 E- Governance:

 Introduction to E-Governance,
 Provisions under IT Act,
 E-Governance Initiatives under the IT Act,
 Maintenance of Service Levels in E-Governance.
 Anirudh Rastogi cybercrime:
The application of information technology and communication for the purpose of
governance is commonly known as e-governance. Through e-governance, information
can be distributed to the public in a transparent manner.
MEANING OF E-GOVERNANCE
E-governance may be understood as the performance of the governance via the electronic
medium in order to facilitate an efficient, speedy and transparent process of disseminating
information to the public, and other agencies and for performing government administration
activities. It refers to the application of information technology to the processes of
government functioning in order to bring more transparency, openness and resulting in less
bureaucracy. The term E-Government and E-Governance are Inter related.
In India, there are many e-initiatives taken by Central Government, various State
Governments and Municipal Corporations. A few examples are:
 Internet reservation facility by the Indian Railways.
 Mandatory e-filing of income tax returns.
 On-line registration of Limited Liability Partnership and Companies through Ministry of
Corporate Affairs Portal.
 e-Portal for pensioners to lodge their grievances.
 Digi Locker: Digi Locker is a secure cloud based platform for storage, sharing and
verification of documents and certificates. Digi Locker is one of the key initiatives under the
Digital India programme.
 Jeevan Pramaan: Jeevan Pramaan facilitates pensioners. It is AADHAR based Digital Life
Certificate for Pensioners.
 National Services Portal, India.gov.in has been launched for birth, death, marriage
certificate etc.
 e-Hospital Project/Online Registration System (ORS): The ORS portal is patient interface
of e-hospital for citizens to book online appointment.
What is e-Governance?
Electronic governance or e-governance is adopted by countries across the world. In a fast-
growing and demanding economy like India, e-governance has become essential. The rapid
growth of digitalisation has led to many governments across the globe to introduce and
incorporate technology into governmental processes. Electronic governance or e-governance
can be defined as the usage of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) by the
government to provide and facilitate government services, exchange of information,
communication transactions and integration of various standalone systems and services.
In other words, it is the use of technology to perform government activities and achieve the
objectives of governance. Through e-governance, government services are made available to
citizens and businesses in a convenient, efficient and transparent manner. Examples of e-
governance include Digital India initiative, National Portal of India, Prime Minister of India
portal, Aadhaar, filing and payment of taxes online, digital land management systems,
Common Entrance Test etc.
Types of interactions in e-Governance
e-Governance can take place in four major types of interactions, apart from the processes and
interactions in the back-office, within the government framework:
Government to Government (G2G)
Information is exchanged within the government i.e., either, between the central government,
state government and local governments or between different branches of the same
government.
Government to Citizen (G2C)
The citizens have a platform through which they can interact with the government and get
access to the variety of public services offered by the Government.
Government to Businesses (G2B)
The businesses are able to interact with the government seamlessly with respect to the
services of the government offered to businesses
Government to Employees (G2E)
The interaction between the government and its employees occurs in an efficient and speedy
manner.
E-Governance is a SMART Governance
E-governance in its true sense means the application of Information and Communication
Technology to government functioning in order to create 'Simple, Moral, Accountable,
Responsive, and Transparent' (SMART) governance.
S- The use of Information and Communication Technology brings simplicity in governance
through on-line service delivery. e.g., on- line ticket booking, on-line submission of
documents etc.
M- E-governance is moral. It reduces the moral hazard of no response or delayed response to
public grievance or request.
A-It makes government agencies accountable.
R- It makes government agencies accountable and responsive because non-compliance makes
authority concerned answerable for any such non-compliance. It is easy to detect
noncompliance and fix answerability, therefore, the response time of such services is very
fast.
T- Online availability of the information makes government functioning transparent.
Therefore, it is rightly said that E-governance is SMART governance.
E-GOV HISTORY
The term e-Government (e-Gov) emerged in the late 1990s, but the history of computing in
government organizations can be traced back to the beginnings of computer history. A
literature on “IT in government” goes back at least to the 1970s [Kraemer, et al, 1978,
Danziger and Andersen, 2002]. This literature concerns IT use within government, while the
recent e-Gov literature more often concerns external use, such as services to the citizens [Ho,
2002]. While some earlier e-Gov computer issues, such as office automation, may not be
highly relevant to research today, many issues are, for example decision making, service
processes, and values. As we shall see in Section IV, all definitions of e-Gov go beyond
services to the citizen to include organizational change and the role of government.
Therefore, the two strands of literature need to be considered together as the basis of the e-
Gov field.
History of e-governance
Recognizing the increasing importance of electronics, the GoI established the Department of
Electronics in 1970. The subsequent establishment of the NIC [9] in 1977 was the first major
step towards e-governance in India as it brought ‘information’ and its communication to
focus. In the early 1980s, the use of computers was confined to very few organizations. The
advent of personal computers brought the storage, retrieval and processing capacities of
computers to government offices. By the late 1980s, a large number of government officers
had computers but they were mostly used for ‘word processing’. Gradually, with the
introduction of better software, computers were put to other uses like managing databases and
processing information. Advances in communications technology further improved the
versatility and reach of computers, and many government departments started using ICT for a
number of applications like tracking the movement of papers and files, monitoring of
development programmes, processing of employees’ pay rolls, generation of reports etc. The
main thrust for e-governance was provided by the launching of NICNET in 1987 – the
national satellite-based computer network. This was followed by the launch of the District
Information System programme of the National Informatics Centre (DISNIC) to computerize
all district offices in the country for which free hardware and software was offered to the
State Governments.
The concept of e-governance has its origins in India during the seventies with a focus on the
development of in-house government applications in the areas of defense, economic
monitoring, planning and the deployment of IT to manage data intensive functions related to
elections, census, tax administration etc. The efforts of the NIC to connect all the district
headquarters during the eighties was a very significant development. From the early nineties,
IT technologies were supplemented by ICT technologies to extend its use for wider sectoral
applications with policy emphasis on reaching out to rural areas and taking in greater inputs
from NGOs and the privatesector as well. There has been an increasing involvement of
international donor agencies under the framework of ‘e-governance for development’ to
catalyze the development of e-governance laws and technologies in developing countries.
e-governance in India has reached the ‘transactional’ stage and provides various services to
citizens and business and government organizations and is dispensed by central government
agencies and different state government departments. The National e-Governance Plan
(NeGP), initiated in 2006, attempts to make all Government services accessible to the
common man in his locality, through CSCs being set up across India. As on April 2011,
about 94,786 CSCs were operational with different brand names and delivering services to
the people. The rural landscape in India is set to take advantage of the flourishing ICT
initiatives, through various institutions, more specifically the CSCs. They will offer services
in local languages that make a difference in the lives of the rural people. The major focus of
egovernance in the www.indg.in portal is to support the ongoing e-governance movement in
India by providing a one stop information access to available online citizen services, to state
specific e-governance initiatives and to build awareness about online legal services, mobile
governance, RTI etc.
ORIGIN
Just like the term e-Commerce, the term e-Government was born out of the Internet boom.
However, it is not limited to Internet use or publicly accessible systems for direct use by
customers or citizens. e-Gov started as a practitioner field, basically convening practitioners
struggling to meet the new challenges of the Internet medium by implementing new systems
creatively. For example, in the United States the (then) Vice President Gore led the National
Performance Review, which placed a strong emphasis on the role of e-government in federal
services [Gore, 1993; Salem, 2003].
The e in e governance stands for electronic Governance refers to lawful rules for
management, control and administration. E governance is a public sector, use of information
and communication technologies with aim of improving information and service delivery
encouraging the citizen to participate in decision making process and making the government
more accountable, transparent and effective.
E governance generally considered as a wider concept than E government, since it bring
change in the way of citizen, relate to government and to each other. E governance can bring
the concept of citizenship. It's objectives is to enable, engage and empower the citizen.
E governance means application of electronic means in the interaction between:
 Government and citizen
 Citizen and government
 Government and business
 Business and government
 Internal government operation
Objectives of E governance:
E governance is not only providing information about the various activities and
organisations of the government but it involves citizens to communicate with government
and participate in decisions-making process.
  Putting government rules and regulations online.
 Putting information relating to government plans, budget, expenditures and
performances online.
 Putting online key judicial decision like environment decision etc, which is
important for citizen and create precedence for future actions.
 Making available contact addresses of local, regional, national and international
officials online.
 Filing of grievances and recieving feedback from the citizens.
 Making available the reports of enquiry committees or commission online.
 To support and simplify governance for government, citizens, and businesses.
 To make government administration more transparent and accountable while
addressing the society’s needs and expectations through efficient public services
and effective interaction between the people, businesses, and government.
 To reduce corruption in the government.
 To ensure speedy administration of services and information.
 To reduce difficulties for business, provide immediate information and enable
digital communication by e-business.
While e-governance provides the advantages of convenience, efficiency and transparency, it
also has problems associated with it. They are as follows:
 Lack of computer literacy: India is still a developing country and a vast majority of
the citizens lack computer literacy which hinders the effectiveness of e-governance.
 Lack of accessibility to the internet or even computers in some parts of the country is
a disadvantage to e-governance.
 e-Governance results in a loss of human interaction. As the system becomes more
mechanised, lesser interaction takes place among people.
 It gives rise to the risk of personal data theft and leakage.
 e-Governance leads to a lax administration. The service provider can easily provide
excuses for not providing the service on technical grounds such as “server is down” or
“internet is not working”, etc.
Role of ICT in e-governance
e-governance is the application of ICT for delivering government services, exchange of
information, communication transactions, integration of various stand-alone systems and
services between G2C, G2B as well as back-office processes and interactions within the
entire government frame work.
e-governance promotes more efficient and effective government, facilitates more
accessible government services, allows greater public access to information, and makes
government more accountable to citizens.
e-government has emerged beyond electronic service delivery and is a part of the ongoing
reform and transformation of government enabling participatory governance and
partnerships to improve efficiency and effectiveness.
ICTs are effectively throwing up new dimensions to old institutional setups. ICT plays a
critical role in sustainable human development and poverty eradication. It is a powerful
 enabler of development goals because of the way in which it improves communication
and the exchange of knowledge and information necessary for development processes.
ICTs also play a critical role in speeding up the flow of information and knowledge
between government and citizens and transforming the way in which governments and
citizens interact. Governments in many parts of the world have made huge ICT
investments aimed at improving governance processes. It goes without saying that the
impact of ICT on institutional changes is fast spreading across the boundaries of social
and political arrangements of societies.
e-governance is regarded as the ICT-enabled route to achieving good governance The
expected benefits of such public sector reforms have been identified a an increase in the
efficiency of government operations by strengthening democracy, enhancing
transparency, and providing better services to citizens and businesses.
Through e-governance, government services will be made available to citizens in a
convenient, efficient and transparent manner. The government being the service provider,
it is important to motivate the employees to deliver the services through ICT. To achieve
this, government employees are being trained on technology and have started realizing
the advantage of ICT.
The aim is to make them thorough with e governance applications and responsive to
technology driven administration. ICT is the biggest enabler of change and process
reforms with minimum resistance. Decades of attempts to reform government and its
processes fade in the face of what ICT has achieved in few years. People did not so
readily accept process change but in the name of ICT they do.
The main role of ICT for governance is as follows
 Improve the quality of governance products and services being currently provided
 Provide new governance services and products
 Enhance the participation of the people in the choice & provision of governance
products & services
 Bring new sections of society under the governance sphere including those who are
most likely to remain excluded - namely the poor, the illiterate, the differently abled,
the indigenous people, the migrants and displaced people
ICT is an instrument to enable and empower government to reform citizenry.
egovernance is about transforming government to be more citizen-centered through IT. e-
governance and ICT are seen as elements of a larger government modernization program.
Success of e-governance depends on how government works, how it deals with
information and how officials view their jobs and interact with the public. Achieving e-
governance success requires active partnerships between government, citizens and the
private sector. Leaders should also think about how to harness technology to achieve their
objectives for reform.

How E governance is different from E government?

E governance is a broader concept that deals with the whole spectrum of the relationship and
network within the government regarding the usage and application of ICT (Information and
communication technologies).
E government is a narrower discipline dealing with the development of online government
services to the citizen and businesses such as E tax, E transportation, E participation amongst
others.
E governance under IT Act, 2000: Electronic governance dealt under sections 4 to 10A
of the IT act, 2000.
PROVISIONS TO FACILITATE E-GOVERNANCE
The IT Act contains the following provisions to facilitate e-governance:
1. Legal Recognition of Electronic Records (Sec. 4): Sec. 4 provides that the legal
requirement of any information or matter being in writing or typewritten or printed is deemed
to be satisfied if such information or matter is:
(i) rendered or made available in electronic form; and
(ii) accessible so as to be usable for a subsequent reference.
This section has made electronic records as a functional equivalent of hand written
records.
2. Legal Recognition of Electronic Signature (Sec. 5): Where any law provides that
information or any other matter shall be authenticated by affixing the signature or any
document shall be signed or bear the signature of any person, then, such requirement shall be
deemed to have been satisfied, if such information or matter is authenticated by means of
electronic signature affixed in such manner as may be prescribed by the Central Government.
This section has made electronic signatures as a functional equivalent of hand written
signatures. In simple words digitally signed contract would be valid and legal in the eyes
of law.
3. Use of Electronic Records and Electronic Signatures in the Government Offices and
its Agencies (Sec. 6): Sec. 6 lays down the foundation of electronic governance. As per
Sec.6, where any law provides for -
a) the filing of any form, application or any other document with any office, authority, body
or agency owned or controlled by the appropriate Government in a particular manner;
b) the issue or grant of any licence, permit, sanction or approval by whatever name called in a
particular manner; ( approval leli ho)
c) the receipt or payment of money in a particular manner, then, notwithstanding anything
contained in any other law for the time being in force, such requirement shall be deemed to
have been satisfied, if such filing, issue, grant, receipt or payment, as the case may be, is
affected by means of such electronic form as may be prescribed by the appropriate
Government. ( gov ko money deni ho ya money receive krni ho )
Accordingly, the appropriate Government may prescribe: (i) the manner and format in which
such electronic records shall be filed, created or issued; and (ii) the manner or method of
payment of any fee or charges for such purposes.
It creates an effective e-governance model.
4. Delivery of Services by Service Provider [Inserted Vide IT (Amendment) Act, 2008
(Sec. 6A)]: As per this Section the Appropriate Government may authorise service providers
for providing efficient services through electronic means to the public against appropriate
service charges. Further, the Appropriate Government may, by notification in the Official
Gazette, specify the scale of service charges to be charged by the service providers, which
may be different for different types of services.

Who is included in service provider :

Individual, pvt, agency pvt company partnership firm, sole proprietor firm, or any other body
Insurance company etc.
5. Retention of Electronic Records (Sec. 7): Where any law provides that documents,
records or information shall be retained for any specific period, then that requirement shall be
deemed to have been satisfied if such documents, records or information are retained in the
electronic form, if:
(a) the information contained therein remains accessible so as to be usable for a subsequent
reference;
(b) the electronic record is retained in the format in which it was, or can be demonstrated to
represent accurately the information originally generated, sent or received;
(Court mai surety record furnish kiye, surety ne apni imformation electronic form mai di h to
court kese accept kregi jese hardcopy mai di ho)
(c) the details which facilitate the identification of the origin, destination, date and time of
dispatch or receipt of such electronic record are available in the electronic record.
Exeption
But the above rule does not apply to any information which is automatically generated solely
for the purpose of enabling an electronic record to be dispatched or received. (otp no.)
Further, this rule does not apply to any law that expressly provides for retention of
documents, records or information in the form of electronic records.

6. Audit of Documents, Records or Information Maintained in Electronic Form

[Inserted vide IT (Amendment) Act, 2008 (Sec. 7A)] : The legal requirement for audit of
documents, records or information shall also be applicable for the audit of documents,
records or information processed and maintained in the electronic form.
7. Publication of Rule, Regulation, etc. in Electronic Gazette (Sec. 8): This requirement
will be deemed as satisfied if such rule, regulation, order, byelaw, notification or any other
matter is published in electronic form i.e., Electronic Gazette. Electronic Gazette (available at
egazette.nic.in) shall be equivalent of Official Gazette.
8. Secs.6, 7 and 8 not to Confer Right to Insist that Document shall be Accepted in
Electronic Form (Sec. 9): This section provides that provisions contained in Secs 6, 7 and 8
shall not confer a right upon any person to insist that any Ministry or Department of the
Central Government or the State Government or any authority or body established by or
under any law or controlled or funded by the Central or State Government should accept,
issue, create, retain and preserve any document in the form of electronic record or effect any
monetary transaction in the electronic form. The rationale behind this provision is that the
government and its agencies are still in the process of implementing IT processes.
9. Power of the Central Government to make Rules in Respect of Electronic Signature
(Sec. 10): The Central Government may, for the purpose of this Act, by rules, prescribe:
(a) type of electronic signature;
(b) manner and format of affixation of electronic signature;
(c) procedure for identification of person affixing the electronic signature (e authentication
technique using Aadhar, e-KYC services was allowed to be used by insertion in the second
schedule with effect from 28th January, 2015. However, w.e.f., Ist March, 2019 Aadhar e-
KYC services or e-KYC services are used).
(d) control processes and procedures to ensure adequate integrity, security and confidentiality
of e-records or e-payments;
(e) any other matter which is necessary to give legal effect to electronic signature.
10. Validity of Contracts formed through Electronic Means [Inserted Vide IT
(Amendment) Act, 2008 (Sec. 10A)]: Where in a contract formation, the communication of
proposals, the acceptance of proposals, the revocation of proposals and acceptances, as the
case may be, are expressed in electronic form or by means of an electronic record, such
contract shall not be deemed to be unenforceable solely on the ground that such electronic
form or means was used for that purpose. This section provides legally binding character to e-
commerce activities.
The Information Technology Act by making provisions for legal recognition of
Electrionic Records, Electronic Signatures, E-Contracts, Retention of records in
Electronic Form, Audit of Records maintained in Electronic Form and Publication of
Rules in E-Gazette creates strong architecture for E-Governance.

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.

E-GOVERNANCE IN THE INDIAN CONTEXT

e-Governance in India is a recently developed concept. The launch of National Satellite-
Based Computer Network (NICENET) in 1987 and subsequent launch of the District
Information System of the National Informatics Centre (DISNIC) programme to computerise
all district offices in the country for which free hardware and software was offered to the
State Governments provided the requisite impetus for e-governance.
e-Governance thereafter developed with the growth of technology. Today, there are a large
number of e-Governance initiatives, both at the Union and State levels. In 2006, the National
e-Governance Plan (NeGP) was formulated by the Department of Electronics and
Information Technology and Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances
that aims at making all government services accessible to the common man, ensure
efficiency, transparency and reliability of such services at affordable costs to realise the basic
needs of the common man.
The NeGP has enabled many e-governance initiatives like:
 Digital India was launched in 2015 to empower the country digitally. Its main
components are:
1. Developing a secure and stable digital infrastructure
2. Delivering government services digitally
3. Achieving universal digital literacy.
National e-governance Plan (NeGP)
The NeGP is an enormous step towards making the government accessible to citizens, in
ways that not only save huge costs to the government but also make it more transparent and
efficient in its day-to-day interactions with the common man. To that effect, the role of the
common services centers, envisaged as the front-end delivery network for government
services assumes great significance. Over the years, a large number of initiatives have been
undertaken by various state governments and central ministries to usher in an era of e-
government. Sustained efforts have been made at multiple levels to improve the delivery of
public services and simplify the process of accessing them. NeGP takes a holistic view of e-
governance initiatives across the country, integrating them into a collective vision, a shared
cause. Around this idea, a massive countrywide infrastructure is evolving reaching down to
the remotest of villages, and large-scale digitization of records is taking place to enable easy,
reliable access over the internet. The ultimate objective is to bring public services closer
home to citizens, as articulated in the vision statement of NeGP. The government approved
the National e-governance Plan [11] comprising of 27 MMPs and 8 components, on May 18,
2006. The government has accorded approval to the vision, approach, strategy, key
components, implementation methodology, and management structure for NeGP. The
existing or ongoing projects in the MMP category, being implemented by various Central
Ministries, States, and State Departments would be suitably augmented and enhanced to align
with the objectives of the NeGP.
Vision of NeGP
The National e-Governance Plan has been launched with the aim of improving delivery of
government services to citizens and businesses and is guided by its vision. The vision
statement clearly underlines accessibility, common service delivery outlets and successful
implementation of e-governance applications by improving quality to satisfy its citizens. The
vision has been designed keeping the rural population in mind. The need is to reach those
sections of the society which have remained tangential to the government sphere due to
various reasons like geographical challenges and lack of awareness. At present, citizens
especially those living in remote rural areas have to travel long distances to avail a service
through a government department or its local offices. This is a time-consuming and costly
affair for the common man. To overcome this problem, as part of the NeGP, one computer
and internet enabled CSC is envisaged to be set up for every six villages so that villagers can
easily avail these services. These CSCs are envisaged to offer online integrated service
delivery on ‘Anytime, Anywhere’ basis. The use of ICT will enable the government to reach
citizens thereby improving governance. This will also enable an improvement in the
monitoring and implementing of various government schemes thereby increasing the
accountability and transparency in government. e-governance helps in attaining this vision
through the provision of citizen centric service delivery at nominal cost, and thereby
providing better turnaround times and convenience in demanding and availing services.
Hence, the vision is to use e-governance as the route for governments to strengthen good governance.
All services provided through the various e-governance initiatives are expected to assist the
government at the Central and State levels in reaching the yet ‘unreached’ citizenry and enable the
involvement and empowerment of marginalized groups through their participation in the government
processes thereby contributing towards poverty reduction and bridging the sharp social and economic
divide.

National e-governance Model The Government of India has taken a pro-active role to provide
e-enabled services to citizens through e-governance. GoI has also come up with a similar
model like Gartner’s for its e-governance initiative. According to the NeGP, the e-governance
model adopted by GoI is as follows
In the first stage, information is collected and is made available to citizens in the form of
websites; this information is collected regularly and updated. Then comes the communication
stage, that is, citizens will be able to download forms, contact officials and make
appointments and requests online which previously would have been only possible with long
queues near counters. Internally the government organizations can use LAN, WAN, intranet
and e-mail to exchange information. The third stage is the transaction stage where citizens
can do transactions with the government online, that is pay bills, reserve tickets online,
finalizes decisions etc., without going to government offices. The fourth and final stage is the
integrated stage where a total seamless integration of e-functions and services across
administrative and departmental boundaries takes place. Now the citizen can interact with the
government at a single point and can transact with the government. Currently India is
somewhere between Stage 2 and Stage 3, that is, some government transactions can be done
online and most information about different departments is available online for citizens.
All the information regarding the government and its transactions is available on a central
portal called “The e-India portal”. This portal is internally connected to different Government
of India portals and different state portals. All transactions related to G2G, G2C and G2B
take place through this portal. This portal is connected through the Internet, LAN, WAN and
Intranet for government organizations. The connectivity will be through the internet, mobile
telephone networks, wireless networks, home PCs, integrated CSCs, kiosks and DTVs for
citizens and businesses
Aadhaar is a unique identification number issued by UIDAI that serves as proof of identity
and address on the basis of biometric data. It is being used to provide many benefits to the
members of the society. One can e-sign documents using Aadhar.
myGov.in is a national citizen engagement platform where people can share ideas and be
involved with matters of policy and governance.
UMANG is a Unified Mobile Application which provides access to central and state
government services including Aadhar, Digital Locker, PAN, Employee Provident Fund
services, etc.
Digital Locker helps citizens digitally store important documents like mark sheets, PAN,
Aadhar, and degree certificates. This reduces the need for physical documents and facilitates
easy sharing of documents.
Pay Gov facilitates online payments to all public and private banks.
Mobile Seva aims at providing government services through mobile phones and tablets. The
m-App store has over 200 live applications which can be used to access various government
services.
Computerisation of Land Records ensures that landowners get digital and updated copies
of documents relating to their property.
In addition to the above, State level e-governance initiatives include:
 E-Seva (Andhra Pradesh) facilitates payment of utility bills, issuance of
certificates, licenses and permits.
 Khajane Project (Karnataka) digitalized the treasury system of the state.
 FRIENDS (Kerala) is a single-window facility to pay taxes and other financial
dues to the State government.
 Lokvani Project (Uttar Pradesh) is a single-window solution relating to the
handling of grievances, land record maintenance and providing a mixture of
essential services.
e-Governance Portal of India
The Indian e-governance portal is https://nceg.gov.in. On this portal, one can get
comprehensive information regarding the National Conference on e-Governance and
reports on earlier conferences.
Additionally, the portal provides links to the following important pages:
 Digital India
 National Portal of India: It is developed to provide access to information and
services being provided by the government
  PM India Website: provides information relating to the Prime Minister’s Office.
 United Nations e-governance website
Initiatives Taken for e-Governance in India
Bhoomi Project (Karnataka): Online Delivery of Land Records :
Bhoomi is a self-sustainable e-Governance project for the computerized delivery of 20
million rural land records to 6.7 million farmers of Karnataka.
KHAJANE (Karnataka): End-to-end automation of Government Treasury System
 ‘Government-to-Government (G2G) e-Governance initiative of the Karnataka
State Government.
 It has been implemented mainly to eliminate systemic deficiencies in the manual
treasury system and for the efficient management of state finances.
e-Seva (Andhra Pradesh)
 Designed to provide ‘Government to Citizen’ and ‘e-Business to Citizen’ services.
 All the services are delivered online to consumers /citizens by connecting them to the
respective government departments and providing online information at the point of
service delivery.
 The project has become very popular among the citizens especially for the payment of
utility bills.
e-Courts
 Launched by the Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice.
 The Mission Mode Project (MMP) aims at utilizing technology for improved
provisioning of judicial services to citizens
e-District
 Launched by the Department of Information Technology.
 The MMP aims at delivery of high volume, citizen-centric services at the District
level such as the issue of birth/death certificate, income and caste certificates, old
age and widow pension, etc.
MCA21
Launched by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
The project aims to provide electronic services to the Companies registered under the
Companies Act.
Various online facilities offered includes allocation and change of name, incorporation,
online payment of registration charges, change in address of registered office, viewing of
public records and other related services.
e-Office
 Launched by the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances.
  The MMP aims at significantly improving the operational efficiency of the
Government by transitioning to a "Less Paper Office".
 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.
 DigiLocker: It serves as a platform to enable citizens to securely store and share
their documents with service providers who can directly access them electronically.
 e-Hospital-Online Registration Framework (ORF): It is an initiative to facilitate
the patients to take online OPD appointments with government hospitals. This
framework also covers patient care, laboratory services and medical record
management.
 National Scholarships Portal (NSP): It provides a centralized platform for
application and disbursement of scholarship to students under any scholarship
scheme.
 DARPAN: It is an online tool that can be used to monitor and analyze the
implementation of critical and high priority projects of the State.

o 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.
 PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance And Timely Implementation): It has
been aimed at starting a culture of Pro-Active Governance and Timely
Implementation.

o It is also a robust system for bringing e-transparency and e-

accountability with real-time presence and exchange among the key
stakeholders.
o It was launched in 2015.
 Common Services Centres 2.0 (CSC 2.0): It is being implemented to develop
and provide support to the use of information technology in rural areas of the
country.

o 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.
 Mobile Seva: It provides government services to the people through mobile
phones and tablets.
 Jeevan Pramaan: It is an Aadhaar based Biometric Authentication System for
Pensioners.

o 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).
 National Centre of Geo-informatics (NCoG): Under this project, Geographic
Information System (GIS) platform for sharing, collaboration, location based
analytics and decision support system for Departments has been developed.
 National e-Governance Plan (NeGP): It takes a holistic view of e-Governance
initiatives across the country, integrating them into a collective vision and a
shared cause.

o 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.
e-Healthcare: e-Healthcare would cover online medical consultation, online medical records,
online medicine supply, pan-India exchange for patient information, etc.
Farmers: This would facilitate farmers to get real-time price information, online ordering of
inputs and online cash, loan, and relief payment with mobile banking.
Security: Mobile-based emergency services and disaster-related services would be provided
to citizens on a real-time basis so as to take precautionary measures well in time and
minimize loss of lives and properties.
Financial Inclusion: Financial inclusion shall be strengthened using mobile banking, Micro-
ATM program, and CSCs/ Post Offices.
Justice: Interoperable Criminal Justice System shall be strengthened by leveraging several
related applications, i.e. e-Courts, e-Police, e-Jails, and e-Prosecution.
Planning: National GIS Mission Mode Project would be implemented to facilitate GIS-based
decision making for project planning, conceptualization, design, and development.
Cyber Security: National Cyber Security Co-ordination Centre has been set up to ensure a
safe and secure cyber-space within the country.

Some E Governance Projects in India:

In India, the main thrust for E governance was provided by the launching of NICNET in
1987- The National Satellite Based Computer Network. This was followed by the launch of
district information system of national informatics centre programme to computerized all
district offices to the state government.
Parliament of Indian website:
Website of Indian parliament carries information of the parliament, the constitution of India,
various budgets, resume of work, parliamentary debates, committee and members of the
house and links to other central and state government website.
E governance centre at Haryana secretariat:
The Haryana govt has set up E governance centre at the secretariat to effectively monitor
information technology in the state.
Bhoomi:
This project was started by the state of Karnataka which involves computerization of more
than 200 treasuries all over the state and it was mainly for computerization of land record
system.
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.
Cost
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.
Privacy and Security
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.
Digital Divide
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 identifying and 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.
e-Governance through regional languages is appreciable for the nations like India where
people from several linguistic backgrounds are the participants.

MAINTENANCE OF SERVICE LEVELS IN E-GOVERNANCE:

Anirudh Rastogi
Legal recognition of record (section 4):
where any law requires that any information should be in the typewritten or printed form then
such requirement shall be deemed to be satisfied if it is an electronic form. Therefore, section
4 confers validity on electronic record.

Legal recognition of electronic signatures (section 5):

Where any law provides that only information or other matters shall be authenticated by
affixing the signature or any document shall be signed or bear the signature of any person,
then such information or matter is authenticated by means of electronic signature affixed in
such manner as may be prescribed by the central government.
Use of electronic records and electronic signature in government and it's agencies
(section 6):
The filling of any form, application or other documents, creation, retention or perseverance of
record, issue or grant of any license or permit or payment in government offices and it's
agencies may be done through the means of electronic form.

Delivery of services by service provider (section 6A):

For the purpose of E governance and for efficient delivery of services to public through
electronic means the appropriate government may, by notification in the official gazette
authorize any service provider to set up, maintain and perform such other services as as it
may specify.

Retention of electronic records (section 7):

The documents, records or information which to be retained for any specified period shall be
deemed to have been retained if the same is retained in the electronic form provided the
following conditions are satisfied:
 The information remains accessible so as to be usable subsequently.
 The electronic records are retained in its original format which accurately represent
the information contained.
 The detail which will facilitate the identification of the origin, destination, dates and
time of receipt of such electronic records are available there in.

Audit of documents etc. Maintained in electronic form (section 7A):

where any law for time being in force contains provision for audit of documents, record or
information, then such provision shall also be applicable for audit of documents, records or
information processed and maintain in electronic records.

Publication of rule, regulation etc in electronic gazette (section 8):

Where any law provides that any rule, regulation, order, bye law, notification or any other
matter shall be published in official gazette, then such requirements shall be deemed to have
been satisfied if such rule, regulation, order, bye law, notification or any other matter is
published in official gazette or electronic gazette.
No right to insist government office etc to interact in electronic form (section 9):
No right is conferred upon any person to insist any ministry or department of central
government or state government or any authority under any law or controlled or funded by
central or state government should accept, issue, create, retain and preserve any documents in
the form of electronic records or effect any monetary transaction in the electronic form.

Power to make rules by central government in respect of electronic signature (section

10):
The central government may prescribe:
 The type of electronic signature.
 The manner and format in which electronic signature should be affixed.
 The manner which facilitates identification of the person affixing the electronic
signature.
 Control processes and procedure to ensures adequate integrity, security and
confidential of electronic records or payment.
 Any other matter which is necessary to give legal effect to electronic signatures.