IfG.CC - The Institute for eGovernment

The committee has been asked to come up with a comprehensive doable working paper for the biometric verification solution for the sale of SIMs, he added.

The decision was made in a meeting held on Friday in the ministry of interior on unverified SIMs and installation of biometric SIM verification solution.

According to the process being chalked out by the Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs), Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), ministries of interior, information and technology and other stakeholders, the application should be designed in a manner that complete process right from sale of SIM to its activation will involve minimum human intervention.

He said that the main objective of the Committee to improve government delivery through an effective and efficient system under the frame work of Constitution, laws, rules and regulations. The summary of the IT Division was referred to the Establishment Division for review and comments.

Finance Minister, Senator Ishaq Dar chaired the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Restructuring (CCoR) at the Prime Minister’s Office. The CCoR considered the summary of the Ministry of IT for merger of Pakistan Computer Bureau (PCB) and Electronic government Directorate (EGD).

According to the revised plan, the government has asked cellular service providers to procure and roll out the biometric devices in all companies-owned customer services centres and franchises by November 30, 2013 in Karachi and December 20, 2013 across Pakistan. Earlier, the deadline was October 6, 2013.

The system must be ready in Karachi by February 20, 2014, according to the second phase of the revised schedule.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a potential economic growth field, which rewards creativity and innovation with small investment. This potential needs to be exploited for putting Pakistan’s economy on a high-growth trajectory.

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a potential economic growth field, which rewards creativity and innovation with small investment. This potential needs to be exploited for putting Pakistan’s economy on a high-growth trajectory.

Federal and State Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries, Secretaries, Additional Secretaries and focal persons of e-Office Suite are expected to attend the Forum. An official at the Ministry on Monday said the Forum aims at sharing experience of roll out of e-office at Ministry of IT, National Assembly Secretariat and Prime Minister Office and to discuss and facilitate future directions for public policy on e-Office and e Governance for people.

In this connection, a meeting held to orient different companies regarding the system, here on Saturday.

Iftikhar said that e-payment system has been introduced for tax collection of Peshawar Bus Terminal (PBT) under the first phase.

Mamnoon Hussain calls for restructuring of public sector departments for better service delivery.

President Mamnoon Hussain has urged the federal and provincial governments to introduce e-governance to cut their expenditures and ensure early solution of people's problems.

Addressing a seminar on Accountability and Good Governance in Islamabad on Monday, he said e-governance will ensure transparency.

Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” illustrates and re-illustrates itself intermittently in its multifaceted manifestations. Those who negotiate it timely have seen fortunes coming to them. To their credit; they haven’t sufficed with mere acceptance of the fact but have burnt their midnight oil for achieving what it entails in substance. Those who wish to be negligent have been deservingly made to bite the dust.

Presently, nations are, even if not as a matter of choice but compulsion, in the race to become the fittest. Knowing the requirements, developed ones are mindful that their state institutions and governing structures are going to determine their economic and political might in the race. For this reason, their public sector gets absolute priority in reforms, since governance surely qualifies as propulsion in fortifying the country’s worth.

Moreover, the nominees / focal persons from 27 ministries have completed their specialised trainings for orientation and management of e-office suit.

Official sources in Peshawar said the Election Commission had appreciated the provincial government’s proposals and decided to use KP as a model for other provinces by experimenting with the use of biometrics in the polling for local government election. A biometric machine made by NADRA would be put to use in KP for the purpose.

The mock voting held in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for accuracy of proposed biometric system in LB polls is not likely to be approved by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) for the reason that it is time-consuming system.

Sources privy to the development said that the proposed biometric system, which the PTI-led provincial government desires to introduce in the LB polls to ensure transparency, is taking between 10 to 13 minutes for the voter to cast his/her vote. “Due to these types of technical problems, the ECP may not approve the biometric system for the upcoming polls in KPK,” the sources said.

ECP’s Director General Information Technology Khizar Aziz candidly told the parliamentary body that the software used by EVMs could be manipulated to affect the results.

The meeting, chaired by the Minister of State for IT & Telecom, was told that the main core software modules of the HMIS application had been successfully implemented and in use by the hospital’s staff, and installation of the remaining software modules was in progress.

The Ministry of Information Technology is focused now more than ever to bridge the IT gap between urban and rural areas. For this purpose, the right policies along with the right budget are being set in place.

In the Annual Development Program for the next year, the government has allocated 5,020 million rupees for the IT sector. It comes with a strong emphasis on strengthening human resource and accelerating the growth pace of e-government so that more people have easy access to government services. Pakistan’s e-government model is considered one of the best in the world. It was adapted in 2002, making Pakistan the first SAARC country to do so. The entire purpose of this model is to digitize the entire governance process – applying information and communication technology to assist the government to provide services to the public. Just last year, 13 Pakistan ministries upgraded to the e-government model.

The government, after the Peshawar tragic incident, has decided under the National Action Plan to verify all the cellular users in the country through biometric verification.

Anusha Rahman, Minister of State for IT and Telecom, chaired a meeting on Wednesday regarding the establishment of telecentres in the country’s rural areas.

A computerised system has been put in place to receive and respond to complaints lodged by general public, the sources said.