Of late,discussions among the officers of the Bihar Administrative Services (BAS) have become animated,veering away from the administrative matters to technology. This is not surprising as 400 of them are scrambling to fill out forms for doing a computer course just to get a laptop worth Rs 60,000 that is being offered free under the state governments e-Bihar initiative. A recent General Administration Department (GAD) circular,issued on December 15,said the Bihar Prashasanik Sudhar Mission Society would provide laptops to BAS officers who have the requisite computer degrees. Others could sit in for online computer degree examination due early next year. The new circular will motivate more and more BAS officers to become not only computer-literate but also competent with computer programmes. A BAS officer can take DOEACC society course twice at governments expenses. If one fails twice,one has to pay for the course expenses, GAD Principal Secretary Deepak Kumar told The Indian Express. Any officer with a computer degree,procured at any stage of his or her career below 55 years of age,can get the laptop. Roughly,there are over 1,000 BAS officers who are below 55 years. The new circular was a follow-up to its earlier circular (issued by the IT department six months ago) that makes computer competence mandatory for all employees right from IAS officers to Class III employees to have computer competence either through government-run training or individually to get confirmation of probation,increment and even promotion. Laptops,however,will be given only to BAS officers. Most of 318 legislators (from both the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council) and IAS officers (principal secretaries,secretaries and DMs) have already been given laptops. As of now,only 50-odd BAS officers have the requisite qualification BCA/ MCA/BTech degree to be eligible for getting a laptop. The GAD,which is under the charge of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar,has also made a provision for imparting computer training to the officers and help them sit in for DOEACC societys online examination of Bachelor of Computer Course (BCC). The last date for applying for the course is December 31. While several officers are taking help of tech-savvy younger colleagues and even their sons and daughters to fill out forms and know more about computers,there are others who have been put off by this exercise. Getting a computer degree looks more of a rigmarole. It should be given to all the computer-literate across the board, said a BAS officer,adding that he was looking forward to obtaining the computer degree nonetheless. The GAD Principal Secretary said the state government would spend around Rs 6 crore on the laptops,excluding the upkeep expenses. The government is spending Rs 4,000 each on providing computer training to its employees. There are over three lakh Class III employees and about 1,400 BAS officers in the state.
