Our Correspondent
KOHIMA, DECEMBER 1
A four-member expert team from the Estonian e-Governance Academy (EGA) that has assisted over 20 countries in adopting e-state solutions, as part of their international e-Governance missions, is currently in the state capital Kohima conducting training on e-Governance for IT nodal officers of all the departments in Nagaland and will also be presenting a lecture to the state cabinet on December 2 on the prospective of implementing electronic governance in Nagaland.
Interacting with members of the press here at Hotel Japfü this evening, the team, led by Dr. Liia Hanni, senior expert on e-Democracy EGA & a former cabinet minister of the Republic of Estonia, informed that they are here to share their experiences with e-Governance and how an efficient IT can boost the economy of a state.
Dr. Liia explained that they have first heard of Nagaland when an Indian delegation representing 27 states visited Estonia for an e-Governance workshop in 2014. The EGA had then extended its hands in the possibility to continue ties with the different states of India by way of conducting trainings, she recalled and said Nagaland was the first state to have responded to their facilities.
The team members shared that there are several similarities between Nagaland and Estonia- both are geographically small with about a million population.
“Estonia was a small and a poor country, but right after our independence, we invested on the creativity of the people and set a strong vision to push for e-Governance,” Dr. Liia. Today, Estonia is a world leader in e-Governance and boasts of a carpet coverage of wi-fi across its nation. The visiting team expressed enthusiasm that Nagaland can adopt a similar module. “You already have mobile technology and smart tech-savvy youth, the only thing is that your government should formulate a vision and show the political will to push forward to achieve that vision,” one of the team members said.
EGA executive director & head of Central e-Governance Domain, Dr. Arvo Ott maintained that the Nagaland government must be enthusiastic towards e-Governance, be willing to provide resources and support programmes, and build up a concerned e-Society. When the services are motivating the people, the demand for those services increase, and the government should have the efficiency to meet the demand of the people, he added.
Minister for IT&C, Paiwang Konyak, who was also present during the interaction, highlighted the need for policy makers, legislators and government officials to learn the basics and the advantages of Information Technology. He said that out of 82 departments under the state government, the IT&C has the least manpower, however they are efficiently carrying out exercises to promote e-Governance. He is hopeful that the periodical trainings and sensitization conducted by the EGA will go a long way in opening doors for Nagaland to thrive under a complete e-Governance system.
“We believe that if Nagaland can change, it can change through IT,” said KD Vizo, the commissioner & secretary IT department.
He informed that based on the technical achievements of the department of IT & C, the Centre has given the first pilot project of National Information Infrastructure (NII) to Nagaland in the NE region and currently works are in progress to connect the whole of Peren district with wireless connectivity.
If the project is successful, he said it will be extended to the entire state.
Vizo also highlighted several proposals that were put up with the Union Ministry of Communications & IT including 9 projects- CM Dash Board, e-NagaCabinet, Enterprise Architecture, Aerial OFC, e-Naga Village, Single Windows e-Business, NagaNet, WiFi Hotspot and e-Naga Training Centre. These are likely to be considered shortly by the Ministry, he said hopefully. He said if the projects are implemented, Nagaland will be as advanced as any other state in India and the dream of making the state the land of e-Governance will soon come true.
He further commented that further ties with the EGA of Estonia will greatly benefit the state to become an IT leader and e-Governance which would eventually contribute towards the growth of the state’s economy.
