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Context: The 3rd edition of the National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment (NeSDA) portal was launched by the Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG). The portal showcases the performance of States, Union Territories (UTs), and selected Central Ministries in delivering e-Governance services to citizens.

Details

• The NeSDA framework is a tool developed by DARPG (under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions) to evaluate the quality and impact of e-Governance services from the point of view of the citizens.
  • The framework is adapted from the UN eGovernment Survey's Online Service Index (OSI) to suit the Indian context of federalism and e-Governance diversity among States and UTs.
• DARPG conducts the NeSDA study every two years to measure the performance of States, UTs and selected Central Ministries in delivering e-Governance services to the citizens.
• The study helps the governments to identify the gaps and challenges in their service delivery and to learn from the best practices of other States, UTs, and Central Ministries.

NeSDA 2019 and NeSDA 2021

• Two editions of the NeSDA study, namely, NeSDA 2019 and NeSDA 2021 have revealed a remarkable increase in e-services across all States/UTs. They have also indicated a growing trend of e-Services delivery moving from isolated departmental portals to integrated/centralized portals.
• The following key takeaways highlight the improvement in the country’s e-Governance landscape due to the last 2 editions of the NeSDA study;
  • Enhanced e-Service Delivery
  • Higher use of Integrated / Centralized Portals for delivery of e-Services
  • Better scores across assessment parameters
• In NeSDA 2021, 1400 services across all States and UTs were evaluated as compared to 872 in 2019, an increase of more than 60%.
  • 74% of respondents of the nationwide citizen survey conducted during the study had expressed that they are satisfied with the e-Services provided by the States and UTs.
  • The e-Services of Finance and Local Governance & Utility Services sectors were the most popular among citizens.

NeSDA 2023

• With the launch of the NeSDA 2023 portal, DARPG has initiated the 3rd edition of the study- NeSDA 2023. NeSDA 2023 framework has been updated in accordance with the contemporary citizens' needs, leading global digital government trends and UN e-Government Survey studies.
• The NeSDA 2023 framework is a comprehensive tool to measure the progress of e-Government in India. It aims to assess the quality and accessibility of online services offered by the Central and State governments, as well as the City governments.

The framework has three main dimensions:

Portals Coverage

• This dimension evaluates the official portals of the Central Ministries, States, UTs, and Cities that provide information and services to the citizens and other stakeholders.
• The NeSDA 2023 framework will include the assessment of City portals for the first time, as they are becoming more important for urban residents who need local public services.

Focus Sectors and Mandatory Services Coverage

• This dimension covers the online services provided by the government in nine sectors, namely Finance, Labour Employment, Education, Local Governance Utility Services, Social Welfare (including Health, Agriculture, Home Security), Environment (including Fire), Tourism, Transport and Public Grievance.
• The NeSDA 2023 framework will add two new sectors (Transport and Public Grievance) and increase the number of mandatory services to be assessed for each sector. The framework will assess 59 mandatory services for States and UTs and 37 mandatory services for Central Ministries.

Assessment Parameters

• This dimension measures the performance of government portals and services based on various criteria, such as usability, content, security, service delivery, feedback mechanism, etc.
• The NeSDA 2023 framework will introduce three new parameters to reflect the latest trends in digital government, namely Open Government Data (OGD), E-Participation, and Leveraging Emerging Technologies.

Conclusion

• The NeSDA 2023 portal is a web-based platform that enables the online submission and analysis of data from various sources, such as States, UTs and Central Ministries. The portal aims to facilitate the monitoring and evaluation of the National e-Governance Division's initiatives and projects. The portal also provides access to reports, dashboards and visualizations of the data collected.

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Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG): https://www.iasgyan.in/daily-current-affairs/department-of-administrative-reforms-and-public-grievances-darpg

PRACTICE QUESTION Q. Which of the following is the objective of the NeSDA Portal? A) To rank the states and UTs based on their e-Governance performance. B) To provide feedback and suggestions to improve the e-Governance services. C) To evaluate the effectiveness and quality of the e-Governance services from the citizen's perspective. D) To showcase the best practices and innovations in e-Governance across the country. Answer: C Explanation: The NeSDA initiative aims to assess the service delivery mechanisms of various e-Governance services and measure their effectiveness and quality from the citizens' perspective.

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1937792