SRINAGAR: Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo on Friday launched 162 new district-level online citizen services on the eUNNAT portal, taking the total number of digital Government-to-Citizen (G2C) services in Jammu and Kashmir to 1,710, while directing departments to remove obsolete compliances and expand access through WhatsApp and Single Sign-On (SSO).
The directions were issued during a review meeting of administrative secretaries to assess Jammu and Kashmir’s performance in the National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment (NeSDA) and review the progress made by the Information Technology Department in strengthening the Union Territory’s digital governance ecosystem.
The newly launched services, developed for 18 districts, include permissions for fairs and exhibitions, cultural programmes, political and religious gatherings, processions, drone operations and several other district-level public services. The services are fully digital, enabling citizens to submit applications online, track their status and receive digitally signed approvals without visiting government offices.
Reviewing the progress, Dulloo asked all departments to ensure timely compliance with NeSDA parameters and coordinate closely with the IT Department to digitise additional public services.
He also directed the IT Department, in consultation with the Law Department, to review all online citizen services and identify those that have become redundant following policy or legislative changes.
Referring to the government’s Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) and Reducing Compliance Burden (RCB) initiatives, the Chief Secretary said several certificates, permissions and no-objection certificates (NOCs) had already been abolished and should no longer remain active on digital platforms.
He said the objective of digital governance was not only to place services online but also to simplify governance by eliminating outdated compliances, adding that citizens should not be required to apply for permissions that are no longer mandated under the existing policy framework.
Dulloo directed that such services be categorised as “No Longer Required” on the eUNNAT portal after legal validation. He said the focus should be on improving governance at the grassroots rather than merely enhancing rankings.
To improve accessibility, the Chief Secretary instructed the IT Department to identify at least 100 high-volume citizen services for integration with WhatsApp and the Single Sign-On platform. He said priority should be given to services frequently used by farmers, tribal communities, women, children and other vulnerable groups.
He also called for the future integration of digital public assets such as AgriStack-enabled land records and SVAMITVA property cards as these become operational.
Additional Chief Secretary, Finance, Shailendra Kumar, said the success of digital governance should be judged by the value it delivers to citizens rather than the number of services hosted on a portal. He stressed that the emphasis should remain on high-impact and frequently used services that improve public service delivery.
Commissioner Secretary, Information Technology, Saurabh Bhagat, informed the meeting that the latest expansion of online services has helped Jammu and Kashmir secure the third position nationally in the National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment.
He said 159 services developed by BISAG across departments, including JK e-SEHAT, JK Samadhan, JKCIP, HADP and the Public Works Department, have already been integrated with the eUNNAT platform.
Bhagat further said nine additional services are undergoing user acceptance testing, while five more relating to the Revenue Department, Housing and Urban Development Department and the Gulmarg Development Authority are under development. Once integrated, the total number of online services on the portal will rise to 1,724.
The meeting also discussed the adoption of emerging technologies, including Artificial Intelligence, multilingual interfaces, WhatsApp-based service delivery, face authentication, Aadhaar-enabled authentication and e-Sign solutions, to further simplify access to government services.
The Chief Secretary concluded the meeting by directing departments to expedite digitisation of high-volume services and strengthen compliance with NeSDA parameters to sustain Jammu and Kashmir’s progress in digital governance.
