TN Secretariat is going paperless from April; here's the plan

Come April and departments of the Tamil Nadu Secretariat will boast paperless offices. Adopting the Union government’s National E-Vidhan Application (NeVA) service, the Tamil Nadu government has decided to go paperless in the Secretariat starting April 1.

Incidentally, Tamil Nadu’s latest state budget was paperless and the Budget speech was sent to a mail address and uploaded on the state website later. All state-level departments will eventually follow suit and go paperless in accordance with the new IT policy. Henceforth, all department staff and officials will be expected to upload their files on the system and send to the secretariat via e mail.

“We have started training department officials on uploading files. Senior officials are taught how to add notes and make digital signatures. All departments are cooperating. As a result, we are ready to roll out the paperless policy from April 1,” said a senior official in the Secretariat.

No more running around with files

As per the new policy, all letters, orders etc. will be scanned and passed on from department to department or from lower level to higher level officials up to the secretary level via the electronic mode. Every government information will be shared via a secured e -mail service. At the secretary level, files will be opened on a PC or laptop, notes will be added along with digital signatures and sent back to the concerned department.

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The digital transfer of files will be followed by alerts popping up on computers of concerned officials. Similarly, senior officials can set deadlines for sending files to the secretary, which will be notified through alerts sent two days before the date of dispatch.

“We have an efficient data security system in place. So if a file needs to be seen by the Secretary only, the system will have security checks that will stop others from accessing it,” said the official.

By going online, the government can also prevent unscrupulous elements within the system from hiding records in cupboards. “It has been found that some officials hide files in cupboards and lock them up to evade action. But once we go online such things cannot be done,” said the secretariat official.

The paperless policy will be first implemented in the Secretariat, after that in Chennai, followed by other districts.

Training for undersecretaries and clerks

Undersecretaries and clerks in departments of the Secretariat said they are being provided training each day on procedures of the paperless policy. “We are ready to roll out the system in the Secretariat. Our secretary and other senior officials have one type of training while clerks and similar level officials are given a different type of training. We know how to upload a file with attachments etc, but our seniors will know how to record their notes and sent them to secretaries,” said M Krishnamurthy, a clerk.

Most files will be in Tamil and notings of senior officials will also be in the same language.

Centre’s paperless policy

At the pan-India level, the National E-Vidhan Application (NeVA) is being implemented in all the states/UTs with legislatures, making the functioning of the Houses paperless. The larger plan is to make every information available to the elected members on the fingertips. The members can then use their mobile phone/laptop to see the list of business and read questions and other documents pertaining to House’s proceedings.

The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs said recently that e-Vidhan will bring all the legislatures of the country together on one platform to create a massive data depository without having the complexity of multiple applications.

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The state of affairs elsewhere

Last October, Karnataka ordered senior officials to move all files to government secretaries only through ‘e-office’. All files are scanned and uploaded onto the system for transactions. Besides saving reams of paper, the ‘e-office’ cuts manual movement of files and ensures speedy clearances.

The Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) recently became the first in the country to have operationalised the National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) programme for conducting a session in paperless mode.

A similar system outside the framework of NeVA has been in operation in Himachal Pradesh while many other state Assemblies are moving in this direction. The Assembly Secretariat has already conducted preliminary familiarisation training for the members and it will be continuing with the training programme for the benefit of all the members.

Once all other assemblies implement it, Parliament and all state legislatures will be networked together effectively.