New Delhi: The Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) on Saturday became the first in the country to have conducted a session in paperless mode through National e-Vidhan Application (NeVA) programme, reported news agency PTI.


The Nagaland Assembly Secretariat has attached a tablet or an e-book each on the tables of the 60 members as the Budget session for fiscal 2022-23 which commenced this morning.


This is the medium through which we will be using this NeVA application in the Assembly as part of the pursuit to have a paperless House, Speaker Sharingain Longkumer said while making a statement on the new application.


A similar system outside the framework of NeVA has been in operation in Himachal Pradesh while many other state Assemblies are moving in this direction, Longkumer added.


Paperless Assembly or e-Assembly is a concept which involves electronic means to facilitate all the works of the legislature thus, eliminating or minimising use of paper.  It is being done under the supervision of the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.


A preliminary familiarisation training was already conducted by the Assembly Secretariat for the members and it will be continuing with the training programme for the benefit of all the members.


In the coming days, it will be scaled up to the full advantage of the e-Vidhan system and achieve one of its targets of making the functioning of the state legislature paperless, the Speaker said.


Once all other assemblies implement it, Parliament and all state legislatures will be networked together effectively, he said further. 


The Centre and the state government on a 90:10 sharing basis has funded the expenses for implementation of NeVA


The Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs has complimented the Nagaland Assembly for being the first in the country to operationalise it, the Speaker informed the House.


NeVA aims to bring all the legislatures of the country together, in one platform, thereby creating a massive data depository, the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs had earlier said.