By Bhupen Goswami
Guwahati : The Assam Legislative Assembly will soon eliminate use of papers at all levels with the introduction of the National e-Vidhan Application. State Assembly Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami, said that the process of the e-Vidhan initiative started now is going to take its full shape in the Assembly to be formed in 2021 in the State. “All Assembly debates, questions-answers, Bills, Rules will be available just a click. This move is going to make people 
more aware of House proceedings and other information, thereby strengthening democracy. We are trying to make the Assembly more accountable to people than ever before.” – Goswami said. ‘e-Vidhan’ is a Mission Mode Project (MMP) of the Union Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (MPA) to digitize and make the functioning of State legislatures paperless. ‘e-Vidhan’ is already in practice in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Sikkim Assemblies.The Speaker said before the Assembly goes paperless, the rules committee will have to amend certain rules of the Assembly in order to switch over to the electronic mode. Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had presented the state’s first e-budget in the Assembly in March this year. Each legislator was provided with a tablet (computer) with details of the e-budget.A project proposal will be submitted to the Union parliamentary affairs ministry shortly for approval and grant of funds. “Once the project is completed, almost all functions of the Assembly will be changed to electronic mode, doing away with the decades-old practice of tabling written replies, reports, bills and documents to MLAs. The materials will be made available online in English and Assamese,” Goswami said.
