E-Governance | Science & Technology for UPSC CSE PDF Download

Introduction

• 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:
  • relations between the public authorities and civil society
  • the functioning of the public authorities at all stages of the democratic process (electronic democracy)
  • 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.
  • For Examples: Provision of online services.
  • 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.
  • It includes the publishing of policy and program-related information to transact with citizens.
  • 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.
  • Emphasis is on bringing transparency, accountability, and participation of people.
  • 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.

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

Digital India Initiatives

• It is an umbrella program to prepare India for a knowledge-based transformation.
• It weaves together a large number of ideas and thoughts into a single comprehensive vision so that each of them is seen as part of a larger goal.
• It has been launched by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity).

Vision Areas

• Digital infrastructure as Utility to Every Citizen
• Governance and services on demand
• Digital empowerment of citizens
  

  9 pillars of digital India

Various Initiatives Under Digital India Initiatives

• MyGov: It aims to establish a link between Government and Citizens towards meeting the goal of good governance.
  • It encourages citizens as well as people abroad to participate in various activities i.e. 'Do', 'Discuss', 'Poll', 'Talk', ‘Blog’, etc.
• DigiLocker: It serves as a platform to enable citizens to securely store and share their documents with service providers who can directly access them electronically.
• e-Hospital-Online Registration Framework (ORF): It is an initiative to facilitate the patients to take online OPD appointments with government hospitals. This framework also covers patient care, laboratory services and medical record management.
• National Scholarships Portal (NSP): It provides a centralized platform for application and disbursement of scholarship to students under any scholarship scheme.
• DARPAN: It is an online tool that can be used to monitor and analyze the implementation of critical and high priority projects of the State.
  • 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.
  • It is also a robust system for bringing e-transparency and e-accountability with real-time presence and exchange among the key stakeholders.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • It comprises of 31 Mission Mode Projects, approved in 2006, but later it was integrated into Digital India Program.

e-Kranti: National e-Governance Plan 2.0

• It is an essential pillar of the Digital India initiative.
• It was approved in 2015 with the vision of “Transforming e-Governance for Transforming Governance”.
• There are 44 Mission Mode Projects under e-Kranti, which are at various stages of implementation.

Thrust Areas of e-Kranti

• e-Education: All schools will be connected to broadband. Free WiFi will be provided in all secondary and higher secondary schools (coverage would be around 250,000 schools).
  • PMGDISHA: Pradhan Mantri Gramin Digital Saksharta Abhiyaan aims to make six crore people in rural India digitally literate.
  • SWAYAM: It includes Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) for leveraging e-Education. It provides for a platform that facilitates hosting of all the courses, taught in classrooms from Class 9 till post-graduation to be accessed by anyone, anywhere at any time.
• e-Healthcare: e-Healthcare would cover online medical consultation, online medical records, online medicine supply, pan-India exchange for patient information, etc.
• Farmers: This would facilitate farmers to get real-time price information, online ordering of inputs and online cash, loan, and relief payment with mobile banking.
• Security: Mobile-based emergency services and disaster-related services would be provided to citizens on a real-time basis so as to take precautionary measures well in time and minimize loss of lives and properties.
• Financial Inclusion: Financial inclusion shall be strengthened using mobile banking, Micro-ATM program, and CSCs/ Post Offices.
• Justice: Interoperable Criminal Justice System shall be strengthened by leveraging several related applications, i.e. e-Courts, e-Police, e-Jails, and e-Prosecution.
• Planning: National GIS Mission Mode Project would be implemented to facilitate GIS-based decision making for project planning, conceptualization, design, and development.
• Cyber Security: National Cyber Security Co-ordination Centre has been set up to ensure a safe and secure cyber-space within the country.

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.

Challenges to E-Governance

Issues related to e-Governance

• Infrastructure
  • Lack of basic infrastructural facilities like electricity, internet, etc.
  • Initiatives like BharatNet and Saubhagya are steps taken in this regard.
• Cost
• e-Governance measures are costly affairs and require huge public expenditure.
• In developing countries like India, the cost of projects is one of the major impediments in the implementation of e-Governance initiatives.
• Privacy and Security
• Recent spark in data leak cases has threatened the peoples’ faith in e-governance. Therefore, the implementation of e-governance projects must have security standards and protocols for safeguarding the interest of all classes of masses.
• Digital Divide
• Huge gap between users and non-users of e-govt. services.
• The digital divide takes form in rich-poor, male-female, urban-rural etc segments of the population.
• The gap needs to be narrowed down, then only the benefits of e-governance would be utilized equally.

Suggestions

• A hybrid approach needs to be adopted for enhancing interoperability among e-governance applications which will encompass a centralized approach for document management, knowledge management, file management, grievance management etc.
• The e-governance initiatives in rural areas should be taken by identifying and analyzing the grassroots realities.
• The government should also focus on devising appropriate, feasible, distinct and effective capacity building mechanisms for various stakeholders viz bureaucrats, rural masses, urban masses, elected representatives, etc.
• Cloud computing is also becoming a big force to enhance the delivery of services related to e-governance. Cloud computing is not only a tool for cost reduction but also helps in enabling new services, improving the education system and creating new jobs/ opportunities.
  • Meghraj- GI Cloud is a step in the right direction. The focus of this initiative is to accelerate the delivery of e-services in the country while optimizing ICT spending of the Government.
• e-Governance through regional languages is appreciable for the nations like India where people from several linguistic backgrounds are the participants.

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.