National e-Vidhan Application

A delegation of MLAs from Gujarat visited the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly in June 2022 to learn about the novel e-Vidhan system for paperless proceedings that has been recently adopted by the UP state assembly.

Details –

• The National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) is a system for digitising the legislative bodies of all Indian states and the Parliament through a single platform on which house proceedings, starred/unstarred questions and answers, committee reports etc. will be available.
• The NeVA system has been developed to make all the work and data related to legislative bodies available online for the use of both citizens and the members of Assemblies. It includes a website and a mobile app.

About e-Vidhan project –

• It aims to bring all the legislatures of the country together, in one platform thereby creating a massive data depository without having the complexity of multiple applications.
• Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (MoPA) is the ‘Nodal Ministry’ for its implementation in all the 31 States/UTs with Legislatures.
• The funding for e-Vidhan is provided by the MoPA and technical support by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MietY).
• The funding of National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) is through Centrally Sponsored Scheme i.e. 60:40; and 90:10 for North East & hilly States and 100% for UTs.

Analysis –

• Benefits — This has been done for streamlining information related to various state assemblies, and to eliminate the use of paper in day-to-day functioning.
• Challenges — Access, particularly for legislators representing rural constituencies, to devices and reliable internet and electricity is an issue. Lack of training and heightened concerns over security are some more recent issues in the road to digitisation.

Timeline –

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned the idea of “One Nation One Legislative Platform” in November 2021.
• Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla also said in early 2022 that the proceedings of all legislatures — both Houses of Parliament and state Assemblies and Legislative Councils — will be available on one platform by 2023.
• Nagaland became the first state to implement NeVA, in March 2022.

Has this been done elsewhere?

In December 2021, the Government of Dubai became the world’s first government to go 100 percent paperless. It announced all procedures were completely digitised.