Taking a cue from Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presenting a paperless budget, the Uttar Pradesh government, on the direction of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, has begun the exercise to go digital during the budget session of the state legislature beginning here from February 18.
UP Finance Minister Suresh Khanna is likely to present a paperless digital budget for 2021-22 through tablets.
In less than 24 hours of the paperless Union budget, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath held a training workshop on digital working for his Cabinet colleagues at his 5 Kalidas Marg official residence on Tuesday.
All ministers were directed to bring their laptops, iPads and tablets to learn lessons on e-governance.
After two hours of the workshop, the chief minister made it mandatory to hold e-Cabinet meetings. The agenda of the meetings will be mailed to the ministers and they will have to submit their queries and answer digitally.
The secretariat functioning has already been made paperless by the state government last year when it implemented e-Office system.
"It may not be a big surprise if the state budget is presented paperless on February 19," said a senior bureaucrat.
Now, the government aims to make all proceedings of the state legislature paperless. Though many of Yogi's Cabinet colleagues are well versed in operating laptops and tablets, a few were seen fumbling on keyboards during the workshop. A few of them will now have to pick up Hindi/English typing seriously to keep pace with their Cabinet colleagues.