Dalip Kaur Tiwana -- a Doyen of Punjabi Literature Lyrical Prose Was Her Forte
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Sri Guru Ravidass Jayanti (February 9, 2020) 2 Punjab Advance February-2020 Editorial Ever since the Congress Government came into power it has been avidly pursuing reforms under the close monitoring of the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh. The online initiative has enabled the state to become hi- tech, switching over to e-filing of all records and paperwork in government offices. The online endeavour became operatonal on January 1 this year with gov - ernment files taking the online route, thus making the system transparent and efficient. With the Chief Minister sticking to his deadline, the state became the first in the country to introduce e-filing of all government records with the press of a button. The e-revoluton will go a long way in transforming work culture and ethics in government offices, besides reducing the burden of employees by shift - ing from manual handling of files to online dealing. Besides, all documents issued by Sewa Kendras would be digitally pushed to the Digilocker of the citizens, enabling them anytime-anywhere to get access to them. The switchover is visible in the corridors of the Punjab Civil Secretariat with the bulky almirahs and heavy tables and chairs being replaced by light ply and glass partitions and sleek chairs giving the office an executive look. The Chief Minister said with the spurt in technological advancements, the outreach to ensure public services had increased and the state government's endeavour was to fully leverage the advancements in the service of the masses in a hassle-free, efficient and transparent manner. The new eOffice programme, set to replace IWDMS system, is a National Software Product and is an initiative of the State Government and National Informatics Centre (NIC). February-2020 Punjab Advance 3 s t 12 18 Global tag for three Budget a failure on all Dalip Kaur Tiwan n more wetlands fronts: CM jabi e t n o C 06 e-Revoluton 4 Punjab Advance February-2020 30 38 42 na -- A doyen of Pun - The Princess of Kahin Canola farming is his literature Nahin forte Punjab www.punjabadvanceonline.com February - 2020 Advance LVOL›2 L ISSUE›7 Room No. 1, 5 th Floor, Punjab Civil Secretariat, Chandigarh-160001, Ph. : 0172-2740668, Email Id: [email protected] C.E.O. - Anindita Mitra (IAS) Editor - Donald Banerjee Designer - Karan Kumar Content Writer - Ravee Pandher Publisher - Information & Public Relations Department, Punjab Disclaimer: The views expressed by the authors in the articles published in PUNJAB ADVANCE are their own. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Punjab Government or the organization they work for. Editor reserves the right to edit, abridge or expand the articles submitted. In case of any dispute, legal jurisdiction will lie in Chandigarh based courts.Published and Edited by Ms. Anindita Mitra (IAS) on behalf of the Information and Public Relations Department, Punjab at Room No. 1, 5th Floor, Civil Sectt., Chandigarh February-2020 Punjab Advance 5 e-Revolution e-Revoluton v Punjab goes hi-tech v Upgrades to e-office system v CM’s initiative bears fruit Punmedia Bureau Punjab has achieved yet another first. Yes, it has become the first state in the country to become hi-tech, switching over to e-filing of all records and paperwork in government offices. his online initiative, launched on November Bhawan on November 1, the Chief Minister asked T1, 1919, became operational on January 1 the officers to continuously innovate to leverage this year with government files taking the online the latest advancements in the field of informa - route. This e-switchover will go a long way in mak - tion technology for the larger public good. ing the system transparent and efficient. He lauded the Department of Governance Re - Launching the hi-tech inter and intra depart - forms and Public Grievances, which will help all mental service facility along with his cabinet col - Administrative Departments and offices of the leagues just before the Cabinet meeting at Punjab Deputy Commissioners to go live and upload all 6 Punjab Advance February-2020 e-Revolution new files and Paper Under Considerations (PUCs) been trained to handle the software efficaciously. on the portal immediately. Stressing on his prom - The training was held at training labs made at PCS- ise to deliver prompt Government services, Capt 1 and PCS-2, she added. Amarinder Singh has instructed the Chief Secre - Sewa Kendras tary to further speed up completion of online Taking the state’s digital revolution forward, transmission of revenue records, the progress of the Chief Minister announced that all Punjab gov - which he had been personally reviewing regularly. ernment entities will start dealing in new file work He also set a deadline for all directorates and only on eOffice from next month. Besides, all doc - other field level offices to upgrade to the eOffice uments issued by Sewa Kendras would be digitally system latest by January 1, 2020. The new eOffice pushed to the Digilocker of the citizens, enabling programme, set to replace IWDMS system, is a them anytime-anywhere to get access to them. National Software Product and is an initiative of The Chief Minister also chaired a meeting of Board Punjab Government and National Informatics of Governors (BoG) of Punjab State e-Governance Centre (NIC). Society (PSeGS) to review the status of various in - The Chief Minister was pleased with the re - novative projects being undertaken by society. forms made by Punjab in digitising its office The PSeGS is managing 520 Sewa Kendras in records, hoping this would help transform work the state for delivering more than 200 services to culture and ethics in government offices, besides around 30000 citizens daily. All the important eventually reducing the burden of employees by services, including various kinds of certificates and shifting from manual handling of files to online licenses, are delivered through Sewa Kendras. The dealing. With the spurt in technological advance - government is also bringing services of Depart - ments, the Chief Minister said the outreach to en - ment of Revenue and Transport on the Sewa sure public services had increased exponentially, Kendra platform.Captain Amarinder congratu - adding that the state government's endeavour lated the PSeGS team on their contribution to the was to fully leverage the advancements in the creation of state-level applications on E-Sewa, service of the masses in a hassle-free, efficient and Debt Relief, PM-KISAN, and monitoring of SDGs. transparent manner. He appreciated them for bringing down pendency Earlier, making a detailed presentation, Addi - from a whopping 23% to only 1.5%. He directed tional Chief Secretary Vini Mahajan informed the PSeGS to continue the endeavor towards efficient Chief Minister that the Department of Gover - and accountable administration in the state. nance Reforms had already conducted compre - Additional Chief Secretary cum PSeGS Vice hensive training of Administrative Secretaries and Chairman Vini Mahajan told the Chief Minister of IAS/PCS officers posted in Chandigarh. The two- that PSeGS had a separate team of dedicated pro - day training course was conducted during Octo - fessionals, which was providing IT consultation to ber at MGSIPA. other Departments of the State and had helped Following the training schedule, as a trial, the create State Level applications like Punjab State department implemented eOffice in their Development Tax, Smart Village etc. branches from October 15 last year, under which The team also supported the Revenue Depart - 1,21,669 E-Files beaded 6,61,550 e-Receipts. Joint ment for bringing all the land records to the Cloud Secretaries, Deputy Secretaries, Under Secre - platform. She elaborated on the initiatives being taries, besides Superintendents, Clerks, Assistants undertaken by State Advisory Council to carry out and personal staff deployed with officers had also transformative reforms. A team of Governance February-2020 Punjab Advance 7 e-Revolution Fellows had been hired to support various de - partments for best practices for this purpose, she said. The PSeGS was hiring a Chief Technology Offi - cer (CTO), along with 15 Technology Experts, to take the state to the next level of digitalization. The Chief Secretary, who is also the Senior Vice Chairman of the PSeGS, Dr Karan Avtar Singh, said the PSeGS was working on implementing Enter - prise Architecture in the State, and a policy in this regard had been drafted. All departments would be integrated via Micro Services and would main - ing daily attendance. This system is being used tain single source of truth of their databases. by the Central Ministries & other State Govern - More than 1,35,000 e-files had already been cre - ments. ated in eOffice by more than 8500 users, he added. Under this system, departments are only re - Digitising the public offices would make check - quired to procure Biometric Attendance device ing of files and reviewing them much easier with to be installed in the office premises for captur - a click of the mouse. This move would also save ing biometric attendance of employees. massive amounts of paper that is being used in Although the system in the Civil Secretariat Government offices and minimise the amount of and other government offices is on a trial basis, time spent to move the files physically at present. the Department of Technical Education and In - This in turn will help save huge amounts of paper dustrial Training, Punjab, has started the daily that is being currently used in all government of - Bio-metric attendance system for the staff in all fices. the Government Technical Education Institutes Digitising Government offices is environment of the state. friendly and will improve efficiency, consistency Giving this information Technical Education and effectiveness; in turn reducing time and help - Minister Charanjit Singh Channi said under the ing the public to meet their demands.