Chief Minister Mufti Sayeed is interested in digitalizing the services for the convenience and benefit of ordinary citizens of the State. Chairing a high-level meeting of the Information Technology (IT) Department in Srinagar, he gave instructions for beginning biometric attendance in Government departments. He also sanctioned 2 crore rupees for introducing the biometric attendance to replace the old system of signing in the attendance registers.
The point is that in western countries, digitalization has brought about incredible efficiency and rapidity in office work which immensely contributes to the efficiency of administration. Biometric attendance is of much significance to our State not only in the Secretariat but in all offices and their branches. Playing truant is the old habit of our functionaries. Slackness, lethargy, keeping files pending, disposing these off at free will without accountability etc. are the big woe with which our red tape system is afflicted. Modern system of administration is essentially based on recording made at proper time and in proper spirit. The State has established Khidmat Centers or Service Delivery Points for all e-services in the State. Presently, 1,109 such Centers, with Jammu and Kashmir Bank as Service Centre Agency, are functional and 1,500 more are planned to be opened during the current financial year. The State Government will be transformed into a Smart Government so that it becomes transparent and accountable thus bringing efficiency in public delivery mechanism. IT-enabled services form an important component of the model of good governance. It is in this connection that the Chief Minister has been laying stress on modernization of administration. We are reminded of the days when late Rajiv Gandhi was inducted as Prime Minister. He had then spoken of computerizing India. People wondered what computerization was and how could it work in Kashmir. But these suspicious were removed by and large when Rajiv came to power. But it was painful to see that young and visionary Prime Minister could not live long to see India moving fast along the path of computerization and digitalization. Similarly Narendra Modi, too, has a dream of transforming India into a fully digitalized city. We are happy to know that these noble sentiments will be transformed into realities when their time comes. The Chief Minister spoke on some of the more outstanding aspects of J&K State Telecommunication services. We need better BSNL services and more active response to the problems of customers. We need larger broadband connectivity because the number of users of internet in all three regions of the State is fast growing. We hope that with the type of interest Chief Minister has shown in rebuilding the State’s telecommunication services will help a lot in people becoming used to digitalization and the new form of learning.
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