THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The IT Virtual Cadre, set up in 2015 to address lack of skilled manpower in information technology (IT) and project management at the state Secretariat, now has its duties and responsibilities increased for effective implementation of various e-governance initiatives.
The move by the Electronics and IT Department will expand the ambit of the Virtual Cadre’s operations.
“Considering the changing times and evolving scope and challenges in the e-platform, it has been decided to enhance the duties and responsibilities of the IT Virtual Cadre,” said a Kerala State IT Mission (KSITM) officer.
“The members will now be designated as nodal officers for IT- related matters in the respective departments. They will also be the point of contact for all matters related to information communication technology (ICT) or e-governance.”
While providing training sessions to the newly-recruited staff in applications like Service and Payroll Administrative Repository for Kerala (SPARK), Bill Information and Management System (BIMS), Budget Allocation and Monitoring System (BAMS), eOffice and others, the officers belonging to the cadre are also expected to conduct sessions on updating knowledge for the department concerned.
“The officers belonging to the cadre are expected to devise modules which can enhance the ease of doing business in the department they are associated with. They will also have to coordinate the various ICT or e-governance projects in the line departments.“The officers of the cadre will assess their progress and status and will have to submit a report on the same,” said the officer.
Sabarish K, KSITM’s head of e-governance, said it is with the aim of ensuring clarity on the IT Virtual Cadre’s role it was decided to increase their duties and responsibilities.“The cadre comprises those with aptitude for IT and the necessary background to conceptualise, implement and manage e-governance projects. They were trained at the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management-Kerala and were being provided with hands-on training in emerging threats in cyberspace, including malware attacks like WannaCry,” said Sabarish.
According to him, the very aim of the Virtual IT Cadre project is to build a strong in-house team to conceptualise, implement and manage e-governance projects within state government departments.Training in various areas, including e-governance, project management, business process re-engineering, IT infrastructure, cybersecurity, e-procurement procedures and other topics customised to department needs are being provided to them.