Diversifying Dimensions of E- Governance – a Pre-requisite for Transforming Economy -Final Paper

Diversifying Dimensions of E- Governance A Pre-requisite for Transforming Economy

Authored By

Dr.Shobhit GoelAssistant Professor, Amity Business SchoolAmity University,LucknowPh.: +91 94154 69880E-mail.: [email protected]


Abstract

The emergence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has provided means for faster and better communication, retrieval of data and utilization of information to its users. E-Governance is basically the application of ICT to provide government services to the citizens through internet. In developing countries like India, where literacy level is very low and even most of the people are living below poverty line, people are not even aware about the benefits of e-Governance activities and people do not use Information and Communication technologies to a much extent, there exist a number of problems to implement e-Governance activities. This research paper highlights the concept and challenges related to the implementation of e-Governance in India.

Keywords- Cost, different languages, e-readiness rank, e-Governance, ICT, literacy level, per capita income, separation.


Introduction Electronic governanceore-governanceis the application ofinformation and communication technology(ICT) for deliveringgovernment services, exchange of information communication transactions, integration of various stand-alone systems and services. Through e-governance, government services will be 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. It is not limited to the public sector only but also includes the management and administration of policies and procedures in private sector as well. The use of internet not only delivers the services faster but also brings more transparency between the government and the citizens. But in developing countries like India, where literacy level is very low and most of the people are living below poverty line, it is very much difficult for the government to provide its services to such citizens via means of internet. The E-Readiness Rank of India is very low. E-readiness is defined as the ability to use information and communication technologies to develop economy and welfare. According to the Global Information Technology Report 2012, the e-Readiness rank of India is 69 with the score of 3.89 out of 10 that means the use of ICTs in India is very low. Many other factors like privacy and security related to users personal information, digital divide etc. are also huge challenges for the implementation of e-Governance in India.

Challenges for e-Governance in India There are a large number of obstacles in implementation of e-Governance in India. These can be categorized under the following titles: Environmental and Social Challenges, Economical Challenges and Technical Challenges. Environmental and Social Challenges i) Different Language: India is a country where people with different cultures and different religions live. People belonging to different states speak different languages. The diversity of people in context of language is a huge challenge for implementing e-Governance projects as e-Governance applications are written in English language. And also, English may not be understandable by most of the people. Therefore, it becomes a challenge for the government to write e-Governance applications which are to be implemented for the whole nation in more than one language so that these may be acceptable to the users of a particular language. ii) Low Literacy: Literacy can be defined as the ability to read and write with understanding in any language. A person who can merely read but cannot write cannot be considered as literate. Any formal education or minimum educational standard is not necessary to be considered literate. Literacy level of India is very low which is a huge obstacle in implementation of e-Governance projects. Illiterate people are not able to access the e-Governance applications; hence the projects do not get much success. iii) Low IT Literacy: Much of the Indian people are not literate and those who are literate, they do not have much knowledge about Information Technology (IT). Most of the people in India are not aware about the usage of Information Technology. So, in India, having such low level of IT literacy, how can e-Governance projects be implemented successfully? We can say that IT illiteracy is a major obstacle in implementation of e-Governance in India. So, first of all Indian people must be made aware about the usage of Information Technology. iv) Recognition of applications: Recognition of the e-Governance facilities by the citizens is another huge challenge. It is a challenge to have all the citizens well aware of the facilities offered by the e-government and have them to trust in it, so that citizens should be ready to accept these facilities. v) User friendliness of government websites: Users of e-Governance applications are often non-expert users who may not be able to use the applications in a right manner. Such users need guidance to find the right way to perform their transactions. Therefore, government websites must be user friendly so that more and more people can use them easily. Hence, these websites can be more effective. If government websites will be designed in an easier format only then these will be more usable for the users who are not expert users of IT. vi) Services are not accessible easily: The concept of e-Governance is claiming for increased efficiency and effectiveness of the government, but these goals will be achieved only if the service will be available to the 100% of the citizens. So, every service should be accessible by anybody from anywhere and anytime. Even if the users of Internet are growing but still there is a major part of Indian population which is not able to access e-Governance activities for variety of reasons, e.g. some people may have limited access to Information and Communication Technologies and devices. Therefore, government has to provide internet access through public terminals as a part of their universal access efforts. vii) Confidence on technologies provided by government: The implementation of public administration functions via e-Government requires that the user must be confident and comfortable while using the technology. He must also trust that technology that he/she is interacting with. Even the government should provide the measures so that the users can trust the technology provided to them. The government has to make a balance between ensuring that a system prevents fraudulent transactions and the burden that extensive checks can take place on people who are honest.viii) Separation: The separation that exists between the individuals, communities and businesses that have access to Information Technology and those that do not have such access. Economic poverty is closely related to the limited information technology resources. People who are living below poverty line cannot afford a computer and internet connection for themselves to take the benefits of the e-Government and other on-line services. Economic poverty is not the only cause of this separation; it may also be caused by the lack of awareness among the people. In India even some of the economically stable people do not know about the scope and services of e-Governance. Indian government has to take some actions to narrower this separation to effectively implement the e-Governance projects. ix) Struggle to Change: The struggle to change phenomenon can explain much of the hesitation that occurs on the part of the constituents in moving from a paper-based to a web-based system to interact with government. Citizens, employees and businesses can all have their biases with respect to how transactions should be processed. Government entities and public policy administrators cannot ignore the changes that occur as a result of the implementation of the ICT. Education about the value of new system is one step towards reducing some of this strugglex) Population: Population of India is probably the biggest challenge in implementing e-Governance projects. As population is considered to be an asset to the country but it also offers some other challenges e.g. establishing person identities. There is no unique identity of individuals in India although Indian government is making efforts for providing unique identity to its citizens. Apart from this, measuring the population, keeping the database of all Indian nationals and keeping this database updated and then providing the e-governance services to the whole population are major challenges.xi) Lack of integrated services: Most of the e-governance services which are offered by the state or central government are not integrated. Lack of communication between different departments of government may be its major cause. Therefore, the information that resides within one department has no or very little meaning to some other department of the government. xii) Lack of awareness in people: Most of the Indian people are not aware of the benefits of e-Governance services. Even the government do not pay much attention to make the people aware about e-Governance activities. Unawareness is a major challenge in the implementation of e-Governance projects. Economical Challenges i) Cost: In developing countries like India, cost is one of the most important obstacles in the path of implementation of e-Governance where major part of the population is living below poverty line. Even the politicians do not have interest in implementing e-Governance. A huge amount of money is involved in implementation, operational and evolutionary maintenance tasks. These costs must be low enough so that to guarantee a good cost/benefit ratio. ii) Applications must be transferrable from one platform to another: e-governance applications must be independent from hardware or software platforms. Therefore, these applications can be used at any platform irrespective of the hardware or software and from one platform to the other platform. These applications may also help on possible reuse by other administrators. iii) Maintenance of electronic devices: As the Information Technology changes very fast and it is very difficult for us to update our existing systems very fast. Regulations of different devices and their different characteristics may vary and the system in use must be capable to handle all the emerging needs. Maintenance is a key factor for long living systems in a rapidly changing technical environment. iv) Low per Capita income: Per capita income means how much each individual receives, in the terms of money, of the yearly income generated in a country. This refers to what each individual receives if the yearly national income is divided equally among everyone. Per capita income of India is low as compare to the other countries. Therefore, people cannot afford on-line services provided by the government which is a challenge for implementation of e-governance. v) Limited financial resources: The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is one of the measures o national income and a countrys economy. GDP is defined as the total market value of all final goods and services produced within the country in a given period of time. GDP of a country is the measure of its financial strength. India has limited financial resources so as to implement and maintain the e-Government projects properly. Technical challenges i) Interoperability: Interoperability is the ability of systems and organizations of different qualities to work together. The e-Governance applications must have this characteristic so that the newly developed and existing applications can be implemented together. ii) Scale of applications: e- Governance projects have to be designed to scale from the day one. e-Governance is supposed to affect every citizen of the country, so e-Governance applications must have the scale to interface with every citizen. iii) Multimodal Interaction: Multimodal interaction provides the user with multiple modes of interfacing with a system. An e-Government application can be really effective if its users can access it using different devices. iv) Privacy and Security: A critical obstacle in implementing e-Governance is the privacy and security of an individuals personal data that he/she provides to obtain government services. With the implementation of e-government projects, some effective measures must be taken to protect the sensitive personal information of the people. Lack of security standards can limit the development of e-Government projects that contain personal information such as income, medical history etc. v) Scope of applications: The very first step in creating a good application is to define its scope very well and everything else comes later. The applications which are provided by e-Government, their scope must be known in advance for the accurate implementation of e-Governance projects. vi) Tried and tested technologies: Technology tends to get out of date very fast. Our government may not be in position to buy new servers every year. So, it is better and safer to use technologies and products which are tried and tested for longer periods of times than using the latest ones. vii) Geographical problems: Corporate networks reside on reliable and controlled networks. Government networks have to go into all areas which are even unfriendly to live. It is, however, costly to wire up all the villages in the country. So, e-Governance systems must have to use the wireless networks like existing cellular networks to reach the applications into remote areas irrespective of the geographical issues. viii) Local language: The acceptance of English language in India is very low. The e-governance applications are written in English. That is why e-Governance projects do not get success. Hence, the e-governance applications must be written in local language of the people so that they may be able to use and take advantage of these applications.

Four Models of E GovernanceGenerally four basic models are available government-to-citizen (customer), government-to-employees, government-to-government and government-to-business.

"E-government" is the use of the ICTs in public administration - combined with organizational change and new skills - to improvepublic servicesand democratic processes and to strengthen support to public. The problem in this definition to be congruence definition of e-governance is that there is no provision for governance of ICTs. As a matter of fact, the governance of ICTs requires most probably a substantial increase in regulation andpolicy-makingcapabilities, with all the expertise and opinion-shaping processes along the various social stakeholders of these concerns. So, the perspective of the e-governance is "the use of the technologies that both help governing and have to be governed".ThePublic-Private Partnership(PPP) based e-governance projects are hugely successful inIndia.United Telecoms Limitedknown as UTL is a major player in India on PPP based e-governance projects . Each project had mammoth state wide area networks in these states.Many countries are looking forward to for acorruption-free government. E-government is one-waycommunication protocolwhereas e-governance is two-way communication protocol. The essence of e-governance is to reach thebeneficiaryand ensure that the services intended to reach the desired individual has been met with. There should be an auto-response to support the essence of e-governance, whereby the Government realizes the efficacy of its governance. E-governance is by the governed, for the governed and of the governed.Establishing the identity of the endbeneficiaryis a challenge in all citizen-centric services. Statistical information published by governments and world bodies does not always reveal the facts. The best form of e-governance cuts down on 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.Budgetfor planning, development and growth can be derived from well laid out e-governance systems

Government to CitizenThe goal of Government to Customer (G2C) e-Governance to is 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 Government to Customer e-Governance.Two-way communicationallows citizens to instant message directly with public administrators, and cast remote electronic votes (electronic voting) and instant opinion voting. Transactions such as payment of services, such as city utilities, 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.

International SituationTheFederal Government of the United Stateshas a broad framework of G2C technology to enhance citizen access to Government information and services.Benefits.Govis an official US government website that informs citizens of benefits they are eligible for and provides information of how to apply assistance. US State Governments also engage in G2C interaction through theDepartment of Transportation,Department of Public Safety,United States Department of Health and Human Services,United States Department of Education, and others. 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 showsMichiganandUtahin the lead andFloridaandIdahowith the lowest scores. 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. European countries were ranked second among all geographic regions. The Single Point of Access for Citizens of Europe supports travel within Europe and eEurope is a 1999 initiative supporting online government. Main focuses are to provide public information, allow customers to have access to basicpublic services, simplify online procedures, and promoteelectronic signatures. Asia is ranked third in comparison, and there are diverse G2C programs between countries.Singapores eCitizen Portal is an organized single access point to government information and services.South Koreas Home Tax Service (HTS) provides citizens with 24/7 online services such as tax declaration.Taiwanhas top ranking G2C technology including an online motor vehicle services system, which provides 21 applications and payment services to citizens. 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 throughInformation and Communication Technologies(ICTs), but can also includedirect mailand media campaigns. G2C can take place at the federal, state, and local levels. G2C stands in contrast to G2B, orGovernment-to-Businessnetworks.One such Federal G2C network isUSA.gov: the United States' official web portal, though there are many other examples from governments around the world. A full switch to Government to Customer e-Governance will cost a large amount of money in development and implementation. 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, 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.

Government to EmployeesE-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 maintain 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. 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 faxG2Eservices also include software for maintaining personal information and records of employees. Some of the benefits of G2E expansion include:1. E-Payroll- maintaining the online sources to view paychecks, pay stubs, pay bills, and keep records for tax information.2. E-benefits- be able to look up what benefits an employee is receiving and what benefits they have a right to.3. 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 through distance learning. G2E is an effective way to provideE-learningto the employees, bring them together and to promote knowledge sharing among them.It also gives employees the possibility of accessing information in regard to compensation and benefit policies, training and learning opportunities and civil rights laws. G2E services also includes software for maintaining personnel information and records of employees. G2E is adopted in many countries including the United States, Hong Kong and New Zealand. Government to GovernmentFrom 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 their 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 now delivered and how they are now being implemented.Many governments around the world have gradually turned to Internet Technologies (IT) in an effort to keep up with todays demands. Historically, many governments in this sphere have only been reactive but up until recently there has been a more proactive approach in developing comparable services likee-commerceande-business. 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 introduced a new form of record keeping, it also continues to become more interactive to better the process of delivering services and promoting constituency participation.The framework of such 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 termsAn overhaul of 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 Canadas 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.The purpose to include e-governance to government is to make 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 into play such as facilitating information delivery, application process/renewal between both business and private citizen, and participation with 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: 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.OverviewGovernment-to-Government is the online non-commercial interaction between Government organisations, departments, and authorities and other Government organisations, departments, and authorities. Its use is common in theUK, along withG2C, the online non-commercial interaction of local and central Government and private individuals, andG2Bthe online non-commercial interaction of local and central Government and the commercial business sector.ObjectiveThe 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 societys needs and expectations through efficient public services and effective interaction between the people, businesses and government

Government to BusinessGovernment-to-Business (G2B) is theonlinenon-commercial interaction between local and central government and the commercial business sector with the purpose of providing businesses information and advice one-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.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.[24]Government services are concentrated to the following groups: human services; community Services; judicial services; transport services; land resources; business services; financial Services and other.[25]Each of the components listed above for each cluster of related services to the enterprise.Benefits for BusinessE-government reduce costs, carry out all companies to interact with the government. Electronic trading saves time compared to human doing business. No need for driving to government and no waiting time. If the transaction is not completed, you can use the mouse to click on the return trip rather than drive to the office. As more and more companies are doing online conduct government business, and their transaction costs will be reduced. More technology and less workers needed reduce the business cost.E-Government provides a greater amount of information that business needed, also it makes those information more clear. A key factor in business success is the ability to plan for the future. Planning and forecasting 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 filing of applications for environmental permits gives an example of it. Companies often do not know how, when, and they must apply. Therefore failure to comply with environmental regulations up to 70%, a staggering figuremost likely to confusion about the requirements, rather than the product of willful disregard of the law. The government should concern that not all people are able to access to the internet to gain on-line 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. 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 get 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 liketotalitariancould be developed. As government can access more information, the loss privacy could be a cost. 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." Examples e-Tender Box (ETB) system- ETB system was developed by Government Logistics Department (GLD) to replace Electronic Tendering System Users can use ETB system to download the resources and gain the service from the GLD. e-Procurement Programme- e-Procurement Programme provide a simple, convenient on-line 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. Finance and support for your business- UK Government provide the on-line financial help for business including grants, loans, business guide, what's more, it also offer the funding for the sunrise businesses(just start) or small scale firms.ConclusionThe overall benefit of e-governance when dealing with business is that it enables business to perform more efficiently. E-governance is a wonderful tool to bring transparency, accountability and whistle blowing in India.However, it has its own share of challenges that include administrative, legal and technological challenges. There may be instances where e-governance can itself be a source of corruption.Use of e-governance in India would also require an efficient mechanism to deal with e-waste. Absence of privacyand data protection lawshas also created many hurdles before successful implementation of e-governance in India. However, the biggest hurdle before Indian e-governance initiatives comes from poor cyber security in India. According to techno legal experts, e-governance without cyber security is useless in India. In fact, that makes the critical infrastructure of India vulnerable to sophisticated cyber attacks. Absence of mandatory e-governance services in India is the main reason for apathy towards this crucial field. As the usage of Information Technology is growing very fast, Indian government is making many efforts to provide services to its citizens through e-Governance. Although Indian government is spending a lot of money on e-Governance projects but still these projects are not successful in all parts of India. Unawareness in people, local language of the people of a particular area, privacy for the personal data of the people etc. are main challenges which are responsible for the unsuccessful implementation of e-Governance in India. Government must take some actions to make the people aware about the e-Governance activities so that people may take full advantage of these activities and e-Governance projects can be implemented successfully. The participation of people can play a vital role in implementation of e-Governance in India.

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