Is Digital India in trouble already? Internal issues and disagreements stalling the process of hiring a CIO Digital India

Little progress has been made to appoint the chief information officers in ten line ministries of the Digital India programme. Internal issues and disagreements pertaining to the selection of candidates for the job has put on hold, for what seems like eternity, the appointment of a key pillar of the programme.

"There was a lot of discussion on how this will be structured, and most ministries were on board with the idea of having a CIO. The proposal was stalled because there was no consensus on whether an external consultant would have the same authority as a bureaucrat," a person aware of the discussions told ET.

Another reason was that the proposed wages were not competitive with the kind of salary packages offered in the private sector, the person said.

"It was suggested that if there wasn't enough manpower within the government, the ministry should be open to hiring people from outside on contract. The bureaucracy was not enthused, and appointments were deferred on that point," said an official with direct knowledge of the matter.

The process to hire a CIO by the government is going on for over a decade now.

In January 2013, a report of the expert committee headed by Nandan Nilekani, on HR policy for e-governance had made the suggestion to put CIOs in place at main line ministries. The CIO, according to the report, would provide specialised support for implementation of the project at every stage. "The CIO would also provide inputs on behalf of the ministry to the DeitY and participate in the Council of Mission Leaders and CIOs," it said.

The report also said that the CIOs in different ministries would report to the secretary of the ministry concerned and the secretary, DeitY.

(Image credits: Indiatimes)