Report on E-Governance Seminar at MGSIPAP (8-12 October, 2001)

A Five-Day seminar on 'Moving towards e-governance' commenced today at the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration, Punjab (MGSIPAP). About 20 officers participated in the seminar on the first day.
Piyush Gupta, IT Consultant, MGSIPAP, while speaking on e-governance, stated that it is the need of the hour to bring greater efficiency, accountability and transparency in governance. He added that e-governance would allow citizens to communicate with government, participate in government's policymaking and communicate with each other. Director CRIS, S.K.Nanda delivered lectures on 'e-governance - Success in Indian Railways'. He discussed the ways in which e-governance had made the life of people easier as they can get reservation, ticket cancellation, etc done in minutes.

The Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Public Administration, :Punjab, has started a five-day course on "Moving towards e-governance" from today. The course will focus on e-governance implementation and technology related issues.
During the course, various issues related to e-governance will be discussed by eminent speakers, including S.K.Nanda, Director of CRIS; Rohit Malik, Vice President of netjaal.com; and S.P.Singh, Director, Union Ministry of IT.

A five day workshop on " Moving towards e-governance" began at the Sector - 26, Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration, Punjab, here today.
The workshop is being attended by senior officers from various state governments and public sector undertakings, professionals and others. One of the important subjects is cyber laws, security and private issues. The workshop will continue until October 12.

On the concluding day of the five - day course on e-governance and cyber laws, Vakul Sharma, a Supreme Court lawyer, spoke on cyber laws at the Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration, Sector - 26. The focus was on security and privacy in cyber laws.
India, he said, had an extradition treaty with only 15 countries and there was a need for an international convention on cyber laws. The provisions of the IT Act 2000 were inadequate, most of them being taken from the IPC. Specific laws on IT were needed, Sharma said. In cyber space, he said, no one was isolated as every information could be traced to some origin.

"CYBER TERRORISTS and hackers are on learning curve. They are mastering the technology and upgrading their critical infrastructure to conduct successful attacks." Vakul Sharma of Corporate Advisory Group expressed these views on the concluding day of five day seminar on e-governance, held at Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration, Punjab.
Describing the scenario cyber crime in the coming days, he added that hackers would join the mainstream companies and government organizations and then lay dormant waiting for opportunity to strike. He further said future presents some interesting problems in recruiting people with computer skill.
About the cyber crime, he said, "It originates from the misuse and abuse of computer. Law has recognized the computer as a tool in criminal activity. It is weapon of offence as well as victim of the crime".
The cyber crimes that we are facing now are offences of unauthorized access, hacking and virus distribution, data related theft and other crimes like fraud, forgery and obscenity, he added.
" He said since India has taken a leap from the physical laws to IT laws, it faces difficulty in the interpretation of laws and hence the slow rate at which such cases proceed. "Actually IT Act needs to be understood and the employees sensitized about these."
He also discussed about the e-mails that can be used as a documented proof in legal cases. He recommended the e-mail policy for employees that must clearly state the kind of information that must not be sent by e-mail. He asked the employees participating in the seminar to se disclaimers at end of all e-mails and also not to send attachments with e-mails.