SHRI SHOURIE INAUGURATES NIC CERTIFYING
AUTHORITY
The Minister of
Communications, Information Technology and Disinvestment, Shri
Arun Shourie inaugurated the Certifying Authority for Digital
Signature Certificates at National Informatics Centre (NIC) here
today. With this, NIC has become the first Certifying Authority
for issue of Digital Signature Certificates in the Government
sector. This facility will provide Digital Signature Certificates
(DSC) to officials of central and state governments and all District
Administrations with a view to promote e-Governance in the country.
First set of Digital
Signature Certificates were presented to Shri Arun Shourie, Shri
Su. Thirunavukkarasar, Minister of State for Communications and
Information Technology and Shri K.K. Jaswal, Secretary, Department
of Information Technology. As a first application of Digital signatures
in the Government, electronically signed e-mail was exchanged.
The Certifying Authority
established in NIC will provide the digital signatures to enable
Government departments to bring in the culture of less paper office
ultimately leading to paperless government. This will fulfill
the requirements of digital signature certificates in the government
sector.
This initiative of
NIC will have a vital implication on introduction of e-governance
in the country by building a ‘trusted’ digital environment in
the usage of cyber space leading towards Good Governance. With
this facility, e-mail services and other documents transmitted
over internet would become valid legal documents for its further
processing, thus minimising the delays in transmission of documents
among the decision makers in the government.
Since its inception,
NIC has played a major role to promote, develop and incorporate
Information Technology services in the Government. NICNET, the
data communication network of NIC, provides the basic infrastructure
for e-governance in central government ministries and departments,
state government secretariats, district administrations and on
pilot basis in some of the blocks in the country. As a natural
extension of its services, NIC has set up the Certifying Authority
for issue of Digital Signature Certificates, to support the Government
initiative towards a less paper environment.
