Lok Sabha Question No. 1587 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-12
Subject: Member Centric Application
Ministry: PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS
Asked by: MAHEISH GIRRI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS LOK  SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1587

TO BE ANSWERED ON TUESDAY, THE 12 th  FEBRUARY, 2019

## Member Centric  Application

## 1587 SHRI MAHEISH GIRRI:

Will the MINISTER OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS ( संसदीय  कायय  मंत्री ) be pleased to state:

- a) whether the Government has brought in a Member-centric application with sole objective of knowledge transfer for the sake of capacity building of the officials of the Legislatures ;
- b) if so, the details thereof;
- c) whether  the  Government  has  sent  any  goodwill  delegation  of  Members  of Parliament to other countries so as to project the policies, programmes and achievements  of  the  country  in  different  fields  with  their  counterparts  and other opinion makers in other countries and secure their support in favour of India; and
- d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## ( संसदीय कायय मंत्रालय में राज्य मंत्री और जल संसाधन, नदी विकास और गंगा संरक्षण मंत्रालय में राज्य मंत्री ) MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WATER RESOURCES, RIVER DEVELOPMENT AND GANGA REJUVENATION

## (

## श्री अजजयन राम मेघिाल )

## (SHRI ARJUN RAM MEGHWAL)

- (a) & (b):- Yes madam.  Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has developed National eVidhan Application (NeVA), a Member-centric application for Digital Legislatures.  It is a web based as well as mobile based (mNeVA) application, which could be accessed at https://neva.gov.in. mNeVA is available at Play Store as well as App Store for download. The detailed status is at Annexure-A.
- (c) & (d):- Yes madam. As per the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961, Ministry of  Parliamentary  Affairs  exchanges  Government  Sponsored  Goodwill  Delegations  of  Members  of Parliament with a view to effectively project our policies and achievements in different fields with opinion makers in other countries and securing their confidence in favour of India. Recently, the Indian Goodwill Delegation led by Hon'ble Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Minister of State in the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has visited Germany and Italy during 15 th October, 2018 to 19 th October, 2018.

*****

## National eVidhan Application

## One Nation - One Application

1. As per Allocation of Business Rules, 1961, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs is mandated to manage the government business in both the Houses of Parliament.  In conducting the House Proceedings, consumption of papers in laying of Reports, Questions etc. is enormous.  To reduce the consumption of papers and thereby to reduce the carbon footprints, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs thought of eVidhan- the Digital Legislatures.
2. eVidhan is a Mission Mode Project to digitize and make the functioning of Legislatures paperless.  This is part of Digital India, a high priority programme of the Government of India. Ministry desires to roll out eVidhan as National eVidhan Application (NeVA) covering all 40 Houses including two Houses of Parliament and thereby putting all them on a single platform.
3. This journey began with a pilot project executed in Himachal Pradesh with the central assistance of Rs.8.12 Crores which made the Shimla Legislative Assembly the first Assembly in India to go paperless in 2014. This project resulted into overall savings of about Rs.5.08 Crores annually  on  account  of  expenditure  on  papers,  printing,  manpower  costs  and  conservation  of forests/ trees as ancillary benefits.
4. NeVA is a member centric de-centralised digital application in .NET technology.  It could be used by all 40 Houses and all the public representatives.  NeVA-mobile app (mNeVA) has made its content accessible even without a touch-screen device installed in the House.  It can be accessed on one's mobile or ipad.  Since, NeVA is device agnostic App, most of the information could be accessed by all including the citizens without any login credential.  NeVA website as well as Mobile App has been made operational for all 40 Houses.  NeVA-mobile App is available for download from Play store and App store for Android and iOS mobiles respectively.  Punjab, Uttar  Pradesh,  Bihar,  Tamil  Nadu,  Sikkim,  Madhya  Pradesh,  Karnataka,  Kerala,  Puducherry, Manipur, Gujarat Legislatures have started using the Application and others have also adopted it as  the  intelligent  IT  Teams  in  each  House  is  very  enthusiastic  about  the  Application  for  its simplicity and with regular training through Video Conferencing as well as through personalise workshop for each House being provided by this Ministry.
5. Team NeVA, MoPA with its limited resources has made NeVA live for Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha in respect of Monsoon as well as Winter Session 2018 and the ongoing Budget Session, 2019.

6. NeVA -as a Member- centric application, addresses issues of Day to Day functioning of the House that covers, among other areas, the following:-

- i. List of Business (LOB)
- ii. Notice
- iii. Bulletin-1
- iv. Bulletin-2
- v. Starred/ Unstarred Questions including reply by the Departments (Q&A)
- vi. Bills: Introduced/ Consideration & Passing
- vii. Synopsis of Proceedings
- viii. House Proceedings-Verbatim
- ix. Committees Reports
- x. Rules & Procedures
- xi. Digital Library
- xii. Provisional Calendar
- xiii. Webcasting of live Proceeding of the House
- xiv. Reference material
- xv. Rotation of Ministries
- xvi. Contacts-Telephone Directory for each House
- xvii. Budget
- xviii. Press Releases
- xix. Secure page for each Member for submitting Questions/other Notices.

7. NeVA in spite of being a state of art Application is user friendly and easy to use even for a layman.  Mobile App is the core strength of NeVA Application. Moreover, all the 40 Houses are at  one  App  making  it  truly  a  National  App  thereby  proving  the  theory  of 'One Nation One Application'. NeVA is  not  simply  a  website  but  a  work-flow  based  App  deployed  in  Cloud (Meghraj) for managing the functioning of the House including preparation of LOB, Q&A and other related documents.

8. NeVA is a Rs.739 Crore (approx.) project for digital Legislatures covering all Houses.  It is to be used by the Legislatures as well as all the Government Departments.
9. EFC considered the proposal of this Ministry relating to appraisal of e-Vidhan project in its meeting held on 14 th December, 2018 and decided that 'The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs may provide the software already developed to the States free of cost recommending them to make use of the same.  Ministry may also take active steps to ensure that digitization of both the Houses of Parliament is completed at an early date.  Based on the experience gained out of the digitization of the working of both the Houses of Parliament and the state of readiness achieved by the State Legislatures  and  also  considering  the  level  of  devolution  recommended  by  the  15 th Finance Commission in light of the sharing pattern then existing, the project may be brought before EFC for appraisal.'
10. As a part  of  experience  sharing  and  appreciation  of  NeVA,  Ministry  of  Parliamentary Affairs held a two days National Orientation Workshop on 24-25 September, 2018 in New Delhi which was attended by around 200 delegates from all the States/ UTs/ Houses giving the project a much needed fillip.  As a capacity building measure, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has held 10 VC Sessions and 11 State specific Workshops on NeVA.