The National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) is a transformative Mission Mode Project (MMP) under the Digital India Program. It is designed to digitize and streamline the legislative business of all 36 State and Union Territory (UT) Legislatures in India. Under the “One Nation – One Application” philosophy, NeVA seeks to transition the functioning of all Legislative Houses to a paperless, digital environment.
Implementing Agency and Governance
- Nodal Ministry: The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs (MoPA), Government of India, serves as the nodal agency for the implementation and monitoring of the NeVA project.
- Infrastructure: The application is hosted on the National Cloud (MeghRaj), ensuring high availability, security, and robust disaster recovery mechanisms.
- Technical Development: The project is developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and is designed to be device-neutral and member-centric.
Core Objectives
- Paperless Legislature: To eliminate the physical handling of documents by shifting to electronic laying of papers, bills, and legislative business on the Table of the House.
- Information Exchange: To establish a unified, secure digital platform for seamless data exchange between the Legislature, Government Departments, and other stakeholders.
- Efficiency and Transparency: To provide real-time, searchable data to members and the public, thereby fostering accountability in the legislative process.
- Data Archiving: To create a massive, centralized digital repository of legislative data, including legacy archives, accessible through both web and mobile platforms.
Key Features and Components
- mNeVA Mobile App: A user-friendly mobile application available on Android and iOS platforms, allowing members and ministers to access house proceedings, starred/unstarred questions, and legislative documents on their tablets or handheld devices.
- House Management Module: Facilitates presiding officers in the efficient management of the House, including live tracking of the List of Business and e-Book features.
- Question Processing Module: Enables digital submission and tracking of questions and notices by members, and real-time electronic replies by administrative departments.
- NeVA Seva Kendra (NSK): An e-learning and e-facilitation center established at each State Legislature to provide orientation, training, and remote learning support to members and secretariat staff.
- Bilingual Support: As a Unicode-compliant system, NeVA supports documentation in both English and respective regional languages.
Funding and Financial Provisions
The project follows a specific funding structure based on the category of the State/UT:
| Category | Funding Ratio (Centre:State) |
| North Eastern and Hilly States | 90:10 |
| Union Territories with Legislature | 100% (Central) |
| Other States | 60:40 (Variable based on guidelines) |
- Asset Ownership: After a period of three years, the ownership, maintenance, and upgradation of ICT assets are transferred to the respective State Legislature.
Significance for Governance and Sustainability
- Ecological Impact: By shifting to a paperless system, NeVA contributes to substantial environmental savings, preventing the consumption of thousands of tons of paper and saving lakhs of trees annually. This aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 15—Life on Land.
- Fiscal Consolidation: Reduces the recurring administrative expenditure associated with paper procurement, printing, and transportation of documents.
- Citizen Engagement: By providing public access to legislative documents and proceedings, NeVA brings democratic processes closer to the common citizen, promoting inclusive governance.
- Data Analytics: Enables comparative analysis of legislative data across different states, fostering best-practice sharing and informed policy-making.
Trivia and Recent Developments
- Pioneering State: Himachal Pradesh was the first state to implement a paperless assembly under the pilot project, which served as a prototype for the national rollout.
- Recent Milestones: Multiple states, including Manipur, Gujarat, Sikkim, and Delhi, have actively integrated NeVA into their legislative sessions to modernize business conduct.
- Recognition: The NeVA project received the “Gems of Digital India Award 2020” for its excellence in e-governance.
- NeVA 2.0: The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has initiated the rollout of NeVA 2.0 to further enhance digital governance capabilities and expand feature sets for legislators.