NASSCOM enhances thrust on e-governance

MUMBAI, INDIA: NASSCOM, the voice of Indian IT industry, today announced that it will further enhance its focus on ‘e-Governance’ during the year 2010. NASSCOM initiatives cover the areas of e-Governance and other Mission Mode Government IT projects at both Central and State Governments.

NASSCOM also announced the appointment of Rama Vedashree as vice president to spearhead e-governance initiatives.

The domestic sector in the past year has witnessed rapid growth, largely led by government spending on IT. NASSCOM has been a keen proponent of e-Governance which has become a top priority for the government.

NASSCOM said recognizing the importance for technology adoption/up-gradation across various government departments and the growing need to rapidly bridge the digital divide, the government has been implementing and measuring the efficacy of various e-Governance projects across the country.

The absorption and enactment of e-Governance policies will create an inherent need and large opportunity for the IT industry to create an effective partnership that can help the country leapfrog digital inclusion, the IT body added.

Speaking on the occasion, Som Mittal, president of NASSCOM, said last year had witnessed all leading companies foray into the India market with special thrust on government projects.

“We believe that a focused initiative through NASSCOM can help the government to realize the objectives of inclusive growth by leveraging Information and Communication Technology (ICT). NASSCOM has earlier created sectoral partnerships to promote IT adoption in the India market through ACMA (Auto), APDRP (Power) and NMCC (Manufacturing),” he added.

Mittal also announced the appointment of Rama Vedashree as vice president of NASSCOM.

“Her rich experience in software consulting, training, sales, e-Governance and several infrastructure projects will be of great value to NASSCOM and the industry. We are also looking to further our efforts towards creating an ecosystem to enable small & medium solution and service providers to also participate more actively in e-governance projects,” added Mittal.

NASSCOM along with ILFS; Department of Information Technology, GOI; Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, GOI and Governments of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Meghalaya as stakeholders, had also set up a National Institute of Smart Government (NISG), a not-for-profit organization to become a Centre of Excellence in e-Governance.

With Sanjiv Mital as its CEO Designate, NISG is working on enabling successful implementation of major e-governance projects by working closely with all stakeholders, helping project formulation and management, capacity building and research to provide an interface for public private partnership, said NASSCOM.