Promotion

With the view of saving time, money and tonnes of paper, the Government of India has moved to e-publishing of Gazette Notifications. Here’s more.

As another step towards Digital India, the Government has introduced e-publishing of Gazette Notifications.

This important move by the Ministry of Urban Development will save 90 tonnes of paper, worth Rs. 40 crore, which was up till now required to print 3.5 crore pages of Government of India’s Gazette Notifications every year.

Picture for representation only. Credit: Niyam Bhushan/Flickr

The shift to e-publishing has been finalised from Oct. 1, 2015, after the order issued by Minister of Urban Development, M. Venkaiah Naidu.

According to a Press Information Bureau report, “Gazette Notification is an important legal requirement to validate, authenticate and to make effective various kinds of laws, acts, rules, orders and government decisions.” It is a public journal that is published weekly by the Department of Publication, and it contains official notices from the government. The notification is in accordance with the Government policies and decisions. Many Gazette Notifications are related to matters of national interest and subjects related to land acquisition and more. If they are made available on time, they will help in the proper flow of further processes.

As physical printing of the document used to take a lot of time, all user groups and citizens had to wait for a few months for the copies. Government ministries and departments had to first submit their gazette publication requirements to the government printing press. This was followed by type settings, printing and publishing, after which the hard copies were finally made available for sale and usage.

Promotion

“The e-publishing also puts an end to the long wait for the important documents, which used to take weeks and months in many cases,” said an urban development ministry spokesperson.

With the aim of avoiding such delays, the ministry has directed the department of publication to move to e-publishing. The notifications will now be published on the official website www.egazette.nic.in, within five days of receipt of the same from respective ministries and departments. Users can download the notification and print it if required, free of charge.

According to their website, The Department of Publication is headed by the Controller of Publications with the assistance of two Assistant Controllers, and one Financial Officer and present staff strength of 227 employees, under the control of Ministry of Urban Development. While e-Gazette was launched in April 2008, the website is now gaining popularity.

This eco-friendly step will also save time, power, chemicals, colour, and dyes. Officials now also want the government to consider doing away with the large number of hard copy replies that are printed for parliament questions. They suggest that the answers can be mailed to concerned members and could also be displayed electronically so everyone can see.

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