Agartala, June 12 – The Tripura legislative assembly has taken a significant step towards going paperless by embracing digital technology.
A two-week training program for legislative members on the National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) was officially inaugurated on Monday.
The training, which aims to familiarize the members with the platform’s functions, was launched digitally in the assembly lobby by Tripura Chief Minister Dr. Manik Saha, Speaker Biswa Bandhu Sen, Opposition Leader Animesh Debbarma, Senior Minister Ratan Lal Nath, and Deputy Speaker Ram Prashad Paul.
The primary focus of the training is to acquaint the House members with NeVA and promote its usage to enhance transparency, accountability, and responsiveness in conducting legislative business.
NeVA, part of the Digital India Programme initiated by the Government of India, is one of the 44 Mission Mode Projects aimed at transforming all state legislatures into “Digital Houses” and eliminating paper usage.
Chief Minister Dr. Saha welcomed the transformation, emphasizing that it would not only improve efficiency but also bring transparency and facilitate work processes in line with the vision of a Digital India.
He said that NeVA, a centralized web-based application, allows the sharing and viewing of information across different legislatures, streamlining legislative processes and enabling real-time dissemination of information, thereby making legislative proceedings accessible to the public.
Speaker Sen expressed his view that the digitization of the assembly would not only introduce transparency, efficiency, and accessibility to legislative processes but also contribute to making it a paperless institution, benefiting the environment.
Tripura becomes the fourth state in the North-east region, following Nagaland, Mizoram, and Arunachal Pradesh, to transform its assembly into a digital house. However, due to the training requirements, the forthcoming session, scheduled to commence early next month, will not be entirely paperless.
Tablets were distributed among the legislative assembly members, who also had the opportunity to visit the House floor which have recently installed digital touch screens for conducting paperless business using NeVA platform.
The NeVA project, one of the 44 Mission Mode Projects under the Digital India Programme, aims to make the functioning of all state legislatures paperless.
So far, 21 state legislatures have signed Memorandums of Understanding for implementing NeVA, with 17 legislatures receiving funds for its implementation. Among them, nine legislatures have already transitioned to a fully digital and paperless mode, conducting all their business through the NeVA platform.
