Odisha’s State Assembly plans to go paperless by digitalising its legislative processes.
It will implement a digital system that fully automates the functioning of the legislative Assembly and minimises the use of paper through online communication.
The technology is similar to the system that was set up in Himachal Pradesh in 2014, called e-Vidhan, a project created under Digital India.
E-Vidhan is an e-governance software suite of public websites, house applications, and mobile apps that digitise legislature documents, committee reports, records, and proceedings, etc.
A seven-member team of the Odisha House Committee visited different branches of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly and discussed the implementation of the e-Vidhan project.
Himachal Pradesh was the first state in the country to have a high-tech paperless system.
Earlier this year, under the e-Vidhan project, the Kerala Legislative Assembly said that it would digitise all its records and proceedings. When it was announced in May, the government estimated that the first phase of the project would be completed in 14 months. But it would take two years for the functioning of the library and all Assembly departments to be completely paperless.
Once the e-Vidhan project is implemented in Odisha, the decade-old manual system of sending out written replies and notifications, preparing reports, bills, and copies of documents on paper will become a thing of the past, a member of the state committee said.
On the proposed developments under the new project, an official said that the four-seater arrangement blocks in the House will be replaced by two-seater systems. Computer screens will be fitted in front of the legislators which will display questions, answers, and notices regarding the proceedings of the House.
This apart, an app will also be designed for MLAs through which they can access details of the Assembly, list of businesses, bulletins, and committee meetings.
Odisha is also working to modernise its education system. Recently, 9 Kendriya Vidyalayas in the state got 184 smart classrooms.
Kendriya Vidyalaya is a system of central government schools that are instituted under the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
The smart classrooms will be equipped with high-end technology solutions, computers, specialised software for learning, audience response technology, assistive listening devices, networking, and audio-visual capabilities.
The project is expected to help over 12,300 students and was developed under a corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative, which has created over 400 smart classrooms across the country.
