A screenshot of the Nagaland Official State portal taken on October 15. (Morung Photo/Screenshot)
Moa Jamir
Dimapur | October 15
The official State portal of Nagaland (https://nagaland.gov.in/) is a one-stop source for all government information and services.
On the National Government Services Portal, the Nagaland official website is described as a “single window ‘Any Time, Anywhere’ access to the information and services of various departments at all levels of governance for the citizens and departments.”
The portal provides “comprehensive, accurate, and reliable information” about Nagaland and its various components like Government, Tourism, e-Participation, Services, Resources, etc and variety of citizen “services and schemes provided by the Government across sectors in the State are also accessible from this portal," it added.
Since September 10, in a series of reports, The Morung Express has been assessing the digital governance of the websites of various establishments under the Government of Nagaland, mostly based on the links shared on the State’s portal.
In the concluding part of the series, the official State portal of Nagaland was assessed, and the final verdict is: impressive but in need of further upgrading and enhancement.
What’s working
As per the portal, it hosts 25 Government Apps Online, 82 Government Websites, 25 E-Services Online, and 136 Files & Notifications.
The site, maintained by the State’s Department of Information Technology & Communication, was 'Last Updated' on October 15 when assessed on Sunday.
For starters, on the 'About Nagaland' menu, the portal provides comprehensive and official information about the State, with a detailed profile, a summary description of people and cultures, as well as brief information on all districts and links to each official website.
Under the “Government” menu, the portal offers information ranging from the State’s top Executives, including the Governor and Chief Ministers, to the Council of Ministers, State Legislature, and links to departmental websites.
The 'Services' section includes 'Government e-Services' with links to 25 e-Services, including applications for recruitment, e-Challan, registration, permits, tenders, exam results, death and birth certificates, ILP, and more.
A total of 25 government mobile applications are available for download, including State-centric apps like Agrilan, Naga Farm Doctor, Naga News, Naga Organic, and common national-level apps such as BHIM, cVIGIL, mAadhaar, mPassport, DigiSevak, and more. This newspaper did not assess whether the apps were functioning correctly, but the links were working.
Again, in the 'Services' section, links to Online ILP, the Common Scholarship Portal, Grievance Redressal, Electricity Bill Payment, and the Common Service Centre were provided.
Meanwhile, the 'Resources' menu was categorised into Acts & Rules, Policies, Utility Forms, Document Repository, Media Gallery, Civil List, E-Gazette, Government Calendar, FAQs & Support, and Cyber Safety.
In the 'Acts and Rules' section, there were 91 entries, while 10 policy documents were available in the 'Policies' section. The 'Document Repository' contained 15 entries.
The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section addressed issues related to traveling to Nagaland, information on departments, and downloading of datasets. Various types of utility forms were also available for download.
The most comprehensive section was the 'News & Updates' section, with 136 entries as of October 15. The first post was dated April 15, 2020, and the section appeared to be regularly updated with assorted information such as tenders, notifications, advisories, etc.
The latest post was “Transfer and posting of IAS/NCS/NSS and other officers” dated October 5, 2023.
The 'Business' section takes users to Tenders, Ease of Doing Business, and Nagaland State Government Employee Lookup portals.
The social media handle of MyGov Nagaland on Facebook and integrated X (formerly Twitter) were found to be regularly updated with various activities and new information concerning the State.
What needs to be upgraded
However, the official State portal is not without some faults. For instance, the availability of only 10 policy documents and 15 entries in the 'Document Repository' shows that the portal lacks comprehensive resources on the functioning of the government.
While the 'Acts and Rules' section seems comprehensive with 91 entries, it appears less so when contextualised.
For instance, the oldest document dates back to 1964, while the latest 'Act and Rules' posted are from 2016, possibly missing the many Acts and Rules, thereafter.
For instance, relatively new acts like the Nagaland Lokayukta Act or Nagaland Staff Selection Board Regulations are not available on the portal.
Incidentally, many of the documents in this section are not 'original' but are those of non-profit PRS Legislative Research, including the 'popular' Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act, 1989.
While PRS documents and materials are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution, and thus shared more or less freely, this reflects poorly on the documentation capability of the State machinery.
Again, while a total of 82 Government websites are listed on the portal, some of the links are either obsolete or not working, and many are yet to be listed.
For instance, in the current assessment, inaccessible links in the list were the websites of the Department of Environment, Forests & Climate Change, Motor Vehicles Department, NSDMA, NIC Nagaland, Department of Taxes, Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA), IGNOU Kohima Regional Centre.
However, all these websites were found to be working when searched independently.
The websites of Youth Resources and Sports and E-district Nagaland were also not working.
Again, the portal has also not listed important sites such as Nagaland Public Service Commission, Nagaland Board of School Education, Nagaland University, NSSB, Planning and Coordination, Nagaland State AIDS Control Society, Investment and Development Authority of Nagaland (IDAN), NECTAR, Nagaland State Transport, among others.
The websites of the Department of Law & Justice and Municipal Affairs, meanwhile, were neither available on the list nor found via an independent search on the Google search engine.
It must be noted here that while the State Government regularly directs Government Departments and other agencies to proactively provide various online services and also disseminate information on time to the citizens, most remain fail to comply.
This newspaper’s five-part series on digital governance has shown that many, including the websites of the State’s top two executives, were found lacking. The Governor’s website has undergone some updates since then,
However, some websites, such as those related to taxes, elections, economics and statistics, DIPR, NPSC, NBSE, NU, Nagaland Information Commission, Gauhati High Court Kohima Bench, CAG, etc., were found to be highly engaging, resourceful, and updated. Forerunners, such as the CEO of Nagaland, have already incorporated the deficiencies highlighted earlier. However, most laggards remain unaffected.
This is the sixth and concluding part of a series assessing the digital governance of departments and agencies under the Government of Nagaland.
