E-Governance & India

E-Governance & India

E-government' or e-governance is defined as ‘the utilization of the internet and the world-wide-web for delivering government information and services to the citizens. The “e” in e-governance stands for ‘electronic’, therefore 'electronic governance' essentially refers to the approach ‘how government utilized IT, ICT, and other web-based telecommunication technologies to improve and/or enhance on the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery in the public sector.’ like when we are using atm facility of a bank to collect cash anytime from anywhere or you are using on line fund transfer facility of a bank is an application of e-governance . The other definition of e-governance is “the use of information and communication technologies, and particularly the internet, as a tool to achieve better government”. Thus, the internet is defined as a requirement and a possible medium for e-governance.

While governance relates to safeguarding the legal rights of all citizens, an equally important aspect is concerned with ensuring equitable access to public services and the benefits of economic growth to all. It also ensures government to be transparent in its dealings, accountable for its activities and faster in its responses as part of good governance. However, this would require the government to change itself – its processes, its outlook, laws, rules and regulations and also its way of interacting with the citizens.

E-governance would also require capacity building within the government and creation of general awareness about e-governance among the citizens. It also helps in increasing the reach of government – both geographically and demographically.

Electronic governance or e-governance is an application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

ICT, which provides efficient storing and retrieval of data, instantaneous transmission of information, processing information and data faster than the earlier manual systems, speeding up governmental processes, taking decisions expeditiously and judiciously, increasing transparency and enforcing accountability. In India, the main thrust for e-governance was provided by the launching of NICNET in 1987 – the national satellite-based computer network. This was followed by the launch of the district information system of the national informatics centre (DISNIC) programme to computerize all district offices in the country for which free hardware and software was offered to the state governments. NICNET was extended via the state capitals to all district headquarters by 1990. In the ensuing years, with ongoing computerization, tele-connectivity and internet connectivity established a large number of e-governance initiatives, both at the union and state levels.

Dr. Apj Abdul Kalam, former President of India, has envisaged e-governance in the Indian framework as “a transparent smart e-governance with seamless access, secure and authentic flow of information crossing the interdepartmental barrier and providing a fair and unbiased service to the citizen.”

Variables of E-governance:

Four Stages of  E-Government 

1.      Information: The first stage of eGovernment development is characterized by the existence of a presence on the Internet. During this first phase, the Internet sites are rather static in nature and are only meant to provide general information.
2.        Interaction: The  second stage of e-Government development is characterized by Internet sites that provide search capabilities, host forms to download, and provide links to other relevant sites. In most instances, this stage enables the public to access critical information online, but requires a visit to a government office in order to complete the task.
3.   Transaction: This stage of e-Government development is characterized by empowering the public to conduct and complete entire tasks online. The focus of this stage is to build self-service applications for the public to access online. This is the stage where Oakland County is currently.
4.     Transformation: The final stage of e-Government development is characterized by redefining the delivery of governmental information and services. This phase relies on robust customer relationship management (CRM) tools, wireless access devices and new methods of alternative service delivery capabilities that reshape relationships between citizens, businesses, employees and governments.

Types of Government Interaction in e-governance.

•    Government to Citizen (G2C) Initiatives: 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.

                Following are some success stories in India

   Computerization of Land Records: In collaboration with NIC. Ensuring that landowners get computerized copies of ownership, crop and tenancy and updated copies of Records of Rights (RoRs) on demand.

 Bhoomi Project:

Online delivery of Land Records. Self-sustainable e-Governance project for the computerized delivery of 20 million rural land records to 6.7 million farmers through 177 Government-owned kiosks in the State of Karnataka.

Gyandoot:

It is an Internet-based Government to Citizen (G2C) service delivery initiative. It was initiated in the Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh in January 2000 with the twin objective of providing relevant information to the rural population and acting as an interface between the district administration and the people.

Lokvani Project in Uttar Pradesh:

Lokvani is a public-private partnership project at Sitapur District in Uttar Pradesh which was initiated in November, 2004. Its objective is to provide a single window, self-sustainable e-Governance solution with regard to handling of grievances, land record maintenance and providing a mixture of essential services.

Project FRIENDS in Kerala: 
   FRIENDS (Fast, Reliable, Instant, Efficient Network for the Disbursement of Services) is a Single Window Facility providing citizens the means to pay taxes and other financial dues to the State Government.The services are provided through FRIENDS Janasevana Kendrams located in the district headquarters.

 e-Mitra Project in Rajasthan: 

                        

e-Mitra is an integrated project to facilitate the urban and the rural masses with maximum possible services related to different state government departments through Lokmitra-Janmitra Centers/Kiosks.

e-Seva (Andhra Pradesh): 

This project is designed to provide ‘Government to Citizen’ and ‘e-Business to Citizen’ services. The highlight of the eSeva project is that all the services are delivered online to consumers /citizens by connecting them to the respective government departments and providing online information at the point of service delivery.

 Admission to Professional Colleges – Common Entrance Test (CET):
With the rapid growth in the demand as well as supply of professional education, the process of admission to these institutions became a major challenge in the early 1990s. Recourse was then taken to ICT to make the process of admission transparent and objective. One of the pioneering efforts was made by Karnataka. The State Government decided to conduct a common entrance test based on which admission to different colleges and disciplines was made.

Government to Business (G2B) Initiatives: 

In G2B, e-Governance tools are used to aid the business community – providers of goods and services – to seamlessly interact with the government.

 e-Procurement Project in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat:

   To reduce the time and cost of doing business for both vendors and government.

      MCA 21: By the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The project aims at providing easy and secure online access to all registry related services provided by the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs to corporates and other stakeholders at any time and in a manner that best suits them.

 Government to Government (G2G) Initiatives: Information and communications Technology 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.

  Khajane Project in Karnataka: It is a comprehensive online treasury computerization project of the Government of Karnataka. The project has resulted in the computerization of the entire treasury related activities of the State Government and the system has the ability to track every activity right from the approval of the State Budget to the point of rendering accounts to the government.


SmartGov (Andhra Pradesh): 
  SmartGov has been developed to streamline operations, enhance efficiency through workflow automation and knowledge management for implementation in the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat.

National E-governance Plan

The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) has been formulated by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY) and Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) in 2006.

The NeGP aims at improving delivery of Government services to citizens and businesses with the following vision: “Make all Government services accessible to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency & reliability of such services at affordable costs to realise the basic needs of the common man.”

Central Government Initiatives: Mission Mode Projects (MMP):

e-office

The Government of India, in recognition of the long-felt need for efficiency in government processes and service delivery mechanisms, has included e-Office as a core mission mode project (MMP) under the National eGovernance Plan (NeGP). It is estimated that this MMP has the potential of targetting over 2 lakh users.

This MMP aims at significantly improving the operational efficiency of the Government by transitioning to a "Less Paper Office".

The objectives of the MMP are:

1. To improve efficiency, consistency and effectiveness of government responses

2. To reduce turnaround time and to meet the demands of the citizens charter

3. To provide for effective resource management to improve      the quality of administration

4. To reduce processing delays

5. To establish transparency and accountability

Immigration, Visa and Foreigner’s Registration & Tracking (IVFRT)

      To Modernize and upgrade the Immigration services, “Immigration, Visa and Foreigners Registration & Tracking (IVFRT)” has been identified and included as one of the MMPS to be undertaken by the Ministry of Home Affairs under the National e-Governance Plan (NEGP). The core objective of this Project is to develop and implement a secure and integrated service delivery framework that facilitates legitimate travelers while strengthening security. The scope of the project includes 169 Missions, 77 ICPS (Immigration Check Posts), 5 FRROS (Foreigners Regional Registration Offices), and FROS (Foreigners Registration Offices) in the State/District Headquarters.

                  The implementation of this MMP will enable authentication of traveler’s identity at the Missions, Immigration Check Posts (ICPS) and Foreigners Registration Offices (FROS) through use of intelligent document scanners and biometrics, updation of foreigner’s details at entry and exit points, improved tracking of foreigner’s through sharing of information captured during visa issuance at Missions, during immigration check at icps, and during registration at FRRO/ FROS.

UID(Unique Identification)

The unique identification project was conceived as an initiative that would provide identification for each resident across the country and would be used primarily as the basis for efficient delivery of welfare services. It would also act as a tool for effective monitoring of various programs and schemes of the government.

The concept of a unique identification was first discussed and worked upon in 2006 when administrative approval for the project – “Unique ID for BPL families”was given on March 3rd, 2006 by the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. This project was to be implemented by the NIC over a period of 12 months. The UIDAI was given the responsibility of laying down the plan and policies to implement the UID scheme, to own and operate the UID database and be responsible for its update and maintenance on an ongoing basis.

Pensions

• Non-interactive component to provide updated information on pension issues
• Interactive component to monitor grievance redressal at three interlinked levels, as follows:
• Central-level in Department of Pensions &Pensioners' Welfare (nodal point)
• Central Ministries/ Department-level
• Pensioners' Associations-level (field level)

Pensioners registering grievances on the portal get unique access codes, which helps them monitor progress of their cases. The designated nodal officer at the level of Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare and at the level of Central Ministry/ Department can also monitor the progress of such registered cases.

 Banking

Evolution of core banking technology in India has brought in the convenience of "anytime, anywhere banking" to Indian customers. There is now a movement towards integration of core banking solutions ofvarious banks, which is expected to bring in operational efficiency and reduce the time and effort involved in handling and settling transactions, thereby improving customer service and facilitating regulatory compliance.

The Banking MMP covers the following services:

• Electronic Central Registry under Sarfaesi Act, 2002
• One India One Account-for Public Sector Banks
• Electronic Mass Payment System

Posts

     The Apex Committee for the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) chaired by Cabinet Secretary has approved the inclusion of Posts as a Mission Mode Project (MMP) under the NeGP.

Modernization of Postal Services has been undertaken by the Department of Posts through computerization and networking of all post offices using a central server-based system, and setting up of computerized registration centers (CRCs).

State Government Initiatives: Mission Mode projects:

 e-Governance in Municipalities

 The Municipalities MMP aims to leverage ICT for sustained improvement in efficiency and effectiveness of delivery of municipal service to citizens.

The key objectives of the MMP are:

•   To provide single window services to citizens on anytime, anywhere basis
•   To increase the efficiency and productivity of Urban Local Bodies (ULBs)
•    To develop a single, integrated view of ULB information system across all ULBs in the State
•    To provide timely and reliable management information relating to municipal administration for effective decision-making
•    To adopt a standards-based approach to enable integration with other related applications

   This MMP is one with significant citizen interaction, given that municipalities provide a large number of basic services for millions of citizen living in urban centres across the Nation.

Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems

§         The Crime and Criminal Tracking Network Systems (CCTNS) was conceptualized by the Ministry of Home Affairs in detailed consultation with all stakeholders and is being implemented as a "Mission Mode Project (MMP)" since 2009.

§       CCTNS aims at creating a comprehensive and integrated system for enhancing the efficiency and effective policing at all levels and especially at the Police Station level through adoption of principles of e-Governance, and creation of a nationwide networked infrastructure for evolution of IT-enabled state of- the-art tracking system around "investigation of crime and detection of criminals" in real time, which is a critical requirement in the context of the present day internal security scenario

 Public Distribution System

Computerization of the PDS is envisaged as an end-to-end project covering key functional areas such as supply chain management including allocation and utilization reporting, storage and movement of food grains, grievance redressal and transparency portal, digitization of beneficiary database, Fair Price Shop automation, etc.

Health

ICT for programme management has been undertaken by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare in the Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS) programme and the Ministry envisages a more comprehensive use of ICT including for Hospital Information Systems, supply chain management for drugs and vaccines, providing ICT tools to ASHA and ANM workers, programme management of National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), etc through this MMP.

 e-panchayat

The Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) are saddled with the problems of inadequate physical and financial resources, technical capabilities and extremely limited computerization. As a result, the potential of PRIs as the preferred delivery channel for the schemes of State and Centre as well as for citizen services has not been fully realized. While some computerization efforts for PRIs have been made by NIC over the years, the e-Governance revolution sweeping the country has not touched the PRIs yet in significant measure. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India has therefore decided to take up the computerization of PRIs on a mission mode basis.

  e-District
 

    e-District is one of the 31 Mission Mode Projects under National e Governance Plan (NeGP) with the DIT, GoI being the nodal ministry. This project aims at providing support to the basic administrative unit i.e. District Administration by undertaking backend computerization to enable electronic delivery of high volume citizen centric government services which would optimally leverage and utilize the three infrastructure pillars of State Wide Area Networks (SWAN), State Data Centers (SDC) and Common Service Centers (CSCs) to deliver services to the citizen at his doorsteps.

National Land Records Modernization Programme (NLRMP)
 

      A Project for Computerization of Land Records (CLR) was launched in 1988-89 with the intention to remove the inherent flaws in the manual system of maintenance and updation of Land Records. In 1997-98, the scheme was extended to tehsils to start distribution of Records of Rights to landowners on demand. The focus of the entire operation has always been to employ state of the art information technology (IT) to galvanize and transform the existing land records system of the country.

Integrated Mission Mode Projects

e-procurement
 

            Ministry of Commerce & Industry (Department of Commerce) has been nominated as the Nodal Ministry for implementation of e-Government Procurement (e-GP) Mission Mode Projects (MMP). The vision of the e-Procurement MMP is “To create a national initiative to implement procurement reforms, through the use of electronic Government procurement, so as to make public procurement in all sectors more transparent and efficient”.

e-Courts
 

     The e-Court Mission Mode Project (MMP) was conceptualized with a vision to transform the Indian judiciary by making use of technology. The project had been developed, following the report submitted by the e-Committee under Supreme Court on national policy & action plan on implementation of information communication tools in Indian judiciary.

A clear objective – to re-engineer processes and enhance judicial productivity both qualitatively and quantitatively to make the justice delivery system affordable, accessible, cost effective, transparent and accountable.

e-Biz

The e-Biz Mission Mode Project, being executed by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, was conceptualized with the vision. Its vision is “To transform the business environment in the country by providing efficient, convenient, transparent and integrated electronic services to investors, industries and business throughout the business life cycle”.

Common Services Centres

The CSCs would provide high quality and cost-effective video, voice and data content and services, in the areas of e-governance, education, health, telemedicine, entertainment as well as other private services. A highlight of the CSCs is that it will offer web-enabled e-governance services in rural areas, including application forms, certificates, and utility payments such as electricity, telephone and water bills.

Recent Initiatives

Direct Cash Transfer

To facilitate disbursements of Government entitlements like MGNREGA, Social Security pension, Handicapped Old Age Pension etc. of any Central or State Government bodies, using Aadhaar and authentication thereof as supported by UIDAI.

Aadhar Enabled Payment system (AEPS) : 

    AEPS is a bank led model which allows online interoperable financial inclusion transaction through the Business correspondent of any bank using the Aadhaar authentication. This has helped in financial inclusion. The four Aadhaar enabled basic types of banking transactions are ..

•     Balance Enquiry
•     Cash Withdrawal
•     Cash Deposit
•     Aadhaar to Aadhaar Funds Transfer

Government to Employee (G2E) Initiatives: 

In this Government is by far the biggest employer and like any organisation, it has to interact with its employees on a regular basis.

 E-governance: Major Issues in India

   Countries like India people are poor and infrastructures are not up to the mark. Under such condition it becomes very difficult to provide government services to the people. There are number of reasons for that- .

1.Poverty

   Internet access is too expensive for the poor in developing countries like India. Installing the necessary telephone lines needed for internet or email access is equally unaffordable in most poor countries. In India, each telephone connection may cost as much as Rs30,000 in urban areas and Rs70,000–80,000 in villages, which is unaffordable by most low income families.

2. Technical illiteracy

    There is general lack of technical literacy as well as literacy in countries like India, the correlation between education level and use of electronic means or internet and other ict means are quite significant.

3. Language dominance

   The dominance of english on the internet constrains the access of non-english-speaking population. It is found that of all the web pages in the world, about 84 percent are in english. In the case of india, 95 percent of the population does not speak english. Owing to such overwhelming dominance of english over these communication channels, computers and the internet are quite useless in Indian villages, and the use of local languages does little to alleviate the problem due to the poor literacy level mentioned earlier.

4. Unawareness

     There is general lack of awareness regarding benefits of e-governance as well as the process involved in implementing successful G-C, G-G and G-B projects. The administrative structure is not geared for maintaining, storing and retrieving the governance information electronically.

5. Lack of participations of society, public and private sectors

      Designing of any application requires a very close interaction between the govt. Department and the agency developing the solutions. At present the users in govt. Departments do not contribute enough to design the solution architecture. Consequently the solution developed and implemented does not meet the requirements of an e-governance project and hence does not get implemented.

6. Inequality

    Inequality in gaining access to public sector services between various sections of citizens, especially between urban and rural communities, between the educated and illiterate, and between the rich and poor.

7. Infrastructure

     Lack of necessary infrastructure like electricity, internet, technology and ways of communications will affect the speed which delays the implementation.

8. Impediments for the Re-engineering process

       Implementation of e-governance projects requires lots of restructuring in administrative processes, redefining of administrative procedures and formats which finds the resistance in almost all the departments at all the levels.

9. Operational Reluctance

      The psychology of government servants is quite different from that of private sectors. Traditionally the government servants have derived their sustenance from the fact that they are important repositories of government data. Thus any effort to implement documents management and workflow technologies or bringing out the change in the system is met with resistance from the government servants.