Arbi medi adr

ethicsa

Meet Mr.Sandeep Nanduri IAS (Collector of Tirnelveli district, Tamil Nadu)

Mr.Sandeep discovered that there are lot of poor people (daily wage workers) in his district, so he wanted to help these poor people by providing basic amenities such as clothing, books and other basic needs. In order to provide basic amenities to all poor people in his jurisdiction needs a lot of money.

But this man wants to tackle this situation and help the needy, Sandeep came up with a novel idea. He transformed a wall at the local collectorate office compound into a ‘Wall of Kindness’ ,where people could leave stuff that they no longer used or needed and hope that their actions would encourage others to follow suit.

“One man’s trash become another man’s treasure”

First ever Wall of Kindness in Tamil Nadu:

Social media politcal corruption ethics ritch

Section 295 a of ipc holds that publishing with deliverate and malicious intentions of hurting the religious feelings of a community is a punishable offence

Section 153 a of ipc promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion race place of birtg residence and language etc

Its protector of indian diversity. Ha mr 10 percent

E-judiciary

It is a digital case management system adopted by Supreme CourtIt will help in making SC a paperless, digital courtSubsequently, all High Courts, District Courts, Sub-Division Courts will be integrated with the new system.Later on, all the jails in the country will be Integrated by ICMIS software.ICMIS will help litigants access data and obtain informationabout the filing, delays etc. It would pave way for theintegration of all courts in the country.The appellants hereafter is not required to file the records as the records will be picked up electronically from trial courts and high courts.The digital filing system will also help in ushering transparency as nothing can be manipulated with this paperless system. Also, the litigants will be able to know the progress of the case on real time basis.

Ordinance ritch

January 2, in one of many judgments delivered on its first working day of the year, the Supreme Court, in Krishna Kumar Singh v. State of Bihar , made a series of pronouncements with potentially huge implications for the future of democratic governance in the country. The case raised intricate constitutional questions concerning the executive’s power to make law through ordinance, but the majority’s opinion, authored by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, on behalf of five of the seven judges who heard the case, is lucid both in its reasoning and in its ultimate findings.

For far too long, the court recognised, the power to make ordinances has been abused to subvert the democratic process. A failure of a legislature to confirm an ordinance, therefore, in the court’s ruling, was fatal both to the validity of the law, and also, unless public interest otherwise demanded, to the rights and liabilities that may have accrued from such a law. According to Justice Chandrachud, the authority to issue ordinances is not an absolute entrustment, but is “conditional upon a satisfaction that circumstances exist rendering it necessary to take immediate action”. In other words, ordinances are not immune from judicial challenge.

Ordinary idea of ordinance

The contest over the use of ordinances as a tool to make laws stretches well beyond the Constitution’s adoption. Indeed, at the time when the provisions incorporating these powers were debated in the Constituent Assembly, B.R. Ambedkar suggested that any concerns over the conferment of ordinance-making powers on the executive were really only a quibble over language. “My own feeling is that a concrete reason for the sentiment of hostility, which has been expressed by my honourable Friend, Mr. [H.V.] Kamath as well as my honourable Friend, Mr. [H.N.] Kunzru, really arises by the unfortunate heading of [the] Chapter ‘Legislative Powers of the President’,” Ambedkar said. “It ought to be ‘Power to legislate when Parliament is not in session’. I think if that sort of innocuous heading was given to the Chapter, much of the resentment to this provision will die down. Yes. The word ‘Ordinance’ is a bad word, but if Mr. Kamath with his fertile imagination can suggest a better word, I will be the first person to accept it. I do not like the word ‘ordinance’, but I cannot find any other to substitute it.”

But had Ambedkar been around to witness the systematic dismantling of the constitutional basis for the ordinance-making power by recent governments at both the Central and State levels, it is likely that he may have renounced his earlier opinion. It’s now apparent that the problem in the use of ordinances arcs far beyond mere semantics. It goes, in fact, as Shubhankar Dam, a professor of law, and an author of a recent book on ordinances, has argued, to the very root of the power’s conferment. This is because, in many ways, the clauses allowing for the power to make ordinances are an outlier in our constitutional structure.

The founders’ aim was always to impose a separation of power between the three recognised wings of government. In this arrangement, the legislature (Parliament at the Centre, and the Assemblies and the Councils in the States) is tasked with the primary job of making laws; the executive’s role is to administer the country by enforcing these laws; and the judiciary interprets the laws, sees if they are being followed, and, where required, reviews them to ensure that they are constitutionally compliant. The executive’s power to issue ordinances, therefore, goes against this general grain of command; for it acts neither as a check nor as a balance on the authority exercised by the other branches of government.

Only an exceptional measure

It’s equally clear even from the bare text of the Constitution that the authority to issue ordinances is to be used only to meet the emergent demands of extraordinary situations. Article 123, which defines the ordinance-making power of the Union executive, states that when both Houses of Parliament are not in session, if the President is satisfied that “circumstances exist which render it necessary for him to take immediate action, he may promulgate such Ordinance as the circumstances appear to him to require”. It further provides that any ordinance shall have the same force and effect as a statute of Parliament, provided it is laid before both Houses. What’s more, the ordinance so made will “cease to operate at the expiration of six weeks from the reassembly of Parliament”, or if Parliament at any time before the conclusion of the period passes resolutions disapproving of the ordinance. In nearly identical terms, Article 213 of the Constitution places on the Governor, acting on the advice of the Council of Ministers of his State, the power to pass ordinances on subjects of State authority.

In practice, however, ordinances have scarcely been used as a purely exceptional measure. Most recently, the Central executive had issued an ordinance in 2014, which it subsequently repromulgated three times without approval, to overturn significant benefits guaranteed by the land acquisition law enacted by Parliament in 2013. Their aim clearly was to bypass the democratic requirements of argument and deliberation, and to overcome numerical shortcomings that they faced in the Rajya Sabha. What the government was doing, therefore, was to use its ordinance-making power as virtually an alternative tool of legislation. It was a similar abuse of power that had been placed before the Supreme Court for its examination in Krishna Kumar Singh .

A clear case of abuse

Here in question were a series of ordinances passed by the government of Bihar through which the State sought to take over some 429 Sanskrit schools, transferring in the process the services of all the teachers and other employees of the schools to the State government. The first ordinance, which was issued in 1989, was followed by a succession of five ordinances, none of which was placed before the State legislature. Ultimately, the government failed to enact a statute confirming the terms of the ordinances, and the last of them was allowed to lapse on April 30, 1992. The employees of the schools, who stood discharged from service, as a result of the termination of the ordinances, took the State government to court.

When the case ultimately reached the seven-judge bench for arguments there were two fundamental questions to be answered: whether the ordinances issued by the Bihar government were constitutionally valid, and whether the petitioners had derived any legal right that survived the termination of the ordinances. On the first, Justice Chandrachud went beyond existing precedent to hold that not only repromulgated ordinances, but even ordinances issued at the first instance, are subject to judicial review. Here, he placed reliance on the celebrated S.R. Bommai case (1994), where a nine-judge bench of the court had ruled that the judiciary could strike down a proclamation of emergency when the power had been exercised by the executive to secure an oblique purpose.

Ordinances subject to scrutiny

Justice Chandrachud ruled that a similar standard of review could be applied to ordinances too; the court, in these cases, he held, will not enquire into the adequacy or sufficiency of the material before the President or the Governor, but it can investigate to see if there has been either a fraud or an abuse of power committed by the executive.

But strong as the court’s finding is on the first question, on the second its verdict is potentially even more far-reaching. Here, the court overruled two of its earlier judgments, and binned what it described as a theory of enduring rights. It ruled that an ordinance is distinct from a temporary legislation, and it therefore doesn’t automatically create rights and liabilities that go beyond its term of operation. “While enacting a law, the legislature is entitled to define the period during which the law is intended to operate,” wrote Justice Chandrachud. “…Hence, it lies perfectly within the realm and competence of the legislature which enacts a temporary law to provide that the rights or the liabilities which are created during the tenure of the law will subsist beyond the expiry of its term.” But an ordinance, unlike a temporary statute, is not a creature of the legislature. Therefore, the court held, these orders have the same force and effect of a legislation only so long as they are operational. In other words, once the conditions imposed by Article 123 or Article 213, as the case may be, are infracted, the question of what effects will survive from the ordinance will have to be independently assessed. In such circumstances, wrote Justice Chandrachud, the court must examine whether the undoing of acts performed under an ordinance would run counter to public interest.

Now, while Justice Chandrachud is certainly correct in ruling that an ordinance would not automatically create enduring effects, a test of public interest could prove somewhat problematic in the future. There may well be cases where an ordinance creates outcomes that are manifestly irreversible, despite public interest demanding its reversing. However, that said, these issues could well be ironed out when subsequent benches are faced with such questions.

In the final analysis, the court’s verdict has to be seen as placing a vital check on what has until now been a power rampantly abused by the executive. Inconvenient as legislative debate and deliberation can be, the legislature constitutes a critical foundation of our democracy. When Parliament reconvenes next week, it must be seen by both the ruling dispensation and the opposition as a forum for debate, for making laws based on critical reasoning. To await the completion of the session, and to create laws then by circumventing this process through ordinance, debases altogether the Constitution and its finest ideals.

Suhrith Parthasarathy is an advocate practising at the Madras High Court.

Capsule current

🥇➖➖➖➖➖🎖

The government had constituted a ten Member, High Level Committee under the Chairmanship of Justice B.N.Srikrishna, Retired Judge, Supreme Court of India to review the institutionalization of arbitration mechanism and suggest reforms thereto.

🥇➖➖➖➖➖🎖

Justice B N Srikrishna, former judge of the Supreme Court of India will head a Committee of experts which has been formed to deliberate on a data protection framework for the country.

Key facts:

The government led ten-member committee will “identify key data protection issues in India and recommend methods of addressing them.”

🥇➖➖➖➖➖🎖

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has said in an audit report on the Food Corporation of India (FCI) that more than 4.72 lakh tonnes of wheat valued at Rs700.30 crore got damaged in Punjab till March 2016 due to delay in implementation of the private entrepreneur scheme

🥇➖➖➖➖➖🎖

What is no detention policy?

The no-detention policy was introduced as a part of the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) under the Right to Education Act (RTE) in 2010. Under this policy, students up to class 8 are automatically promoted to the next class without being held back even if they do not get a passing grade.

TSR Subramanian committee for formulation of the National Policy on Education has also suggested that ‘no detention’ policy should be discontinued after Class V. It had recommended restoration of detention provision, remedial coaching and two extra chances to each student such to move to a higher class.

🥇➖➖➖➖➖🎖

A new Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) by the name BHARAT 22 was recently launched.

bharat 22

What you need to know about BHARAT 22?

Bharat 22 consists of 22 stocks of CPSE’s, PSB’s & strategic holding of SUUTI. Bharat 22 is a well Diversified portfolio with 6 sectors (Basic Materials, Energy, Finance, FMCG, Industrials & Utilities).

🥇➖➖➖➖➖🎖

In an attempt to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in agriculture, the government is launching a new AGRI-UDAAN programme that will mentor startups and help them connect with potential investors.

Key facts:

The programme will help convert innovative ideas from India’s rural youth into viable businesses. The idea is to attract the youth from rural India and elsewhere, and train them so they can add value to the farmers’ produce.

🥇➖➖➖➖➖🎖

The Nasa-Isro Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission is a joint project between NASA and ISRO to co-develop and launch a dual frequency synthetic aperture radar satellite.

The satellite will be the first radar imaging satellite to use dual frequency and it is planned to be used for remote sensing to observe and understand natural processes of the Earth.

It is also designed to observe and take measurements of some of the planet’s most complex processes, including ecosystem disturbances, ice-sheet collapse, and natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides.

🥇➖➖➖➖➖🎖

About NavIC:

NAVIC is an independent regional navigation satellite system designed to provide position information in the Indian region and 1500 km around the Indian mainland. It provides two types of services, namely Standard Positioning Services available to all users and Restricted Services provided to authorised users.

🥇➖➖➖➖➖🎖

How proxy voting takes place?

The Union Cabinet’s approval for proxy voting by NRIs carries a caveat: they cannot nominate one proxy for all polls. Overseas electors will have to appoint a nominee afresh for each election — one person can act as proxy for only one overseas voter. The proxy voter should be an ordinary resident of the constituency one is voting in.

🥇➖➖➖➖➖🎖

BRICS Agriculture Research Platform (BRICS-ARP).

BRICS-ARP will be the natural global platform for science-led agriculture-based sustainable development for addressing the issues of world hunger, under-nutrition, poverty and inequality, particularly between farmers’ and non-farmers’ income, and enhancing agricultural trade, bio-security and climate resilient agriculture.

🥇➖➖➖➖➖🎖

What you need to know about the RAISE Act?

The RAISE Act would scrap the current lottery system to get into the US and instead institute a points-based system for earning a green card. Factors that would be taken into account include English language skills, education, high- paying job offers and age.

🥇➖➖➖➖➖🎖

Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC):

Aiming to strengthen the growth and connectivity between Asia and Africa, India and Japan initiated the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC), which primarily focuses on Development Cooperation Projects, Quality Infrastructure and Institutional Connectivity, Enhancing Skills, and People-to-People Partnership.
----Reportedly, China is Africa’s largest economic partner with a trade growth rate of 20% per year since 2002 and AAGC initiative by China’s two Asian rivals is key for the trans-continent relation between the Asian and African countries.

Is AAGC a counter to OBOR?

Unlike OBOR which entails development of a land corridor, AAGC will essentially be a sea corridor linking Africa with India and other countries of South-East Asia and Oceania

🥇➖➖➖➖➖🎖

RBI plans to set up public credit registry

RBI has announced the creation of a panel to consider creation of a Public Credit Registry (PCR) operated by the regulator.

What you need to know about the PCR?

The PCR will be an extensive database of credit information for India that is accessible to all stakeholders. The idea is to capture all relevant information in one large database on the borrower and, in particular, the borrower’s entire set of borrowing contracts and outcomes.

🥇➖➖➖➖➖🎖

Israel launches first environmental research satellite Venμs

The technological mission of the satellite will test the operation of an innovative electric propulsion system based on the Israeli-designed Hall Effect Thrusters. A Hall-effect thruster (HET) is a relatively low power device used to propel a spacecraft after entering orbit or farther out into space.

🥇➖➖➖➖➖🎖

Coconut palm declared State tree of Goa:

The Goa state government has decided to include coconut palm as a tree in the Goa, Daman and Diu Preservation of Trees Act, 1984, to regulate felling of coconut trees under the act. The cabinet has also resolved to declare the coconut tree as the “state tree”.

🥇➖➖➖➖➖🎖

The government has launched a portal, e-RaKAM, to provide a platform to sell agricultural produce.

Key facts:

E-RaKAM is a first-of-its-kind initiative that leverages technology to connect farmers of the smallest villages to the biggest markets of the world through internet and e-RaKAM centres.

The portal is a joint initiative by state-run-auctioneer MSTC and Central Warehousing Corporation arm CRWC.

🥇➖➖➖➖➖🎖

According to a research report from the University of California, Climate change may have led to over 59,000 farmer suicides over the last 30 years in India.

The study tested the link between climate change, crop yields and suicide by comparing the number of suicides across India between 1967 and 2013 with crop yield and climate data. Data on suicides were collected from the National Crime Records Bureau

🥇➖➖➖➖➖🎖

india, China home to 39% of young Internet users: UN report

The ICT Facts and Figures 2017 report released by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United Nations specialised agency for Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), shows that of the 830 million young people online worldwide, 320 million, or 39%, are in China and India.

ITU is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies – ICTs.

It allocates global radio spectrum and satellite orbits, develops the technical standards that ensure networks and technologies seamlessly interconnect, and strives to improve access to ICTs to underserved communities worldwide.

🥇➖➖➖➖➖🎖

About the Public Financial Management System:

The PFMS, also known as Central Plan Scheme Monitoring System (CPSMS), tracks fund disbursement and ensures that state treasuries are integrated with the Centre to ensure money is send as and when required.

PFMS, administered by the department of expenditure, is an end-to-end solution for processing payments, tracking, monitoring, accounting, reconciliation and reporting. It is a web based application.
The PFMS platform compiles, collates and makes available in real-time, information regarding all government schemes, and, significantly, provides the government real-time information on resource availability and utilisation across schemes.
In addition, the platform will allow government expenditure to adopt a Just-in- Time (JIT) approach, with payments made only when they are needed.

🥇➖➖➖➖➖🎖

National Campaign Against Mob Lynching (NCAML)

It has initiated a campaign for a law against mob lynching.
Also known as ‘#Masuka’, short for Manav Suraksha Kanoon (law to protect humans)
A draft of the proposed legislation is currently up on the Internet, awaiting suggestions from the public.

🥇➖➖➖➖➖🎖

What is a Parliamentary Budget Office(PBO)?

A PBO is an independent and impartial body linked directly to Parliament
A PBO is comprised of independent and specialised staff, such as Budget analysts, economists, public finance experts
It provides technical and objective analysis of Budgets and public finance to the House and its committees
Its core functions include Budget approval, scrutiny of its implementation
The PBO must be non-partisan, independent and mandated to serve all parliamentarians
Its output, and the methods by which those outputs are prepared must be transparent, accessible and understandable

🥇➖➖➖➖➖🎖

Finance act ritch

Arun Jaitley’s Finance Bill, 2017 has been passed in Lok Sabha today. A “money bill”, it will not be sent to Rajya Sabha for discussion, but only for recommendation which can be rejected by Lok Sabha, and then will be sent to the President of India for his ascent.

A bulk bill of 40 amendments to different laws, Finance Bill, 2017 has a string of legislations that will impact a variety of existing taxation (and other) laws involving funding of political parties, use of Aadhaar, income tax returns and raids, caps in cash transaction, and a host of other issues.

The Finance Bill, 2017, which was tabled in Lok Sabha by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on February 1, during the Union Budget 2017-18, has been deemed one of the most controversial and debated bulk legislation that has been passed in Parliament.

Importantly, the “money bill” route, which will not require it to be debated in Rajya Sabha, where the ruling BJP does not have enough strength, has been widely criticised by Opposition leaders and by commentators on social media. Opposition leaders, such as Sitaram Yechury of the CPIM, have observed that a number of non-finance and non-taxation related amendments, such as the issue of electoral bonds for political funding, have been given a “backdoor entry” through the Finance Bill 2017.

So what are the main impacts and the key issues at stake vis-a-vis Finance Bill 2017? They are as follows:

Aadhaar is now mandatory for filing income tax returns and PAN

In addition to being linked to a number of public services and subsidies, as per Finance Bill, 2017, Aadhaar will now be compulsory from July 1, 2017 to file one’s income tax returns and to obtain and retain PAN, or permanent account number.

Repeat after me: Aadhaar is surveillance technology masquerading as secure authentication technology. https://t.co/NkveDsTM6y

— Nikhil Pahwa (@nixxin) March 22, 2017

Without possessing, or at least enrolling for Aadhaar, it won’t be possible to pay taxes, and that would mean ordinary citizens without Aadhaar will end up committing a crime, that of tax evasion and non-compliance of Income Tax Act, 2016.

Political funding and electoral bonds

Finance Bill, 2017 has made a major amendment to how private companies provide donations to political parties, which are not under Right to Information Act and need not disclose the source of contributions under Rs 20,000.

As of now, a company can donate up to 7.5 per cent of the average of its net profits in the last three consecutive financial years to parties, and disclosure of the donations against the names of the political parties who have been the beneficiaries must be displayed in the company balance sheet.

Debate on #FinanceBillcontinues in LS. The Bill has details about electoral funding. To know more on this: https://t.co/aQlfwODGQw

— PRS Legislative (@PRSLegislative) March 22, 2017

Once the amendments made in Finance Bill, 2017 come into effect, the cap of 7.5 per cent of the average of its net profits in the last three consecutive financial years will be removed. Additionally, companies will not be required to name the beneficiary political party.

Debate on #FinanceBillcontinues in LS. The Bill has details about electoral funding. To know more on this: https://t.co/aQlfwODGQw

— PRS Legislative (@PRSLegislative) March 22, 2017

Though companies can contribute via cheque, bank draft or e-transfer, electoral bonds, which might be introduced as means to fund political parties to “maintain donor anonymity” would become the main route through which money goes into the coffers of political parties.

Mahtab: Any money a political party gets should be made public. Why keep it anonymous? Big cos are giving the max donations to parties.

— Meghnad (@Memeghnad) March 22, 2017

Tribunals and Appellate Tribunals

A number of tribunals, which oversee disputes related to taxation and company balance sheets, as well as company wars over items such as telecom spectrum, etc, will be replaced and taken over by existing tribunals under other Acts.

#FinanceBillamendments:Certain Tribunals are proposed to be replaced,functions 2 be taken ovr by existing Tribunals https://t.co/mNbYMCiWzypic.twitter.com/i2qWKQqPw8

— PRS Legislative (@PRSLegislative) March 22, 2017

There’s no clear rationale behind this replacement, and seems to be rather arbitrary.

Members of invalidated tribunals, or those that have been merged, after the premature termination of their office terms, will go back to their parent ministry and department.  

Airports Authority of India Act, National Highways Act, TRAI Act, Information Technology Act 3/n

— Raman Chima (@tame_wildcard) March 21, 2017

Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India Act, Competition Act, and Companies Act 4/4 *draws a long, ragged breath of air*

— Raman Chima (@tame_wildcard) March 21, 2017

Oh missed that also plans to amend the appellate tribunal under the Cinematograph Act. Because film censorship is finance issue apparently

— Raman Chima (@tame_wildcard) March 21, 2017

Terms of service

Currently, respective Acts specify the qualifications, remuneration package and other terms of service. However, Finance Bill 2017 will empower the central government to decide the terms of services, making up rules on the go. This will directly impact the independence of the tribunals as the executive will have enormous and undue influence in deciding the outcomes of these tribunals and appellate tribunals.

Photo: DailyO

More curbs on cash transaction

Finance Bill, 2017, as tabled by Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on February 1, proposed that cash transaction would be limited to Rs 3 lakh per person per day per event. Amendment moved on March 21 lowered the cap further to Rs 2 lakh per person per day per event.

B Mahtab asks the Finance Minister to reveal how much black money has been deposited under voluntary disclosure schemes in the past 1 year.

— Meghnad (@Memeghnad) March 22, 2017

This is in sync with the government’s cashless push, and is supposedly in the interest of curbing black money and tax evasion.

Possible Inspector Raj

The Finance Bill, 2017, which is pushing through changes to Income Tax Act, 2016, allows income tax raids to take place without furnishing a reasonable explanation (as was required under IT Act, 1961) for doing it, and without needing a court order.

This effectively puts enormous powers in the hands of IT officers and can bring about a new “Inspector Raj” and reign of “tax terrorism”. A possible fallout could be raids on dissenters, journalists, whistleblowers, activists, human rights lawyers, among others who ritually call out the government on incompetence, authoritarian streaks and governmental overreach bordering on police state.

Yes. Cannot accept.Foreign funding to pol parties, lobbying legal & opaque, giving superpowers to IT officers to raid is... all cool though https://t.co/MUS3Oh5SFb

— Meghnad (@Memeghnad) March 22, 2017

Penalty overdrive

As per Finance Bill, 2017, the adjudicating officer will continue to retain power under amended Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act and Depositories Act, 2004, to impose penalties on those failing to furnish information, documents or returns vis-a-vis their incomes. Essentially, this will lead to a penalty overdrive and a zeitgeist bureaucracy targeting anyone on the wrong side of the ruling regime at will.

Also read - Making Aadhaar mandatory for I-T returns and PAN smells like authoritarianism

#Income Tax, #Aadhaar, #Arun Jaitley, #Finance

EUGENICS

eugenics

juːˈdʒɛnɪks/

noun

the science of improving a population by controlled breeding to increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics.
Related to crispr 9 wherein genes are edited to remove certain disease bearing genes..it doesnt add to god genes only cuts out bad gene from the sperm embryo whatever ritch

Whyyyy aa

Two-day 20th National Conference on e-Governance concludes in Visakhapatnam 

Cyber security is the need of the hour: MoS Shri P.P. Chaudhary

 

The two day National Conference on e-Governance concluded in Visakhapatnam today. The Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology and Law & Justice Shri P.P. Chaudhary chaired the valedictory session of the 20th National Conference on e-Governance. Addressing on the occasion, Shri P.P. Chaudhary said that there is a need for bridging the digital divide between the urban and rural areas. He said the Union government promotes research and development and innovative eco-system of Information Technology and also encourages acquisition of the Intellectual Property Rights by Indians.

The Minister further said that Cyber Security is the need of the hour and artificial intelligence will provide solutions to the problem of cyber security. There is also need for development of Nano technology and Nano electronics which helps for imparting value based education based on Mission mode Nano Electronics. India will be in a position to manufacture electronics devices and products in the country very soon, he added.

Shri P.P. Chaudhary also said that Andhra Pradesh is a pioneer in providing 725 e-governance services in rural areas. Government is committed for inclusive development through e- governance and providing several services to the citizens namely ration cards in public distribution system, passports, driving licenses and Voter IDs on the click of a button through mobile phones. The Prime Minister’s vision of Digital India can be achieved through e- governance, he added. The Minister said there is a need for use of technology into making a 3D animation form in various languages and its application in medical, Higher and professional education that would enhance the learning capabilities of the students. Shri P.P. Chaudhary said the linking of the AADHAAR Cards has helped the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and the beneficiaries get their financial benefits directly to their bank accounts.

On the occasion Shri P.P. Chaudhary gave away the awards to the winners. National Awards for e-Governance 2016-17 were presented in two types of awards for each category. Out of 20 awards, 09 are Gold and 11 Silver.  Gold Award carries a certificate, citation and cash award of Rs. 2.00 lakhs.Silver Award carries a certificate, citation and cash award of Rs. 1.00 lakh.  

The awards were presented in several categories which includes Excellence in Government Process Re-engineering, Outstanding performance in Citizen-Centric Service Delivery, Innovative Use of Technology in e-Governance, Incremental Innovations in existing projects, Best District level initiative in citizen-centric service delivery through ICT, Innovative use of GIS Technology in e-Governance, Innovative use of mobile technology in e-Governance, Sectoral Award: Digital Transformation towards transforming India, Innovative Use of ICT by Central Government PSUs, Innovative use of ICT by State Government PSUs/Cooperatives/Federations/Societies, Outstanding e-Governance initiative by Academic and Research institutions and Use of ICT for Development by Non-Government Institutions.