Rs 25,000 crore WB assistance for national e-governance action plan

The World Bank is in talks with the Centre for providing financial assistance to the Rs 25,000 crore National e-Governance Action Plan (NEGAP). The plan aims at inter-linking all the states and Union Territories through the information technology (IT) network.

The scheme would cover 10 main areas, including land records, property registration, transport and revenue collection amongst others.

"We are in talks with the Indian government for providing financial assistance to the National e-governance Action Plan. e-governance is an essential element in addressing the inter-related economic and social challenges in the country," Robert Schware, lead specialist, World Bank told Business Standard. He was in Ahmedabad to address a seminar on e-governance on Friday.

"India would be able to drastically reduce its poverty and accelerate economic growth if initiatives to apply IT and e-governance are effectively done in all the government departments," he said.

The World Bank at present is in discussions with the Union finance ministry for extending loan assistance for implementing e-governance programmes.

Meanwhile, the Department of Information Technology (DIT), has recently conducted the e-readiness assessment and evaluation of all the states and UT and the central ministries and departments.

The study is meant to benefit all the stakeholders in taking stock of what is existing at the field level and thus enabling corrective action at the practical and policy level both at state and central level.

The report will enable governments and other stakeholders to arrive at a National Action Plan (NAP) and Local Action Plan (LAP) on a wide range of issues relating to the role of Information Communication and Technologies (ICT) for socio-economic development.

Apart from the Centre, states such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttaranchal had expressed their willingness in getting the World Bank assistance for implementing the e-governance programmes.

According to World Bank estimates, the assistance sought by states ranged between $10-50 million.

"The application of IT to government processes will have a profound impact on the efficiency, responsiveness and accountability of the government and its citizens. With e-governance, the economic output and growth of the country as a whole would also go up," he said.