Microsoft and Government of Uttaranchal ink MoU for e-Governance

Microsoft Corporation India Pvt Ltd has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Government of Uttaranchal, aimed towards jointly developing and deploying an array of technology solutions for e-governance in the state. Amarendra Sinha, Secretary, Information Technology and Rajiv Nair, President, Microsoft Corporation signed the MoU in the presence of ND Tiwari, Chief Minister for the State of
Uttaranchal. 

Also Madhukar Gupta, Chief Secretary, Uttaranchal Government was the Guest of Honor for the MoU signing.

With the MoU signing, the Department of Information Technology (DOIT) would attain the status of a Strategic Microsoft Technology Partner for the Uttaranchal Government, consulting, developing and executing systems integration projects on Microsoft technologies. DOIT would identify and appoint a core team to develop applications using the Microsoft .NET framework and other development tools based on Microsoft technologies. As part of the agreement, Microsoft would invest in skills transfer on Microsoft products and technologies to
DOIT. 

The MoU entails the setting up of two Centers of Excellence for e-governance in the state of Uttaranchal based on Microsoft technologies jointly by Microsoft and DOIT. The Centers of Excellence for e-governance would showcase an array of Microsoft products and solutions and demonstrate the interoperability of Microsoft products with other platforms. These centers would also facilitate the state government and the university to conduct technical training sessions for the government personnel.

The MoU would also focus on launching of a Hindi Lab in Dehradun to promote the use of Hindi, the national language, in government workflow applications. Microsoft would facilitate the setting up of this first Hindi IT Lab in India by providing software, training to DOIT/Uttaranchal Government employees, website development and content creation in Hindi.

Microsoft would assist in development and transfer of skills for Project Aarohi of the Uttaranchal Government which is aimed towards providing IT education and training to Government employees, teachers, students from primary to class 12 and other technical departments. Microsoft would provide trainers and training material for the 'Train the Trainers Program' under which Master Trainers would be trained from the states 

District Institute of Education & Training. These Master Trainers would thereafter train the students and teachers in a particular district. 

Microsoft would also provide its consulting resources to the Uttaranchal Government for the development and implementation of Project Haridwar, which would offer services for pilgrims visiting Haridwar on different occasions. 

Microsoft would initiate the setting up of a steering committee that will facilitate the state government to develop an IT roadmap for the next three years. The role of the steering committee would be to advise the state government on setting priorities for computerizing various departments/projects and establish e-governance frameworks and set standards for developing e-governance applications.

As part of the MoU, Microsoft is also committed to advise the Uttaranchal Government on the various e-governance applications that are available today across Governments and recommend the ones that are most suited for the Uttaranchal Government.

Cyber News Service