Manipur Printing & Stationery Directorate becomes first paperless government department in Northeast

IMPHAL — Manipur’s Directorate of Printing & Stationery has become the first government department in the Northeast to go paperless, while introducing a range of digital initiatives including eGazette Manipur and PrintFlow 360.

Director Ng Roben Singh told reporters in Imphal that the directorate had adopted eOffice and digitally signed file movement to improve transparency, accountability and efficiency while reducing paper use.

Among the key initiatives is eGazette Manipur, which provides online access to gazettes, along with PrintFlow 360, an end-to-end digital printing workflow with real-time monitoring. The directorate has also introduced biometric attendance with data monitoring to strengthen discipline and accountability.

Singh said the directorate was undertaking an archival restoration project to recover more than 881 missing gazettes and preserve the State’s administrative records.

“So far, 124 gazettes have been recovered, including 116 from the National Archives and eight locally, while 41 gazettes have been reconstructed,” he said.

He added that an AI-powered Gazette Search system was being developed in collaboration with NIELIT Manipur to provide faster and easier access to gazette records.

The Directorate is also facilitating private gazette publication for name changes, with the process being offered through digital services to make it simpler and more accessible to citizens.

“We even reply to RTI applications via email or even WhatsApp letters through digital mode,” Singh said.

The directorate has around 34,000 gazettes in its records, according to Singh. He said the digital reforms were aimed not merely at technological modernisation but at creating a governance system that was more transparent, accountable and accessible to citizens.