NeSDA Way Forward Report 2023

• 22 Feb 2024

For Prelims: Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), E-Services, e-UNNAT (Unified, Integrated, Accessible, and Transparent).

For Mains: Annual NeSDA Way Forward Report 2023, Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation

Source: ET

Why in News?

Recently, the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) has released the ‘Annual NeSDA Way Forward Report 2023’, showing that Jammu & Kashmir dominated with 1,117 e-services mapped on the NeSDA Way Forward Dashboard.

• The report is based on the National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment (NeSDA) Framework.
• This framework serves as a benchmarking exercise to assess states/Union Territories and Central Ministries regarding their delivery of e-services.

What are the Key Highlights of the Annual NeSDA Way Forward Report 2023?

• Total Mapped E-Services:
  • By the end of December 2023, a total of 16,487 e-Services were mapped on the NeSDA Way Forward Dashboard, showcasing the extent of digital service delivery across various sectors.
    • In e-service delivery, Jammu & Kashmir is followed by Tamil Nadu (1,101 e-services), Madhya Pradesh (1010), and Kerala (911).
    • Apart from Manipur, the bottom four states are Lakshadweep (42), Ladakh (46), Sikkim (51) and Nagaland (64).
  • Jammu & Kashmir’s commendable progress in e-governance, as evidenced by the provision of 1120 e-services and achieving 100 % service delivery through their unified e-UNNAT (Unified, Integrated, Accessible, and Transparent) platform, has served as a source for replication and dissemination of e-services in Manipur.
• Major Highlights:
  • Across States/UTs 16,487 Total e-services are provided across States/UTs Jammu and Kashmir provides the maximum (1117) number of e-services, across States/UTs.
    • Maximum e-services are provided in the sector – Local Governance & Utility Services .
    • The tourism sector has achieved the highest saturation for the provision of all mandatory e-services in 23 out of 36 States/UTs. This is followed by Environment and Labour & Employment sector in 20 out of 36 States/UTs
• Mandatory Service:
  • Rise in saturation of Mandatory e-Services from 48% in NeSDA 2019 to 69% in NeSDA 2021 to 76% in NeSDA Way Forward (2023).
• Challenges in e-Service Delivery:
  • There are disparities among states, with Manipur facing challenges in providing e-services compared to other regions, indicating a need for concerted efforts to improve digital governance in lagging states.

What is the National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment (NeSDA)?

• About:
  • The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) formulated the NeSDA Framework to assess States/UTs and Central Ministries with regard to their delivery of e-services as a benchmarking exercise, covering seven sectors.
    • Seven sectors are- Local Governance & Utility Services; Social Welfare including Health, Agriculture, Home & Security; Finance; Labour & Employment; Education; Environment; Tourism.
  • It is released by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
  • In this assessment, the service portals were evaluated alongside their parent Ministry/portal Departments in this project.
• Categorisation of Portal:
  • All Government portals that were evaluated were divided into two main categories-
    • States/Union Territories/Central Ministry portal.
    • State/Union Territory/ Central Ministry Services Portals.
• Parameters:
  • There were four main parameters of assessment: -
    • Accessibility.
    • Content Availability.
    • Ease of Use and Information Security.
    • Privacy for Central Ministry Portals.
  • An additional three parameters were also used for the Central Ministry Services Portals -
    • End Service Delivery.
    • Integrated Service Delivery.
    • Status and Request tracking.

Unified Services Delivery:

• A unified service delivery portal seamlessly integrates services across departments to provide better governance and service availability.
• These help ensure that all citizen entitlements are available on the cloud, enhance the ease of doing business, and integrate a number of technologies for development activities.
• Unified and seamless delivery of services is a core tenet of the NeSDA framework and strengthening such portals will enhance the digital empowerment of citizens.

What are the Government Initiatives to Promote E-Governance in India?

• MyGov Initiative
• National Scholarships Portal (NSP)
• Darpan Portal
• DigiLocker
• National Center of Geo-informatics
• National e-Governance Plan

UPSC Civil Services Examination, Previous Year Question (PYQ)

Q. Which of the following is/are the aim/aims of “Digital India” Plan of the Government of India? (2018)

1. Formation of India’s own Internet companies like China did.
2. Establish a policy framework to encourage overseas multinational corporations that collect Big Data to build their large data centers within our national geographical boundaries.
3. Connect many of our villages to the Internet and bring Wi-Fi to many of our schools, public places and major tourist centers.

Select the correct answer using the code given below:

(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 3 only
(c) 2 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3

Ans: (b)