Context: The Central Government has prepared a 60-point action plan which includes linking birth certificates to citizenship, drafting a single environment Act, promoting a family databased design, and pushing for jobs while negotiating trade pacts.
Key highlights
Leveraging IT and technology for governance

• The plan focuses on leveraging IT and technology for governance, improving business climate, and upgrading the civil services.
• There is no proof of citizenship in India, therefore citizenship will be linked to birth certificate through technology.
• It recommends using Aadhaar for bringing together beneficiary oriented schemes of different ministries.
• A ‘family database design’ has been developed by the ministry of social justice and empowerment and which will be promoted like Aadhaar.
• It aims to streamline disbursement of scholarships to bridge digital divide for underprivileged students & developing indigenous tablets and laptops.
• Digitising all land records by 2023 under the central database called ‘Matribhumi.’
• It would be integrated with e-Courts system to provide transparency on title/possession related issues.

Improving business climate

• Doing away with certain permissions, reducing the cost of starting a business in select sectors.
• Automatic notification of clearances, single-point access to all government services,
• Incentives to states for timely land acquisition and forest clearances.
• One comprehensive Environment Management Act that subsumes various laws in the sector.

Upgrading the civil services

• Capacity building- training of officers on various aspects of infrastructure in both the Centre and states.
• Infusion of expertise and exposure to latest technologies for higher civil services, performance-based working.
• Clear and specific targets for ministries and departments just like that for public sector undertakings.
• Institutional mechanisms for addressing issues of states given their limited capacities and restructuring of departments through Government Process Re-Engineering every 10 years.
• Appointment of more Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) as data is not being used efficiently.
• All government data should be made accessible to all ministries.