e-Vidhan System:
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.
- 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.
- This has been done for streamlining information related to various state assemblies, and to eliminate the use of paper in day-to-day functioning.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
