It is being claimed that technical costs have reduced as a result of the change. But how much did it cost to make the change? That answer was not found.
PM Narendra Modi's central government has directed all central offices to use Zoho Mail and Zoho's Workplace software instead of Google's Gmail or any other company's email. The government had argued that this step was taken according to the Digital India roadmap. Besides, arguments were also given that this step would reduce costs and that all data would remain in India.
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According to central data, 12.68 lakh (email) accounts from the country have moved to the Zoho platform in the past few months. Among these 12 lakh 68 thousand accounts, 7 lakh 45 thousand accounts belong to government employees, as informed by Union Electronics and Information Technology Minister Jitendra Prasad in Parliament on Wednesday.
How much did it cost to make this transition?
PM Modi's government evaded this question from Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee in Parliament.
Abhishek had asked how much was spent on software licenses for this transition from other platforms to the Zoho platform? How much was spent on building the digital infrastructure of the new platform and training for it? The central government did not answer any of these questions from Abhishek. Jitendra Prasad explained on what basis the Zoho platform was selected, what conditions the Zoho platform has to meet from the centre, what services the Zoho platform is providing, what alternative arrangements they have kept if any problems arise, and what security arrangements they have. He even informed about Zoho's various subscription plans in his written reply.
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A few months ago, from Union Home Minister Amit Shah to Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav, they publicly expressed enthusiasm about the Zoho platform. Amit Shah and several other central ministers had announced on social media that their email accounts had been transferred to Zoho. But what was the cost of transferring all the central government's email accounts to a domestic company like Zoho Corporation (headquartered in Chennai)?
Along with remaining silent in Parliament about the cost of transition to the Zoho platform, departmental minister Jitendra Prasad also did not clarify what training arrangements were made to become proficient on this new platform. Trinamool has raised counter-questions about why the central government is avoiding answers to all questions related to costs and training.
Their question is: Is the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology trying to hide something?
