Technology a must to make judiciary effective: Modi

launching a digital database for the Supreme Court here, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the country needs technology to make the judiciary more effective and going paperless is also a must to save the environment.

Calling digitisation a change that everyone needs to adapt to, Modi said that technology can change the whole "economic environment". 

Modi also urged the legal fraternity to take initiative and provide legal help to the poor.

"To make the judiciary more effective, use of forensic science and technology is very important... The world is moving very fast and we have to cope up to avoid being left behind," Modi said while launching the Integrated Case Management Information System (ICMIS) here. 

ICMIS, a hybrid database that will aid the apex court go paperless, helps with digital filing of cases called e-filing, and enable litigants to easily access the information online. 

The Prime Minister uploaded the ICMIS on the Supreme Court's website at a function in Vigyan Bhawan in the presence of Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar and law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

"When we use an A4 size paper, we don't realise that ten litres of water is used to make one such paper sheet... If we go paperless, we can save a lot of forests, power and the environment... such a paperless system has a lot of power," Modi said. 

"On this occasion, I request the advocates to step forward and take an initiative to provide legal help to the poor and needy people of the nation," Modi said, making a reference to 'Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Yojana', a scheme for free medical checkups to pregnant women on the ninth of every month. He said that many private practitioners have also come forward to help.

Modi, reiterating some of India's technological milestones, added that the country is lagging in applicable science.

"Today India is lauded by the world for its fine space technology. We are the first to reach Mars in the first attempt at a cost cheaper than many Hollywood films... yet unfortunately we lag behind in applicable science," Modi said.

"The way technology is driving us, if we won't cope up then we will have to face hardships," he said.

Reiterating his government's initiative of going cashless, Modi added that while e-governance is easy, effective, economic and an environment friendly way of governance, the challenge is how to incorporate it.

"Technology can change the whole economical environment. My experience is that people have started to realise the value of digitisation," Modi said.