Pravash Pradhan
Post News Network
New Delhi, March 28: Three district web portals of Orissa have figured in top ten district websites ranking in India. Out of 292 district websites across the country, Nuapada, Nabarangpur and Puri districts have been ranked third, seventh and ninth positions respectively.
In a report, ‘Index of Government Websites’, released by National Informatics Centre and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, 860 Indian government websites from seven categories were assessed for their maturity level and stage modelling. Five maturity levels (Leaders, expectants, average achievers, below average achievers, and laggards) were defined on the basis of websites’ performance and governance dimensions.
‘’Maturity analysis of government websites were done on the basis of usability and outreach, policies, access to government and citizen centricity,’’ said Alka Misra, senior technical director, NIC, adding, ‘The objective behind the assessment is to improve the website standards, thereby making the governance process smooth and benefiting the citizens.’’
The report presents an assessment of government websites classified into seven categories like apex institutions, ministries, service oriented government organisations, states & Union Territories, state departments, districts and urban local bodies.
In service portal ranking, Orissa Online and Tenders Orissa-Orissa Government e-procurement system were placed in 100th and 140th positions, while in state and UT websites ranking, Orissa stood at 17th position scoring 27.78 out of 100.
However, in state departments overall website ranking, Orissa was placed 11th with a score of 84.01 out of 500. Apart from three districts in top ten websites ranking, Nayagarh, Malkangiri, Jajpur, Keonjhar, Angul and Cuttack were ranked 20th, 50th, 62th, 69th, 73th and 175th positions respectively.
“Working with government systems in Canada, USA, Europe and Africa for last 15 years, I understand the pain points of e-governance projects. Whenever I find a chance to interact with government authorities of Orissa, I understand we stand far behind international standards in e-governance area,’’ said Rajat Chand, MD, CSDS India Pvt Ltd.
