With the aim of making government service delivery agile, transparent, accountable and effective through digital technology, the government has prepared a draft of electronic governance (e-governance) blueprint and made it public for opinions and suggestions.

The draft prepared by the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers and the e-Governance Board was placed on the board's website on Monday evening. Another blueprint has been advanced while e-governance strategies such as the Digital Nepal Framework approved by the government in 2076 to be completed within four years are not being implemented. 

This policy roadmap presented to build and promote a digital ecosystem through the digital transformation of government affairs aims to streamline government services through digital means, improve data management, promote cyber security and facilitate the use of information technology. As a strategic document of the government, the Blueprint includes policies and programs to strengthen government service delivery by making maximum use of information technology, reusing and sharing data collected by government agencies, and ensuring data security and privacy rights. In the

blueprint, it is mentioned that the 'once-only principle' or once-only principle will be adopted in order to remove the hassle of repeatedly submitting details such as citizenship and educational certificates to citizens to get government services. According to this principle, any government agency can ask a citizen for personal details only once. Then other government agencies will facilitate service delivery by sharing data. "Personally identifiable data will not be collected again and again once it is collected," the blueprint says, "It establishes the basis for inter-agency data exchange by ensuring the official source of data." The blueprint has given special importance to the development and promotion of digital public goods and digital public infrastructure will be built to increase access to government services in places where internet facilities are not available. It is said that a data sharing system will be developed to facilitate data exchange between government agencies.

Blueprint states that the Department of Information Technology, Data Protection Agency, National Cyber ​​Research and Training Center, National Cyber ​​Security Center, Certification Controller's Office and Integrated Data Management Center will be established and empowered for the functional arrangement of digital transformation. Data protection agencies are proposed to protect personal data and public information as well as verify the validity of the dataset being collected. 

In order to strengthen the digital identity of citizens, the Blueprint intends to develop the national identity card as a single integrated digital identity card. While promoting the use of digital signatures in service delivery, it is said that government and private sector service providers should adopt the digital authentication process. It is said that the government agencies will have to store the personal details of the citizens securely through the integrated data management system.

"The existing law will be amended as necessary to minimize the physical presence of individuals and the use of documents by transforming the existing public service delivery process into a digital format," the blueprint further states, "Digital standards and guidelines will be formulated and implemented to strengthen standard and common technical infrastructure, professional frameworks, service standards and project management frameworks, natural resource management, mobility and strategic resilience."  According to the

blueprint, every agency will prepare a data list under their respective jurisdictions and map the available services. It is said that a system will be developed that will automatically update all the details related to the person including birth, marriage, death as well as status, achievements and transactions. "To develop a system for automatic updating of events registered in the incident registration system," the blueprint says. 

The government has also prioritized international collaboration to improve digital service delivery. Blueprint has put forward a plan to join Nepal in international digital infrastructure such as the Global Digital Compact. It is mentioned that the exchange of knowledge and technology necessary to make digital service delivery more efficient in Nepal will be promoted while expanding digital contact with the Nepali diaspora. There is a plan to collaborate with various international organizations to speed up the process of digital transformation in Nepal using digital public infrastructure.

The blueprint has put forward a policy to strengthen coordination between government agencies to make digital service delivery effective. Proposals to make necessary changes in the legal and administrative structure to manage service delivery are also included in the blueprint. The government believes that after its implementation, citizens will not have to go through a long process to get government services, but can get services quickly by using digital technology. The

blueprint includes seven pillars for digital governance: management framework, legal and regulatory framework, development and empowerment of digital promoters and digital services, digital literacy and skill development, formulation and implementation of digital standards and guidelines, empowerment of regional and international cooperation as well as research, innovation and development.

The action plan section mentions the activities to be completed within three years of approval of the blueprint. According to this, within the first quarter of the year after the blueprint is approved, the Office of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers will have to draft the e-Governance Act with the help of the e-Governance Board.