Shillong, March 18: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Government of India, in collaboration with the Planning, Investment Promotion & Sustainable Development Department, Government of Meghalaya, hosted the “Digital India Northeast Regional Workshop” today at the State Convention Centre in Shillong. The event witnessed the attendance of senior officials of the MeitY, National e-Governance Division (NeGD), National Informatics Centre (NIC), Ministry of DoNER and representatives from all Northeastern states.
The workshop was awareness building initiative of IndEA and demonstration of first successful implementation of IndEA – Meghalaya Enterprise Architecture (MeghEA). Senior officials from Government of Meghalaya presented MeghEA and its implementation success story. Senior officials from MeitY, appreciated and expressed great satisfaction that Meghalaya being a small state could implement a very cutting-edge technology solution, which several other Indian states could not. Government of Meghalaya expressed efficiency gain through the digital transformation, wherein schemes are being sanctioned 36% faster than last year. Bills are getting prepared 120 times faster and disbursement are being made at 14 times faster.
Shri S. Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and IT, Government of India highlighted in his speech MeghEA is an inspiring example for the whole nation where technology led to reforms for the betterment of people. He also said that Meghalaya has indeed made the entire nation proud by winning the United Nations WSIS award.
Shri Donald P. Wahlang, IAS, Chief Secretary, Government of Meghalaya, on his keynote address mentioned that government expenditure has increased almost 3 times because of efficiency gain in internal processes. He also mentioned that this has led to enormous impact. Currently, 4.35 lakhs women are part of SHGs which was less than 60,000 earlier. Similarly, the State has connected 4.9 lakhs households with functional tap water connections, which were all possible due to improved efficiencies through digital transformations.
Shri Abhishek Singh, Additional Secretary at the Ministry of Electronics, Government of India, mentioned that Enterprise Architecture is all about creating reusable building blocks. He added that “Just as other nations seek to emulate India’s achievements with UPI and DigiLocker, we must strive to replicate such transformative projects domestically”. Globally nations are looking at India for such implementation and now Meghalaya’s eProposal System is another example of such transformative implementations.
Dr. Vijay Kumar D., IAS, Commissioner & Secretary, and Shri Cyril Darlong Diengdoh, IAS, Secretary, Government of Meghalaya, have presented eProposal System and Digital Service Platform (to soon go live) respectively. The presentations showcased how Meghalaya achieved the feat through collaboration, tea work and leveraging digital technologies. Planning Department officials were applauded by Commissioner Secretary, Planning Department for the hard work they had put in to make this success. He also congratulated the tech provider, team of experts and NIC officials engaged in all through the journey. Digital service platform presentation included Meghalaya suited solutions to deliver services even to the households in the remotest villages. The entire gamut of solution mesmerised the audience and if successfully implemented would be another feather in the crown. Meghalaya truly has progressed in its journey of digital transformation.
The dignitaries commended and expressed gratitude to the Government of Meghalaya for integrating a complex topic such as enterprise architecture within the IndEA line. It was also claimed that, not just in the northeastern states but throughout the country, Meghalaya is the greatest example of implementing Enterprise architecture like IndEA.