E-GOVERNANCE A STEP TOWARDS DEMOCRACY

 

Reshmi Sarkar, IT for Change, Bangalore

Imagine a situation in which all transactions with government can be done through one counter without having to wait in long queues. This is one of the many visions envisaged by the concept of electronic or e-governance. The objective of e-governance is to support and simplify governance for all parties - government, citizens and businesses. In e-governance, information technology supports and stimulates good governance through better public service delivery to individual citizens and businesses, transparency in information, and easier citizen access to authorities.

While strides in computing ushered in easier systems for data processing for information in government offices, the advent of the Internet took government-citizen interfaces to hitherto unexplored levels. The `believers of the power of the Internet view it as the catalyst of institutional and process leapfrogging, as it possesses the competence to make governments more accountable to people. The Internet they opine is uniquely suited for public affairs and public interest communications in a manner unlike any other existing medium, as it keeps everybody informed at all times; and since governance stands on the edifice of accountability, the Internet could prove to be a faithful ally, especially in ending official secrecy about information and in mitigating corruption in public life. The Internet is considered to be a manageable deployment of e-governance that allows governments to network heterogeneous processes and technology environments within a single framework.

 

E-Governance in India

 

In India the concept of "e-governance" began with National Informatics Centres efforts to connect all the district headquarters through computers in the 1980s. This has typically included connectivity, networking, technology up gradation, selective delivery systems for information and services and an array of software solutions. Recently, the working group on convergence and e-governance of the Planning Commission of India has also recommended that the Indian Government earmark US$587 million in addition to the 3 percent plan outlay of each ministry for e-governance and convergence projects during the 10th Five Year Plan (2002-2007).

 

The Planning Commission has proposed that an India portal be set up at a cost of US$21.7 million to serve as a one-stop destination for public access to information on various aspects of government functioning, as well as a single window for delivery of government services. The Planning Commission has also recommended earmarking US$130 million to create a citizens' database through smart cards and IDs. According to a report of the working group on convergence and e-government, the smart card could be used as a multi-purpose card, which will help the citizen interact for utilities and services, make bill payments, vote electronically, and obtain ration cards, passport and driving license.

 

The USA has recently adopted an e-governance Act. In India, the legal framework of information technology is supported by the IT Act 2000. Experts however feel that this Act is not sufficient to deal with e-governance. The IT Act 2000 covers all important issues related to Information Security but it does not have under its preview the new emerging inter-agency cooperation that will be required for an information society. The Internet-based Government services involving inter-agency cooperation are especially difficult to develop and promote, in part because of a lack of sufficient funding mechanisms to support such inter-agency cooperation and the requisite legal framework. Currently all the e-governance initiatives exist as islands of successes and there is a need to make such initiatives inter-operable, through a legal framework that will spell this out.

 

In urban India, e-governance is being deployed primarily to provide public services by way of online payment of bills, taxes, certificates etc. but very few cities and towns have portals that facilitate citizen to government interfaces. In rural India, however the concept of e-governance is being popularised through the tele-centre model, wherein provision of government information and interface with authorities has become an essential ingredient for business viability of the tele-centre. Government records and certificates in the form of income certificates, land records, domicile certificates, caste certificates, below poverty line certificates, landholder's passbook of land rights and loans, on-line submission of applications under various schemes, driving licenses, loan applications, pension applications, birth and death certificates etc., are being provided by telecentres to the public in rural areas.

 

Some Ongoing E-Governance Initiatives

 

Many e-governance initiatives in the country have been spawned off by enthusiastic bureaucrats, who have sought to take IT to people for delivering better governance. One such experiment comes from Hamirpur, Himachal Pradesh. The effort here has been spearheaded by Anuradha Thakur, who used to be Deputy Commissioner of Hamirpur. The services offered include information about vacancies, tenders, market rates, matrimonial services, and village e-mail. People can also file classified complaints. The Lok Mitra Intranet set up at the district headquarters, consists of two Pentium-III-based Servers (Under WindowsNT), with 4 Pentium-III-based Client systems and a Router, set up in a LAN with a hub, in a separate room at the Deputy Commissioners office, Hamirpur, named as Lok Mitra Soochnalaya. A total of 25 panchayats have been identified for setting up Citizen Information Centres (CIC). The project will be extended to cover all the districts of Himachal Pradesh.

 

Lok Mitra was submitted as a project amounting to Rs. 40 lakhs, which was funded by the NABARD. The money was used mainly for hardware. The way the project is running is that it offers local youth an opportunity to run an enterprise. Local youth sign an agreement with the District Lok Mitra Society, and pay a security amount. All the services come for a rate that is fixed by Lok Mitra Society, which is collected by the youth manning the centre from the users. Other than this, the entrepreneur also uses the computer provided, for different services such as typing, Internet browsing etc. The public also uses the Shikayat service.

 

The Madhya Pradesh government is doing some key work in the area of e-governance. The Gyandoot project in MP was initiated in January 2000 by members of the Indian Administrative Services in consultation with various gram panchayats in the Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh. The project has installed a low cost, self-sustainable, and community-owned rural Intranet system (Soochnalay) that caters to the specific needs of village communities in the district. Thirty-five centres have been established since January 2000 and are managed by rural youth selected and trained from amongst the unemployed educated youth of the village. Just like the Hamirpur model, the youth in the Dhar experiment also run the Soochanalays as entrepreneurs (Soochaks) and charge for the services that include agricultural information, market information, health, education, women's issues, and applications for services delivered by the district administration related to land ownership, affirmative action, and poverty alleviation. Kiosks are connected to the Intranet through dial-up lines. The dial-up lines being currently used are to be replaced by wireless connections using CorDECT technology. The Soochanalays have been equipped with Pentium multimedia colour computer along with dot matrix printers. The user interface is menu-based with information presented in the local Hindi language. The features of the Gyandoot software are continuously being updated. The project has now been replicated in 20 districts. Replication of Gyandoot-type service for urban areas has begun with Municipal Bodies in Indore and Bhopal introducing the same.

 

Headstart, another grassroots initiative from MP is a programme for computer-enabled education in rural elementary schools to improve quality of learning. R. Gopalakrishnan, Secretary to CM and Mission Coordinator of the Headstart programme says, Headstart is not merely a programme for computer literacy but uses computers to build multi-media rich lessons to push frontiers of learning. It supplements the teacher and does not supplant her. Started with 648 schools and now with 2070 more schools added in June 2003, it is India's largest programme for computer-enabled learning at middle school level. It seeks to bridge the digital divide and takes computer-based learning to rural schools. Headstart produces its own educational software. Lessons are based on curriculum mapping and identification of "hard spots" of learning. Teachers are trained to handle the software and over 11,000 teachers have been trained. Hardware consists of three computers and a printer per Headstart unit. Headstart has gone in for using open source software in the second phase of 2070 schools, the first major user of OSS.

 

 

Other e-governance works of the MP include computerisation of land records; computerisation of commercial taxes for VAT (Value Addition Tax); computerisation of transport (issuance of driver licenses and motor vehicles on smart card is being carried out); and computerisation of treasuries. Web sites have also been created for departments/agencies of government.

 

Giving his insight into the current e-governance scenario in India and about the promises that the future holds, Gopalakrishnan says, The key point is that it (e-governance) is now a play in the margins. But we only have demos and showcases that have not gone to scale. There is no comprehensive ICT for Development framework in policy; no involvement of users at GOI level. The entire effort is driven by the IT Ministry whose competence is telecom. Without cheap computers, broadband connectivity and Open Source Software how can India reach ICT benefits to people? Tremendous opportunities exist in potential, but there is no comprehensive policy framework to make it happen.

 

Located in the eastern part of Gujarat, Panchmahals is a backward district with a significant tribal populace.  With eleven talukas, six towns and 1212 villages, the district has its headquarters at Godhra.  The total population of the district as per the 2001 census is 20.24 lakhs. With the basic goals of Transparency and Right to Information, it was proposed to empanel STD/PCO (Subscriber Trunk Dialling/ Public Call Office) booths having basic computer facilities located in different villages /towns of the district to function as centres for dissemination of information, forms and services (also known as Mahiti Shakti Kendras).  The Collectorate of Godhra headed by Jayanthi Ravi, IAS, held discussions with the Concept Centre for Electronic Governance (CCEG) of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) in October 2000 to develop a proof of concept portal for enabling Citizen to Government (C-G) and Government to
Citizen (G-C) transactions using Information Technology as a medium. On October 4th 2001, the proof of concept project was launched in 14 STD/PCOs of the district.

An Internet portal, providing these services has been developed.  Static data is also provided in a CD facilitating quick, easy and low cost access to data and information, given the bottlenecks of Internet connectivity and cost of telephone calls.