Top eGov policy-makers and practioners will converge in Jaipur for the two-day 13th National Conference on e-Governance, the biggest annual event in this sector, which begins on Thursday

Rajasthan Governor Prabha Rau will inaugurating the event. Those expected to be present during the inaugural session include Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Minister of State in the PMO and Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Parliamentary Affairs Prithviraj Chavan, Minister of State for Communication and Information Technology Sachin Pilot, Rajasthan's Minister of Energy and Non-Conventional Energy Source, Information Technology and Communication Jitendra Singh; Rajasthan Chief Secretary T. Srinivasan; Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Government of India R. Chandrasekhar, and Secretary Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances and Pension, Government of India R.C. Misra.

The conference is being organised by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, Department of Information Technology, Government of India and Department of Information and Technology, Government of Rajasthan, an official statement said on Wednesday.

National Awards for e-Governance 2009-10 will be given away in seven categories to the winners at the inaugural session. The awards will be given to 17 organisations and one organisation gets Special Mention. These awards are given to recognise and promote excellence in implementation of e-Governance initiatives. These initiatives could be from government to government (G2G), government to citizen (G2C) or government to business (G2B). An exhibition showcasing the capacities, products and e-Governance initiatives of the government and private sector will also be inaugurated.

The theme for this year’s conference is 'e-Governance from Citizens’ Perspective', and the event will explore how the use of ICT has transformed governance from the perspective of the beneficiaries of the services. It is an attempt at a reality check to ascertain the outcome of the services rendered and whether it has achieved the intended objectives of transparent, effective, responsive and accountable governance. The focus sector this year will be Education with the agenda, “ICT in Education-enhancing quality and reach.”

The conference also proposes to discuss leveraging mobile technology for better service delivery – financial inclusion through mobile technology; public distribution system (direct access to the citizens through e- Governance) and ICT in education.

Over the years, the National Conferences on e-Governance have emerged as effective forum in which the IT managers of the central and state Governments, software solution providers, industries and think tanks participate and interact, exchange opinions and views, discuss issues and problems and also analyse various solution frameworks and necessary action plan for firming up the road map for e-Governance. These conferences have proved to be very useful in creating awareness in service providers dealing with IT and have helped as a useful forum in which new initiatives of various states and central Government in IT are explored, the statement said.

Senior officers of the central government, as well as the state government; district magistrates, policy makers, representatives from the academia, technical experts, NGOs and representatives from the private sector are expected to participate.