India fares poor on index of e-governance: Advani

India's deputy prime minister L K Advani today expressed dissatisfaction over the country's poor ranking on the e-governance index.

As per a global study covering 133 countries, India's score is 1.29 against the global average of 1.62 and it is ranked 77 with its performance being categorized as 'minimal.'

Addressing delegates at the three-day Seventh National e-Governance Conference organised in Chennai, Advani said that India's poor ranking on the e-Governance index was paradoxical.

"India is today globally recognised as one of the leading powers in IT. Yet we are way behind in introduction of IT for e-Governance. Our government is committed to removing this mismatch at the earliest," he said.

The deputy prime minister congratulated the Tamil Nadu government on the excellent performance of the state on the e-Governance front. "I am glad that Tamil Nadu has now emerged as one of the front-runners in e-Governance," he said.

Earlier delivering the inaugural address, Tamil Nadu's chief minister, J Jayalalithaa, pointed at the state's initiatives in automating land administration and management system called 'Tamil Nilam.'

The chief minister said, "it (Tamil Nilam) started as a pilot project in 1991-92 in Salem district and has today progressively expanded to cover all the 29 districts and 206 taluks of Tamil Nadu."

Jayalalithaa said that in order to bring the government administration closer to the people the state had installed touch screen kiosks in one model taluk in each of the 29 districts in the state.

Jayalalithaa pointed at the state's Simplified and Transparent Administration of Registration (STAR) programme being emulated by other states as a role model.

"STAR programme has been included by the Government of India as a role model for 'information technology in service to the people.' Under this initiative, the issue of encumbrance certificates, information on guideline value and a host of other services can be seamlessly accessed through a web-enabled network of state-wide offices," she said.

"Starting with the training of several thousands of employees in the revenue, registration and health departments and the secretariat, the government of Tamil Nadu now proposes to train one lakh members of self-help groups in the rural areas."

This effort, she said, would be a strategic tool to enhance the techno-economic capabilities of the members of the self-help groups.