Kathmandu. The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MoCIT÷ has made public the progress of the works carried out in the last one month. Making public the progress made public by Dr Bikram Timilsina as Minister for Communications and Information Technology, the Ministry has said administrative and technology-friendly service delivery has improved.
According to the ministry, the government has accelerated the service reforms in order to make the citizens feel the 100-point governance reform agenda. The ministry has made public works in the areas of printing of driving licenses (smart license), government courier service, telecommunication service reform, digital service expansion, cyber security and administrative reforms.
According to the Ministry, special efforts have been taken to end the long delay seen in printing the driving license (smart card). In case of new applications, the license will be printed through the security printing center within 24 hours of receiving data from the Department of Transport Management and handing it over to the Department. According to the agreement, 12 lakh driving licenses have already been printed. A new agreement has been signed between the Department and the Center to print additional 17 lakh old licenses within the end of July. Similarly, 30 lakh postage stamps were printed and handed over to the Department of Postal Services.
The Ministry has put forth the concept of ‘Government Courier Service’ with the objective of modernizing the postal service. Under this, the service of delivering passports to the homes of the citizens has been started. In the initial phase, the service will be available in Kalikot, Sindhupalchowk, Banke, Kaski, Sunsari, Makawanpur, Myagdi, Siraha, Dadeldhura and Gulmi districts. The ministry has also forwarded the process to expand the service in Gorkha, Sankhuwasabha, Sindhuli and Saptari districts. The existing five-digit postal code has been upgraded to a seven-digit system as per the federal set-up to provide services to the citizens at the local level.
The ministry has also claimed that the telecommunication service has been improved to be user-friendly. Accordingly, the validity of all packages of prepaid mobile service has been increased from 28 days to 30 days. The ‘pay-as-you-go’ system has been modified to allow the customers to continue or turn off the service themselves after the data package expires. Arrangements have also been made to provide mandatory prior information after 90 percent data is consumed.
The ministry has decided to provide additional frequencies in the 800 MHz band to improve the quality of 4G service. Similarly, the way has been paved for the expansion of 5G by opening the 3300-3700 MHz band for mobile services. The process of making all services online and implementing ‘One Time KYC’ has also been initiated. Nepal Telecom has set up customer service desks at its offices to make its service more effective.
According to the Ministry, new services have been added to the Nagarik app under the Digital Nepal Campaign. The app provides the facility to download police reports, certificates from Nepal Engineering Council and Public Service Commission (PSC) admit card. According to the Ministry, the demographic data of the national identity card in the app will be autofilled by scanning the QR code with the consent of the person and the system will be linked to the information system of the Department of Passport and Transport Management.
Likewise, works have been initiated to make the integrated office management system effective to make the government office management technology-friendly. Work has also begun to make the government’s integrated website accessible as per international standards. The ministry has also taken aggressive steps in cybersecurity. During this period, more than 11,000 betting apps and websites have been banned by the Nepal Telecommunication Authority.
A campaign to end administrative dilly-dallying has been initiated at the Ministry and its subordinate bodies by conducting ‘Zero Remaining File Week’ towards governance reforms and a code of conduct has been enforced. The Ministry has prepared and implemented an action plan with 10 major works, deadline, responsible officers and performance indicators within seven days. It is stated in the work progress of the Ministry that work procedures, standards and monitoring system have been started to make service delivery simple, fast and result-oriented. Likewise, a preliminary report has been sent to the Ministry of Finance with suggestions to increase non-tax revenue.
The Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs has given consent in principle to the draft of the Information Technology Bill and Cyber Security Bill prepared by the Ministry under the legal reform. This is expected to create a new legal base for digital governance and cybercrime control in the coming days.
Radio Nepal has started broadcasting new programs in the endangered Athpahariya Rai and Mudiyari languages and optical fibre has been installed for high quality live broadcasting from the Nepal Television’s studio to the New Parliament Building. KATHMANDU: The Advertisement Board of Nepal, Nepal Telecommunication Authority (NTA) and the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE) have coordinated to stop unauthorized foreign employment advertisements through social networks.
Claiming that policy reforms, technology-friendly services and works have been initiated in a way to directly benefit the people, the Ministry has pledged to implement these programmes in a more effective manner in the days to come.
प्रतिक्रिया दिनुहोस्