To The Point

The Council of Europe referred to e-Governance as:

• The use of electronic technologies in three areas of public action:
  
  • relations between the public authorities and civil society
  • the functioning of the public authorities at all stages of the democratic process (electronic democracy)
  • the provision of public services (electronic public services)

  Reasons for Opting e-Governance

  • Governance per se has become very complex
  • Increase in citizens’ expectations from the government

  Different Connotations of e-Governance

  • e-Administration: The use of ICTs to modernize the state; the creation of data repositories for Management Information System (MIS) and computerization of records (land, health etc).
  • e-Services: The emphasis here is to bring the state closer to the citizens.
    
    • For Examples: Provision of online services.
    • e-administration and e-services together constitute what is largely termed as e-government.
    • It includes the publishing of policy and program-related information to transact with citizens.
    • It extends beyond the provision of online services and covers the use of IT for strategic planning and reaching the development goals of the government.
    • Emphasis is on bringing transparency, accountability, and participation of people.
    • It includes online disclosures of policies, online grievance redressal, e-referendums etc.

    Origin

    • e-Governance originated in India during the 1970s with a focus on in-house government applications in the areas of defence, economic monitoring, planning and deployment of ICT to manage data intensive functions related to elections, census, tax administration etc.

    Initial Steps Taken

    • The establishment of the Department of Electronics in 1970 was the first major step towards e-governance in India as it brought ‘information’ and its communication to focus.
    • National Informatics Centre (NIC) established in 1977, launched the District Information System program to computerize all district offices in the country
    • The main thrust for e-governance was provided by the launching of NICNET in 1987 – the national satellite-based computer network.

    Objectives

    • Better service delivery to citizens.
    • Ushering in transparency and accountability.
    • Empowering people through information.
    • Improve efficiency within Government i.e between centre-state or inter-states.
    • Improve interface with business and industry.

    Pillars of e-Governance

    • People
    • Process
    • Technology
    • Resources

    Types of Interaction in e-Governance

    • G2G i.e. Government to Government
    • G2C i.e. Government to Citizen
    • G2B i.e. Government to Business
    • G2E i.e. Government to Employees

    

    Initiatives Taken for e-Governance in India

    Digital India Initiatives

    • It is an umbrella program to prepare India for a knowledge-based transformation.
    • It weaves together a large number of ideas and thoughts into a single comprehensive vision so that each of them is seen as part of a larger goal.
    • It has been launched by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity).

    Vision Areas

    • Digital infrastructure as Utility to Every Citizen
    • Governance and services on demand
    • Digital empowerment of citizens

    

    Various Initiatives Under Digital India Initiatives

    • MyGov: It aims to establish a link between Government and Citizens towards meeting the goal of good governance.
      
      • It encourages citizens as well as people abroad to participate in various activities i.e. 'Do', 'Discuss', 'Poll', 'Talk', ‘Blog’, etc.
      • It facilitates presentation of real time data on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) of selected schemes/projects to the senior functionaries of the State Government as well as district administration.
      • It is also a robust system for bringing e-transparency and e-accountability with real-time presence and exchange among the key stakeholders.
      • It was launched in 2015.
      • The CSCs are Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enabled kiosks with broadband connectivity to provide various Governments, private and social services at the doorstep of the citizen.
      • The system provides authenticity to Digital Life Certificate without the necessity of the pensioner being present in person before his/ her Pension Dispensing Authority (PDA).
      • It comprises of 31 Mission Mode Projects, approved in 2006, but later it was integrated into Digital India Program.

      e-Kranti: National e-Governance Plan 2.0

      • It is an essential pillar of the Digital India initiative.
      • It was approved in 2015 with the vision of “Transforming e-Governance for Transforming Governance”.
      • There are 44 Mission Mode Projects under e-Kranti, which are at various stages of implementation.

      Thrust Areas of e-Kranti

      • e-Education: All schools will be connected to broadband. Free WiFi will be provided in all secondary and higher secondary schools (coverage would be around 250,000 schools).
        
        • PMGDISHA: Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyaan aims to make six crore people in rural India digitally literate.
        • SWAYAM: It includes Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) for leveraging e-Education. It provides for a platform that facilitates hosting of all the courses, taught in classrooms from Class 9 till post-graduation to be accessed by anyone, anywhere at any time.

        Benefits/ Outcomes of E-Governance

        • Enhanced Transparency and Accountability.
        • Expanded reach of Governance.
        • Improved Public Administration.
        • Enables Environment for Promoting Economic development.
        • Improved service delivery in the form of better access to information and quality services to citizens.

        

        Challenges to E-Governance

        

        • Infrastructure
          
          • Lack of basic infrastructural facilities like electricity, internet, etc.
            
            • Initiatives like BharatNet and Saubhagya are steps taken in this regard.
            • e-Governance measures are costly affairs and require huge public expenditure.
            • In developing countries like India, the cost of projects is one of the major impediments in the implementation of e-Governance initiatives.
            • Recent spark in data leak cases has threatened the peoples’ faith in e-governance. Therefore, the implementation of e-governance projects must have security standards and protocols for safeguarding the interest of all classes of masses.
            • Huge gap between users and non-users of e-govt. services.
            • The digital divide takes form in rich-poor, male-female, urban-rural etc segments of the population.
              
              • The gap needs to be narrowed down, then only the benefits of e-governance would be utilized equally.

              Suggestions

              • A hybrid approach needs to be adopted for enhancing interoperability among e-governance applications which will encompass a centralized approach for document management, knowledge management, file management, grievance management etc.
              • The e-governance initiatives in rural areas should be taken by identifyingand analyzing the grassroots realities.
              • The government should also focus on devising appropriate, feasible, distinct and effective capacity building mechanisms for various stakeholders viz bureaucrats, rural masses, urban masses, elected representatives, etc.
              • Cloud computing is also becoming a big force to enhance the delivery of services related to e-governance. Cloud computing is not only a tool for cost reduction but also helps in enabling new services, improving the education system and creating new jobs/ opportunities.
                
                • Meghraj- GI Cloud is a step in the right direction. The focus of this initiative is to accelerate the delivery of e-services in the country while optimizing ICT spending of the Government.

                Conclusion

                • e-Governance is getting momentum in India, but public awareness and the digital divide are important issues to be addressed.
                • The success of e-Governance measures largely depends on the availability of high-speed internet, and the nation-wide roll-out of 5G technology in the near future will strengthen our resolve.