ree of utilization of ICT by Individuals, Business and the Government. Individual usage is measured by the average monthly expenditure by an Individual on internet access, mobile phones, telephone etc. The Business usage is measured by the companies using the VSAT, ISDN lines while the usage by Government is measured by the status of accessibility of information and services by the citizen, no. of eGovernance projects undertaken and the proportion of the policies taken for ICT usage.
As per the e-Readiness Assessment 2005, Gujarat has been positioned as Level 2 (L2) state for the ICT Usage category.
Based on the above three categories, Gujarat has been assessed as Aspiring Leaders as per the e-Readiness Assessment 2005 as mentioned in above figure.
Major initiatives taken by Govt. of Gujarat towards more e-Ready state are as mentioned below:
- New IT Policy 2006-2011 announced on 1st November 2006.
- All departments have prepared their IT Action Plan, which has a one-year focus and a five-year perspective.
- Two to three percent of the State Government budget is committed to IT related activities.
- To oversee implementation of IT strategies in the departments, each department has Chief Information Officer (CIO) who reports directly to Secretary of the department. Information Officer (CIO) who reports directly to Secretary of the department.
- To ensure smooth implementation of e-Governance projects, technical persons have been deputed as System Managers in key Government departments.
- All departments are in process of creating shareable databases of rules and other related information. This includes information such as budget, recruitment/service rules, plan achievements for various schemes etc.
- Integrated Workflow and Document Management System (IWDMS) is implemented across the Government Secretariat, which ensures standardization of application and database.
- Government has implemented CCC (Competency in Computer Concepts) and CCC Plus courses for Government employees and compulsory DOEACC “CCC” level certification for the new entrants in the government. The content of these courses addresses the change in the requirements for training government employees in today’s context.
- Largest WAN (Wide Area Network) created. As on today, more than 4000 users of 127 Govt. offices at State capital Gandhinagar and more than 10000 users of 2800 District and Taluka level offices of different departments have been directly connected to GSWAN (Gujarat State Wide Area Network). More than 5500 Offices have been provided GSWAN voice facility.
- College to Career program, an Industry - Institute linkage program has been conducted to sensitize and train students in the area of current industrial practices by Industry experts. An overwhelming number of students – over 2500 students across 35 institutions in Batch-1 and over 3700 students across 44 institutions in Batch-2 – have participated. Over 4500 students are already registered in Batch-3. A Job Fair was also conducted for the students of Batch-1 and Batch-2.
- Project INVITE 2005 & 2006, an innovative academic initiative was conducted as part of which over 33 eGovernance projects were developed by students on Open Source software. An overwhelming number of students - over 2500 students across 65 institutions in the State – have participated in these projects.