e-Governance: Opportunities, Challenges & Strategies

Definition of e-Governance
E-governance is the application of information & communication technologies to
transform the efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and accountability of informational
& transactional exchanges with in government, between govt. & govt. agencies of
National, State, Municipal & ocal levels, citi!en & businesses, and to empower citi!ens
through access & use of information.
What e-government is NOT! :
Terms such as data resale, digital democracy, e-politics etc. are also
frequently mentioned within the same breath as e-government. Neither of these terms,
however, observes the principle of leveraging the Internet to simplify government.
igital democracy is, in fact, e-politics rather than e-government! that is, leveraging the
Internet to simplify the election process "rather than government#. It is important that
these terms not muddle the ob$ectives of e-government.
e-governance evolution : istor! an" #resent Status

The %oI initiated an e-government programme during the late &''(s by adopting
the Information Technology )ct in *(((. The ma$or aims of this act were to recognise
electronic contracts, prevent cyber crimes, and ma+e electronic filing possible. ,ater in
*((-, the govt approved the national e-governance plan "Ne%.# to enhance e-govt
initiatives in India. It was launched with aim of improving the delivery of govt services to
the common people in their localities through common services centre "/0/#s, which
were set across the country. In feb *(&*, about '1,&2' /0/s were operational with
different names and they had delivering services to the people.
3ollowing are some of the recent e-governance pro$ects implemented by various
state govts.
Some E-governance Initiatives
State/Union
Territory
Initiatives covering departmental automation,
user charge collection, delivery of
policy/programme information and delivery of
entitlements
Andhra
Pradesh
e-Seva, CARD, VOICE, MPHS, FAST, e-Cops, AP
onlineOne-stop-shop on the Internet, Sauar!a",
Online Transa#tion pro#essin$
Bihar Sales Ta% A&"inistration Mana$e"ent In'or"ation
hattisgarh Chhattis$arh In'ote#h Pro"otion So#iet!, Treasur!
o''i#e, e-linin$ pro(e#t
!elhi Auto"ati# Vehi#le Tra#in$ S!ste", Co"puterisation
o' )e*site o' RCS o''i#e, Ele#troni# Clearan#e S!ste",
Mana$e"ent In'or"ation S!ste" 'or E&u#ation et#
"oa Dharani Pro(e#t
"u#arat Mahiti Shati, re+uest 'or ,overn"ent &o#u"ents
online, For" *oo online, , R *oo online, #ensus
online, ten&er noti#e-
$aryana .ai Disha
$imachal
Pradesh
/o Mitra
%arnata&a 0hoo"i, 1ha(ane, 1averi
%erala e-Srinhala, RD.et, Fast, Relia*le, Instant, E''i#ient
.et)or 'or the Dis*urse"ent o' Servi#es 2FRIE.DS3
'adhya
Pradesh
,!an&oot, ,ra" Sa"par, S"art Car& in Transport
Depart"ent, Co"puteri4ation MP State A$ri#ultural
Maretin$ 0oar& 2Man&i 0oar&3 et#
'aharashtra SET5, Online Co"plaint Mana$e"ent S!ste"
Mu"*ai
(a#asthan 6an Mitra, Ra(S7IFT, /o"itra, Ra(.IDHI
Tamil )adu Rasi Mai!a"s81an#hipura"9 Appli#ation 'or"s
relate& to pu*li# utilit!, ten&er noti#es an& &ispla!
)orth-Eastern States
Arunachal
Pradesh,
Co""unit! In'or"ation Center- For"s availa*le on
'anipur,
'eghalaya,
the Me$hala!a )e*site un&er s#he"es relate& to
'i*oram +
)agaland
so#ial )el'are, 'oo& #ivil supplies an& #onsu"er
a''airs, housin$ transport et#-
$e! Opportunities offere" %! e-governance:
&'( )ncrease" effectiveness an" efficienc!-
Improved government services in terms of accomplishing the government
spurpose and functioning.
&*( +etter service-
4-governance can provide quic+ and timely services to stal+holder.
&,( Transparenc!-
The services provide directly from the government to recipients without any
e5ternal interventions.

&-( .ccessi%le an! time an" an!/here-
)s e-governanace services are provided through web-enabled technology, they can
be accessed anytime and anywhere.
&0( 1ser-centric )CT-ena%le" services-
The services are primarily intended for the use of citi6ens, businesses , and the
government itself.
&2( 3e"uce" cost an" time -
)s the services are provided through internet , they are effective in terms of time
and cost.
&4( 3e"uce" %ureaucrac!-
4-governance minimi6es the hierarchy of authorithy for availing any government
services.
&5( 6nhance" communication an" co-or"ination %et/een govt organistions-
)s automated services can be accessed by different organi6ations, co-ordination
and further communication become relatively simple.
Challenges an" %arriers -
&'( 7ac8 of )T 7iterac! an" a/areness regar"ing %enefits of e-governance -
There is general lac+ of awareness regarding benefits of e-governance as well as
the process involved in implementing successful %-/, %-% and %-7 pro$ects. The
administrative structure is not geared for maintaining, storing and retrieving the
governance information electronically.
&*( 1n"erutili9ation of e:isting )CT infrastructure-
To a larger e5tent, the computers in the department are used for the purpose of
word processing only, resulting in the underutili6ation of the computers in terms of their
use in data mining for supporting management decisions.
&,( 7ac8 of trust-
8ariance in the degree of reliance on e-government services
&-( Digital "ivi"e -
Inequality between people in the social system in having access to and use of e-
government services.
&0( 7ac8 of coor"ination %et/een Govt; Department an" Solution "evelopers-
esigning of any application requires a very close interaction between the govt.
department and the agency developing the solutions. )t present the users in govt.
departments do not contribute enough to design the solution architecture.
&2( 7ac8 of )nfrastructure for sustaining e-governance pro<ects on national level-
Infrastructure to support e-governance initiatives does not e5ist within
government departments. The agony is that the government departments are not equipped
to be in a position to pro$ect the clear requirements nor are there any guidelines for
involving private sector.
e-Gov .ction #lan = Strategies for to"a!:>ision for ?uture
%ovt. leaders in India are starting to reali6e that e-governance is the +ey to drive
today9s economy with an increased participation from citi6ens. .roviding services online
is no longer going to remain optional for local and central government as demand for
providing services : internet speed has been coming from the citi6ens.
4-governance is about more than streamlining processes and improving services. It9s
about transforming %overnments and renovating the way citi6ens participate in
democracy. 0o how does a government agency cuts through the clutter and builds a
strategy to facilitate the transition to successful online or e service delivery. ;et if the
e-governance started and implemented in haste, the are doomed to fail. )ccording to one
of the surveys conducted by a reputed agency , 12< of e-governance may fail because of
poor planning
. 0ome of the requirements for implementing successful e-governance across the
nation are =
e-%overnance framewor+ across the nation with enough bandwidth to service a
population of one billion.
/onnectivity framewor+ for ma+ing the services reach rural areas of the country
or development of alternative means of services such as e-governance +ios+s in
regional languages.
National /iti6en database which is the primary unit
of data for all governance vertical and hori6ontal applications
across the state and central governments.
4-governance and interoperability standards for the e5change of secure
information with non-repudiation, across the state and central government
departments seamlessly.
) secure delivery framewor+ by means of virtual private networ+
connecting across the state and central government departments.
atacenters in centre and states to handle the departmental
wor+flow automation, collaboration, interaction, e5change of
information with authentication.
3or success of an e-governance pro$ect and superior service delivery, it is imperative that
the government agency focuses on whole citi6en e5perience. 3ocusing on the citi6en is
essential for long term success. The govt. agency needs to integrate information from all
points of citi6en interaction. The overall architecture for e-%overnance needs to ensure
that the architecture components are e5tensible and scalable to adapt to the changing
environments. The e-%overnance applications that are emerging as islands of successes
have to be interoperable. 3ollowing are some of the suggestions for the successful
transformation=-
&'( Create 7iterac! an" commitment to e-governance at high level-
The most important requirement is a training program for policy ma+ers in 4-
%overnance "0enior .ublic 0ervants#, politicians and IT tas+ force members. The
training program needs to be focused according to the requirements of the policy ma+ers
at the top. 0uch programs can be need based and outsourced when required. In addition it
should be made mandatory for all the sta+e holders in implementation and maintenance
of e-governance services to have the general IT s+ills..
&*( Con"uct 1sa%ilit! Surve!s for assessment of e:isting e-governance pro<ects-
There is a varying degree of development of e-governance among the different
states. ) few 0tates have leapfrogged into a digital era whereas a few are yet to start with
any initiative. There is a tremendous divergence in the e5tent of implementation of the
concept of e-%overnance.
&,( Starting /ith implementation of pilot pro<ects an" replicating the successful ones
The pilot pro$ects ta+en in various states should be accessed for their achievement
levels. They should be classified as success or failure according to the desired output
written down before implementation of the pro$ects. The study should be carried out by
an independent agency for the implementation agency. 7ottlenec+s and causes of delays
should be documented, even though they are removed later. The successful pro$ects
should be replicated over the nation with members drawn from the implementing team.
&-( ?ollo/ the +est #ractices in e-governance -
The study of 7est .ractices will bring forward the best practices being followed
nationally and internationally. The national and international 7est .ractices study will
give a great momentum to the process of 4-%overnance. The 0tate %overnments will not
have to re-invent wheel every time and they can learn from the developments already
made.
&0( ave clearl! "efine" )nteropera%ilit! polic!-
The e>governance architecture needs to ensure that the components are scalable
and adaptable to the future requirements. It has also to ensure that the ,ocal architecture
fits into the 0tate level and the same into National and %lobal architecture.
Interoperability is a ma$or criterion while defining the architecture.
&2( @anage an" 1p"ate content on govt; /e%sites efficientl! an" regularl!-
/ontent is the ?heart? of any IT pro$ect. The govt. agency has to +eep in mind
some of the important technical guidelines, while developing the software and
computeri6ation, to facilitate the future integration. The department also needs to address
the security of transactions and messages. The govt. agencies must ensure that the data on
the sites is always updated and relevant.
etails-
@a$ 0ingh ;adav
@eference websites-A@,
&#http=BBwor+space.unpan.orgBsitesBinternetBdocumentsB
*# www.egov india .org/ egovernance paper.doc
3) yojana
4) arc.gov.in/11threp/ARC_11thReport_Ch4.pdf