P a g e | 1

©Jatin Verma All Rights Reserved. https://www.jatinverma.org

e- Governance- applications, models, successes, limitations

By

Jatin Verma

P a g e | 2

©Jatin Verma All Rights Reserved. https://www.jatinverma.org

e- Governance- applications, models, successes, limitations

E-Government: Concepts and Definitions Background ● The penetration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has changed the

way humans interact within the society. ● It has provided means for faster and better communication, efficient storage, retrieval and

processing of data. ● It also provided exchange and utilization of information to its users, be they individuals,

groups, businesses, organizations or governments. ● With growing computerization and increasing internet connectivity, this process has

presently reached a stage where more and more users are motivated to modifying their ways of doing things in order to leverage the advantages provided by ICT.

● The Societies are have transformed into the “knowledge societies” and its inhabitants into knowledge “net-workers” who are more informed of the events happening locally and globally.

Information and Governance ● The information plays a critical role in setting up of Governance mechanisms. ● Access to Information and Knowledge forms the basis of decision-making and concerted

action. ● Judicious and well-informed decision-making is dependent on the quality and timeliness

of information. ● Circumscription of information and knowledge with a few levels opens up avenues for its

manipulation for exploitative purposes.

P a g e | 3

©Jatin Verma All Rights Reserved. https://www.jatinverma.org

ICT and Governance ● ICT can influence the process of Governance by improving the current mechanisms of

delivery of services and also help in transforming the entire mechanism and the nature of services themselves.

● It can play a technical role in terms of automation of tedious tasks earlier done by humans; ● It can play a facilitative role and leading to more participatory and all encompassing

decision-making and implementation processes; ● It can also play an innovative role to provide altogether new services and create new

mechanisms to deliver these services.

What is E-Government? ● It is the use of the most innovative ICTs, like the Internet, to deliver efficient and cost

effective Government services, information and knowledge. ● The government agencies use information technology tools, such as Wide Area Networks

(WANs), the Internet, satellite technology and mobile apps etc. to provide services to citizens instead of traditional paper and physical and presence.

● They have an ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government. It can result in-

1. Better delivery of government services to citizens. 2. Improved interactions with business and industry. 3. Citizen empowerment through access to information, and 4. More efficient government management. ● All this means, less corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue

growth, and/or cost reductions.

Principles for Success of e-Governance ● For the success of e-governance projects in its objective to empower people some principles

should be followed ● Use technology as an enabler. Using ICT as an enabler and not an end in itself. It is not of

use to improve the efficiency of functions that the public sector should not be performing. ● Take into account current realities. E-government projects must show sensitivity to the

realities of local communities with respect to their culture, values, structures and infrastructure. For ex: The provision of information in local languages.

● Participative process. It should focus on a participative process involving key stakeholders (users, operators, beneficiaries) to increase chances of success.

● Keep it simple.

P a g e | 4

©Jatin Verma All Rights Reserved. https://www.jatinverma.org

G2G (Government to Government) ● In this case, ICT is used not only to restructure the governmental processes involved in the

functioning of government entities but also to increase the flow of information and services within and between different entities.

● This kind of interaction is only within the sphere of government and can be both horizontal i.e. between different government agencies as well as between different functional areas within an organisation, or

P a g e | 5

©Jatin Verma All Rights Reserved. https://www.jatinverma.org

● Vertical i.e. between national, provincial and local government agencies as well as between different levels within an organisation.

● The primary objective is to increase efficiency, performance and output. ● Examples: Khajane Project in Karnataka, SmartGov (Andhra Pradesh), etc. G2C (Government to Citizens) ● In this case, an interface is created between the government and citizens which enables

the citizens to benefit from efficient delivery of a large range of public services. ● This expands the availability and accessibility of public services on the one hand and

improves the quality of services on the other. ● It gives citizens the choice of when to interact with the government, from where to interact

with the government and how to interact with the government. ● The primary purpose is to make government, citizen-friendly. Examples: Computerisation

of Land Records, e-Courts, India Portal, Bhoomi Project: Online delivery of Land Records (Karnataka), eSeva (Andhra Pradesh), Project FRIENDS in Kerala, etc.

P a g e | 6

©Jatin Verma All Rights Reserved. https://www.jatinverma.org

G2B (Government to Business) ● Here, e-Governance tools are used to aid the business community – providers of goods and

services – to seamlessly interact with the government. ● The objective is to cut red tape, save time, reduce operational costs and to create a more

transparent business environment when dealing with the government. ● The G2B initiatives can be transactional, such as in licensing, permits, procurement and

revenue collection. ● They can also be promotional and facilitative, such as in trade, tourism and investment. ● These measures help to provide a congenial environment to businesses to enable them to

perform more efficiently. ● Examples: GeM, e-Procurement Project in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, MCA 21 by the

Ministry of Corporate Affairs, etc

G2E (Government to Employees) ● Government is by far the biggest employer and like any organisation, it has to interact with

its employees on a regular basis. ● This interaction is a two-way process between the organisation and the employee. ● Use of ICT tools helps in making these interactions fast and efficient on the one hand and

increase satisfaction levels of employees on the other. ● Examples: HRMS portals, Appraisal portals etc. ● Government is by far the biggest employer and like any organisation, it has to interact with

its employees on a regular basis. ● This interaction is a two-way process between the organisation and the employee. ● Use of ICT tools helps in making these interactions fast and efficient on the one hand and

increase satisfaction levels of employees on the other.

P a g e | 7

©Jatin Verma All Rights Reserved. https://www.jatinverma.org

● Examples: HRMS portals, Appraisal portals etc.

Benefits of e-Governance

➢ Higher availability of public domain information ➢ Simplifying bureaucratic Procedures ➢ Reduced corruption ➢ Increased efficiency due to connectivity ➢ Greater coordination and

communication.

➢ Enhanced Transparency ➢ Reduced transaction costs and avoidance

of duplication

➢ Faster Service Delivery ➢ Greater Citizen Participation and

Citizen Empowerment

➢ Innovation in service delivery and increased flexibility of service use ➢ Information sharing between agencies ➢ Security of information management

P a g e | 8

©Jatin Verma All Rights Reserved. https://www.jatinverma.org

Challenges for e-Governance in India 1. Language: There are 22 different languages and this diversified nature of India is a huge

challenge for implementing e-governance projects as e-Governance applications are written in English language.

2. Low Literacy: Literacy level of India is low when compared other countries which is a huge obstacle in implementation of e-governance projects. Illiterate people are not able to access the e-governance applications, hence the projects do not get much success.

3. Low Digital Literacy: Most of the people in India are not aware about the usage of Information Technology and digital literacy is almost no-existent among more than 90% of India's population.This should be given importance for the successful penetration of e-governance services.

4. Lack of integrated services: Most of the e-governance services which are offered by the state or central government are not integrated. There is a lack of communication between different departments of government. Hence, the information that resides within one department has no or very little meaning to some other department of the government.

P a g e | 9

©Jatin Verma All Rights Reserved. https://www.jatinverma.org

5. Awareness of e-governance services: Citizens are not aware of the governance facilities. There is need for generating widespread awareness among the public at large

6. Services are not accessible easily: More than half of India’s population live in rural areas which are remote and too isolated to benefit from the country’s impressive economic progress. Therefore, government has to provide internet access through public terminals as a part of their universal access efforts.

7. Geography: Communication networks must be established in all areas, as the villages and remote areas are not connected by communication networks.

8. Cost: A huge amount of money is involved in implementation, operational and evolutionary maintenance tasks. These costs must be low enough so that to guarantee a good cost/benefit ratio.

9. Low per Capita income: Per capita income of India is low as compared to the other countries. Therefore, people cannot afford online services provided by the government which is a challenge for implementation of e-governance.

10. Privacy and Security: A lack of clear security measures and regulations can hamper the development of projects that contain sensitive information such as personal information, financial records, health records etc.

Recommendations of ARC The Second Administrative Reforms Commission (SARC) in its report on e-governance titled “Promoting e-Governance: The SMART Way Forward” has recommended that “A clear road map with a set of milestones is necessary to achieve the objective of transforming the citizen-government interaction at all levels to the e-Governance mode by 2020.” The Commission’s recommendations can be summed up here: Building a Congenial Environment ● Creating and displaying a will to change within the government ● Providing political support at the highest level ● Incentivising e-Governance and overcoming the resistance to change within government ● Creating awareness in the public with a view to generating a demand for change. ● Identification of e-Governance Projects and Prioritisation ● Initiatives which would provide timely and useful information to the citizens. ● Initiatives which would not require the creation of a database for providing useful services to

the citizens. ● Initiatives which allow for making elementary online transactions including payment for

services. Business Process Re-engineering: ● Governmental forms, processes and structures should be re-designed to make them adaptable

to e-Governance, backed by procedural, institutional and legal changes.

P a g e | 10

©Jatin Verma All Rights Reserved. https://www.jatinverma.org

Capacity Building and Creating Awareness: ● Capacity building efforts must attend to both the organizational capacity building as also the

professional and skills upgradation of individuals associated with the implementation of e-Governance projects.

● A network of training institutions needs to be created in the States with the Administrative Training Institutes at the apex.

● The Administrative Training Institutes in various States should take up capacity building programmes in e-Governance, by establishing strong e-Governance wings.

Developing Technological Solutions: ● Promote the use of ‘enterprise architecture’ in the successful implementation of e-

Governance initiatives; this would require building capacity of top level managers in all government organizations.

Implementation: ● All organizations should carry out a periodic independent evaluation of the information

available on their websites from the citizens perspective and then redesign their websites on the basis of the feedback obtained.

● Complex e-Governance projects should be planned and implemented like any major project having several parts / components for which Project Management capability should be developed in-house.

Monitoring and Evaluation ● Monitoring of e-Governance projects should be done by the implementing organization

during implementation in the manner in which project monitoring is done for large infrastructure projects.

Institutional Framework for Coordination and Sharing of Resources/ Information ● The Commission urges that the Departments of Information Technology at the Union and

State Government levels should provide institutional support to other departments and organizations in implementation of e-governance projects identified and conceptualized by them.

Protecting Critical Information Infrastructure Assets ● There is need to develop a critical information infrastructure assets protection strategy.

This should be supplemented with improved analysis and warning capabilities as well as improved information sharing on threats and vulnerabilities.

P a g e | 11

©Jatin Verma All Rights Reserved. https://www.jatinverma.org

The Common Support Infrastructure ● The Commission re-iterates the recommendation of the Standing Committee on Information

Technology in its 58th Report, that “State Data Centres (SDCs)” should be maintained by Government agencies such as NIC as it involves handling of sovereign data.

Mission Mode Projects ● The Commission makes a number of recommendations including use of annual performance

appraisal report for recording performance in e-governance. Knowledge Management ● Union and State Governments should take proactive measures for establishing Knowledge

Management systems as a pivotal step for administrative reforms in general and e-Governance in particular.

Public-Private Partnership (PPP) ● Several components of e-Governance projects lend themselves to the Public-Private

Partnership (PPP) mode. In all such cases (PPP) should be the preferred mode. ● The private partner should be selected through a transparent process. Miscellaneous Suggestions ● Developing a national e-strategy, making ICT adoption and network readiness a national

priority. ● Undertaking innovative projects that make a difference, to lead by example, adopting best

practices. ● Reforming government processes covering areas such as revenues, expenditures,

procurement, service delivery, customer grievances etc.

P a g e | 12

©Jatin Verma All Rights Reserved. https://www.jatinverma.org

● Tracking, storing and managing information, promoting production of national content online and through electronic media; and documenting “successes” and “failures”.

● According high priority to protection of individual rights, intellectual property, privacy, security, consumer protection etc. and mobilising the civil society; and

● Developing a supportive framework for early adoption of ICT and creating a regulatory framework for ICT-related activities.

NITI AAYOG ACTION PLAN ON e-GOVERNANCE To improve e-governance over the three years (2017-2020), Niti Aayog gave the following action plan recommendations: Digital Infrastructure: ● We should create reliable Information Technology (IT) infrastructure up to the Gram

Panchayat level such that it facilitates round-the-clock access to government services.

Digital Literacy

● At the citizen level, along with connectivity, enhancing digital literacy will be important in encouraging take-up.

P a g e | 13

©Jatin Verma All Rights Reserved. https://www.jatinverma.org

Interoperability

● We should encourage different ministries and departments to adopt inter-operable e-government platforms to ensure their availability and ease of access for citizens.

Grievance Redressal

● Scale up grievance redressal portals at the state level and utilize data to improve the resolution of grievances.

e-office

● Ensure the adoption of e-office by different ministries and departments. E-office can improve the operational efficiency of various departments and ministries by reducing paper transactions, cutting processing delays and increasing transparency.

● The online portals should be equipped with appropriate authentication features, allow citizens to store information and make payments digitally.