Gujarat tops with 100 crore e-governance transactions

AHMEDABAD: Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given a call on Independence Day this year for turning the country into ' digital India' where governance would not be opaque to people. In less than two years, Gujarat on Wednesday set a standard for other states when it crossed 100 crore e-transactions for public services — a first for the country insofar as use of technology for registration of births and deaths, land, and other such activities are concerned.

According to ' eTaal' — electronic transaction aggregation and analysis layer — a Central government portal that disseminates e-transaction statistics, Gujarat accounts for 27% of the total 373 crore e-transactions recorded in the services provided by all state government services in the past two years. The portal, set up by the IT department, receives transaction statistics from web-based applications on near real-time basis.

Gujarat has recorded 100.3 crore e-transactions between January 1, 2013 and November 26, 2014 in standard services provided under state government projects. In this year alone, over 58 crore e-transactions have been recorded in the state.Gujarat has set a standard for other states after it crossed 100 crore e-transactions for public services - a first for the country insofar as use of technology for registration of births and deaths, land, and other such activities are concerned.

From land record registration to registering a new birth to getting an affidavit for income, Gujaratis do it all the e-way. According to eTaal, public distribution system, land revenue and utility and bill payments are the top three services which record the maximum use, comprising of more than 63% of e-transactions in Gujarat.

In the case of PDS, introduction of biometric system has led to a record 40 crore e-transactions and over 7 crore election related e-transactions during the Lok Sabha elections helped push the numbers further this year.

Gujarat is next to only the Central government in terms of use of e-services for governance — Central government projects recorded 185 crore e-transactions since January 2013. Agriculture (92 crore), common service centres (17 crore), judiciary (13 crore) and health (10 crore) contribute the maximum to central government e-transactions.

"Over 500 services are available through e-governance in the state. The government has also begun implementing 'mobile governance' across the state as an extended arm of e-governance," said S J Haider, secretary, department of science and technology, Gujarat.