This document discusses electronic governance or e-governance, which refers to the application of information technology to deliver government services efficiently. It can include interactions between government and citizens (G2C), businesses (G2B), other government agencies (G2G), and government employees (G2E). While similar to e-government, e-governance also focuses on governing IT systems and increasing regulation. Examples provided include online tax filing, benefits applications, remote voting, and information portals. Challenges to effective e-governance include unequal internet access and a lack of digital skills among some groups.
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Electronic governance
1. Electronic governance or e-governance is the application of IT for delivering government
services, exchange of information, communication transactions, integration of various stand-
alone systems between government to citizen (G2C), government-to-business (G2B),
government-to-government (G2G), Government-to-employees (G2E) as well as back-
office processes and interactions within the entire government framework.[1]
Through e-
governance, government services are made available to citizens in a convenient, efficient, and
transparent manner. The three main target groups that can be distinguished in governance
concepts are government, citizens, and businesses/interest groups. In e-governance, there are
no distinct boundaries,[2]
finance and support.
Distinction from e-government
Main article: E-government
Although the two terms are often used interchangeably, there is a difference between e-
governance and e-government. E-government refers to the use of the ICTs in public
administration which, when combined with organizational change and new skills, are intended to
improve public services and democratic processes and to strengthen support to the public.
However, e-government has no provision for governance of ICTs. The governance of ICTs
typically requires a substantial increase in regulation and policy-making capabilities, as well as
additional expertise and opinion-shaping processes among various social stakeholders. The
perspective of e-governance is "the use of the technologies that both help to govern and have to
be governed".[3]
The central goal of e-governance is to reach the beneficiary and to ensure that
their service needs are met. Ideally, the government will automatically recognize the importance
of achieving this goal in order to maximize its efficiency.
Furthermore, e-government uses one-way communication protocol whereas e-governance uses
two-way communication protocol.[citation needed]
Establishing the identity of the end beneficiary is a
challenge in all citizen-centric services. Statistical information published by governments and
global bodies do not always reveal the facts. The best form of e-governance cuts down on the
unwanted interference of too many layers while delivering governmental services. It depends on
good infrastructural setup with the support of local processes and parameters for governments to
reach their citizens or end beneficiaries. A budget for planning, development, and growth can be
derived from well laid out e-governance systems.
The relevance of BI Analytics has brought forth a paradigm shift in assimilating and visualizing
huge chunks of data in near real-time manner. The pivot of all good decision-making systems is
correct, up-to-date and compliant data. Governments not only want the transformation of their
own country and countrymen but also expect improved relations and healthy trade across the
world. Development should be transformative and continuously evolving. Internal as well as
external IT systems should work in tandem with government policies and procedures. Data
Analytics has the ability to change the color and complexion of the world. E-governance should
induce up-to-date information, initiate effective interaction, and engage with transparent
transactions in compliance with rule of law, thus enabling a sustainable transformation model.
The public–private partnership (PPP)-based e-governance projects are hugely successful
in India. Many countries implement e-government policy in an attempt to build a corruption-free
government.
Government by citizen
The goal of government-to-citizen (G2C) e-governance is to offer a variety of ICT services to
citizens in an efficient and economical manner and to strengthen the relationship between
government and citizens using technology.
There are several methods of G2C e-governance. Two-way communication allows citizens to
instant message directly with public administrators, and cast remote electronic votes (electronic
2. voting) and instant opinion voting. These are examples of e-Participation. Other examples
included the payment of taxes and services that can be completed online or over the phone.
Mundane services such as name or address changes, applying for services or grants, or
transferring existing services are more convenient and no longer have to be completed face to
face.[4]
By country
G2C e-governance is unbalanced across the globe as not everyone has Internet access and
computing skills, but the United States, European Union, and Asia are ranked the top three in
development.
The Federal Government of the United States has a broad framework of G2C technology to
enhance citizen access to Government information and services. benefits.gov is an official US
government website that informs citizens of benefits they are eligible for and provides information
on how to apply for assistance. US State Governments also engage in G2C interaction through
the Department of Transportation, Department of Public Safety, United States Department of
Health and Human Services, United States Department of Education, and others.[5]
As with e-
governance on the global level, G2C services vary from state to state. The Digital States Survey
ranks states on social measures, digital democracy, e-commerce, taxation, and revenue. The
2012 report shows Michigan and Utah in the lead and Florida and Idaho with the lowest
scores.[5]
Municipal governments in the United States also use government-to-customer
technology to complete transactions and inform the public. Much like states, cities are awarded
for innovative technology. Government Technology's "Best of the Web 2012" named Louisville,
KY, Arvada, CO, Raleigh, NC, Riverside, CA, and Austin, TX the top five G2C city portals.[6]
European countries were ranked second among all geographic regions. The Single Point of
Access for Citizens of Europe supports travel within Europe and Europe is a 1999 initiative
supporting an online government. Main focuses are to provide public information, allow
customers to have access to basic public services, simplify online procedures, and
promote electronic signatures.[5]
Estonia is the first and the only country[7]
in the world with e-
residency which enables anyone in the world outside Estonia to access Estonian online services.
One caveat of the Estonia e-residency program is that it does not give e-residents physical rights
to the country. This means that unless the e-resident buys land they do not get to participate in
the democratic processes. The benefit to e-residents is the opportunity to develop business in
the digital European Union market. Neighboring Lithuania launched a similar e-Residency
program.
Asia is ranked third in comparison, and there are diverse G2C programs between
countries. Singapore's eCitizen Portal is an organized single access point to government
information and services. South Korea's Home Tax Service (HTS) provides citizens with 24/7
online services such as tax declaration. Taiwan has top ranking G2C technology including an
online motor vehicle services system, which provides 21 applications and payment services to
citizens.[5]
India's e-governance programs have found success in regional areas. This is likely due
to the ability to meet the language and literacy differences among their constituents.
Government-to-Citizen is the communication link between a government and private individuals
or residents. Such G2C communication most often refers to that which takes place
through Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), but can also include direct
mail and media campaigns. G2C can take place at the federal, state, and local levels. G2C
stands in contrast to G2B, or Government-to-Business networks.
One such Federal G2C network is USA.gov, the United States' official web portal, though there
are many other examples from governments around the world.[8]
Concerns
A full switch to government-to-citizen e-governance will cost a large amount of money in
development and implementation.[4]
In addition, government agencies do not always engage
citizens in the development of their e-gov services or accept feedback. Customers identified the
following barriers to government-to-customer e-governance: not everyone has Internet access,
3. especially in rural or low-income areas, G2C technology can be problematic for citizens who lack
computing skills. Some G2C sites have technology requirements (such as browser requirements
and plug-ins) that won't allow access to certain services, language barriers, the necessity for an
e-mail address to access certain services, and a lack of privacy.[9]
Government to employee
E-governance to Employee partnership (G2E) Is one of four main primary interactions in the
delivery model of E-governance. It is the relationship between online tools, sources, and articles
that help employees to maintain the communication with the government and their own
companies. E-governance relationship with Employees allows new learning technology in one
simple place as the computer. Documents can now be stored and shared with other colleagues
online.[10]
E-governance makes it possible for employees to become paperless and makes it easy for
employees to send important documents back and forth to colleagues all over the world instead
of having to print out these records or fax[11]
G2E services also include software for maintaining
personal information and records of employees. Some of the benefits of G2E expansion include:
E-payroll – maintaining the online sources to view paychecks, pay stubs, pay bills, and keep
records for tax information.
E-benefits – be able to look up what benefits an employee is receiving and what benefits
they have a right to.
E-training – allows for new and current employees to regularly maintain the training they
have through the development of new technology and to allow new employees to train and
learn over new materials in one convenient location. E-learning is another way to keep
employees informed on the important materials they need to know through the use of
visuals, animation, videos, etc. It is usually a computer-based learning tool, although not
always. It is also a way for employees to learn at their own pace (distance learning), although
it can be instructor-led.
Maintaining records of personal information – Allows the system to keep all records in one
easy location to update with every single bit of information that is relevant to a personal file.
Examples being social security numbers, tax information, current address, and other
information[12]
Government-to-employees (abbreviated G2E) is the online interactions through instantaneous
communication tools between government units and their employees. G2E is one out of the four
primary delivery models of e-Government.[13][14][15]
G2E is an effective way to provide e-learning to the employees, bring them together and to
promote knowledge sharing among them.[16]
It also gives employees the possibility of accessing
information in regard to compensation and benefits policies, training and learning opportunities
and civil rights laws.[13][16][17]
G2E services also include software for maintaining personal
information and records of employees.[17]
G2E is adopted in many countries including the United States, Hong Kong, and New Zealand.[18]
Government to government[edit]
E-government[edit]
From the start of 1990s e-commerce and e-product, there has rampant integration of e-forms of
government process. Governments have now tried to use the efficiencies of their techniques to
cut down on waste. E-government is a fairly broad subject matter, but all relate to how the
services and representation are nowdelivered and how they are now being implemented.
Many governments around the world have gradually turned to Information technologies (IT) in an
effort to keep up with today's demands. Historically, many governments in this sphere have only
been reactive, but recently there has been a more proactive approach in developing comparable
services such things as e-commerce and e-business.[19]
4. Before, the structure emulated private-like business techniques. Recently that has all changed as
e-government begins to make its own plan. Not only does e-government introduce a new form of
record keeping, but it also continues to become more interactive to better the process of
delivering services and promoting constituency participation.
The framework of such an organization is now expected to increase more than ever by becoming
efficient and reducing the time it takes to complete an objective. Some examples include paying
utilities, tickets, and applying for permits. So far, the biggest concern is accessibility to Internet
technologies for the average citizen. In an effort to help, administrations are now trying to aid
those who do not have the skills to fully participate in this new medium of governance, especially
now as e-government progressing to more e-governance though.
An overhaul of the structure is now required as every pre-existing sub-entity must now merge
under one concept of e-government. As a result, Public Policy has also seen changes due to the
emerging of constituent participation and the Internet. Many governments such as Canada's
have begun to invest in developing new mediums of communication of issues and information
through virtual communication and participation. In practice, this has led to several responses
and adaptations by interest groups, activist, and lobbying groups. This new medium has changed
the way the polis interacts with government.
Editorial[edit]
The purpose to include e-governance to government is to means more efficient in various
aspects. Whether it means to reduce cost by reducing paper clutter, staffing cost, or
communicating with private citizens or public government. E-government brings many
advantages to play such as facilitating information delivery, application process/renewal between
both business and private citizen, and participation with the constituency. There are both internal
and external advantages to the emergence of IT in government, though not all municipalities are
alike in size and participation.
In theory, there are currently 4 major levels of E-government in municipal governments:[20]
The establishment of a secure and cooperative interaction among governmental agencies
Web-based service delivery
The application of e-commerce for more efficient government transactions activities
Digital democracy
These, along with 5 degrees of technical integration and interaction of users include:
Simple information dissemination (one-way communication)
Two-way communication (request and response)
Service and financial transactions
Integration (horizontal and vertical integration)
Political participation
The adoption of e-government in municipalities evokes greater innovation in e-governance by
being specialized and localized. The level success and feedback depends greatly on the city size
and government type. A council-manager government municipality typically works the best with
this method, as opposed to mayor-council government positions, which tend to be more political.
Therefore, they have greater barriers towards its application. Council-Manager governments are
also more inclined to be effective here by bringing innovation and reinvention of governance to e-
governance.
The International City/County Management Association and Public Technology Inc. have done
surveys over the effectiveness of this method. The results are indicating that most governments
are still in either the primary stages (1 or stage 2), which revolves around public service requests.
Though application of integration is now accelerating, there has been little to no instigating
research to see its progression as e-governance to the government. We can only theorize it's still
within the primitive stages of e-governance.
5. Overview[edit]
Government-to-Government (abbreviated G2G) is the online non-commercial interaction
between Government organizations, departments, and authorities and other Government
organizations, departments, and authorities. Its use is common in the UK, along with G2C, the
online non-commercial interaction of local and central Government and private individuals,
and G2B the online non-commercial interaction of local and central Government and the
commercial business sector.
G2G systems generally come in one of two types: Internal-facing - joining up a single
Governments departments, agencies, organizations, and authorities - examples include the
integration aspect of the Government Gateway, and the UK NHS Connecting for Health Data
SPINE. External facing - joining up multiple Governments IS systems - an example would include
the integration aspect of the Schengen Information System (SIS), developed to meet the
requirements of the Schengen Agreement.
Objective[edit]
The strategic objective of e-governance, or in this case G2G is to support and simplify
governance for government, citizens, and businesses. The use of ICT can connect all parties and
support processes and activities. Other objectives are to make government administration more
transparent, speedy and accountable while addressing the society's needs and expectations
through efficient public services and effective interaction between the people, businesses, and
government.[21]
Government-to-government model
Delivery model[edit]
Within every of those interaction domains, four sorts of activities take place:[22] [23]
Pushing data over the internet, e.g.: regulative services, general holidays, public hearing
schedules, issue briefs, notifications, etc. two-way communications between one governmental
department and another, users will interact in dialogue with agencies and post issues,
comments, or requests to the agency. Conducting transactions, e.g.: Lodging tax returns,
applying for services and grants. Governance, e.g.: To alter the national transition from passive
info access to individual participation by:
Informing the individual
Representing an individual
Consulting an individual
Involving the individual
Internal G2G (UK)[edit]
In the field of networking, the Government Secure Intranet (GSi) puts in place a secure link
between central government departments. It is an IP-based virtual private network based on
broadband technology introduced in April 1998 and further upgraded in February 2004. Among
other things, it offers a variety of advanced services including file transfer and search facilities,
directory services, email exchange facilities (both between network members and over the
Internet) as well as voice and video services. An additional network is currently also under
development: the Public Sector Network (PSN) will be the network to interconnect public
authorities (including departments and agencies in England; devolved administrations and local
governments) and facilitate in particular sharing of information and services among each other.[24]
Government to business[edit]
6. "G2B" redirects here. For the scientific journal, see Genes, Brain and Behavior.
Government-to-Business (G2B) is the online non-commercial interaction between local and
central government and the commercial business sector with the purpose of providing
businesses information and advice on e-business best practices. G2B: Refers to the conduction
through the Internet between government agencies and trading companies. B2G: Professional
transactions between the company and the district, city, or federal regulatory agencies. B2G
usually include recommendations to complete the measurement and evaluation of books and
contracts.
Objective[edit]
The objective of G2B is to reduce difficulties for business, provide immediate information and
enable digital communication by e-business (XML). In addition, the government should re-use
the data in the report proper, and take advantage of commercial electronic transaction
protocol.[25]
Government services are concentrated on the following groups: human services;
community services; judicial services; transport services; land resources; business services;
financial services and other.[26]
Each of the components listed above for each cluster of related
services to the enterprise.
Benefits for business[edit]
E-government reduces costs and lowers the barrier of allowing companies to interact with the
government. The interaction between the government and businesses reduces the time required
for businesses to conduct a transaction. For instance, there is no need to commute to a
government agency's office, and transactions may be conducted online instantly with the click of
a mouse. This significantly reduces transaction time for the government and businesses alike.
E-Government provides a greater amount of information that the business needed, also it makes
that information more clear. A key factor in business success is the ability to plan and forecast
through data-driven future. The government collected a lot of economic, demographic and other
trends in the data. This makes the data more accessible to companies which may increase the
chance of economic prosperity.
In addition, E-Government can help businesses navigate through government regulations by
providing an intuitive site organization with a wealth of useful applications. The electronic filings
of applications for environmental permits give an example of it. Companies often do not know
how, when, and what they must apply. Therefore, failure to comply with environmental
regulations up to 70%, a staggering figure[27]
most likely due to confusion about the requirements,
rather than the product of willful disregard of the law.[28]
Disadvantages[edit]
The government should concern that not all people are able to access the internet to gain online
government services. The network reliability, as well as information on government bodies, can
influence public opinion and prejudice hidden agenda. There are many considerations and
implementation, designing e-government, including the potential impact of government and
citizens of disintermediation, the impact on economic, social and political factors, vulnerable to
cyber attacks, and disturbances to the status quo in these areas.[29]
G2B rises the connection between government and businesses. Once the e-government began
to develop, become more sophisticated, people will be forced to interact with e-government in the
larger area. This may result in a lack of privacy for businesses as their government gets their
more and more information. In the worst case, there is so much information in the electron
transfer between the government and business, a system which is like totalitarian could be
developed. As the government can access more information, the loss of privacy could be a
cost.[30][31]
The government site does not consider about "potential to reach many users including those who
live in remote areas, are homebound, have low literacy levels, exist on poverty line incomes."[32]
7. Examples[edit]
e-Tender Box (ETB) system[33]
– ETB system was developed by Government Logistics
Department (GLD) to replace Electronic Tendering System. Users can use the ETB system
to download the resources and gain the service from the GLD.
e-Procurement Programme[34]
– e-Procurement Programme provides a simple, convenient
online ways for suppliers of the participating bureaux/departments (B/Ds) and suppliers of
Government Logistics Department and agree to provide the low-valued goods and
service.[35]
One of the last innovative examples is a public e-procurement system Prozorro.
Finance and support for your business[36]
– UK Government provide the online financial help
for business, including grants, loans, business guide; what's more, it also offers the funding
for the sunrise businesses (just start) or small-scale firms.
Overview[edit]
The main goal of government to business is to increase productivity by giving business more
access to information in a more organize manner while lowering the cost of doing business as
well as the ability to cut "red tape", save time, reduce operational cost and to create a more
transparent business environment when dealing with government.
Lowering cost of doing business – electronic transaction save time compared to conducting
business in person.
Cutting red tape – rules and regulation placed upon business normally take time and are
most likely to cause a delay- in (G2B) will allow a much faster process with fewer delays and
decreasing the number of rules and regulations
Transparency – More information will be available, making G2B easier to communicate.
Government to business key points:
1. Reduce the burden on business by adopting a process that enables collecting data once
for multiple uses and streamlining redundant data.
2. Key lines of business: regulations, economic development, trade, permits/licenses,
grants/loans, and asset management.
Difference between G2B and B2G
Government to business (G2B) – Refers to the conducting of transactions between
government bodies and business via the internet.
Business to the government (B2G) – Professional affairs conducted between companies and
regional, municipal, or federal governing bodies. B2G typically encompasses the
determination and evaluation of proposal and completion of the contract.
Conclusion:
The overall benefit of e-governance when dealing with business is that it enables the business to
perform more efficiently.
Challenges – international position
E-governance is facing numerous challenges world over. The traditional approach for introducing
e-governance is just not sufficient due to the complexity from wide variety of application
architecture mix from both legacy and modern worlds that need to be brought into the purview of
e-governance.[37]
These challenges are arising from administrative, legal, institutional and
technological factors. The challenge includes security drawbacks such as spoofing, tampering,
repudiation, disclosure, elevation of privilege, denial of service and other cyber crimes. Other
sets of problems include implementation parts such as funding, management of change, privacy,
authentication, delivery of services, standardization, technology issues and use of local
languages.
8. See also[edit]
E-governance in the United States
E-learning
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
Government by algorithm
Open-source governance
References
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Model(Modified) and Gartner Model (Modified) Upon Agriculture of Bangladesh. IEEE. 1-4244-
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2. ^ Garson, D.G. (2006). Public Information Technology and E-Governance. Sudbury, MA: Jones
and Bartlett Publishers.
3. ^ Rossel, Pierre, and Matthias Finger. "Conceptualizing e-Governance." Management (2007) :
399–407.
4. ^ Jump up to:a b Miller, W & Walling, J, (2013). "Government in the twenty-first century: New
Avenues of Study". Taking Sides. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
5. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Lee, (2004). "Communications of the ACM". Association for Computing
Machinery.
6. ^ "Best of the Web". Government Technologies. 2012.
7. ^ Lufkin, Bryan. "Could Estonia be the first 'digital' country?". Retrieved 22 November 2018.
8. ^ White, Jay D. (2007) Managing Information in the Public Sector. M.E. Sharpe. New York
9. ^ Bertot, Jaegar, and McClure, (2008). "Citizen Centered E-Government Services: Benefits, Costs,
and Research Needs". Montreal, Canada.
10. ^ Fang, Zhiyuan. "E-government in Digital Era: Concept, Development, and Practice". Retrieved 2
April 2014.
11. ^ Carter, Lemuria, and France Belanger. "Citizen Adoption of Electronic Government Initiatives".
IEEE Xplore. Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, n.d.
12. ^ Dawes, Sharon S. "The Evolution and Continuing Challenges of E-Governance." - Dawes. Wiley
Online Library, n.d.
13. ^ Jump up to:a b "E-Government for Developing Countries:Opportunities and Challenges". The
Electronic Journal on Information Systems in Developing Countries (EJISDC).
2004. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.127.9483.
14. ^ Raghavan, B.S. (10 August 2001). "E-the-people". Business Line. India. The Hindu Group.
Retrieved 19 January 2010.
15. ^ "On demand government". The Daily Telegraph. London. 18 November 2003. Retrieved 19
January 2010.
16. ^ Jump up to:a b "U.S. Department of Labor E-Government Strategic Plan". United States
Department of Labor. Retrieved 19 January 2010.
17. ^ Jump up to:a b "Government to Employee". Eon Technologies. Archived from the original on 11
April 2010. Retrieved 18 January 2010.
18. ^ Hafedh Al-Shihi (March 2006). "Critical Factors in the Adoption and Diffusion of E-government
Initiatives in Oman" (PDF). pp. 13, 14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 November 2009.
Retrieved 19 January 2010.
19. ^ Marche, Sunny; McNiven, James D. (2009). "E-Government and E-Governance: The Future Isn't
What It Used to Be". Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences. 20: 74–86. doi:10.1111/j.1936-
4490.2003.tb00306.x.
20. ^ Moon, M. Jae (2002). "The Evolution of E-Government among Municipalities: Rhetoric or
Reality?". Public Administration Review. 62 (4): 424–433. doi:10.1111/0033-3352.00196.
21. ^ Oman, ITA. "eOman Portal". ita.gov.om. Governance of Oman. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
22. ^ Mary Maureen Brown. "Electronic Government" Jack Rabin (ed.). Encyclopedia of Public
Administration and Public Policy, Marcel Dekker, 2003, pp. 427–432 ISBN 0824742400.
9. 23. ^ Shailendra C. Jain Palvia and Sushil S. Sharma (2007). "E-Government and E-Governance:
Definitions/Domain Framework and Status around the World" (PDF). ICEG. Accessed 30-10-2014
24. ^ HM Government (December 2009). "Putting the Frontline First: smarter government". Accessed
30 October 2014
25. ^ IGI-GLOBAL What is Government-to-Business (G2B) Retrieved 27 OCT.2014
26. ^ Bakry, S. H. "Development of e-government: a STOPE view." International Journal of Network
Management. 2004, 14(5), 339-350.
27. ^ According to an Environmental Results Program (ERP) study conducted in 1997 covering 2,000
(of 16,000 total) businesses.
28. ^ The Benefits of E-Government Retrieved 27 OCT.2014
29. ^ Atkinson, Robert D.; Castro, Daniel (2008). Digital Quality of Life (PDF). The Information
Technology and Innovation Foundation. pp. 137–145.
30. ^ Lyman, Jay (1 February 2006). "AT&T Sued for Role in Aiding US Government Surveillance".
TechNewsWorld. Retrieved 28 February 2009.
31. ^ Singel, Ryan (6 August 2007). "Analysis: NewLaw Gives Government Six Months to Turn
Internet and Phone Systems into Permanent Spying Architecture". Wired. Retrieved 28
February 2008.
32. ^ Becker, Shirley A. PhD. "Bridging Literacy, Language, and Cultural Divides to Promote Universal
Usability of E-Government Websites" (PDF). Northern Arizona University. Archived from the
original (PDF) on 20 March 2009. Retrieved 3 March 2009.
33. ^ e-Tender Box (ETB) system [1] Retrieved 27 OCT.2014
34. ^ e-Procurement Programme Retrieved 27 OCT.2014
35. ^ Retrieved 27 OCT.2014 [2] Selling to the Government
36. ^ Finance and support for your business Retrieved 27 OCT.2014
37. ^ "Why Digital Governance Platform as a Service(GPaaS)". 15 February 2016.
Further reading[edit]
Turban, Efraim; David King; Dennis Viehland; Jae Lee (2006). Electronic Commerce 2006: A
Managerial Perspective. Prentice Hall. p. 335. ISBN 0-13-197667-2.
Government-to-employees (G2E) in Singapore
Messaging Sub-Systems in the UK Government - an overview of G2G systems at use in the
UK (author: Wayne Horkan)
News on eGovernance , India, official website
Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), United Kingdom, official website
G2B portal of the Government of Perm Region, Russia, official website
10. National e-Governance Plan
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.
e-Governance in India has steadily evolved from computerization of Government
Departments to initiatives that encapsulate the finer points of Governance, such as citizen
centricity, service orientation and transparency. Lessons from previous e-Governance
initiatives have played an important role in shaping the progressive e-Governance strategy of
the country. Due cognizance has been taken of the notion that to speed up e-Governance
implementation across the various arms of Government at National, State, and Local levels, a
programme approach needs to be adopted, guided by common vision and strategy. This
approach has the potential of enabling huge savings in costs through sharing of core and
support infrastructure, enabling interoperability through standards, and of presenting a
seamless view of Government to citizens.
The National e-Governance Plan (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 reaching down to the remotest of villages is
evolving, 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.
"Make all Government services accessible to the common man in his locality, through
common service delivery outlets, and ensure efficiency, transparency, and reliability of such
services at affordable costs to realise the basic needs of the common man"
The Government approved the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), comprising of 27 Mission
Mode Projects and 8 components, on May 18, 2006. In the year 2011, 4 projects - Health,
Education, PDS and Posts were introduced to make the list of 27 MMPs to 31Mission Mode
Projects (MMPs). The Government has accorded approval to the vision, approach, strategy,
key components, implementation methodology, and management structure for NeGP.
However, the approval of NeGP does not constitute financial approval(s) for all the Mission
Mode Projects (MMPs) and components under it. 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 NeGP.
In order to promote e-Governance in a holistic manner, various policy initiatives and projects
have been undertaken to develop core and support infrastructure. The major core
infrastructure components are State Data Centres (SDCs), State Wide Area Networks
(S.W.A.N), Common Services Centres (CSCs) and middleware gateways i.e National e-
Governance Service Delivery Gateway (NSDG), State e-Governance Service Delivery Gateway
(SSDG), and Mobile e-Governance Service Delivery Gateway (MSDG). The important support
11. components include Core policies and guidelines on Security, HR, Citizen Engagement, Social
Media as well as Standards related to Metadata, Interoperability, Enterprise Architecture,
Information Security etc. New initiatives include a framework for authentication, viz.
e-Pramaan and G-I cloud, an initiative which will ensure benefits of cloud computing for e-
Governance projects.
E-governance in India
Updated on : Jul 28, 2021 - 06:42:09 PM
11 min read.
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.
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.
12. 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.
13. 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.
Objectives of e-Governance
The objectives of e-governance can be listed down as given below:
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:
14. 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.
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
15. 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:
Developing a secure and stable digital infrastructure
Delivering government services digitally
Achieving universal digital literacy
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.
16. PayGov 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.
17. Background
Good governance is fundamental and eGovernance is instrumental. eGovernance is a tool.
No e-Governance tool can be successful without focusing attention to process reforms for
good governance. Good governance dictates the design and shape of s e-tools for improving
governance outcomes and processes. eGovernance can be an effective and efficient tool for
good governance if and only if the process reforms have been carried out. Automating
complicated government processes will create more problems than it can solve. With
process re-engineeering, effective implementation of e-Governance can take IT to the
common man, helping the government to align services with the changing needs of both
citizens and other stakeholders.
Commencement of Good Governance Day
Good Governance Day (Suśāsan Divas) was established in India in 2014, to be observed
annually on 25-December, the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari
Vajpayee, with a view towards fostering awareness of accountability in government.
Government Process Re-engineeringusingIT to simplifyand make the government
processes moreefficient is critical for transformationto make the delivery of government
services more effective across various government domains and therefore needs to be
implementedby all Ministries/Departments.
The guiding principles for reforming Government through technology are:
o Form simplificationand field reduction – Forms should bemadesimpleand user
friendly and only minimum and necessary information should becollected.
o Onlineapplications and tracking - Onlineapplications and tracking of their status
should beprovided.
o Onlinerepositories - Useof onlinerepositories e.g. for certificates, educational
degrees, identity documents, etc. should bemandated so that citizens arenot required
to submit thesedocuments in physical form.
o Integration of services and platforms –Integration of services and platforms e.g.
Aadhaar platform of UniqueIdentity Authority of India (UIDAI), payment gateway,
MobileSeva platform, sharing of data through open Application Programming
Interfaces (API) and middlewaresuch as National and StateServiceDelivery Gateways
(NSDG/SSDG) should bemandated to facilitateintegrated and interoperableservice
delivery to citizens and businesses.
18. All databases and informationshouldbe in electronicform and not manual. The
workflow inside government departments and agencies shouldbe automatedto enable
efficient government processes andalso to allow visibility of these processesto citizens.
IT should be used to automate, respondand analyze data to identifyand resolve persistent
problems. These would be largely process improvements.
e-Governance can be defined as the application of information and communication
technology (ICT) for providing government services, exchange of information,
transactions, integration of previously existing services and information portals.
The “e” in e-Governance stands for ‘electronic’.
The Council of Europe referred to e-Governance as:
The use of electronic technologies in three areas of public action:
o relations between the public authorities and civil society
o the functioning of the public authorities at all stages of the democratic process
(electronic democracy)
19. o the provision of public services (electronic public services)
Reasons for Opting e-Governance
Governance per se has become very complex
Increase in citizens’ expectations from the government
Different Connotations of e-Governance
e-Administration: The use of ICTs to modernize the state; the creation of data
repositories for Management Information System (MIS) and computerization of records
(land, health etc).
e-Services:The emphasis here is to bring the state closer to the citizens.
o For Examples: Provision of online services.
o e-administration and e-services together constitute what is largely termed as e-
government.
e-Governance:The use of IT to improve the ability of the government to address the
needs of society.
o It includes the publishing of policy and program-related information to transact
with citizens.
o It extends beyond the provision of online services and covers the use of IT for
strategic planning and reaching the development goals of the government.
e-Democracy: The use of IT to facilitate the ability of all sections of society to
participate in the governance of the state.
o Emphasis is on bringing transparency, accountability, and participation of people.
o It includes online disclosures of policies, online grievance redressal, e-
referendums etc.
Origin
e-Governance originated in India during the 1970s with a focus on in-house
government applications in the areas of defence, economic monitoring, planning and
deployment of ICT to manage data intensive functions related to elections, census, tax
administration etc.
Initial Steps Taken
The establishment of the Department of Electronics in 1970 was the first major step
towards e-governance in India as it brought ‘information’ and its communication to
focus.
National Informatics Centre (NIC) established in 1977, launched the District
Information System program to computerize all district offices in the country
The main thrust for e-governance was provided by the launching of NICNET in 1987 –
the national satellite-based computer network.
20. Objectives
Better service delivery to citizens.
Ushering in transparency and accountability.
Empowering people through information.
Improve efficiency within Government i.e between centre-state or inter-states.
Improve interface with business and industry.
Pillars of e-Governance
People
Process
Technology
Resources
Types of Interaction in e-Governance
G2G i.e. Government to Government
G2C i.e. Government to Citizen
G2B i.e. Government to Business
G2E i.e. Government to Employees
Initiatives Taken for e-Governance in India
S.No. Program Details
1. Bhoomi Project (Karnataka):
Online Deliveryof Land
Bhoomi is a self-sustainable e-Governance project for the computerized de
of 20 million rural land records to 6.7 million farmers of Karnataka.
21. Records
2. KHAJANE (Karnataka): End-
to-end automation of
Government TreasurySystem
‘Government-to-Government (G2G) e-Governance initiative of the
Karnataka State Government.
It has been implemented mainly to eliminate systemic deficiencies in th
manual treasury system and for the efficient management of state
finances.
3. 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 connecti
them to the respective government departments and providing online
information at the point of service delivery.
o The project has become very popular among the citizens especially
for the payment of utility bills.
4. e-Courts Launched by the Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice.
The Mission Mode Project (MMP) aims at utilizing technology for impro
provisioning of judicial services to citizens.
5. 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 cas
certificates, old age and widow pension, etc.
6. MCA21 Launched by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
The project aims to provide electronic services to the Companies
registered under the Companies Act.
o Various online facilities offered includes allocation and change of
name, incorporation, online payment of registration charges, chang
in address of registered office, viewing of public records and other
related services.
7. e-Office Launched by the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public
Grievances.
The MMP aims at significantly improving the operational efficiency of th
Government by transitioning to a "Less Paper Office".
Digital India Initiatives
It is an umbrella program to prepare India for a knowledge-based transformation.
22. 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.
o 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.
23. 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
24. schools).
o PMGDISHA: Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyaan aims to
make six crore people in rural India digitally literate.
o 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.
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.
26. Infrastructure
o Lack of basic infrastructural facilities like electricity, internet, etc.
Initiatives like BharatNet and Saubhagya are steps taken in this regard.
Cost
o e-Governance measures are costly affairs and require huge public expenditure.
o 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
o 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
o Huge gap between users and non-users of e-govt. services.
o 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 capacitybuilding 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.
o 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.
27. Conclusion
e-Governance is getting momentum in India, but public awareness and the digital
divide are important issues to be addressed.
The success of e-Governance measures largely depends on the availability of high-
speed internet, and the nation-wide roll-out of 5G technology in the near future will
strengthen our resolve.
E-governance in India: Concept, Initiatives and Issues
Structure
Introduction
Types of Government interaction in e-governance
Some initiatives in the same field
National e-governance Plan
Recent Initiatives
m-governance
Government initiatives for m -governance
Advantages of e-governance
Disadvantages of e-governance
Challenges in e-governance
Conclusion
Introduction
28. The “e” in e-Governance stands for ‘electronic’. Thus, e-Governance is
basically associated with carrying out the functions and achieving the results of
governance through the utilization of ICT (Information and Communications
Technology).
While Governance relates to safeguarding the legal rights of all citizens, an equally
important aspect is concerned with ensuring equitable access to public services and
the benefits of economic growth to all. It also ensures government to be transparent
in its dealings, accountable for its activities and faster in its responses as part of good
governance.
However, this would require the government to change itself – its processes, its
outlook, laws, rules and regulations and also its way of interacting with the citizens.
It would also require capacity building within the government and creation of
general awareness about e-Governance among the citizens
ICT
provides efficient storing and retrieval of data, instantaneous transmission of
information, processing information and data faster than the earlier manual systems,
speeding up governmental processes, taking decisions expeditiously and judiciously,
increasing transparency and enforcing accountability. It also helps in increasing the
reach of government – both geographically and demographically.
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 the District Information System of the National Informatics Centre
(DISNIC) programme to computerize all district offices in the country for which free
hardware and software was offered to the State Governments. NICNET was extended
via the State capitals to all district headquarters by 1990. In the ensuing years, with
ongoing computerization, tele-connectivity and internet connectivity established a
large number of e-Governance initiatives, both at the Union and State levels.
Types of Government Interaction in e-governance.
G2G: Government to Government
G2C: Government to Citizen
G2B: Government to Business
G2E: Government to Employee
Some Initiatives in the same field
29. 1. Government to Citizen (G2C) I nitiatives:
Computerization of Land Records: In collaboration with NIC. Ensuring
that landowners get computerized copies of ownership, crop and tenancy
and updated copies of Records of Rights (RoRs) on demand.
Bhoomi Project: Online delivery of Land Records. Self-sustainable e-
Governance project for the computerized delivery of 20 million rural land
records to 6.7 million farmers through 177 Government-owned kiosks in the
State of Karnataka
Gyandoot: It is an Intranet-based Government to Citizen (G2C) service
delivery initiative. It was initiated in the Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh in
January 2000 with the twin objective of providing relevant information to
the rural population and acting as an interface between the district
administration and the people.
Lokvani Project in Uttar Pradesh: Lokvani is a public-private partnership
project at Sitapur District in Uttar Pradesh which was initiated in
November, 2004. Its objective is to provide a single window, self -sustainable
e-Governance solution with regard to handling of grievances, land record
maintenance and providing a mixture of essential services.
Project FRIENDS in Kerala: FRIENDS (Fast, Reliable, Instant, Efficient
Network for the Disbursement of Services) is a Single Window Facility
providing citizens the means to pay taxes and other financial dues to the
State Government.The services are provided through FRIENDS Janasevana
Kendrams located in the district headquarters.
e-Mitra Project in Rajasthan: e-Mitra is an integrated project to facilitate
the urban and the rural masses with maximum possible services related to
different state government departments through Lokmitra-Janmitra
Centers/Kiosks.
e-Seva (Andhra Pradesh): This project is designed to provide ‘Government
to Citizen’ and ‘e-Business to Citizen’ services. The highlight of the
eSeva project is that 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.
Admission to Professional Colleges – Common Entrance Test (CET):
With the rapid growth in the demand as well as supply of professional
education, the process of admission to these institutions became a major
challenge in the early 1990s. Recourse was then taken to I CT to make the
process of admission transparent and objective. One of the pioneering
efforts was made by Karnataka. The State Government decided to conduct a
common entrance test based on which admission to different colleges and
disciplines was made.
30. 1. Government to Business (G2B) Initiatives:
e-Procurement Project in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat:
To reduce the time and cost of doing business for both vendors
and government.
MCA 21: By the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The project aims at providing
easy and secure online access to all registry related services provided by the
Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs to corporates and other stakeholders at
any time and in a manner that best suits them.
1. Government to Government (G2G) Initiatives:
Khajane Project in Karnataka: It is a comprehensive online treasury
computerization project of the Government of Karnataka. The project has
resulted in the computerization of the entire treasury related activities of the
State Government and the system has the ability to track every activity right
from the approval of the State Budget to the point of rendering accounts to the
31. government.
SmartGov (Andhra Pradesh): SmartGov has been developed to streamline
operations, enhance efficiency through workflow automation and knowledge
management for implementation in the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat.
National E-governance Plan
The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) has been formulated by the Department of
Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY) and Department of Administrative
Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) in 2006.
The NeGP aims at improving delivery of Government services to citizens and
businesses with the following vision: “Make all Government services accessible to the
common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets and ensure
efficiency, transparency & reliability of such services at affordable costs to realise the
basic needs of the common man.”
Central government initiatives as mission mode projects (MMP)
e-office
The Government of India has recognized the need to modernize the Central
Government offices through the introduction of Information and Communications
Technology. e-Office is aimed at increasing the usage of work flow and rule based file
routing, quick search and retrieval of files and office orders, digital signatures for
authentication, forms and reporting components.
Immigration, Visa and Foreigner’s Registration & Tracking (IVFRT)
India has emerged as a key tourist destination, besides being a major business and
service hub. Immigration Check Post is the first point of contact that generates public
and popular perception about the country, thus necessitating a state of the art system
for prompt and user-friendly services.
UID
The unique identification project was conceived as an initiative that would provide
identification for each resident across the country and would be used primarily as the
basis for efficient delivery of welfare services. It would also act as a tool for effective
monitoring of various programs and schemes of the government.
32. Pensions
The pensions MMP is primarily aimed at making the pension/ retirement related
information, services and grievances handling mechanism accessible online to the
needy pensioners, through a combination of interactive and non-interactive
components, and thus, help bridge the gap between the pensioners and the
government.
Banking
The Banking MMP is yet another step towards improving operational efficiency and
reducing the delays and efforts involved in handling and settling transactions. The
MMP which is being implemented by the banking industry aims at streamlining
various e-services initiatives undertaken by individual banks. Implementation is
being done by the banks concerned, with the banking Department providing a broad
framework and guidance.
Posts
Modernization of Postal Services has been undertaken by the Department of Posts
through computerization and networking of all post offices using a central server-
based system, and setting up of computerized registration centers (CRCs).
State Mission Mode projects
e-Governance in Municipalities
It is a unique initiative of the Government of India conceptualized under the umbrella of the
overall National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) and the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban
Renewal Mission (Jnnurm) aimed at improving operational efficiencies within Urban Local
Bodies (ULBs).
33. Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems
Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) MMP aims at creating a
comprehensive and integrated system for enhancing the efficiency and effective
policing at all levels and especially at the Police Station level through adoption of
principles of e-Governance, and creation of a nationwide networked infrastructure
for evolution of IT-enabled state-of-the-art tracking system.
Public Distribution System
Computerization of the PDS is envisaged as an end-to-end project covering key
functional areas such as supply chain management including allocation and
utilization reporting, storage and movement of food grains, grievance redressal and
transparency portal, digitization of beneficiary database, Fair Price Shop automation,
etc.
Health
34. ICT for programme management has been undertaken by the Ministry of Health &
Family Welfare in the Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS) programme and
the Ministry envisages a more comprehensive use of ICT including for Hospital
Information Systems, supply chain management for drugs and vaccines, providing
ICT tools to ASHA and ANM workers, programme management of National Rural
Health Mission (NRHM), etc through this MMP.
e-panchayat
The Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) are saddled with the problems of inadequate
physical and financial resources, technical capabilities and extremely limited
computerization. As a result, the potential of PRIs as the preferred delivery channel
for the schemes of State and Centre as well as for citizen services has not been fully
realized. While some computerization efforts for PRIs have been made by NIC over
the years, the e-Governance revolution sweeping the country has not touched the
PRIs yet in significant measure. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of
India has therefore decided to take up the computerization of PRIs on a mission
mode basis.
e-District
e-District is one of the 31 Mission Mode Projects under National e Governance Plan
(NeGP) with the DIT, GoI being the nodal ministry. This project aims at providing
support to the basic administrative unit i.e. District Administration by undertaking
backend computerization to enable electronic delivery of high volume citizen centric
government services which would optimally leverage and utilize the three
infrastructure pillars of State Wide Area Networks (SWAN), State Data Centers
(SDC) and Common Service Centers (CSCs) to deliver services to the citizen at his
doorsteps.
35. National Land Records Modernization Programme (NLRMP)
A Project for Computerization of Land Records (CLR) was launched in 1988-89 with
the intention to remove the inherent flaws in the manual system of maintenance and
updation of Land Records. In 1997-98, the scheme was extended totehsils to start
distribution of Records of Rights to landowners on demand. The focus of the entire
operation has always been to employ state of the art information technology (IT) to
galvanize and transform the existing land records system of the country.
Integrated Mission Mode Projects
e-procurement
Ministry of Commerce & Industry (Department of Commerce) has been nominated
as the Nodal Ministry for implementation of e-Government Procurement (e-GP)
Mission Mode Projects (MMP). The vision of the e-Procurement MMP is “To create
a national initiative to implement procurement reforms, through the use
of electronic Government procurement, so as to make public
procurement in all sectors more transparent and efficient”.
e-Courts
The e-Court Mission Mode Project (MMP) was conceptualized with a vision to
transform the Indian judiciary by making use of technology. The project had been
developed, following the report submitted by the e-Committee under Supreme Court
on national policy & action plan on implementation of information communication
tools in Indian judiciary.
A clear objective – to re-engineer processes and enhance judicial productivity both
qualitatively and quantitatively to make the justice delivery system affordable,
accessible, cost effective, transparent and accountable.
e-Biz
The e-Biz Mission Mode Project, being executed by Department of Industrial Policy
and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India,
was conceptualized with the vision. Its vision is “To transform the business
environment in the country by providing efficient, convenient,
transparent and integrated electronic services to investors, industries
and business throughout the business life cycle”.
36. Common Services Centres
The CSCs would provide high quality and cost-effective video, voice and data content
and services, in the areas of e-governance, education, health, telemedicine,
entertainment as well as other private services. A highlight of the CSCs is that it will
offer web-enabled e-governance services in rural areas, including application forms,
certificates, and utility payments such as electricity, telephone and water bills.
Recent Initiatives
Direct Cash transfer
Tofacilitate disbursements of Government entitlements like NREGA, Social Security
pension, Handicapped Old Age Pension etc. of any Central or State Government
bodies, using Aadhaar and authentication thereof as supported by UIDAI.
Aadhar Enabled Payment system (AEPS) :
37. AEPS is a bank led model which allows online interoperable financial inclusion
transaction through the Business correspondent of any bank using the Aadhaar
authentication. This has helped in financial inclusion. The four Aadhaar enabled
basic types of banking transactions are as follows:-
Balance Enquiry
Cash Withdrawal
Cash Deposit
Aadhaar to Aadhaar Funds Transfer
Digital India program
This programme has been envisaged by Department of Electronics and Information
Technology (DeitY). The vision of Digital India aims to transform the country into a
digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. The programme will be
implemented in phases from the current year till 2018.
The Digital India is transformational in nature and would ensure that Government
services are available to citizens electronically. It would also bring in public
accountability through mandated delivery of government’s services electronically, a
Unique ID and e-Pramaan based on authentic and standard based interoperable and
integrated government applications and data basis.
The program aims at providing digital infrastructure as a utility to every citizen as
well as high-speed internet as a core utility in all gram panchayats. The overall scope
of this program is “toprepare India for a knowledge future”, “tomake technology
central to enabling change” and “to become an umbrella program covering many
departments”
38. MyGov citizen portal
Prime Minister launched an online platform mygov.nic.in to engage citizens in the task
of “good governance” ( surajya ) as he completed 60 days in office on Saturday. MyGov
is a technology-driven platform that would provide people with the opportunity to
contribute towards good governance.
E-Kranti scheme
This is project for linking the internet with remote villages in the country. This
scheme will broaden the reach of internet services to the rural areas in the country.
The fundamental features of this scheme will be making the records handy to the
government with ease. It also includes Expansion of internet and commencement of
IT-based jobs in rural areas. It will also boost the use of mobile phones and
computers in rural areas. It will also expand the use of IT in agriculture and retail
trade too.
Digital Cloud for every I ndian
Certificates issued by the government — education, residential, medical records,
birth certificates, etc. — are to be stored in individual ‘digital lockers’ and a
39. communication protocol established for government departments to access them
without physically having to see the hard copy. The purpose of government is that
copies of certificates issued by the government itself not to be carried around by
people to government offices for various services.
M-governance
M-Governance is not a replacement for e-Governance, rather it complements e-
Governance. M-Governance, is the use of mobile or wireless to improve Governance
service and information “anytime, anywhere”. Mobile applications also rely on good
back office ICT infrastructure and work processes. It has potential of using mobile
phones as input devices in certain areas where last mile connectivity becomes issues
for simple data inputs of critical importance for decision making in government
departments.
M-Governance is not a new concept. The private sector has been greatly leveraging
these of mobile phones for delivery of value added services for the following which
however are mostly SMS based: Banking, Media, Airlines, Telecom, Entertainment,
News, Sports, Astrology, and Movie Tickets Etc.
M-governance has increased the productivity of public service personnel, improving
the delivery of government information and services, increasing channels for public
40. interactions and Lower costs leading to higher participation of people.
Recent thrust to m-governance is being provided through USSD
Services Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD) is a session based
service unlike sms which is store and forward service. It can be used by the user to
send command to an application in text format. USSD acts as a trigger for the
application
Government initiatives for m-governance
Mobile Seva
It aims to provide government services to the people through mobile phones and
tablets. It has been developed as the core infrastructure for enabling the availability
of public services through mobile devices.
Mobile Seva enables the integration of the mobile platform with the common e-
Governance infrastructure consisting of State Data Centers (SDCs), State Wide Area
Networks (SWANs), State and National Service Delivery Gateways (SSDGs/NSDG).
It enables a government department to integrate both web and mobile based services
seamlessly and enhances the access to electronic services tremendously leveraging
the very high penetration of mobile phones, especially in rural areas
A Mobile Applications Store (m-App Store) has also been developed by DeitY
as part of Mobile Seva. The Mobile Governance Portal and the m-App Store can be
accessed at http://mgov.gov.in/. The m-Appstore currently hosts over 240 live
mobile applications. The live applications can be downloaded and installed free of
cost on a mobile phone by any person.
The project, “mobile seva” has won the second prize at the prestigious United
Nations’ Public Services Awards in the category “Promoting Whole of Government
Approaches in the Information Age” for Asia Pacific.
A few years ago, Kerala launched ‘Dr. SMS,’ an m-health information system,
for providing information on medical facilities available in the locality o f the
resident.
Goa followed, with a mobile governance initiative for issuing alerts for receipt
of government applications and complaints and status tracking.
Next came Maharashtra. It adopted a similar traffic management system
through mobile alerts.
41. A laudable initiative launched by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal
Corporation in September tries to use technology in a mobile phone-based
Intelligent Garbage Monitoring System enables sanitary supervisors to report
the status of cleaning of garbage bins through their GPS-enabled mobile
phones. Centralised reports as well as those of individual bins can be generated
with the system.
Advantages of e-governance
Following are the advantages of E-Governance
Speed: Technology makes communication speedier. Internet, Phones, Cell Phones have
reduced the time taken in normal communication.
Cost Reduction: Most of the Government expenditure is appropriated towards the
cost of stationary. Paper-based communication needs lots of stationary, printers,
computers, etc. which calls for continuous heavy expenditure. Internet and Phones
makes communication cheaper saving valuable money for the Government.
Transparency: Use of ICT makes governing profess transparent. All the
information of the Government would be made available on the internet. The citizens
can see the information whenever they want tosee. But this is only possible when
every piece of information of the Government is uploaded on the internet and is
available for the public to peruse. Current governing process leaves many ways to
conceal the information from all the people. ICT helps make the information
available online eliminating all the possibilities of concealing of information.
Accountability: Once the governing process is made transparent the Government
is automatically made accountable. Accountability is answerability of the
42. Government to the people. It is the answerability for the deeds of the Government.
An accountable Government is a responsible Government.
Convenience: E-Government brings public services to citizens on their schedule
and their venue.
Improved Customer Service: E-Government allows to redeploy resources from
back-end processing to the front line of customer service.
Increased access to information: E-Government improves the accessibility of
government information to citizens allowing it become an important resource in
the making the decisions that affect daily life and so it helps in empowerment of
citizens
Disadvantages of e-governance
Electronic governments also consist on certain disadvantage. The main disadvantage of an
electronic government is to move the government services into an electronic based system.
This system loses the person to person interaction which is valued by a lot of people.
In addition, the implementation of an e-government service is that, with many technology
based services, it is often easy to make the excuse (e.g. the server has gone down) that
problems with the service provided are because of the technology.
The implementation of an e government does have certain constraints. Literacy of the users
and the ability to use the computer, users who do not know how to read and write would need
assistance. An example would be the senior citizens. In general, senior citizens do not have
much computer education and they would have to approach a customer service officer for
assistance. And also in case of rural people, it gives scope for middle man, who distort the
information.
Studies have shown that there is potential for a reduction in the usability of government
online due to factors such as the access to Internet technology and usability of services and
the ability to access to computers
Even though the level of confidence in the security offered by government web sites are high,
the public are still concerned over security, fear of spam from providing email addresses, and
government retention of transaction or interaction history. There has been growing concern
about the privacy of data being collected as part of UID project. The security of cyber space
and misuse of data is still holding back the citizens to full adaptation of Aadhar card.
Challenges in e-governance
There are large numbers of potential barriers in the implementation of e-
Governance. Some hindrance in the path of implementation, like security, unequal
access to the computer technology by the citizen, high initial cost for setting up the e
government solutions and resistance to change. Challenges identified as trust,
resistance to change, digital divide, cost and privacy and security concerns.
Trust
43. Trust can be defined along two dimensions: as an assessment of a current situation,
or as an innate personality traitor predisposition. The implementation of public
administration functions via e-government requires the presence of two levels of
trust. The first is that the user must be confident, comfortable and trusting of the tool
or technology with which they will interact. The second dimension of trust pertains
to trust of the government].
There has to be a balance between ensuring that a system prevents fraudulent
transactions and the burden that extensive checks can take place on people who are
honest.
Recently, confidential information on military veterans was compromised when a
computer containing their personal information was lost. This type of incident can
erode trust and user confidence in government systems. Trust, along with financial
security, are two critical factors limiting the adoption of e-government services.
Resistance to change
The innovation diffusion theory states that over time an innovation will diffuse
through a population, and the rate of adoption will vary between those who adopt
early, referred toas early adopters and to those who adopt the innovation much later,
referred toas ―laggards.
The resistant to change phenomenon can explain much of the hesitation that occurs
on the part of constituents in moving from a paper based to a Web-based system for
interacting with government.
Citizens, employees and businesses can all have their biases with respect tohow
transactions should be processed. However, government entities and public policy
administrators cannot ignore the changes that occur as a result of the
implementation of information and communication technology (ICT
Education about the value of the new systems is one step toward reducing some of
the existing resistance. It can also be particularly useful for a leader or manager, to
buy into the new system at an early stage in the adoption process
Digital Divide
The digital divide refers tothe separation that exists between individuals,
communities, and businesses that have access to information technology and those
that do not have such access.
Social, economic, infrastructural and ethno-linguistic indicators provide
explanations for the presence of the digital divide.
44. Economic poverty is closely related to limited information technology resources
An individual living below poverty line does not afford a computer for himself
to harness the benefits of e-government and other online services. As the digital
divide narrows, broader adoption of e-government in the public domain becomes
possible. Economic poverty is not the only cause of digital divide. It can also be
caused by the lack of awareness among the people. Even some of the economic stable
people don’t know about the scope of e -governance.
Awareness can only help to bring users to that service delivery channel once. It
cannot guarantee sustained use of the system unless the system is also designed in
such a way as to deliver satisfactory outcome. Procedures need to be simplified to
deliver concrete benefits and clear guidelines provided to encourage their use by the
actual end users and reduce user’s dependence on middlemen/intermediaries
Cost
Cost is one of the most important prohibiting factor that comes in the path of e-
governance implementation particularly in the developing countries like India where
most of the people living below the poverty line. Elected officers and politician don’t
seem to be interested in implementing e-governance
Privacy and Security
There will be three basic levels of access exists for e-government stakeholders: no
access to a Web service; limited access to a Web-service or full-access to a Web
service, however when personal sensitive data exists the formation of the security
access policy is a much more complex process with legal consideration. With the
implementation of e-government projects, effective measures must be taken to
protect sensitive personal information. A lack of clear security standards and
protocols can limit the development of projects that contain sensitive information
such as income, medical history.
Conclusion
We have seen how the concept of e-governance and m-governance has evolved in
Indian scenario and how much it is required for transparency and accountability on
the part of government and at the same time it is also a toll to increase the
participation of people in policy making by empowering them with the right
information at right time. The penetration of internet, telecommunication services in
India has increased in the last decade and this gives a ray of hope to the citizens of
India to fight with the long persisting problems of poverty, corruption, regional
disparity and unemployment. But at the same time, due to slow pace of project
completion, red-tape and resistance from the side of government employees and
citizens too has not given the desired result.
45. CategoriesCURRENTAFFAIRS, CURRENTEVENTS,GENERAL STUDIES, Governance
Issues egovernance inindia , egovernance initiatives india , egovernanceschemes
inindia
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