All central government ministries, departments, and autonomous bodies will be undertaking a major review and a subsequent revamp of their websites to ensure that they are kept updated with the latest information, have quality content, and can be accessed by differently abled persons, News18 has learnt.
A missive to this effect was sent across to all ministries and departments by secretary in the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) Alkesh Kumar Sharma last week after a meeting in the cabinet secretariat earlier this month on this issue.
As per officials, a large number of government websites continue hosting old information and data of former officials and are not updated for long periods of time, leading citizens to a roadblock as they navigate through outdated details while looking for relevant information in a sector.
The letter urged the ministries to take a thorough, qualitative review of their website design, content, and other parameters in line with the guidelines for Indian government websites.
It said that while a nominated web information manager not below the rank of joint secretary will be responsible for monitoring and updating a ministry’s website, secretaries will also review the websites in weekly meetings.
It added that the ministries and departments should ensure that their websites are certified by the Standardisation Testing and Quality Certification (STQC) directorate.
“Recertification of websites, where period of validity of the earlier certification has lapsed, to be completed by 31st December 2020,” the letter stated, adding that departments may consider redeveloping their websites on modern platforms with robust backend taking into account rapid advances in technology.
In order to ensure that periodic reviews and checks are carried out to see if a website is updated with the latest information, the National Informatics Centre has also attached a form so that the web information manager in every ministry can fill up the fortnightly website status.
Tasks for web information managers
The form lists out various details that the ministries will have to key in about the website.
This includes checking whether the homepage content is up to date, uploading, reviewing, and archiving of time-specific content such as tenders or recruitment notices, latest content about government schemes and programmes, and removal of old content.
What also will be reviewed periodically is whether contact information on the website is being updated regularly including who’s who, directory, and other contact details.
As per the NIC form, web information managers will also have to check that broken links are fixed or removed, new documents are uploaded and old documents have either been removed or archived, as well as integration of the central banner publishing system.
They will also have to ensure that the valid STQC on GIGW compliance and security audit certificate are placed on the website.
The official will also be responsible for promoting the department’s website.
SOP for managing central govt websites
The standard-operating procedures—developed by NIC—for managing websites of central government ministries and departments state that ministries will have to formulate policies to handle various legal aspects such as copyright and privacy and for managing the content of a website—including content moderation, review, and archival.
They will also have to put in place processes and plans to effectively monitor a website and handle any contingency.