The Assam Assembly is all set to go paperless.
Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami on Monday said almost all functions of the Assembly would become paperless in a couple of years, which would enhance transparency, improve efficiency and reduce cost.
He said the project would be implemented by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) under Union parliamentary affairs ministry’s National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) initiative.
NeVA, a Rs 744-crore project, aims to make all the legislatures of the country paperless by making the proceedings of the Houses digital.
It is an attempt to provide information about the functioning of all legislatures in the the country to the citizens at the click of a button.
The iOS and Google app of NeVA, along with the NeVA website, will act as a repository of data related to the business of all legislatures in the country in a uniform manner.
“It will bring legislatures closer to citizens. It is a part of Digital India initiative launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” the Speaker said.
As a prelude to implementation of the project, a two-day orientation workshop on NeVA began at the New MLA Hostel in Dispur on Monday to acquaint the legislators and Assembly employees with it.
A project proposal will be submitted to the Union parliamentary affairs ministry shortly for approval and grant of funds.
“Once the project is completed, almost all functions of the Assembly will be changed to electronic mode, doing away with the decades-old practice of tabling written replies, reports, bills and documents to MLAs. The materials will be made available online in English and Assamese,” Goswami said.
“Till date Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Sikkim, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka Assemblies have started using the application,” he said.
The Speaker said before the Assembly goes paperless, the rules committee will have to amend certain rules of the Assembly in order to switch over to the electronic mode.
Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had presented the state’s first e-budget in the Assembly in March this year.
Each legislator was provided with a tablet (computer) with details of the e-budget.
