E-Governance: The Present And The Future

1.0 What is E-Governance?

eGovernance is about redefining the vision and scope of the entire gamut of relationships between citizens and government. By doing so, it attempts to rework the socio-political setting of our civilization. E-Government is the use of IT & communication technologies, to deliver public services in a much more convenient, customer-oriented, cost-effective and altogether different and better way. But it has to be noted that it is not all about technology, but to use it as a facilitator to modify, and in turn make our processes better.

2.0 Prerequisites of eGovernance in India

Evolution of E-governance is a highly complex process requiring provision of hardware, networking, and software and re-engineering of the procedures for examination of cases and decision-making. A truly e- governed system would require minimal human intervention and decision on cases would be 'system driven' rather than 'individual driven'. Human intervention and the scope for subjective interpretation would have to be minimized in the process of disposal of cases. This will, no doubt relate to a stage that will come after the systems of delivery of information and other routine services has been established in an effective manner.

Before e-governance can be implemented as a national level initiative, some key systems and processes will need to be put in place. These in fact are important prerequisites for e-governance and could include the following:

1. Technology implementations: The introduction of computers in every department/ministry of the central and State governments and their subordinate organizations is the starting point of E-government. This would involve huge investments for the acquisition of hardware and software.

2. Support to regional languages: The access of information would have to be made available in the language most comfortable to the public user, generally the regional/local language. Existing technologies such as GIST (Graphics and Intelligence based Script Technology) can be used for these purposes.

3. Training to end users: Training to the end users is an area which has to be looked upon seriously. Inadequate training leads to inefficient functioning of the system and in turn failure of the intended purpose.

4. Standardization: E-governance demands standards in all areas. Some of the key areas are: data encoding (ISCII or UNICODE), application logic for common horizontal applications, user interfaces, data dictionaries, etc. These standards will need to be put in place before E-governance can effectively be implemented.

5. Security issues: Public Key Infrastructure and Certification Authorities to provide digital certificates that help create an on-line identification and security system for the Internet allowing individuals, corporations and government organizations to conduct transactions and communications is an important requirement for E-governance and E-business. The challenges in processing, transmitting, and storing information in a manner which protects its authenticity, integrity and confidentiality have been well publicized and have become part of the public debate on the future of communications in general.

3.0 Objectives of eGovernance

The egovernance drives its inspiration from a set of objectives which are defined by the government. As defined by the tenth five year plan of India (revised on March 15th, 2002) the set of objectives that Indian government

Government's view Citizen/Business view

Efficiency Speedy Delivery

Transparency Audit ability/Fair trial

Equity/ Social justice/ inclusion Accessibility/ spread/ regional language

Cost effectiveness Affordability, Value Proposition

Simplicity User-friendliness, self-service

Responsiveness Interactivity

Participating Democratic / consultations

Security Trust

Consistency Expect ability

Integration & Collaboration Convenience, Citizen centric & Cost & Time saving

4.0 Scope of eGovernance

E-Governance is the use of information and communication technologies to support good governance. It has the following main dimensions:

4.1 GOVERNMENT TO CITIZEN (G2C)

G2C will aim at connecting citizens to government by talking to citizens and supporting accountability, by listening to citizens and supporting democracy, and by improving public services. It will involve better services to the citizens through single point delivery mechanism and will involve areas like:

Targeted towards Avenues

Transports Issue of driving licenses, Vehicle registrations, pollution control, etc.

Registrations Property transfers & registrations

Education Various education schemes for distance & online learning

Certificates Issue of certificates, Passports, ration cards, payment of Bills, Taxes, etc.

Health and Medical Facilities National repository of patient health & Medical knowledge

The spirit behind G2C services will encompass all the services that the Government is delivering to its citizens.

4.2 CONSUMER TO GOVERNMENT (C2G)

C2G will mainly constitute the areas where the citizen interacts with the Government. It will include areas like election when citizens vote for the Government; Census where he provides information about himself to the Government; taxation where he is paying taxes to the Government.

4.2.1 E-Democracy

The e-democracy is an effort to change the role of citizen from passive information giving to active citizen involvement. In an e-democracy the Government will be informing the citizen, representing the citizen, and encouraging the citizen to vote, consulting the citizen and engaging the citizen in the Governance. Taking the citizens input about the various government policies by organizing an e-debate will further strengthen the e-democracy. The citizens give their feedback about the various policies of the parties and