New Delhi (Agency): The clash between Delhi’s Lieutenant Governor (LG) VK Saxena and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal intensified as the LG accused the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of failing to implement the National E-Vidhan Application (NeVA). This application is a project aimed at digitizing Legislative Assemblies throughout India.
Saxena claimed that the Delhi Legislative Assembly is the only legislative body in the country that hasn’t begun digitizing its operations. He pointed out that eight years after the ambitious NeVA project’s introduction in 2015, the government has yet to apply it.
Saxena disclosed that the Secretary of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has written to the LG Secretariat, asking for intervention and ensuring the project’s implementation using funds already allocated under the NeVA project.
The LG’s office issued a statement quoting Saxena, “Despite 100 per cent funding being provided by the Central Government for the project, the AAP Government in Delhi, in 2019, refused to accept the Central Government’s financial and technical assistance for the project and instead, chose to develop the application on its own, at an estimated cost of Rs 20 crore. However, the project is yet to see the light of the day despite a lapse of more than four-and-half years.”
The LG Secretariat further reported that it has passed the request onto the Principal Secretary of Law, Justice, and Legislative Affairs, Delhi for appropriate action in this matter.
Interestingly, all 37 Legislative Assemblies and Councils in India, apart from the Delhi Legislative Assembly, have already implemented or initiated the digitalization process.
Earlier this year, in February, the Secretary of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs wrote to the Delhi Chief Secretary, requesting the Delhi government to adopt Project NeVA.
The Chief Secretary received a letter stating, “The Government of India is providing 100 per cent funding for the Union Territory of Delhi for implementation of NeVA, for digitalization of Vidhan Sabha, for maintenance, upgradation, customization of the application, capacity building, Cloud deployment charges and charges for security audit for life.”
It’s worth mentioning that in January 2019, the Delhi Assembly decided to “opt-out” of Project NeVA and announced that it would develop the eVidhan project from its own budget, with an estimated cost of Rs 20 crore.
Despite Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel recognizing the urgent need to digitize and adopt electronic means of communication in 2020, the LG pointed out that both the Delhi Assembly and the Delhi Government have been delaying the project since 2019.
NeVA, one of the 44 mission-mode projects under the Digital India Programme of the Union government, aims to transform all state legislatures into a “Digital House,” making their operation paperless. This platform, which also includes a website and a mobile app, allows easy access to various legislative documents. In November 2021, Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed a ‘One Nation, One Legislative Platform’.