In keeping with the spirit of “Good Governance” initiative of Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi; the Ministry of Women and Child Development has launched the e-office in the Ministry. The e-office was formally launched by WCD Minister, Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi in New Delhi . Secretary, WCD, Shri V. Somasundaran; Secretary, DeitY, Shri J. S. Deepak; Additional Secretary, WCD, Ms Nutan Guha Biwas and other senior officials of the Ministry of WCD and NIC were present on the occasion.
Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi congratulated the officials for making such a big leap forward towards paperless functioning. The new system brings transparency and accountability, which will help to step up the delivery mechanisms, the Minister explained. She also hoped to bring other organizations like National Commission for Women within the ambit of e-Office soon since they receive a large number of complaints from the public which need rigorous follow-up. Smt Maneka Gandhi urged that applications along with the necessary documents for important programmes of the Ministry like STEP should be received online and processed on the new system.
The legacy data of all the files of the ministry has been digitized and the entire file movement is now taking place electronically.Under the e-office, every receipt of any paper is scanned and digitized and the new file is opened. The file is then processed electronically as per specified procedure and specified hierarchy. The project was initiated in July, 2015 and over 12,000 files of the Ministry have been digitized. Several modules of e-office ie File Management System, Knowledge Management System, Leave Management System, Tour Management System, have been running under the e-office.Personnel Information Management System (e-Service Book) is expected to start from the 1st of January, 2016.
Shri V Somasundaran appreciated the efforts of the NIC team to digitize such a large number of files within just six months. In the new system, a file takes only 4-5 days for processing as compared to 30-40 days earlier and it is possible to locate the point at which the file is held up and avoid delay by expediting the same, he explained.
Shri J S Deepak pointed out that e-Office is a very good system for processing of files and that DeitY is continuously striving to bring new areas within the ambit of digitization.
All files of the M/o Women & Child Development are being processed in e-Office (13383 number of Total Files processed till 22nd December, 2015), Receipts are also getting scanned and processed in e-Office (23993 number of total Receipts processed till 22nd December, 2015).
The e-office has resulted in substantial reduction of processing time which directly impacts the delivery mechanism of the ministry, both for the State Governments as well as related civil society organizations. The e-office has also resulted in better accountability and transparency and will ultimately result in higher manpower efficiency. All the attached offices of the ministry are also going to come on the e-office platform shortly.