E GOVERNANCE PROJECTS
03/December/2014
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO: 1836
ANSWERED ON:  03.12.2014
E GOVERNANCE PROJECTS
SHASHI THAROOR
HUKUM SINGH
Will the Minister of



COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:-




(a) whether the Government has introduced measures to ensure that its e-Governance projects are updated with the latest technologies; 

(b) if so, the details thereof; 

(c) the progress so far in introducing new age technology such as cloud computing, Software defined Networks, social media and mobile computing, 4G and LTE (long Term Evolution) etc. for implementing e-Governance projects; and 

(d) the number of internet users in the country as on date and the steps being taken by the Government to speed up the reach of e-Commerce?


ANSWER

MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD) 

(a): Yes, Sir. 

(b): Government of India is implementing the “Digital India” programme with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and a knowledge economy. Under the Digital India programme, Government has proposed to implement e-Kranti which envisages provisioning of various e-governance services in the country. The focus of the e- Kranti programme is to transform the e-Governance services by expanding the portfolio of Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) in e-Governance under various Government Departments, undertaking Government Process Reengineering (GPR), work flow automation, introducing latest technologies such as Cloud and mobile platform and focus on integration of services. 

(c): Government has introduced new age technologies in its various e-Governance projects and initiatives wherever applicable. In order to utilize and harness the benefits of Cloud Computing, Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) has initiated Meghraj- GI Cloud project which focuses on accelerating delivery of e-services to the citizens of the country while optimizing ICT spending of the Government. The project will ensure optimum utilization of the infrastructure and speed up the development and deployment of e-Gov applications. National Cloud under MeghRaj is operational since 4th Feb 2014 and 61 Departments are using the services of MeghRaj. 

An e-Gov App Store under MeghRaj is already operational (https://apps.nic.in). e-Gov App Store is a central application repository which will host both cloud and non-cloud enabled applications. 

The latest technologies like IPv6, MPLS, IP sec for security and also 4G and LTE compliant are proposed to be considered for implementation where upgradation of the present State Wide Area Network (SWAN) project is undertaken in various States/UTs. 

DeitY has launched a massive countrywide initiative on mobile governance, called “Mobile Seva”, to provide government services to the people through mobile phones and tablets. Mobile Seva has been developed by DeitY as the core infrastructure for enabling the availability of public services through mobile devices. As a part of this initiative, the Framework for Mobile Governance was notified in February 2012. As on date, 1375 Central and State Govt. Departments are using Mobile Seva for providing SMS-based services and over 182 Crore SMS notifications have been sent to citizens for various mobile based services. As on date, 374 public services have been made available to the citizens through this platform. A Mobile Applications Store has also been launched in Jan 2012 by DeitY as part of Mobile Seva. The Mobile Governance Portal and the m-App Store can be accessed at http://mgov.gov.in/. The m-Appstore currently hosts 315 live mobile applications. The live applications can be downloaded and installed free of cost on a mobile phone by any person 

(d): As on 30.09.2014, 25.44 crore Internet subscriber are there in the country as per the information provided by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). For speeding up the reach of e-Commerce, Government has taken steps to increase the availability of high speed broadband connectivity in rural areas through the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project. 

?



Source: