E&IT Dept to Be Nodal Authority for Odisha’s Digital Transformation under 5T Initiatives

Bhubaneswar: The transformative efforts of the Government of Odisha under the 5T initiatives are backed by an extended thrust on use of Information Technology and Digital Initiatives. The state has been continuously increasing spending on strengthening its IT infrastructure and creating more and more capacity to transform the governance system in all Government Departments. As part of its efforts to streamline the growth of IT infrastructure and bring in standardization in all its departments, the Odisha Government has decided to make the Electronics and Information Technology (E&IT) Department as the nodal authority.

As per a notification issued by the General Administration Department, the Government Departments will no longer be able to take decisions on the implementation of IT related works or setting up IT Infrastructure on their own. They have to consult the E & IT Department, which will be the sole Department to undertake all the Information Technology related works such as setting up of IT infrastructure or implementing a digital service.

The State Government has been giving much importance on Information Technology under the 5T Initiatives. In an order to enhance the efficiency, and bring in uniformity, all the IT related works have now to be undertaken through the E & IT Department. The Government has also made an Amendment to the Article 14 of the Government Rules of Business to facilitate this.

Henceforth, if a government Department needs to set up or modernize a Data Center, Call Center, IT Network, E Governance Project, IT infrastructure or wants to procure IT Network related equipments, it will have to take the advice of the Electronics and Information technology Department.

Likewise, they any Department needs to have a new mobile app, Web App, or implementation of a new IT Based service, purchase a special software, or start a new E-Governance project, it will have to take the help of the Electronics and Information technology Department. The IT Department will make it clear which services or requirements need its approval. The IT Department is going to control all the IT related developments of the Government of Odisha.

The Government of Odisha has been using Digital Governance services to provide all government services to its citizens. Be it registration of Births and Deaths or issue of miscellaneous certificates, issue of subsidies to various beneficiaries, financial assistance to farmers under KALIA scheme, E-filling of police complaints, single window clearance to projects, maintenance of database and records of school and college students and many more services, all need to be developed under a single authority to bring in uniformity and ease of maintenance. There is also a need to integrate all the requirements of the different departments and to manage the overall Information Technology scenario centrally. The step is definitely going to help the government in speeding up the digital transformation initiatives and add more and more innovations so that service delivery will be streamlined.