A version of this Post was published by Anil Prongs at his blog, on November 23,2015

The IT revolution has bought several changes in India. It changed what was an agriculture based economy to a country with strong service sector. It opened avenues for employment in the form of foreign based and even domestic IT/ITES companies using the extensive skill force available in India. The government has also realised the importance of IT and decided to use it for what we call it e-governance. The prime minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi has introduced “Digital India” to revolutionize e-governance and digitize Government departments. Taking an inspiration from Digital India, the government of Andhra Pradesh has introduced e-pragati, which was launched by Shri Nara Chandrababu Naidu on October 9th at Visakhapatnam.

The IT revolution is not new to the Telugu land. Mr. Naidu, when he was the chief minister of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh (Telangana and Seemandhra combined) was always a proponent of IT to bring out a sustainable development. Due to his efforts Hyderabad is a IT Hub of India after Bangalore. He introduced the e-seva service which brings all the citizen related services under one roof. Even as the Chief Minister of present Andhra Pradesh, he introduced e-cabinet, a paperless cabinet meeting which is a first of its kind in the country. A true visionary!

Coming to e-Pragati, it is one kind of e-governance which brings a revolutionary change in how services are offered, achieved, designed and consumed. It aims to integrate  government related services through a Public Private Partnership (PPP) through the use of cutting edge technologies like SOA, SMAC. This initiative intends to improve quality in various sectors like Agriculture, Education, Healthcare, Construction, Skill development, urban and rural development.

Under this there are 72 projects, made into 14 packages for ease of implementation over the next 3 years, at a cost of 2398 crore rupees. [2] “Andhra Pradesh will become the first state in the country to introduce state-wide enterprise architecture in governance with the e-Pragati project that is slated to be completed by September 2017.” [2]

What is the advantage of this project?? Well, enabling this will ensure a faster movement of files between  departments and even reducing the use of paper. There were instances where files would get stuck in one department for several days but the use of e-pragati  reduces this time consumption. E-pragati also improves the ease of doing business; now industrialists can get clearances though a single window system within a matter of days without even visiting each department. One more advantage of this e-pragati is it reduces corruption and nepotism.

To quote futurist Alvin Toffler, “The great growling engine of change – Technology”. Indeed, technology is a catalyst for change. A change which brings inclusive growth, economic prosperity and sustainable development. As far as Andhra Pradesh is concerned, this change is helping it bring out a digital revolution..One small step for Andhrapreneurship, one giant leap for Andhra Pradesh.

References:

1. http://e-pragati.ap.gov.in/home.html
2. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/visakhapatnam/CM-rolls-out-e-Pragati-for-745-services-in-AP/articleshow/49308214.cms

Disclaimer: This article represents the opinions of the Author, and should not be considered a reflection of the views of the Andhra Cultural Portal. The Author is responsible for ensuring the factual veracity of the content, herein.