STATEMENTOF THE PROBLEM: E-GOVERNANCEIN INDIA: CHALLENGES AND FUTURE PROSPECTSOBJECTIVESOF THE STUDY 1. To provide an overview of e-governance. 2. To examine the scope of e-governance 3. To map e-governance initiative in India. 4.
To evaluate the major challenges andfuture prospects of e-governance in India 5. To make analyse and provideconcluding remarksRESEARCHMETHODOLOGY The present paper is divided into fivesections based on secondary data received from various sources. The presentpaper describes various sections according to the above mentioned objectives. I.
IntroductionE-Governanceis in essence, the application of Information and communication technology togovernment functioning in order to create ‘ Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive and Transparent’ (SMART) governance. E-governance is beyond thescope of e-government. While e-government is defined as a mere delivery ofgovernment services and information to the public using electronic means, e-governance allows direct participation of constituents in governmentactivities. E-Governance is the development, deployment and enforcement of the policies, laws and regulations necessary tosupport the functioning of a Knowledge Society as well as of e-Government. E-governance, meaning ‘ electronic governance’ is using information and communication technologies(ICTs) at various levels of the government and the public sector and beyond, for the purpose of enhancing governance (Bedi, Singh and Srivastava, 2001). Accordingto UNESCO “ E-governance is the public sector’s use of information andcommunication technologies with the aim of improving information and servicedelivery, encouraging citizen participation in the decision-making process andmaking government more accountable, transparent and effective.
E-governanceinvolves new styles of leadership, new ways of debating and deciding policy andinvestment, new ways of accessing education, new ways of listening to citizensand new ways of organizing and delivering information and services. E-governance is generally considered as a wider concept than e-government, since it can bring about a change in the way citizens relate to governments andto each other. E-governance can bring forth new concepts of citizenship, bothin terms of citizen needs and responsibilities. Its objective is to engage, enable and empower the citizen.” Inthis light, E-governance is not just about government web site and e-mail. Itis not just about service delivery over the Internet.
It is not just aboutdigital access to government information or electronic payments. It will changehow citizens relate to governments as much as it changes how citizens relate toeach other. It will bring forth new concepts of citizenship, both in terms ofneeds and responsibilities. II. E- Governance and its ScopeE-Government offers a number of potential benefitsto citizens. Ndou (2004) stated E-Governancefacilitates better delivery of government services to citizens, improvedinteractions with business and industry, citizen empowerment through access toinformation, or more efficient government management.
It simplifies internaloperations and improves performance of government departments while helping allsections of society to avail government services at lower cost with maximumease of use. By employing online transactions, government processes become morestreamlined, efficient and less dependent on human interaction. Also the costof processing transactions is reduced online, resulting in great savings. Interconnecting various ministries andgovernment departments electronically to share information helps them providebetter governance. Through oneintegrated e-Government portal, citizens and businesses can avail of variousgovernment services, conduct online transactions, access information andinteract with various government bodies without standing in long queues, waiting for office hours or handling lot of paperwork, and thus save time andmoney. Types of Government Interaction ine-governance.· G2G: Government to Government · G2C: Government to Citizen · G2B: Government to Business· G2E: Government to EmployeeG2G – Government to Government: G2G deals with thoseactivities that take place between different government organizations/agencies.
Many of these activities are aimed at improving the efficiency andeffectiveness of overall government operations. Governmentto Citizen (G2C): G2C are those activities in which the government providesone-stop, on-line access to information and services to citizens. G2Capplications enable citizens to ask questions of government agencies andreceive answers; file income taxes; pay taxes; renew driver’s licenses; paytraffic tickets; change their address; and make appointments for vehicleemission inspections etc. In addition, government may disseminate informationon the web; provide downloadable forms online; help citizens find employment; provide tourism and recreation information; provide advice about health andsafety issues etc. Governmentto Business (G2B): In G2B, the government deals with businesses such assuppliers using the Internet and other ICTs. G2B includes two two-wayinteractions and transactions: government-to-business andbusiness-to-government (B2G). B2G refers to businesses selling products andservices to government.
Two key G2B areas are e-procurement and auctioning ofgovernment surpluses Governmentto Employees (G2E): Government is one of the main employers of labour in Indiaand as such engages in a two-way interaction with its employees on a regularbasis. Use of ICT tools helps in making these interactions fast and efficienton the one hand and increasing satisfaction levels of employees on the other. III. E-Governance initiative in India – An overviewIT revolution, a word-wide phenomenon today hasstirred societies and governments to embark upon IT-based social, educationaland administrative processes. India, as one of the pioneering countries in I.
Trevolution has made a great stride in e-governance. Table 1. 1 E-Governance Projects in India 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, Saukaryam, Online Transaction processing Bihar Sales Tax Administration Management Information Chhattisgarh Chhattisgarh Infotech Promotion Society, Treasury office, e-linking project Delhi Automatic Vehicle Tracking System, Computerisation of website of RCS office, Electronic Clearance System, Management Information System for Education etc Goa Dharani Project Gujarat Mahiti Shakti, request for Government documents online, Form book online, G R book online, census online, tender notice. Haryana Nai Disha Himachal Pradesh Lok Mitra Karnataka Bhoomi, Khajane, Kaveri, Mahiti, Smart Card System Kerala e-Srinkhala, RDNet, Fast, Reliable, Instant, Efficient Network for the Disbursement of Services (FRIENDS) Madhya Pradesh Gyandoot, Gram Sampark, Smart Card in Transport Department, Computerization MP State Agricultural Marketing Board (Mandi Board) etc Maharashtra SETU, Online Complaint Management System—Mumbai Rajasthan Jan Mitra, RajSWIFT, Lokmitra, RajNIDHI Tamilnadu Rasi Maiyams–Kanchipuram; Application forms related to public utility, tender notices and display Arunachal Pradesh Community Information Center Manipur, Meghalaya the Meghalaya website under schemes related to Mizoram & Nagaland social welfare, food civil supplies and consumer affairs, housing transport etc.
Source: http://www. ignou. ac. in/upload/B2U2cit-002. pdfIV.
ChallengesOf E-Governance In IndiaMany challenges arefaced by e-government as scholars such as Malik, Dhillon & Verma (2014)have highlighted them and are discussed as follows: 1. Poverty: Accessing Internet is acostly affair for the poor who struggle for their livelihood in developingcountries like India. Required infrastructure in the form of installing thenecessary telephone lines needed for internet or email access is equallyunaffordable in most poor countries.
2. Technical illiteracy: There is general lack of technicalliteracy as well as literacy in countries like India. 3. Language Dominance: The dominance ofEnglish on the internet constrains the access of non-English speakingpopulation. In the case of India, 95 percent of the population does not speakEnglish. Due to such overwhelming dominance of English over these communicationchannels, computers and the internet are quite useless in Indian villages. 4. Unawareness: There is general lack of awarenessregarding benefits of E-Governance as well as the process involved inimplementing successful G-C, G-G and G-B projects.
5. Inequality: Inequality in gaining access to publicsector services between various sections of citizens, especially between urbanand rural communities, between the educated and illiterate, and between therich and poor. 6. Infrastructure: Lack of necessary infrastructure likeelectricity, internet, technology and ways of communications will affect thespeed which delays the implementation. 7. Impediments for the Re-Engineering process: Implementationof E-Governance projects require lots of restructuring in administrativeprocesses, redefining of administrative procedures and formats which finds theresistance in almost all the departments at all the levels. FutureProspects of E-Governance in India Vision and Objectives of the Twelfth FiveYear Plan (2012-17)a. To deliver all Government services inelectronic mode so as to make the Government process transparent, citizencentric, efficient and easily accessible.
b. To break information silos and createshareable resources for all Government entities c. To deliver both informational andtransactional government services over mobiles and promote innovation in mobilegovernance d. To build Shared Service Platforms toaccelerate the adoption of E-Governance and reduce the ? cycle time? ofE-Governance project implementation e. To strengthen and improvesustainability of the existing projects through innovative business models andthrough continuous infusion of advanced technology f.
To promote ethical use of technologyand data and to create a safe and secure E-Governance cyber world g. To create an ecosystem that promotesinnovation in ICT for Governance and for applications that can benefit thecitizens h. To better target the delivery of welfareschemes of the Central and State Governmentsi. To reduce asymmetry in informationavailability, accessibility and ability to utilize the information j. To increase the all round awarenessand create mechanisms that promotes and encourages citizen engagement. k. To make available as much data as possiblein the public domain for productive use by the citizens. Targetsof the Twelfth Five Year Plan (2012-17) with respect to E-Governance a) A National Institute for E-Governance (NIG)would be setup as an autonomous State of the Art National Institute.
NIG willalso train at least 50 employees from Central Government per year on ProjectManagement Certification. b) An E-Governance Innovation andR&D Fund will be created to give adequate impetus to innovation inE-Governance and M-Governance. c) Electronic Delivery of Services (EDS)Bill will be implemented. d) Shared Services Platforms fore-Payment, GIS, call centre, etc. will be created. e) An apps store will be created topromote development of large scale E-Governance and M Governance applications f)At least one person per family in 50% of the families will be targeted toprovide basic IT training in the XII Plan period. g) Cyber Security will be a major focusarea during the Twelfth Five Year Plan Period. h) Training on Basic IT Skills will beintroduced systematically for the existing and all new entrants into Governmentservice.
V. Recommendations · Government has to adopt number ofinitiatives to eradicate ICT illiteracy and emphasized the need forestablishing database centres. · Government has to introduce the benefitsof E-Government to the individuals in rural and urban areas and even amongcivil services sectors which will result in the demand of E-Government facilities.· Government should launch new initiativesthroughout increase number of computer centres and kiosks and provide more ITtraining programs which could result in building information-based society. To conclude, the purpose of implementing e-governance is to improve governance processes and outcomes with a view toimproving the delivery of public services to citizens. E-Government is achannel through which the government interacts with its citizens (e-Citizensand e-Services), improves public service delivery and processes(e-Administration), and builds external interactions (e-Society).