The Kerala Chief Minister’s website (www.keralacm.gov.in) has won the Icon of Excellence Web Ratna Gold Medal instituted by the Union government to promote innovative e-Governance initiatives.
Press Secretary to the Chief Minister P. T. Chacko and Personal Assistant to the Chief Minister Jogie George Jacob received the award from Union Minister for Communication and Information Technology Kapil Sibal in New Delhi. Ministers of State Milind Deora and Kruparani Killi were present.
The award aims to honour initiatives taken by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy who has leveraged the use of Information and Communication Technologies to solicit active participation of the people in the process of governance. The award secretariat, consisting of three-tier screening committee, observed that the Kerala Chief Minister’s website had succeeded in bringing better public participation in governance.
The round-the-clock live webcast of the Chief Minister’s chamber and office, 24x7 grievance redress cell that enables the people to lodge complaints and track the same, the secretariat file tracking facility and vision 2030 idea box are the notable characteristics of the website. This is the first time that Kerala has won the award.
An official release said The New York Times had applauded the live streaming of the Chief Minister’s office as part of Mr. Chandy’s earnest efforts to bring transparency in governance by incorporating technological innovations. Many others at the national and international level had appreciated the new governance initiatives. They included UNDP director Jeraldin Fracer Molliketi.
It said the people behind the site are Dinesh Sharma, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, K.R. Jyothilal, Secretary (General Administration), P.T.Chacko, Jogie George Jacob, S. Jayakumar, R. Shivaramakrishnan, S. Satheesh, P. Ashish and Rejith Raj. The Centre for Development of Imaging Technology provided the technical back-up.
