E-Governance

Definition of e-Governance:
E-Governance or e-Government refers to governments use of information technology to exchange information and services with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government. E-Governance may be applied by the legislature, judiciary, or administration, in order to improve internal efficiency, the delivery of public services, or processes of democratic governance. E-Governance' is a network of organizations to include government, nonprofit, and private-sector entities; in e-governance there are no distinct boundaries. The model for e-governance is a one-stop portal, such as firtgov.gov, where citizens have access to a variety of information and services. An ideal portal would be one for employment where a citizen creates a profile and is presented with employment opportunities at the federal, state, local, non-profit, and private-sectors;currently websites like monster.com over these services but more often than not users are required to reenter their information for the specific job. However, not all stakeholders have the same desired end-state which inhibits the possibility of a one-stop portal. Evolution of the word networked or e-Governance has to be viewed at the crossroad of two major shifts - governance and information revolution. The issue of governance has been around for a while. According to concise Oxford Dictionary (9th Edition), the word governance has been developed from a Greek word kuberna which means to steer. The first classic political science essays on the subject talked about the concept of governability, which made the rule of law as the core to development. It is the use of a range of modern Information and Communication Technologies such as Internet, Local Area Networks, mobiles etc. by Government to improve the effectiveness, efficiency, service delivery and to promote democracy

Governance : An Information perspective

Representative democracy relies on supposition that best way to make a decision is wider participation for all its citizens having access to relevant information. Government is by nature an information intensive organization. Information is power and information management is political .

Governance : In IT framework

Expansion of Internet and electronic commerce, is redefining relationships among various stake holders in the process of Governance.

A new model of governance would be based upon the transactions in virtual space, digital economy and dealing with knowledge oriented societies. Electronic Governance is an emerging trend to re-invent the way the Government works.

E-Governance : Focus

Greater attention to improve service delivery mechanism Enhancing the efficiency of production Emphasis upon the wider access of information

E-Governance vs. E-Government

"Government's foremost job is to focus society on achieving the public interest." "Governance is a way of describing the links between government and its broader environment - political, social and administrative." GOVERNMENT Superstructure Decisions Rules Rules Implementation Outputs e-Government electronic service delivery electronic workflow electronic voting electronic productivity GOVERNANCE functionality processes goals performance coordination outcomes e-Governance electronic consultation electronic controllership electronic engagement networked societal guidance

e-Governance and ICT

"ICTs ( Information and Communication Technology ) are effectively showing new dimensions to old institutional setups. There is a reinforced thrust for an informed and 2

participatory citizenry for efficient egovernance. It goes without saying that impact of ICT on institutional changes is fast spreading across the boundaries of social and political arrangements of societies." e-Governance is the application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for delivering Government Services, exchange of information, communication transactions, integration various stand-alone systems and services between Government and Citizens (G2C), Government and Business (G2B) as well as back office processes and interactions within the entire Government frame work. Through the e-Governance, the Government services will be made available to the citizens in a convenient, efficient and transparent manner. The Government being the service provider, it is important to motivate the employees for delivering the services through ICT. To achieve this, the Government employees are being trained on technology and started realising the advantage of ICT. The aim is to make them thorough with e-Governance applications and responsive to the technology driven administration. What does E-Governance seek to achieve

Efficiency Transparency Citizen's participation

Enabling e-governance through ICT contributes to

Good governance Trust and Accountability Citizen's awareness and empowerment Citizen's welfare Democracy Nation's economic growth

The National e-Governance Plan

e-Governance in India is graduating from pilots to Mission Mode projects

The concept of e-governance is now a reality for Indian citizens. We are graduating from pilot e-governance projects to bigger Mission Mode projects. In this, the core strategy is to move ahead in a systematic manner, and the approach is to achieve success step by step. The National e-Governance Plan (2003-2007) of Indian Government seeks to lay the foundation and provide the impetus for long-term growth of e-Governance within the country. The plan seeks to create the right governance and institutional mechanisms, set up the core infrastructure and policies and implement a number of Mission Mode Projects at the center, state and integrated service levels to create a citizen-centric and businesscentric environment for governance. In 2005, the World Bank signalled its willingness to increase funding further (if required) for a range of e-governance initiatives in India as part of the first phase of the country's National e-Governance Plan (NeGP).

National e-Governance Plan Vision

"All Government services accessible to the common man in his locality through a Onestop-shop (integrated service delivery) ensuring convenience, efficiency, transparency & reliability"

National e-Governance Plan Approach

Focus on Public Service Delivery & Outcomes o Process Re-engineering & Change Management are critical o Radically change the way government delivers services

Centralized Initiative, Decentralized Implementation o Implementation framework accordingly o Project Implementation in Mission Mode o Empowered Mission Teams - professionals & domain people

"Think Big, Start Small and Scale Fast"

The focus of National e-Governance Plan is on the following.

Adequate weightage must be given for quality and speed of implementation in procurement procedures for IT services. Incorporation of a suitable system of incentivisation of states to encourage adoption. The trend of delivery of services through common service centres should be encouraged and promoted. Wherever possible, services should be outsourced. The full potential for private sector investment should be exploited. Connectivity should be extended up to block level through NICNET/ SWANs. 4

NeGP also envisages significant investments in areas such as government process re-engineering, capacity building, training, assessment and awareness. The plan is to be executed over a four-year period. An apex committee under the Cabinet Secretary is already in place for providing the strategic direction and management oversight.

Digitisation of Land Records: Bhoomi Project

Bhoomi project is an attempt made by Karnataka State Government for Computerisation of Land Records. This project is sponsored jointly by Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India and State Government of Karnataka. Under the Bhoomi E-Governance project all 20 million land records of 6.7 million land owners in 176 taluks of Karnataka have been computerised.This system works with the software called "BHOOMI" designed fully in-house by National Informatics Center, Bangalore.

Important Features of BHOOMI

This software provides for printing of land records as and when required. It incorporates process of online updation to ensure that the RTCs provided to the farmers is in sync with the time. All the mutations to the land records database are done on the computer itself so as to ensure that data on computer remain current with time. It incorporates the state of the art bio-logon metrics system from Compaq, which authenticates various users on the Bhoomi software on the basis of fingerprints.This ensures that no body can hack the system by imitating other users. This software also has the provision of scanning of original mutation orders of the revenue inspector (who is the authorised person to pass orders in the mutations in the field) and notices served on interested parties. Both documents are scanned to ensure that not only responsibility can be fixed on Officials by showing the original documents signed by them but also to ensure that the intestered particies

do not claim in the court that they were not served with the notice before effecting the mutation. The software enables the administrators to generate various reports based on type of soil, land holding size, type of crops grown etc. This information would enable administrators to take informed policy decision.

Indian Railways RAILNET

The Indian Railways is Asia's largest and the world's second largest rail network. Adopting e-Governance in right earnest and to reap the benefit of IT explosion, Indian Railways have established a 'Corporate Wide Information System' (CWIS) called RAILNET. It provides smooth flow of information on demand for administrative purposes, which would enable taking quicker and better decisions. Realising the important role that information plays in customer services and in railways operations, IR had embarked on its computerisation program. IR developed a dedicated skeletal communication network, as a basic requirement for train operation. After the early introduction of basic computer applications e.g. Pay rolls, Inventory Control and Operating Statistics, Railways went for deployment of computers for productivity improvement through building up operational databases.

Use of IT in Railway
+ Passenger Reservation System (PRS) + e-Ticketing + UTS (Unreserved Ticket System) + IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System) + NTES (National Train Enquiry System)

RailNET MIS
For running any business organisation, the efficiency of the MIS is very important. Indian Railways have many areas, where use of IT is going to have a telling effect. Some of these are listed down: 6

+ Rail Budget Compilation System (RBCS) + Comprehensive Payroll Processing System (CPPS) + Vigilance Software System (VSS) + Material Management Information System for P-Way material (MMIS) + Comprehensive Accounting & Transaction System (CATS)

Case of Gujarat interstate border checkposts: e-Governance causes reduction in corruption and increase in tax revenues.

In Gujarat, a team of techno-savvy bureaucrats have finally succeeded in bringing corruption under check and consequently increasing state's tax revenues through the effective usage of computers and other electronic devices at some 10 remote interstate border checkposts. Until now in Gujarat, inspection of 100% of commercial vehicles had been impossible with checkpost inspectors being notoriously corrupt. The drive to curb the number of overloaded vehicles has only proved to be ineffective. In order to maximise their earnings from each vehicle, Trucking companies have prompted transporters to load their trucks beyond permissible axle load thus creating a serious safety hazard. In Gujarat's traditional checkpost system, a suspect vehicle is flagged to a stop, and then weighed on a weighbridge located away from traffic. The legal penalty for overload is Rs 2,000 per tonne.

New System
The State Transport department introduced SMART card drivers' licenses. The IT project included the use of computers and communication networks to collect fines from overloaded vehicles. In the computerised process, all the checkposts are monitored at a

central location using video cameras installed at every checkpost cabin. The video camera captures the registration number of all trucks approaching the checkpost (There are floodlights and traffic lights near the checkposts). Software converts the video image of the registration number to a digital form and the details of the truck are accessed from a central database. An electronic weighbridge captures the weight and the computer automatically issues a demand note for fine. Drivers can use a stored value card for payment. Future plans include integrating payment of sales tax on the goods carried by the vehicles.

Implementation Challenges
The new system has teething problems. Currently, the central database is being created, and for many vehicles it still does not hold the requisite details. Hence, the operator uses his judgment and, depending on the make of the vehicle, selects the permissible weight from a drop-down selection box. The leased line (64 KBPS) connectivity is currently available at only 2 checkposts (Shamlaji and Bhilad, the two largest one). The centralised video monitoring is therefore not working properly. In some checkposts, inspectors may still harass the drivers to extort bribes. The writing and pattern of license plates is often non-standard and not in compliance with the law. Hence, the license tracking software has not worked properly (only about 35 out of 5,000 numbers were read accurately). Now, trucks with non-standard number plates are required to replace them at the checkpost.

Benefits and Costs

The new system has produced three-fold increase in tax collection over 2 years. Revenue increased from US$12mn to US$35mn, paying back the total project cost of US$4mn in just 6 months. On average, vehicles are cleared in 2 minutes instead of 30 in the manual system. Harassment of truckers continues, abetted by the problems with the video monitoring system. The large and medium transport owners are happy with the system because they can come to know the exact date and time their driver passed the checkpost. The pre-paid card means that the driver does not have to carry much money.

Critical Success Factors

The success of this project depends on several factors that include role of top political leadership i.e. the Chief Minister, skilful management of special interest by bureaucrats, reducing discretion to the minimum, education of clients (drivers and transporters), and intergration with other departments such as Sales Tax etc. References: eGovOnline Article

Contact us | This portal is designed and developed by Prathab K and Girish Joshi | Last update : 25-Sep-2006 In New Zealand, e-government has developed rapidly since the 1990s. In April 2001 the work of the new unit resulted in the publication by the government of New Zealand's first E-government Strategy. This document defined the strategic aims of New Zealand's egovernment programme, with the vision of establishing New Zealand as "a world leader in e-government".

e-Governance by country
In Canada
Public information in Canada is the subject of the Access to Information Act. VisibleGovernment.ca is a Canadian non-profit that promotes online tools for government transparency. There have been several ChangeCamps in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver, with organizers coming together in Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, drawing many politicians. The city of Toronto mayor David Miller announced plans for an open city data portal at toronto.ca/open. A collection of uses of social media in Canadian government can be found here.

In the United States

The election of Barack Obama as President of the United States has become associated with the effective use of Web 2.0 technologies during his campaign, and in the implementation of his new government in 2009.[26][27][28] On January 21, 2009, newly elected President Obama signed one of his first memorandums - the Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies on Transparency and Open Government[29] In the memo, President Obama called for an unprecedented level of openness in Government, asking agencies to "ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration."[29] The memo further "directs the Chief Technology Officer, in coordination with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Administrator of General Services (GSA), to coordinate the development by appropriate executive departments and agencies, within 120 days, of recommendations for the Open Government Directive, to be issued by the Director of OMB, that instructs executive departments to take specific actions implementing the principles set forth in the memorandum." Common interpretation of this memorandum is that Obama, whose presidential campaign was heavily influenced by web 2.0 technology, is calling for the utilization of web 2.0 technology across all federal departments and agencies.

e-Governance Challenges

"e-governance, however, is not really the use of IT in governance but as a tool to ensure good governance. e-governance does not mean proliferation of computers and accessories; it is basically a political decision which calls for discipline, attitudinal change in officers and employees, and massive government process re-engineering,"Ravi Kant (Special Secretary, IT, Govt. of West Bengal) explains. All implementers and drivers of e-governance initiatives agree that the biggest challenge of deploying e-governance is not technology but change management. Change management is important not only in terms of cultural change but also in terms of changing operations and processes workflow that the automated environment will introduce. "It's important to educate people at all levels about the benefits of technology. The various benefits and advantages of e-enabling the system should be communicated clearly right at the beginning to ensure popular support which will lead to greater chances of success," explains Dr G D Gautama, Secretary, IT, Government of West Bengal. It is important to explain to people that the introduction of IT will not take away existing jobs but will make them easier, and if less manpower is required for operations the staff can be re-deployed elsewhere with no threat to their career growth path. The key challenges with electronic governance are not technology or internet issues but organizational issues like

Redefining rules and procedures Information transparency Legal issues Infrastructure, Skill and awareness Access to right information Interdepartmental collaboration Tendency to resist the change in work culture

Other obstacles are geographical distances, lack of trained human resources, and lack of ICT penetration in remote areas. For instance, a good e-governance application will not

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benefit anybody in remote areas if there is no supporting infrastructure such as electricity, computers and connectivity. Many pilots have been successfully implemented in almost all areas of e-governance, but, says Ravi Kant, "Rather than having an obsession to undertake pilot projects, we should capitalise on the existing successful examples in the country and customise them for our use." The challenges of connectivity have also reduced over the years with the falling prices of bandwidth and increased reach of connectivity service providers. Major VSAT service providers already have established large footprints in India, and telecom service providers have stepped up their leased line offerings even in previously unrepresented territories. Many state governments have developed state wide area networks (SWANs), customised applications, and data banks. But the interconnectivity of the servers is an issue which calls for the establishment of state data centres. The NIC, which is promoting egovernance in the country, has established VSAT connectivity in all the districts of the country. There remain however issues such as standardisation, inter-operability, security, and propriety vs. open source. The other set of challenges lie in extending the reach of e-Governance services to 70% of Indian population that lives in villages. These include:

Assessment of local needs and customizing e-Governance solutions to meet those needs Connectivity Content (local content based on local language) Building Human Capacities e-Commerce Sustainability

e-Governance Challenges Specific to India

We list down some of the challenges which are specific to India Lack of Integrated Services: Most of the eGovernance Services being offered by state or central governemets are not integrated. This can mainly be attributed to Lack of Communication between different Departments. So the information that resides with one department has no or very little meaning to some other department of Government.

Lack of Key Persons: eGovernance projects lack key persons, not only from technological aspect, but from other aspects as well. Population: This is probably the biggest challenge. Apart from being an asset to the country it offers some unique issues, an important one being Establishing Person Identities. There is no unique identity of a person in India. Apart from

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this, measuring the population, keeping the database of all Indian nationals (& keeping it updated) are some other related challenges. Different Languages: A challenge due to the diversity of the country. It enforces need to do governance (upto certain level), in local languages. Ensuring eGovernance in local language is a big task to achieve. According to an officer from NIC, success factors of e-Gov projects o 10% Technology o 60% Process o 20% Change Management o Rest is luck

Conclusion
E-governance has been responsible for the progression in technology of developing countries. The goal of E-governance is the ability to access and interact with the world on an even plain. No country should be left behind when it comes to being able to communicate with one another. Without E-governance, developing countries will be left behind when it comes to technology because almost every day, ICT technologies are advancing and changing. Developing countries now have the opportunity to better themselves through electronics and make their society be more advanced and more efficient than ever before.

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