E-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential

The objective of E-Governance is to bring about ‘Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive and Transparent’ (SMART) governance. The rationale of E-governance is in its need in reducing red tape; promotion of knowledge sharing to facilitate improvements in quality of governance; fulfilling expectations of the people from government; welfare of citizens, transparency and accountability; increase reach of service delivery by government; speeding up government processes and decision taking ability; equitable access to public service; internal efficiency; reducing costs and improving revenues; improving quality of services etc.

History of E-Governance in India

In 1977, the National Informatics Centre (NIC) was set up as first major step towards e-Governance. In 1980s, computers were used for word processing but this use was confined to only few organizations. Later with advancement of technologies, the government started use of ICT for some of the processes such as tracking movement of papers and files; monitoring of development programmes, processing of employees’ pay rolls etc. In 1987, NICNET was launched as National Satellite Based Computer Network. This was followed by District Information System of the National Informatics Centre (DISNIC) programme to computerize all district offices in the country. NICNET was extended to all district headquarters by 1990. In 1998, a National Task Force on Information Technology and Software Development recommended the launching of ‘Operation Knowledge’ to universalize computer literacy and spread the use of computers and IT in education. In 1999, a separate Union Ministry of Information Technology was created.  The first among the all to use ICT was the tax administration departments at the Union and State levels. They used ICT to have better reporting systems, preventing leakages and faster processing of returns. Following which many departments of the union and state governments began adopting e-governance initiatives. In 2006, the Government of India formally launched the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), which included National Optical Fibre Network. The current Government is focussing upon Digital India.

Stages of e-Governance

With respect to India, e-Governance proceeded through the following phases:

Computerisation

This first phase was characterized by the use of computers in a large number of Government offices.

Networking

In this phase, few government organizations got connected through a hub which facilitated sharing of information and flow of data between different government entities.

On-line presence

In this phase, the government entities began to maintain websites containing information about the organizational structure, contact details, reports and publications, objectives and vision statements.

On-line interactivity

Online interactivity began between government entities and the citizens, civil society organizations etc. It also minimized the scope of personal interface with government entities by providing downloadable Forms, Instructions, Acts, Rules etc.

Types of Interactions in e-Governance

G2G (Government to Government)

This kind of interaction and flow of information and services are within the sphere of government and can be both horizontal (between different government agencies) and vertical (between national, provincial and local government agencies as well as between different levels within the same organization)

G2C (Government to Citizens)

This kind of interaction is between the government and citizens. It helps in efficient delivery of a large range of public services and also increases the quality of services. The citizens enjoy the choice of when, how and from where to interact with the government. Its purpose is to promote citizen-friendly approach and expand the availability and accessibility of public services.

G2B (Government to Business)

This kind of interaction is between the government and the business community. Here, e-Governance tools are used to aid the providers of goods and services. The primary objective is to decrease red tapes, save time and reduce operational bottlenecks. The G2B initiatives can be transactional, promotional and facilitative such as in licensing, permits, procurement and revenue collection, trade, tourism and investment.

G2E (Government to Employees)

This kind of interaction is between the government and the employees as the Government is by far the biggest employer. This interaction is a two-way process aimed at increasing the satisfaction levels of employees.

Key Initiatives

Some of the significant e-governance initiatives launched by the Central and State governments are:

Government to citizen (G2C) initiatives

• Passport e-seva kendras
• IRCTC online booking
• Online filing of taxes
• Computerisation of Land Records (Department of Land Resources, Government of India)
• Bhoomi Project in Karnataka (Online Delivery of Land Records)
• Gyandoot initiative of Madhya Pradesh (Intranet-based Government to Citizen (G2C) service delivery initiative)
• Lokvani Project in Uttar Pradesh (public-private partnership project at Sitapur District in Uttar Pradesh to provide a single window, self sustainable e-Governance solution for handling grievances, land record maintenance etc.)
• Project FRIENDS in Kerala (Fast, Reliable, Instant, Efficient Network for the Disbursement of Services is a Single Window Facility to pay taxes and other financial dues to the State Government)
• e-Mitra Project in Rajasthan (The two major components of this programme are ‘back office processing’ and ‘service counters’)
• eSeva project of Andhra Pradesh (provides ‘Government to Citizen’ and ‘e-Business to Citizen’ services)
• Revenue Administration through Computerized Energy (RACE) Billing Project, Bihar
• Common Entrance Test (CET) for admission to professional colleges

Government to Business (G2B) Initiatives

• e-Procurement Project in Andhra Pradesh to reduce the time and cost of doing business for both vendors and government.
• e-Procurement project in Gujarat to establish transparency in procurement process, shortening of procurement cycle, availing of competitive price among others.
• MCA 21 (Mission Mode Project under the NeGP launched in September 2006. It aims to provide easy and secure online access to all registry related services provided by the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs to corporates and other stakeholders)

Government to Government (G2G) Initiatives

• Khajane Project in Karnataka (comprehensive online treasury computerization project of the Government of Karnataka)
• SmartGov project of Andhra Pradesh to streamline operations, enhance efficiency through workflow automation and knowledge management in the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat.