revenue offices substantially.
Jammu and kashmir is after abrogation of article 370 seeing boom in digital governance.
