KOCHI: Kerala is all set for a giant leap in e-Governance.
Following in the footsteps of states like Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Karnataka, the state will form a Virtual IT cadre to conceptualise, implement and manage e-Governance projects.
The idea is to build a team through internal selection from skilled and qualified employees within departments and to deploy them as Virtual IT cadre. The formation of Virtual IT cadre is proposed to be done in a phased manner. The pilot phase (January to March 2015) envisages creation of Virtual IT cadre teams in 16 selected departments in government secretariat, with an intake of 30 members.
“Lack of availability of skilled resources in the areas of Information Technology and Project Management has been creating dependency on external agencies in the implementation of e-Governance projects. Since the external agencies lack domain expertise, the project initiatives taken up in most of the cases are lagging behind or have failed to achieve their objectives. In order to manage the complexities in implementing e-Governance projects, a strong in-house IT team within every department is required,” a government order on constituting the Virtual IT cadre, from IT Principal Secretary P H Kurian, stated. The Virtual IT cadre team shall manage the project implementation with the support of the IT Department and the Kerala State IT Mission.
The pilot implementation will be held at selected Secretariat departments where e-Offices have been set up. “Team members of the State e-Governance Mission shall act as mentors to the Virtual cadre members. The IT Virtual cadre shall interact with the Kerala State IT Mission/IT Department on all technical matters and shall maintain a ‘dotted line’ relationship with the IT Department/IT Mission,” the order further stated.
Lauding the initiative by the State Government, V K Mathews, chairman, Group of Technology Companies in Kerala, and executive council member of NASSCOM, said that the Virtual IT cadre would facilitate the speedy implementation of e-Governance projects in Kerala.
“Many states in the country have formed such teams for e-Governance projects. As all the employees in a department may not be interested in technology, such a system will find an easy way out for implementation roadblocks,” he added.
An official of Kerala State IT Mission said members of the cadre would act as a catalyst for the implementation of e-Governance.
■ The idea is to build a team through internal selection from skilled, qualified employees within departments.
■ The pilot phase (January to March 2015) envisages creation of teams in 16 selected departments in government secretariat, with an intake of 30 members.
■ The Virtual IT cadre team shall manage the project implementation with the support of the IT Department and the Kerala State IT Mission.