Correspondent
In a first, the Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) Saturday became the first State Legislature in the country to introduce National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) for conducting Assembly session in paperless mode.
The tablet e-book was put-up on each legislator’s desk and was fed with Assembly proceedings and other documents needed during the session. Giving a brief insight into the gadget, NLA speaker Sharingain Longkumer asserted that the State Assembly was the first State Legislature in the country to have reached an important milestone of operationalising NeVA.
He said NeVA was part of an effort initiated during the tenure of previous Speaker Dr Chotisuh Sazo and for which funding was received just last year.
He expressed happiness and pride in the final implementation of the new system. Longkumer disclosed that some legislators had undergone training on handling the basic functions of the tablet and that more efforts would be made to take full advantage of the e-Vidhan system in Assembly functioning with additional training programme in the coming days.
He further revealed that once other Assemblies across the country implemented the paperless proceedings, all the Assemblies would be connected to a network that would link them to Parliament.
NeVA project was funded by Union Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs with 10% State share, which was extended by chief minister Neiphiu Rio, the speaker added. He further informed the House that the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs had complimented NLA for having become the first State Assembly to operationalise it.
Longkumer expressed his appreciation and gratitude to implementing agency SBL Knowledge Services and Assembly Secretariat for their speed, efficiency and commitment in making the new system operational.
Meanwhile, while the State Assembly had on one hand upgraded itself with modern gadgets, on the other hand there were various ills still plaguing the Assembly building.
For instance, the Assembly building was yet to see installation of the ceiling fans that were assured to the members by former Sazo.
The issue was raised by a member earlier, who said it got unpleasantly warm and humid inside the House and regretted that till now the fans were not installed.
Also, water at most of the washrooms in the Assembly complex was highly contaminated and unsafe for human use. The water provided to the washrooms are reddish brown in colour and have a strong odour of iron content. Though the matter had been noticed in the past few successive Assembly sessions, nothing had apparently been done to get the problem solved.
Also, the Assembly bells that were installed during the construction of the complex are also in need of modernisation as these bells sound highly unpleasant.