SHILLONG:
The Planning Department’s key initiative of e-Proposal System, part of Meghalaya Enterprise Architecture (MeghEA) has won the coveted UN Award – World Summit on the Information Society Forum (WSIS) Prize, 2022.
Taking cognisance of the need for Information Technology to not just innovate the digital services but also cater to the needs of the public and create inclusive societies, the Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma, in 2019 initiated MeghEA, which is being implemented by the state Planning Department.
Meghalaya was selected among the top 360 projects across the world, in the beginning of the year. Out of these, UN selects top 5 in 18 categories and awards them as Champion Project.
Meghalaya was selected on Saturday by UN as Champion Project in the category of – “The role of governments and all stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs for development,” along with projects from Australia, China, Argentina and Tanzania.
One among these top five will be declared Winning Project. Meghalaya e-Proposal System is poised to win the winner award also, for which the prize ceremony will be held on May 31 in Geneva, Switzerland.
E-Proposal system now automates sanctions and administrative approvals of all the departments and directorates in Meghalaya and delivers government services with desired outcomes to all the citizens and other stakeholders across the state in an integrated and seamless manner. It eliminates 75 per cent of physical files in government departments.
Earlier the sanctions and approvals would take more than months to be processed, but now with the automation, the process doesn’t take more than a couple of weeks. This initiative has been supporting the state in seamless tracking and monitoring of the schemes and approvals with the click of button.
Additionally, integration with the government’s finance system to process cash transfers and benefits to citizens, has been a game changer in effective and efficient service delivery.
Speaking on the occasion, Vijay Kumar D, Commissioner and Secretary of Planning Department, said that “We are thankful to all for voting Meghalaya’s Project into the top 5. We feel that the e-Proposal System will be a game changer in effective governance and would also inspire other states in the country to adopt similar initiatives”.
MeghEA is a flagship initiative of the government of Meghalaya, supported by National e-Gov Division (NeGD), a first-of-its-kind in the country. KPMG is the consulting partner for MeghEA, while Humanitics, NIC and others are implementing agencies.
