* Pu Robert Romawia Royte, Hon’ble Minister for Information & Communication Technology (ICT)

* Dr. Renu Sharma IAS, Chief Secretary

* Officials of the ICT Department

 

Dear friends

           

I am extremely happy to be the Chief Guest at the Conferment of Government Online Excellence Awards, 2021-2022 and Inauguration of online domain registration & website monitoring system, organized by the ICT Department.

                     

I have learnt that these Awards were instituted in order to incentivize the various government departments and educational institutions to provide quality online services to the public. I commend the ICT Department for this innovative and noble endeavour. Online delivery of service is greatly beneficial to the people in many ways, reducing costs and saving precious time.

          

In the current Digital Age, also known as the Information Age, almost everything is available to us at our fingertips. The main focus is now on convenience and easy accessibility.

          

E-governance is being extensively pursued in order to bring about greater transparency, accountability and efficiency.

          

The Union Government had also launched the Digital India campaign in order to ensure that services are promptly delivered to the citizens. Recently, Hon’ble Prime Minister spoke about the way technology is being incorporated into governance in India. He said that today, about 10,000 services of the central government, state governments and local self-governments are available online.

          

Everything ranging from government assistance and scholarship, to the price of the farmer’s crop, is now being directly transferred to the bank account.

          

For the last seven-eight years, the Government of India has been sending money into the accounts of the beneficiaries with a single click through the DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer). 

          

Hon’ble Prime Minister goes on to say that the amount sent through DBT is more than Rs 22 lakh crore. There is no middleman and no commission. This has led to transparency, and technology has helped to bridge the trust gap.

          

I have learnt that the Government of Mizoram had also notified the ‘Mizoram Right to Public Service Act 2015’, which aims to ensure time-bound delivery of service to the citizens.

                    

Further, I am happy to know that the ICT Department has developed online application portal for the Mizoram Right to Public Service. I encourage the government departments to make use of this portal for the benefit of the people.

          

Governance has undergone a paradigm shift in the modern times. Administrators are no longer seen as ‘rulers’.

          

Rather, the government is now expected to be responsive, play the role of a facilitator and service-provider, and become an agent and catalyst for positive change. For the achievement of this citizen-centric approach to governance, the role of Information & Communication Technology has assumed great significance.

          

On the topic of public service delivery, I want to take this opportunity to speak about an issue which I feel is very important. Ever since I joined as the Governor of Mizoram, I have interacted with various sections of the society, and have travelled to the remote and interior parts of the State. However, I am sorry to say that the people out here are not at all aware about the various Central Government Schemes that are available.

          

There are so many schemes, such as the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, Atal Pension Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, etc, which are extremely beneficial for the people. I urge all of us to do our best in creating public awareness, and disseminate information on these schemes to the general masses.

          

I congratulate all the departments and institutes who will be presented with these valuable awards today. At the same time, this should be a challenge and a motivator for all the other departments and institutes to perform even better, keeping in mind that our main objective is to serve the people.

           

I also congratulate the ICT Department for successfully organizing this event. I am sure that the Department will keep up the good work and continue to work with even greater zeal, renewed vigour and innovation.

 

 Thank you all for your kind attention.                

 

Jai Hind.