Omar flagged application of Information Technology (IT) as an effective vehicle for people’s friendly e-governance module in Jammu and Kashmir.
“In the first phase you need to identify a group of core departments for thorough focusing on the subject and building their e-governance capacity”, he said adding that the strategy to this regard could be gradually extended to other departments.
Taking appraisal of the activities and functioning of IT department at a high level meeting here, the Chief Minister said that necessary dent in cultivating IT temperament in the State is imperative for expanding the orbit of stake holders and collaborators in IT initiatives.
The Chief Minister said that there has been drastic change and development in the field of technology and IT sector in recent times. “The technology is becoming more easy, holistic and cheap day-by-day. New and easy hardware gadgets and latest software programming is replacing the old ones”, he said adding that IT department should take best advantage of the latest available technology and create its strategy for delivery of services through a State Data Centre (SDC) and State Wide Area Network (SWAN), connecting all identified areas. “Proper and full utilization of connectivity created should also be ensured”, he added.
The Chief Minister directed the IT department to make the status and achievements of neighbouring states of Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh benchmark for itself in the first instant and gradually move ahead to be one of the toppers in the field. “Target levels should be fixed on the pyramid of progress and strategy put in place to achieve various levels one by one”, he said.
The Chief Minister also approved the constitution of a Working Group headed by Chief Secretary and comprising of Principal Secretary, Planning, Commissioner Secretaries of Finance, Industries, Higher Education and Law Departments and Secretary, IT as its members, to finalize the new draft IT policy for the State.
Responding to the proposal put forth by the IT department for three percent departmental budget allocations for e-governance initiatives, the Chief Minister said that the proposal is required to be discussed with the finance and other concerned departments before it is considered by the Government for any decision making.
Speaking in the meeting, the Chief Secretary, Madhav Lal underlined the need for timeline operational mechanism and target realization for application of IT initiatives in the State. He also stressed on hard and soft skills development within fixed time frame in this regard.
The Chief Secretary asked the IT department to ensure proper delivery of its strategy and plans for various activities in the application of IT. “You should realize what you plan”, he told the IT department.
The meeting was attended by the Minister for Information Technology, Aga Syed Ruhullah, Minister of State for IT, Dr. Manohar Lal, Political Advisor to the Chief Minister, Devender Singh Rana, Chief Secretary, Madhav Lal, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, B. B. Vyas, Commissioner Secretary, GAD, M. S. Khan, Secretary, IT department, M. K. Dwivedi and various senior officers from IT and other departments.
In a power point presentation, Secretary, IT gave overview of the functioning and achievements of the department in application of IT initiatives in the State. He explained the roadmap for futuristic targets and gave detailed resume of the vision for IT in J&K.
Dwivedi gave brief account of achievements of the department besides presenting salient features of the projects and perceptions in the IT sector. He identified areas requiring further push and coordinated approach to make the IT programmes a success.