India has inked a loan agreement with World Bank for 150 million dollars for the 'e-Delivery of Public Services Development Policy Loan' under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), a flagship e-governance initiative of the Indian government at transforming the service delivery system across the country.
The signatories to the Agreement were Mr Venu Rajamony, Joint Secretary (MI), on behalf of the Indian government and Mr Roberto Zagha, Country Director, World Bank, India.
The loan will support NeGP's countrywide plans of increasing online services for citizens in their locality to improve the quality of basic governance in areas of concern to the common man, an official statement said here.
With a vision to make all government services accessible to the common man in his locality, through economical, transparent, efficient and reliable common service delivery outlets, the NeGP has identified various key components including Common Core and Support Infrastructure and Mission Mode Projects to be implemented at the Central, State and Local Government levels.
These will help in providing efficient and cost-effective online services including birth and death registration, tax filing, land records, driver's licenses and vehicle registration, passports and visas, agricultural extension services, and a wide range of municipal and panchayat (local government) level services.
It will also enable e-services for a number of critical services to be provided by the private sector like banking, insurance, and trade.
While the World Bank loan will not target specific services per se, it will support the various policies and institutional actions of the Indian government in accessing more services online as well as in increasing its outreach to the common man.
“This loan will support critical policy measures within Government's overall e-Governance reform agenda leading to more robust implementation of NeGP with significant social benefits for the population and positive impact on the poor,” said Shankar Aggarwal, Additional Secretary, Department of Information Technology.
Mr Venu Rajamony, Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, said, “The NeGP has plans to significantly widen citizen access to e-services. We are certain that, this loan from the World Bank will support NeGP in its efforts to ensure efficient, cost effective, accessible and transparent delivery of public services across the country.”
