E-Governance

Definition of e-Governance:
E-Governance or e-Government refers to government’s 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.

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 • 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 GOVERNANCE
Superstructure functionality
Decisions processes
Rules goals
Rules performance
Implementation coordination
Outputs outcomes
e-Government e-Governance
electronic service delivery electronic consultation
electronic workflow electronic controllership
electronic voting electronic engagement
electronic productivity 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

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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

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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 business-
centric 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 One-
stop-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.

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 • 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

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 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:

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+ 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

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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

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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 e-
government 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.

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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 e-
governance 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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