Lok Sabha Question No. 1282 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-12-18
Subject: Status of NeVA Project
Ministry: PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS
Asked by: BHARATENDRA SINGH

## 1282.

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA USQ No.1282

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 18.12.2018

Status of NeVA Project.

## KUNWAR BHARATENDRA

Will the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs be pleased to State:-

- (a) the status of implementation of National eVidhan Application (NeVA) project;
- (b) whether the Government has the details regarding the first two phases of implementation of the project; and
- (c) if so, the details thereof ?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS AND MINISTER OF  STATE  IN  THE  MINISTRY  OF  WATER  RESOURCES,  RIVER  DEVELOPMENT  AND GANGA  REJUVENATION

(Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal)

(a)-(c) Government of India has launched Digital India Programme with the vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society & knowledge economy.  At present, Government of India has  identified  44  Mission  Mode  Projects  (MMPs)  for  implementation  under  Digital India Programme.  e-Vidhan is  one  of  a  such  Mission  Mode  Project  (MMP)  included  in  Digital  India Programme with the approval  of  Cabinet.  To  monitor  the  progress  of  implementation  of  various MMPs, Government of India constituted an Apex Committee under the Chairmanship of Cabinet Secretary.    Apex  Committee  in  its  3 rd meeting  held  on  15 th October,  2015  decided  to  make  the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs as 'Nodal Ministry' for implementation of e-Vidhan MMP and empowered it to take all necessary steps to promote & roll out e-Vidhan re-designated as National eVidhan Application (NeVA) in all the 31 States/  UTs with  Legislatures  on  the  line  of  Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly.

Total  project  cost  is  738.36  Cr  and  funding  of  NeVA  is  on  the  pattern  of  Central Sponsored Scheme i.e. 60:40, NE & hilly States 90:10 and UTs 100%.

Apex Committee on Digital India headed by Cabinet Secretary in its third meeting held on 15/10/2015 decided to make the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs as the Nodal Ministry for eVidhan Project and Apex Committee on Digital India in its 4th meeting held on 16/6/2016 decided that  the  funding  for  e-Vidhan  would  be  provided  by  the  Ministry  of  Parliamentary  Affairs  and technical  support  by  MeitY.  Subsequently,  EFC  in  its  meeting  held  on  20th  February,  2018 considered e-Vidhan project for appraisal and granted in-principle approval with the direction that the Ministry may again approach EFC for final appraisal after complying its recommendations.

In  order  to  promote  the  rolling  out  NeVA,  the  Ministry  of  Parliamentary  Affairs consulted all the State Governments, one of the key stakeholders and their response is encouraging. On the basis of their response, a Committee of experts under the chairmanship of JS(e-Gov), MeitY was constituted to finalize the Preliminary DPR of NeVA Project.

Paperless  Assembly  or  e-Assembly  is  a  concept  involving  of  electronic  means  to facilitate  the  work  of  Assembly  which  can  be  regarded  as  the  early  stage  of  development  of  edemocracy. It can help Assembly to become more transparent, accessible, accountable and effective in promoting democracy. e-Assembly enables automation of entire law making process, tracking of decisions  and  documents,  sharing  of  information  which  in  turn  contributes  to  enhancing  the relationship between the governed and those who govern them.

NeVA aims to bring all the legislatures of the country together, in one platform thereby creating a massive data depository without having the complexity of multiple applications.

NeVA is a member centric application created to equip them to handle diverse House Business smartly by putting entire information needed by them in their hand held devices/ tablets and  equip  all  the  Branches  of  Legislatures/  Department  to  handle  it  efficiently.  This  will  create benefits in terms of the creation of an efficient, inclusive, zero emission-based database. This data once converted into valuable information will be beneficial in overhauling the way our legislatures work. It will also prove to be a powerful tool at the hands of citizens to gain access to meaningful information at tip of their fingers. This initiative will not only bring democracy closer to our citizens by  bringing  working  of  legislatures  closer  to  them,  by  giving  the  citizens  access  to  the  bills,  the question-answers, the documents tabled in the house in an easy manner, but will also provide an opportunity to the citizens for meaningful engagement with the democracy, thereby taking a strong step in direction of attaining substantive democracy. Central Project Monitoring Unit, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs will provide complete technical support in terms of hardware, software and capacity building as well as financial support. A hard working NeVA team is placed to provide all the support and to help on the momentum built.

m-NeVA  will  facilitate  Ministers/Members  get  the  entire  House  Business  including replies to questions and papers to be laid in the House.  CPMU, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs is also developing NeVA Ver2.0 and will be released in due course. For capacity building and training of Members and various levels of officials of House and State Government Departments, a NeVA Seva Kendra (NSK) as e-Learning Centre will be set up at each location.

This application provides all relevant information like Notices,   Bulletins being issued byissued by legislatures from time to time for information of all members and other stakeholdersbesides contact details, Rules of Procedure, list of business, Starred/Unstarred Questions andAnswers, text of Bills for introduction, consideration and passing, text of all papers laid,Committee Report, Proceedings of the House, synopsis of proceedings, provisional calendarand rotation of Ministries, News  and  press releases and reference materials. This application alsoinformation relating to composition of all Committees including details of Committeemeetings, their agendas, information relating to personal claims of Members like Salary andAllowances etc. Live webcasting/TV facility is also available on this application live telecast of  Lok Sabha/Rajya Sabha TVs, Doordarshan  has already been enabled with provision toincorporate similar  facility in respect of State Legislatures. List of business is the most important aspect of this application, this is not  an  ordinary  list  of  business  giving  details  of  business  to  be  transacted  during  the  day  in  a

particular House. It is a speaking live list of business and if digital laying of all the papers is allowed and information is fed on the application by the relevant and concerned party this list of business can be created on a mere click and at once enabled documents listed in the list of business can be viewed at the source itself. For e.g. if a legislative proposal i.e. Bill is listed on a day text of that Bill will be available on the list of business itself.

The success of the implementation of NeVA lies with the States/UTs who are the key stakeholders  of  the  project  and  some  of  the  States  have  made  good  progress  in  the  field  of automation of their legislatures. In order to have a uniform, standard and systematic implementation, Secretary, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has been imparting of training to the Nodal  Officers  of  State  Legislatures,  through  video  conferencing.  In  this  series  ,  a  two  day workshop, for appraising the Nodal & other Officers from State Legislatures/Councils to familiarize them with the features and functionalities of the NeVA App,  was held on  24 th and 25 th September, 2018  in  BPST,  main  lecture  room  ,  Parliament  Library  Building  ,  New  Delhi.  The  Orientation Workshop included technical sessions and group discussions over 2 days, which facilitated exposure for the delegates about the positive attributes of NeVA. Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal presided over the Inaugural Session of the two day National Orientation workshop on National eVidhan  Application  (NeVA),  organized  by  Ministry  of  Parliamentary  Affairs,  on  24 th -25 th Sept, 2018. The focus of the workshop was to encourage all State Legislatures to move towards e-Vidhan platform and bring in transparency, accountability and responsiveness in their conduct of business, through the use of technology.

Himachal  Pradesh  is  already  the  first  completely  Digital  Legislature  of  the  country. Other states like Punjab, Madhya Pradesh & Sikkim are also in various stages of transformation and their  initiatives  are  highly  commendable.The  idea  behind  a  uniform  platform,  with  a  uniform functionality  across  all  the  legislatures  is  to  ensure  Effective  and  Easy  Engagement  with  all  the stakeholders in this process. This will bring much needed resources and result in modernization of working of legislatures.

NeVA is a device neutral and user-friendly app that has made information on conduct of business  in  Legislatures  accessible  anytime,  anywhere  to  everyone.  NeVA  is  a  de-centralized standalone generic digital application designed on HP Pattern on .NET technology. It is hosted on National Cloud -Meghraj with mirroring at local Data Centre and maintenance, security and disaster recovery for all 40 Houses have been taken care of. NeVA ver1.0 can be used by 40 houses and 5300 Public Representatives. Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Sikkim, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka,  Kerala,  Puducherry,  Manipur  Assemblies  have  already  started  using  the  application. Regular  training  through  Video  Conferencing  is  being  provided  by  the  Union  Ministry  of Parliamentary Affairs to all Legislatures.

NeVA mobile App will enable all MPs/MLAs to get the entire House Business including replies to questions, papers to be laid in the House, 45 minutes before the beginning of the daily proceedings whereas Hon'ble Speaker will get the entire House Business as and when available. Hon'ble Ministers who have to reply to the House, can seek supplementary replies on their mobiles from the Administrative Secretaries.

Inside  the  House  NeVA  will  support  a  digital  eBook  format  accessible  through member's login. NeVA-mobile app will make its contents accessible even without a touch-screen devise installed in the House through mobile and tablets. GoI will support NeVA through NIC and

hardware,  facilitation  centres  and  capacity  building  of  20-30  manpower  for  36  months  for  all  40 Houses. Funding under this scheme will be based on Centrally Sponsored Scheme pattern. Standalone  version  customised  for  each  house,  hosted  on  Cloud  server,  training  Literature  and  User Manual for same has been put in place. States may start keying data for last Session.

NeVA Ver2.0 is being developed by CPMU, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and will be released in due course. Model DPR Format, Checklists, MoU & Guidelines have been finalised. Dash Board -monitor @40VMs with NeVA software (application and DBMS) 37 VMs for 37 State Assemblies & Councils, 2 VMs for LS/RS and ONE for R&D purpose is ready.

In order to provide assistance to the Members, a NeVA Kendra (e-Facilitation Center) will be setup at each location under the Nodal Officer. For Computer training program for Members of  the  States/UTs  Legislature  and  various  levels  of  officials  of  Legislative  Assembly  /  Council Secretariat and other State Government Departments, a NeVA Seva Kendra (NSK) as e-Learning Centre  will  be  set  up  at  each  location.  The  backend  computerization  of  all  the  branches  of  the States/UTs Legislature Secretariats in order to ensure electronic flow and delivery of information / data to the Members of the States/UTs Legislatures and to interact with various State Government Departments  will  be  ensured  under  NeVACapacity  building  and  Orientation  Programme  for  the Members of the State Legislatures, officials of the respective States  Legislatures Secretariats  and other officials of the State Government Departments through NeVA Seva Kendra (NSK) in all the States/UTs.

The e-Vidhan project aims to develop a generic NeVA application on both android and IOS  platform.  The  database  hence  designed  will  be  shared  by  different  Legislatures.  A  NeVA Technical Committee will be formed which will recommend the Hardware (H/w)/, Software(S/w), Cloud  Infrastructure,  tools  and  technologies.  Digital  Legislatures  will  be  created.  There  will  be Installation  of  Touch  Screen  /  Tablet  devices  in  the  Legislatures.  One  Tablet  Device  will  be provided to each Member of the Legislature. ICT Infrastructure will be provided in all the branches of  State  Legislatures.  A  robust  Network  Infrastructure  facility  with  backup  for  high  speed LAN/WAN network and secured WIFI network will be set-up. Necessary Hardware/access devices will be deployed in the House(s) of Legislature for electronic delivery of Services.

Automation  will  be  done  in  two  phases.  While  in  phase-I  Digital  Legislatures,  Daily Business Papers, Preparation of Verbatim, Submission and processing of Questions and Notices of all  types,  Laying  of  all  the  papers  and  reports  in  electronic  form,  Computerization  of  Question Branch,  Table  Office,  Legislative,  Editorial  and  Synopsis  Branch,  Bills  Management  System, Committees  Management  System,  Assurances  Management  System,  Member's  portal,  Members' Amenities  and  Web-casting  will  be  covered.  Phase  -  II  will  cover  Digital  Archives,  Library Automation, Procurement and Store and any other improvement.

Funds for NeVA implementation in State Legislature(s) under e-Vidhan MMP will be provided  as  per  the  Centrally  Sponsored  Schemes  pattern  i.e.  90:10  for  North  Eastern  and  Hilly State, 60:40 for all other States and 100% for Union Territories having Legislature. 1st instalment (up to 20% of the sanctioned project cost) will be released only after the approval of DPR by the Technical and Financial Evaluation Committees at Central Level subject to budgetary provision of State's share. 2nd instalment (upto 40%) will be released after Receipt of Utilization Certificate of 1st  instalment  amount  alongwith  expenditure  of  matching  contribution  of  State  Government.  3 rd instalment (upto 20%) will be released after the receipt of utilization certificate of 2nd instalment amount  alongwith  expenditure  of  matching  contribution  of  State  Government.  Fourth  and  Final

instalment  will  be  released  on  Project  Completion  Certificate  and  Financial  Audit  by  competent authority.

All  the  State  Legislatures  would  prepare  Detailed  Project  Report  (DPR)  and  the  GAP Analysis  Report.  DPR  shall  be  scrutinized  by  IT  Department  /  State  Government  in  all  respects including  with  reference  to  State  share,  support  for  manpower,  operation  and  maintenance  and redundancy  management  etc.  Approval  of  DPR  and  implementation  of  the  Project  would  be undertaken by State level NeVA Implementation Committee with recommendation for funding by MoPA,  GOI.DPR  duly  recommended  by  the  state  government  will  be  received  by  Ministry  of Parliament Affairs. This DPR will undergo Technical Scrutiny by NIC and Financial Appraisal by Financial Advisor of MoPA. The Memorandum for approval of DPR of each House will be placed before Empowered Committee of NeVA for sanction along with the report of technical scrutiny and financial appraisal.

MOPA, Govt. of India shall release the funds to the Secretary (IT) of the respective state for NeVA implementation. IT Department shall transfer the fund to the Executing Authority, NeVA along with matching  share. The  State government  may  release  advance  money  for  early implementation of the project which can be reimbursed as per sanction of MoPA, Government of India.  Program  Management  Units  (PMUs)  are  to  be  set  up  at  the  Central  Level  and  each  State Legislature Levels to enable implementation of the project in a time bound manner.

E-learning/Facilitation Centres will be established to provide training to all the Members of  the  State  Legislature,  officials  of  the  State  Legislature  Secretariat  and  Officials  of  State Government Departments. The state-of-the-art e-Learning Centers will have all modern computerbased  teaching  aids  as  well  as  Video-conferencing  facility  for  remote  learning.  It  is  proposed  to setup a Mock State e-Legislature at Parliament Complex under the control of (BPST). It will arrange training  courses  on  NeVA  for  the  Members/Officials  of  all  the  State  Legislatures  and  State Government Departments. It will showcase the NeVA to the International Delegates visiting Indian Parliament. BPST shall arrange and organize Training Courses at State Legislature Locations also.

The  NeVA  Project  is  subject  to  Audit  by  competent  authority  of  State  /  Central Government. The NeVA will be supported for a period of 36 months after the date of Trial Run. All efforts will be made to complete the Project in the defined Time Line. After a period of 3 years, NeVA will be owned by the State Legislatures. Government of India shall only bear the cost of the CPMU and Cloud  Hosting  Services  of  NIC.  It  shall  be  responsibility  of  MOPA  to  resolve  any dispute arising out of implementation of NeVA including guidelines and instructions issued from time to time.

For  implementation  of  e-Vidhan  MMP  for  achieving  paperless  state  legislature  and electronic information services delivery to legislators and other stakeholders, tripartite memorandum  of  understanding will be signed among  Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, Government  of  India,  Government  of  State  and  State  Legislatures  .As  per  the  MoU  Ministry  of Parliamentary Affairs, will provide funds for e-Vidhan implementation in state legislature(s) under e-Vidhan MMP in the following manner:

- (i) For Northeastern & Hilly States funding will be in the ratio of 90:10.
- (ii) For Union Territories having legislatures funding will be in the ratio of 100:0.
- (iii) For Other States funding will be in the ratio of 60:40

Funds will be used for developing a generic, configurable e-Vidhan product deployed on national cloud (Meghraj), procurement of hardware, software, manpower for smooth implementation in state legislatures.

State will prepare detailed project report (DPR), gap analysis report. State level project monitoring committee will carry out the technical scrutiny and financial scrutiny of the DPR and after final approval of the same will be send to the MoPA, Govt. of India for approval. After the technical  and  financial  scrutiny,  funds  will  be  released  for  project  implementation  funds  will  be released  in  three  instalments  as  per  terms  and  conditions  for  release  of  funds.  After  the  project completion, a project completion report needs to be submitted along with the utilization certificate of the final instalment.

The CPMU will be responsible for reviewing the financial and technical progress of the project,  assessment  of  the  progress  of  work  and  to  advice  the  project  execution  team  will  be responsible  for  new  directions  /  approach  and  ensure  its  smoother  progress  and  link-up  with  the work  going  on  elsewhere  in  any  other  state  legislature  in  the  countryfor  full  utilization  of  the capabilities  available.  CPMU  will  examine  specific  request  from  State  Legislature  regarding changes in  sanctions  and  to  make  recommendations  thereon  for  consideration  by  the  empowered committee. CPMU will ensure advance action regarding completion of the project, establishment of facilities, its utilization and transfer of know how etc. for successful replication. CPMU will review the  deliverables  of  the  agencies  involved  and  will  amend  the  deliverables  of  required  keeping  in view the project objective. CPMU will recommend release of fund to implementing agency on the request of SPMUs.

The State Government will appoint a Secretary level officer to be designated as the nodal officer/representative  for  e-Vidhan  implementation  in  the  state  legislature(s).  e-Vidhan  MMP  is required  to  be  implemented  in  their  state  legislature(s)  and  shall  provide  the  funds  as  per  state's contribution. State Government will borne the funds required for running of e-Vidhan MMP after 3 years. For scrutiny of DPR a state level a committee will be formed which will be headed by the Chief  Secretary/Additional  Secretary  (IT)  or  any  authorized  officer  of  the  state  Government.  For smooth  implementation  of  e-Vidhan  MMP  in  the  state  legislature  necessary  guidelines  to  be followed by all State Government departments will be issued by the state government. The State Government  will  ensure  capacity  building  for  the  effective  implementation  of  e-Vidhan  MMP module for electronic exchange of information between state government departments to the state legislature(s).  The State  Government shall carry out the financial audits of grants released by the statutory  audit  of  the  State  Government  and  a  certificate  to  this  effect  will  be  sent  to  MoPA annually.

Amendments,  if  any  required  in  acts,  rules,  and  regulations  for  implementation  of  eVidhan  in  State  Legislature  will  be  carried  out  by  the  State  Government/State  Legislature. Maintenance and replacement of ICT equipment's on taking over the project after 3 years will be taken up by state government/state legislature. Release of next instalment would not be made in case the Utilization certificate and confirmation of release of funds by the state government of their share is not received by the CPMU.

## The key highlights of the NeVA application is listed as follows -

Effective  Management  of  Legislation:To  provide  the  database  for  this  application, authentic data was collected on priority basis from all the Legislatures. Once obtained, a detailed matrix was designed to store this information which can now be accessed in terms of sections such as  Notice,  Bulletin,  Rules,  List  of  Businesses,  Bills,  Paper  Laid,  Committee  Reports,  House Proceedings, Press Releases, and Budgets etc. Being a Member centric application, it has enabled a secure platform wherein each member of the house can submit questions and other notices as well. With  the  plethora  of  data  available,  NeVA  combines  the  most  relevant  information  across  the Houses, provides a one-point destination and drives the mantra of 'One Nation, One Application'.

Electronic  Delivery  of  Services  to  Hon'ble  Members:NeVA  provides  a  strong backbone  structure  to  the  inner  working  management  of  the  Legislature.  The  Members  of Legislature  are  provided  a  platform  wherein  they  can  navigate  through  processes  of  Notices, Bulletins, review the List of Business and accordingly set up their agendas to be discussed in the Legislatures. It provides multi-fold avenues through which the Members can remain informed and also  helps  in  creating  a  repository  of  information  which  may  have  gone  amiss  in  a  paper-centric environment.

Faster Working Environment:The introduction of NeVA also helps in empowering the Members using it, by providing content on request. It will completely eliminate the process of sending out a notice/request for collection of data. Through the cloud technology (Meghraj) data deployed  can  be  accessed  anywhere  at  any  time;  the  flexibility  and  availability  of  information remains NeVA's biggest virtue.

User Friendly:Every citizen is bound by the laws governing their particular country. But  never  was  it  possible  before,  that  the  inner  workings  of  the  Houses/Legislatures  were decentralized to  the  grass  root  level  of  the  general  public.  With  the  introduction  of  NeVA  -  any individual can access the issues circumventing the day-to-day workings of the various Houses, and get a gist of the government's functioning. It promotes transparency, accountability and awareness which remain strong foundations on which a democracy can prosper. Additionally, the interface of the  application  is  extremely  user-friendly  which  can  be  navigated  easily  through  any  individual. There is easy access, no login credential requirement, hence enabling a swift platform for one and all.

To further strengthen the project, two day training workshops are also being conducted at various state assemblies to train and familiarise the officials of their secretariats, NIC as well as the Nodal officers of various departments with this application. So far, such successful trainings have taken place at 10 such states viz. Punjab, Telangana, Karnataka, Sikkim, Bihar, Manipur, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Kolkata.

The project has finally  been accorded the approval of the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs. The Ministry is obtaining the final appraisal and approval of the project by EFC.

Further details are available on NeVA website. http://neva.gov.in/