MODESTY, THY NAME IS DEVENDRA FADNAVIS!

Mumbai: Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s nod for an institutional mechanism along the lines of NITI Aayog for comprehensive decisionmaking is as easily said as done, thanks to his deputy Devendra Fadnavis. While Fadnavis said the state would take a leaf out of the Union Government think tank’s playbook on for inter-departmental operability (IDO), he modestly forgot to mention the groundwork he initiated as CM in 2018-2019, when existing data centres storing government data in Maharashtra were clogged up to 95%. Tasked to clear up space, the Information Technology Department onboarded software giants including Microsoft, Amazon, Azure, ControlS and ESDS to complement the effort through competitively priced ‘cloud storage’ applications.

A government official reminisced over work done under thenCM Fadnavis: “(Fadnavis) was full of ideas and felt that the government should not build any more data centres but restrict itself to delivery of government services instead. He issued instructions in 2018 and we executed the plans to ensure the direct benefit transfer mandate for the farmers’ loan waiver and then on 40 government schemes across departments like education, medical education, higher education, tribal welfare, social welfare over a two-year period.” In fact, one of the most successful aspects of the IDO project undertaken in 2018-2019 was its link up with Public Financial Management Systems. In June and July 2019, a net-savvy Fadnavis visited various districts, armed with data at his fingertips. By this time, IDO applications, cloud storage and blockchain features were fully loaded and online in Maharashtra. If not for the work already done in 2018-19 in this regard, CM Shinde’s in-principle nod for a NITI Aayog-like body in Maharashtra would have entailed a threeyear gestation period. The official explained, “Our data was stored on different platforms (silos) till 2018. The health department alone hosted more than 24 websites but was unable to combine them. Each website was distinct and did not speak to the others as some used Java, some C++ or C, etc. In addition, different formats (structures), languages and programmes did not allow for standardized data. We focused on standardizing data first so that IDO could follow.” The IDO effort then hit a snag, owing to general indifference on the part of secretaries and their subordinates, and a general reluctance to change and modernize technical applications. When the government changed, the new dispensation did not pursue the state’s capabilities to its full extent--despite making full use of the IDO abilities to further its own farm loan waiver scheme.