The first meeting of the Joint India Mauritius Task Force on e-Governance was held in Mauritius from 23rd to 26th August, 2010. This follows the signature of the Memorandum of Understanding between Ministry of Information and Communication Technology of the Republic of Mauritius and National Informatics Centre Services Inc. (NICSI) of the Republic of India on 16th March 2010.

The Joint Task Force was officially opened by the Honourable Tassarajen Pillay Chedumbrum, Minister of Information and Communication Technology of the Republic of Mauritius.

The Joint Task Force was co-chaired by Mrs J. R. D. Kailay, Managing Director, NICSI and Mr. S. K. Pather, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Communication Technology respectively. 

The Joint Task Force was attended by the following members:

1. Mrs. J. R. D. Kailay,            MD, NICSI 
2. Mr. R. Hawabhay                Acting Director, Central Informatics Bureau (CIB)

e-Parliament Project 

3. Sh. Rajender Sethi             GM, NICSI 
4. Sh. N. S. Arneja                   Senior Technical Director, NIC 
5. Mrs. N. Fakim                      Project Manager, CIB 
6. Mrs. S. Rakha                      Systems Analyst, National Assembly

e-Prison Project

7. Sh. Rajiv Chauhan             DGM, NICSI
8. Sh. Vikas Agarwal               PSA, NIC
9. Mr. L. Vijayanarayanan      Commissioner of Prisons 
10. Mr. P. Ramnial                  Project Manager, CIB 

e-Health Project

11. Sh. C. K. Dhar                      Senior Technical Director, NIC
12. Sh. Ravindra Kumar           DGM, NICSI
13. Mr. S. Ramgolam                Project Manager, Ministry of ICT 
14. Mr. S. K. Sobee                    Assistant Secretary, Ministry of Health and Quality of Life 

The following members also attended the Joint Task Force:

1. Dr. A. Sukhoo                       Acting Deputy Director, CIB 
2. Mrs. S. Lotun                        Deputy Clerk, National Assembly

The objective of the first Joint Task Force was to seek areas of cooperation regarding e-Governance in particular in the following:

• - E-Parliament
• - E-Health
• - E-Prison

The Task Force also reviewed progress achieved in the field of e-Government in both Mauritius and India. While addressing the issues of e-governance cooperation, it has been agreed to move forward with respect to the three identified projects.

E-Parliament

The Task Force visited the Parliament and had working sessions with the representatives of the Secretariat of the National Assembly.  The e-Parliament system from India was demonstrated to the users of the National Assembly.

E-Health

The Task Force visited the Victoria Hospital at Candos. A presentation was made to the representatives of the Ministry of Health and Quality of Life. It was agreed that a demonstration of the NIC’s e-Hospital system will be organised through Internet based e-learning sessions so that feedback can be obtained and queries answered interactively. 

E-Prison

The Task Force visited the Headquarters of Prisons Department at Beau Bassin. The prison system of NIC was demonstrated to the Commissioner of Prisons, representatives of the Prisons Department and CIB. An extract of the functional requirement specifications of Prisons Department from the e-Prison Plan has been provided to NICSI.  It was agreed that NICSI will provide feedback on the functional requirements.

The project specific teams with members identified from both countries may proceed with defined activities in respective project under the overall supervision of Task Force.  An appropriate mechanism will be worked out by the Joint Task Force for moving the projects forward.

Other e-Government Systems

The Task Force agreed to consider other e-Government systems at its next meeting, particularly in the field of smart card based systems, networking and capacity building.

The Joint Task Force expressed its appreciation to the representatives of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, National Assembly, Ministry of Health and the Prisons Department for the warm hospitality extended to all delegates and facilities placed at their disposal that made this meeting a success.

Mr. S. K. Pather, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, Republic of Mauritius, thanked members of the Task Force and Mrs J. R. D. Kailay, MD, NICSI, invited the Mauritian side to India for the holding of the next meeting in 2011.

Port Louis, Mauritius
26th August 2010