Lok Sabha Question No. 1480 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2015-07-29
Subject: Impact of IT
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: VINAYAK BHAURAO RAUT, RAHUL RAMESH SHEWALE, VIJAY KUMAR HANSDAK

GOVERNMENT OF

MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

(DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY)

### LOK SABHA

### UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1480

##### TO BE ANSWERED ON: 29.07.2015

### 

### IMPACT OF IT

**1480.    SHRI VINAYAK BHAURAO RAUT:**

**SHRI RAHUL SHEWALE:**

**SHRI VIJAY KUMAR HANSDAK:**

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

1. whether the Government is making any efforts to make the Information Technology System better with the help of Technocrats;
2. whether the Government has taken any help from technocrats to design digital system;
3. if so, the details thereof;
4. whether the Government has recently launched application programming interface policy; and
5. if so, the details thereof and the manner in which it will prove useful?
##### 
##### ANSWER
MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI  SHANKAR PRASAD)
(a):  Yes, Sir.
(b) and (c):  The Government of India is making all efforts to make the Information Technology System better in the country. For this, all possible support is being taken from various stakeholders including technocrats. The committees for project planning, implementation and review include the technocrats to utilize their expertise in relevant areas.
Various agencies like National Informatics Centre (NIC), Centre for Advanced Computing (CDAC), NASSCOMM, National Institute for Smart Government, National e-Governance Division etc. hire technocrats on full time as well as need basis to get benefit from their expertise.
In addition, an innovative platform namely MyGov has been developed to build partnership between Citizens and Government with the help of technology for growth and development of . Through this platform, the Government aims to encourage Citizen Participation towards Good Governance by seeking their ideas, suggestions and grass roots level contribution. The technocrats along with other citizens are participating in this unique initiative of nation building and for the very first time in the history of this country, technocrats from across India will come together to share their expert thoughts, ideas and suggestions with the Government in areas related to various policies, programs, schemes etc.
(d):  Yes, Sir.
(e):   As a part of Digital India, Government to Citizen (G2C), Government to Business (G2B) and Government to Government (G2G) services are to be delivered and made accessible through multiple channels like web, mobile and common service delivery outlets. Interoperability among various e-Governance applications and databases is vital for integrated service delivery. The world-wide initiatives on “Open Government” also focus on open Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to easily access the information collected by Government organizations.
The “Policy on Open APIs for Government of India” sets out the Government’s approach on the use of “Open APIs” to promote software interoperability for all e-Governance applications & systems and provide access to data & services for promoting participation of all stakeholders including citizens.
The Policy on Open APIs will be useful in following ways:
-   Ensuring that APIs are published by all Government organizations for all e-Governance applications and systems.
-   Enabling quick and transparent integration with other e-Governance applications and  systems.
-   Enabling safe and reliable sharing of information and data across various e-Governance  applications and systems.
-   Promoting and expedite innovation through the availability of data from e-Governance applications and systems to the public.
- Providing guidance to Government organizations in developing, publishing and implementation using these Open APIs.
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