Dubai, Dec 12: Dubai has become the world's first government to turn 100 per cent paperless, the Emirate's Crown Prince, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, has announced, pointing at savings of 1.3 billion Dirham (USD 350 million) and 14-million-man hours.

All internal, external transactions and procedures in the Government of Dubai are now 100 per cent digital and managed from a comprehensive digital government services platform.

"The achievement of this target marks the beginning of a new stage in Dubai's journey to digitise life in all its aspects a journey rooted in innovation, creativity, and a focus on the future," said Sheikh Hamdan in a statement on Saturday.

"This accomplishment also reinforces Dubai's status as a world-leading digital capital and its status as a role model in designing government operations and services that enhance customer happiness," he said.

The US, UK, Europe and Canada have expressed plans to digitise government operation on a larger scale, which encompass government procedures and citizen identifications. However, sceptics have argues its vulnerability to cyber attacks.

The Dubai Crown Prince said the government plans to implement advanced strategies to create and enhance digital life in Dubai over the next five decades.

"The new phase of Dubai's digital journey will enable and empower future governments to meet the expectations of the residents of a thriving smart city and provide them with renewed opportunities for prosperity, sustainable development, and happiness," he said.

The Dubai Paperless Strategy was implemented in five consecutive phases, each of which enlisted a different group of the Dubai Government's entities.

By the end of the fifth phase, the strategy was fully implemented across all 45 government entities in the emirate.

These entities provide more than 1,800 digital services and over 10,500 key transactions.

Collaboration and integration among participating entities enabled the automation of processes and services provided to customers, cutting paper consumption by more than 336 million papers, the statement added.

The strategy also helped save more than 1.3 billion Dirham (USD 350 million) and over 14-million-man hours across the Dubai Government.

The complete digital transformation in the Dubai Government will enrich the smart city experience for all residents, entirely removing the need for paper transactions and documents be they handed out to customers or exchanged between employees across government entities.

Digitalisation will also help provide exceptional experiences for residents through the DubaiNow application, which allows access to more than 130 smart city services in 12 major categories, it added.

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Vittla (Dakshina Kannada): A case has been registered at the Vittla Police Station against a school teacher on charges of seriously assaulting a student with a cane at an English-medium school in Idkidu village here near Vittla in Dakshina Kannada district.

According to the complaint, the student, who attends the school regularly, had gone to school as usual. Around 2 pm, the child’s parents received a call from the school office stating that their child had allegedly disturbed other students. The school informed them that when the teacher scolded the student over the issue, the child became frightened and urinated, and the parents were asked to come and take the child home.

The parents reportedly told the school staff that no one was at home at the time and requested that the child be sent home in an autorickshaw.

After returning home, the student told the parents that a teacher identified as Istikaar had beaten him severely on the hand with a cane. The child also said that he urinated out of fear while the assault was taking place.

When the parents contacted the teacher over the phone to question him about the incident, he allegedly responded in a dismissive manner.

Following this, the parents lodged complaints with the Vittla Police Station and the Child Development Project Office, seeking justice and strict action against the teacher for allegedly assaulting the child without any valid reason.

Police have registered a case against the teacher and have taken up further investigation.