The Electronic Governance Commission, established two years ago by the government to promote the use of electronic systems in public service delivery and government operations, has now been transformed into the 'E-Governance Board'. The government has added responsibility to make the board a data exchange platform.

Due to the lack of this platform, the information systems of the government are not interconnected and it is a hassle to submit the details from one agency to another, so the government has given the board the responsibility to establish a data exchange platform and connect it with the citizen app. 

The government has changed the name and structure of the Commission by first amending the Electronic Governance Commission (Formation and Operation) Order, 2079. According to the notification of the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers published in the gazette on January 7, by amending Section 2 of the Formation and Operation Order, it has been arranged that instead of the Commission, there will be a Board.

The constitution, meeting and work, duties and rights of the Commission in Section 3 of the original order have been withdrawn. In its place, a provision has been made that 'a board will be formed to secure the electronic system operating in government agencies and maintain electronic governance'.

Secretary of the Council of Ministers Office Fanindra Gautam said that in the previous structure, the Prime Minister was the Chairman and the Minister of Communications was the Vice Chairman. According to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's instructions, the commission has been transformed into a board, he said. "Since the bureaucracy does the operational level work of all government institutions, the Prime Minister said that it would be appropriate for the Chief Secretary to lead the e-Governance Board," Gautam said. 

The work, duties and powers of the board have also been removed and some additions have been made. The board has been given the responsibility to establish a data exchange platform for inter-connection between the union, state and local levels, public institutions, private sector and educational sector and implement it in connection with the citizen app.

Secretary Gautam says that the main problem seen in government information systems is their lack of interconnection. "Currently, our information systems are operating separately, due to which their effectiveness is limited," he said. Citizens also have the hassle of submitting their data to the agency.'  He said that the goal is to make the systems of government agencies interactive by building an interface to connect them through the

data exchange platform. The platform is expected to help centrally connect systems operating from the grassroots level and facilitate information sharing.

Amending Section 7 of 2 (h) of the original order, the board has the responsibility to study and make recommendations to the Government of Nepal on the security of official or other electronic systems, testing of electronic systems, information technology security index. It is stated that the Chief Secretary of the Government of Nepal will be the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Board will be the Member Secretary.

In addition, the Secretary of Government Affairs of the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, the Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Communication and Information Technology, along with the Executive Director of the Nepal Administrative Training Institute will be members. The government has also revised the appointment of the CEO of the