Digital signature system required in e-governance: Moni

Hyderabad, Sep 20 (UNI) Deputy Director General (DDG) National Informatic Centre (NIC) M Moni today emphasised the need for a digital signature system in e-governance for transparency and simplification of procedures.

Addressing a workshop on 'e-governance standards' here , he said the system should be operative by April 2007 for the growth of e-governance within the country and it should work for the common man.

He said 1,500 educational institutions in the country were teaching computer science and hence they need to develop standards for quality products in the educational institutions.

He also emphasised the need for removing the 'disclaimer' clause in the government websites. The NIC would provide a range of services to all the government departments at the Centre, states and districts, he added.

He said in view of the strategic and contemporary importance of standards for e-governance, the department of Information Technology had instituted an apex body. A seperate e-governance standards division had been created by NIC to steer the process of evolving the standards, he said.

He said once the apex body approves the standards developed by working groups, Standardisation, Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) would be responsible for release of these approved standards on the web and make them available to all the stakeholders, for free download.

Member National Advisory Council and Vice-Chairman state planning commission D Swaminathan while appreciating the efforts of the National Informatic Centre, said India should develop quality provider in the field of computer science.

He said NIC was doing pioneering work in dissemination of information and offering training programmes.

Recalling his association with the NIC, he said the NIC developed super information highway in the country. The NIC's technical support to the government was very useful for providing services to common people and transparency and accountability in e-governance, he added.

Dr Swaminathan said economic superiority, technology superiority, defence preparedness, strengthen morale, social equality, women empowerment and good governance were the important points for the development of the country.

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