Centre focusing on migration to e-Office version 7.0
Dec 18, 2021
New Delhi [India], December 18 : All the ministries under the Central government have upgraded from e-Office version 5.6 to version 6.0 and e-Office version 7.0 has been adopted in many of them as well as a roll-out plan has been formulated by National Informatics Centre, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievance (DARPG) said on Friday.
Ministry of Electronics and lnformation Technology, DARPG and Telecom are amongst ministries who have migrated to e-Office version 7.0, said a senior officer in the DARPG.
The officer said that the e-Office version 7.0 is the initiative of DARPG.
Ministry of Railways has reported that consumption of paper has reduced to 10,272 reams in 2021 as against 22,685 reams in 2018, a report received by DARPG mentions, adding "the expenditure in cartridges is expected to reduce by Rs 50 lakh by March 2022 as compared to Rs 1.3 crores in 2019-20".
Meanwhile, the DARPG said a desk officer system has been operationalized in all ministries and departments where it was feasible.
"The Ministry of External Affairs is operating 264 desk officers assigned certain countries and deal with all the bilateral and multilateral work associated with these countries.
The DARPG also informed that the channel of submission and levels of disposal have been reviewed by 70 ministries and departments.
In these ministries, the DARPG said, the channel of submission has been reduced to 4, 3 and 2 levels as per the new delegation.
Prominent ministries and departments that have reviewed and adopted the Channel of submission and levels of disposal include Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Ministry of External Affairs, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Rural Development and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued a circular indicating 4 levels and categories for the channel of submission, said the DARPG, adding "Additional Secretary and Joint Secretary have been placed in the category II and Deputy Secretary and Under Secretary have been placed in Category III in an initiative taken by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways".
It further said that digitization of Central Registration Unit has been adopted in 70 ministries and departments and use of Heavy Duty Scanners in Central Registration Units was widely seen.
"Ministry of Home Affairs has indicated that the Central Registration Unit has been provided with
high speed scanners and the unit is creating 100 percent e-receipts," said the DARPG, adding "over 95 percent of the fresh receipts have been replied to in digital form".
In an initiative taken by DARPG, 33 lakh physical letters of acknowledgment to citizens filing Public Grievances have been translated to digital responses.
It also said that the 2nd Administrative Reforms Commission has recommended flatter structures by reducing the number of levels and encouraging team work, well-defined accountability, appropriate delegation, and criticality of operational units.
