CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu has been a frontrunner in leveraging technology to offer cutting-edge solutions to governance problems in India. Apart from attracting investments, the State’s strong IT department has helped the government frame e-governance projects and improve quality of service and implementation of welfare schemes.
Over the past year, because of the pandemic-induced necessity to minimise human contact and as part of a conscious effort to improve service delivery, officials have pushed for digitisation of services across sectors and most of the routine work such as issuance of certificates and payment of fees and taxes are mostly done online. To keep pace with the changing world and to become the leader in Information Communication Technologies (ICT)-enabled governance, TN has been making rapid strides in e-governance and positioning itself as an IT hub.
Major policies announced by the IT department in the last one year include Tamil Nadu Data Centre Policy, which aims to make Tamil Nadu numero uno in global data centre infrastructure, and TN Telecom Infrastructure Policy to develop state-of-the-art telecommunication network to provide seamless coverage through easy application, approval and installation of telecom infrastructure.
Another major initiative is the Tamil Nadu Data Policy that aims to provide a framework for data-owning departments in Tamil Nadu government to share data with all stakeholders in a transparent manner while ensuring privacy in tune with existing laws.
IT Secretary Neeraj Mittal said the department has been working on multi-pronged approach to take benefits of IT to every sector. “We are working on policies to make Tamil Nadu the choicest destination for IT and ITES-related industries.”
Tamil Nadu government has also planned to come out with a policy on Global Capability Centres (GCC). “We want to attract investments into the sector and make the State a global GCC hub,” added Mittal. The department is also working to create a dependable human resource talent pool. An MoU has been signed between Tamil Nadu eGovernance Agency (TNeGA) and Chennai Mathematical Institute to create capabilities and analytical framework for Tamil Nadu decision support system.
Similarly, TNeGA has developed an AI-powered mobile app called E-Paarvai to identify the presence of cataract in people’s eyes and another AI app to spot pests in wheat crop. BharatNet Phase-II Project, which envisages high-speed internet bandwidth for 12,525 grama panchayats in TN, will also be rolled out soon, Mittal said.
“The department is creating the right ambience to attract IT industries. The recent policy initiatives are remarkable,” said V Veeraraghavan, founder of a Coimbatore-based IT company. But some observers say the success of these initiatives will depend on how well these policies are implemented.
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