Union Minister for Telecommunications and
IT, Sh Ravi Shankar Prasad today called for collective approach of related
Government Departments to create a friendly outlook. Speaking at the IIIrd Web
Ratna Awards ceremony here today, he said “Digital India” initiative is
fundamentally aimed at making Government more people friendly and to
bridge the gap between haves’ and have not through digital empowerment.
He said the Government is shortly coming out with “Open
Software Policy to further the process of transparency and credibility in
Government administration. The Department of Posts and Common Service Centers
with presence in nearly four lakh centers are being deployed to further empower
less privileged people by digitalization. He said with the internet
penetration of 30 crore reached India is only next to China in terms of
reach and this number is all set to touch 50 crore in couple of years, India
is all set to digitally transform the society.
Web Ratna Awards since its inception has played a major role
in recognizing the noteworthy and sustainable initiatives in the realm of
e-Governance for better delivery of information and services. At the same time
Web Ratna Awards have reestablished itself as an important platform to
disseminate information about such path breaking initiatives, encouraging
others to customize and replicate the successful solutions. Web Ratna Awards
through its unique initiative has contributed to the overall increase in
quality and quantity of web presence of various government departments across
the country. Most importantly, it has created an atmosphere for further
innovation in the web based services sphere promoting and encouraging
Government Departments/Ministries and States to come out with their best.
E-Governance initiatives of Government Ministries and
Departments across India were evaluated under various categories. Three awards
Platinum, Gold and Silver were presented in each category to the winners
shortlisted from the nominations received under each category. The categories
included Citizen Centric Service, Open Data Champion, Outstanding
Content, Innovative Use of Technology, Comprehensive Web Presence –Ministry and
Comprehensive Web Presence-State/UT. Open Data Champion is a new addition
to the awards. It honors Ministries/Departments who have contributed datasets
to India’s Open Government Data (OGD) Platform (data.gov.in).
In the Citizen Centric Service Category Platinum
Award was bagged by Passport Seva Project, followed by National Safai
Karmchari Finance Development Corporation and National Institute of Open
Schooling winning the Gold and Silver award respectively. In the newly
instituted Open Data Champion category Platinum Award was won by Office
of Registrar General & Census Commissioner. The Planning Commission
and Ministry of Statistics & Program Implementation won the Gold
Award. The Silver award was bagged by the Ministry of Water Resources.
For Innovative Use of Technology, MKisan-Government of
India Portal for Farmer Centric Services won the Platinum Award. Madhya
Pradesh Commercial Tax Department and Department of Commercial Tax,
Tamil Nadu won the Gold Awards. The Silver Award was won by E-Sahakar,
an online Cooperative Society Process Management System of Maharashtra
Government. In the Outstanding Content Category Platinum Award was
bagged by Ministry of External Affairs, followed by Ministry of
Tribal Affairs, Kerala Tourism and Ministry of Development of North
Eastern Region winning the Gold and Silver award respectively
For Innovative Use of Technology, MKisan-Government of
India Portal for Farmer Centric Services won the Platinum Award. Madhya
Pradesh Commercial Tax Department and Department of Commercial Tax,
Tamil Nadu won the Gold Awards. The Silver Award was won by E-Sahakar,
an online Cooperative Society Process Management System of Maharashtra
Government.
Comprehensive Web Presence- Ministry,
the Platinum was bagged by Ministry of Information & Broadcasting,
Gold by Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and Silver by Controller
General of Accounts. For Comprehensive Web Presence -State category
the Platinum award has been won by Maharashtra followed by Tamil Nadu
and Uttarakhand in the Gold and Silver section respectively.
NNK/MD