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DECEMBER 2008

ELEVENTH REpoRT

SEConD ADMiniStRAtivE REfoRMS CoMMiSSion

PRoMoting e-govERnAnCE

Te SMARWay Forward


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GOVERNMEN OF INDIA

SECOND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION

ELEVENH REPOR

PROMOING e-GOVERNANcETe SMAR Way Forward

DEcEMbER 2008


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PREFAcE

In his Grundlegung Zur Metaphysik de Sitton, Immanual Kant says, So act as to

treat humanity, whether in their own person or in that of any other, in every case as

an end withal, never as means only. Kants observation is even more valid today. The

citizens are ends in themselves, rather than as means to other ends. he olonial view

o the Government used to e as a ontroller and ruler. It is now that o a oordinator

and provider. Government is responsile or providing ertain servies to the itizens, justlike an organisation is responsile or managing a value hain that leads to output. business

orporations have disovered over the last ew deades that inormation tehnology an

make the value hain more eiient and lead to quality improvements and ost savings.

Similarly, Governments have disovered that inormation tehnology an make the provision

o servies to the itizen more eiient and transparent, an save osts and lead to a higher

level o eiieny.

eGovernane is in essene, the appliation o Inormation and communiations

ehnology to government untioning in order to reate Simple, Moral, Aountale,

Responsive and ransparent1 (SMAR) governane. In this report on eGovernane, the

Seond Administrative Reorms commission (ARc) has tried to analyse the suesses and

ailures o eGovernane initiatives in India and at the gloal level, in order to extrapolate

the est praties, key reorm priniples and reommendations that an help the government

to implement a new paradigm o governane in the ountry. his new paradigm would

ous on the use o inormation tehnology to ring puli servies to the doorsteps o our

itizens and usinesses on the asis o revolutionary hanges in our institutional strutures,

proedures and praties that would transorm the relationships etween our three levels

o government, our usinesses and our itizens.

he revolution in Inormation and communiations ehnology (Ic) has rought

a whole new agenda or governane into the realm o possiility. eGovernane omprises

deisional proesses and the use o Ic or wider partiipation o itizens in puli aairs.

citizens are partiipants in eGovernane. he purpose o implementing eGovernane is

to improve governane proesses and outomes with a view to improving the delivery o

puli servies to itizens. Some authors have deined eGovernane as the eusiness o the

i

1Paragraph 83, Report o the Working Group on convergene and EGovernane or Te enth Five Year Plan (20022007), Planning commission,Novemer, 2001


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State. This seems appropriate as oth e-Governane and e-usiness use similar tehnologies,

infrastruture and hardware. However the market models are widely different thus justifying

e-Governane as a separate area of researh (Gisler, 2001). Although there are many

definitions of e-Governane, the ojetives of governments are indisputale: maintaining

olletive seurity, administering justie, providing the institutional infrastruture of

the eonomy and ensuring that vital soial apital is enhaned through improvements inhealth and eduation and through strong families and ommunities (Dawes et al. 1999). A

more omprehensive definition of e-Governane proposes hanges of government in two

related aspets: 1) transformation of usiness of governane i.e. reduing osts, improving

servie delivery and renewing proesses; 2) re-examination of the funtions and proesses

of demoray itself (Aiholzer and Shmutzer 2000). The resulting impats are redued

osts, lesser orruption, inreased transpareny, revenue growth and onveniene for the

itizenry.

India, eing the largest demoray in the world, has muh to gain from e-Governane,espeially when itizen partiipation in governane is one of the features of the fully evolved

stage of e-government. Many e-readiness assessments have een arried out at the gloal level

that show the urrent state of Indias e-readiness. Some of the more reent study findings

are as follows: The July 2002 EIU ranking found that 55 of the ountries navigating the

information super highway aount for 98 per ent of all IT in 150 ountries. It ranked

India at 54 among the group of elite 55.The May 2001 M-connell ranking of e-readiness

assessment indiated that sustantial improvements were needed in the area of onnetivity.

Improvements are also required in the areas of E-Leadership, E-business, Information

Seurity and Human capital. The Gloal Information Tehnology Report, 2002-03, ranked

India 37 aove china whih is ranked 43rd, whereas the 2001-02 Report ranked India

54 (adapted from INDIA: E-Readiness Assessment Report 2003, Department of Information

Tehnology, Government of India).

Singapore has SINGAPORE ONE, an e-Governane suite that offers very

omprehensive servies to its itizens. One a hild is orn, the data ase keeps trak of

this hild during its primary and seondary shool days, graduation degree, employment,

marriage, housing loans, passport, usiness et. South Korea is another ountry that has

developed a numer of e-Governane projets. This ountry oasts of the est onnetivity

in the world. The UK also has an exellent e-Governane system and a lot an e learntfrom how the government has transformed itself in the new era. While the India proesses

are ased on the UK proesses, they have remained antiquated. They need to e updated

and hanged as per urrent irumstanes.

e-Governane refers to the use y government agenies of Information Tehnologies

(suh as Wide Area Networks, the Internet and moile omputing) that have the aility to

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eGovernment is not aout e ut aout government; it is not aout omputers and

wesites, ut aout servies to itizens and usinesses. eGovernment is also not aout

translating proesses; it is aout transorming them. eGovernment is onerned with the

transormation o government, modernisation o government proesses and untions and

etter puli servie delivery mehanisms through tehnology so that government an e

put on an autopilot mode.

he our pillars o eGovernment are:#

People

Process

Technology

Resources

he hallenges in eGovernane have een desried as entred around or key areasviz people, proess, tehnology and resoures. he key onsiderations in eGovernane are

desried elow:

eGovernane imperatives

Proess Simpliity Eiieny citizen Sustainaility cost

entriity eetiveness

People Vision Leadership commitment competeny change

ehnology Arhiteture Open Reliaility Salaility SeurityStandards

Resoures Holisti Eiient Servie Sustained Adequate

oriented

o ompete suessully in a network ased gloal eonomy, governments need to e

oth leaders and ailitators. he leadership and ailitation roles omprise the ollowing

elements:

Developinganationale-strategy,makingICTadoptionandnetworkreadinessanational priority;

Undertaking innovative projects thatmake a difference, to lead by example,

adopting est praties;

Reforminggovernmentprocessescoveringareas suchas revenues,expenditures,

prourement, servie delivery, ustomer grievanes et;

v# his and susequent paragraphs are adapted rom a paper prepared/presentation made y Dr. P.K. Mohanty


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Tracking,storingandmanaginginformation,promotingproductionofnational

ontent online and through eletroni media; and doumenting suesses and

failures;

Accordinghighpriorityto protectionof individualrights,intellectualproperty,

privay, seurity, onsumer protetion et. and mobilising the ivil soiety; and

Developing a supportive framework for early adoptionof ICT and creating a

regulatory framework for IcT-related ativities.

creating the maro-eonomi environment for growth and innovation in IcT, inluding

fisal poliies (ost, innovation, investment, and venture apital), legal and regulatory

environment (ompetition, independent regulator, rule of law, intelletual property

protetion) and hannelizing and mobilization of resoures for IcT is an important

orollary to e-Governane as is implementing an eduation poliy for the right quantum

and quality of manpower resoures for a network-ready eonomy-urriula, IcT trainingfailities and wiring/networking of eduational institutions. Addressing the digital divide

domestially and internationally, giving signals to markets - artiulating a national vision of

IcT, aording national priority to IcT, undertaking large projets, promoting innovation

and risk taking through fisal onessions and availability of venture apital; reating an

investment limate for domesti and foreign investment in IcT setor; hampioning national

interests in international forums et. are equally important.

Despite important poliy initiatives and signifiant ahievements in the eonomi and

soial setors in our ountry, we still have a long way to go before ahieving our full potentialfor development. This is beause there is still a wide gulf between our poliy initiatives and

intents and the atual ahievements. Among the major reasons for this gap inlude outmoded

systems of governane, umbersome proesses and proedures, prevalene of orruption and

lak of aountability in our funtioning. A pertinent question, therefore, is how an these

defiienies be best redressed. An obvious answer is through adopting e-Governane as an

inextriable part of government funtioning, be they in routine matters or major projets.

In this ontext I would like to share some of the suessful initiatives in e-Governane

whih were undertaken when I served as Eduation and Finane Minister and later as chief

Minister in Karnataka. These inlude use of e-Governane both in routine matters as well

as in major initiatives. Some of these are:

IntroductionofcomputerisedcounselingintheCommonEntranceTest(CET)

for admission to Professional colleges in Karnataka.

This involved reation of a omputerized system to manage the proessing of the

results of cET, to prepare merit lists and thereafter on the basis of the merit list

to enable seat seletions by the andidates in a transparent manner.

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DisposaloffilesintheChiefMinistersoffice.

Every grievane or appeal whih was addressed to the chie Minister, was given

a omputer numer and date and wathed on omputer or its disposal. Needless

to mention the impat o suh ojetive wath had an impat on the eiieny

o the cMs seretariat in the matter o prompt disposal o iles, redressal and areelaorated in this Report.

Inormation ehnology presents many avenues or improving governane. It has

opened up new opportunities or governments to manage things dierently and in a more

eiient manner y utilizing inormation eetively and reengineering proesses. Ic

tools are emerging as important instruments towards the goal o good governane. Many

ountries have launhed speii initiatives or open government. Freedom o inormation

is eing redeined and supported y Ic. Indias Right to Inormation At, 2005 is a prime

example in this regard. Ic has ailitated a onsious attempt to ring the itizen to the

entrestage. citizens are eing pereived as ustomers and lients rather than eneiiaries.he internet revolution oupled with rapid advanes in ommuniation have proved to

e a powerul tool or itizenentri governane. An important dimension o the Internet

potential is the possiility o providing puli servies anytime, anywhere.

My hope is that the ARcs Eleventh Report on eGovernane, an help transorm

governane in India to a transparent, responsive, itizen riendly and eiient regime that

we an all e proud o.

New Delhi (M. Veerappa Moily)

Deemer 20, 2008 chairman

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xi

Government o India

Ministry o Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions

Department o Administrative Reorms and Public Grievances

RESOLUTION

New Delhi, the 14th Feruary, 2008

No.K11022/26/2007AR Te President is pleased to extend the term o the seond

Administrative Reorms commission (ARc) y six months upto 30.9.2008 or sumission

o its Reports to the Government.

Sd/-

(Dhruv Vijai Singh)

Additional Secretary to the Government o India

Government o India

Ministry o Personnel, Public Grievances & PensionsDepartment o Administrative Reorms and Public Grievances

RESOLUTION

New Delhi, the 5th Septemer, 2008

No.K11022/26/2007AR Te President is pleased to extend the term o the seond

Administrative Reorms commission (ARc) y six months upto 31.3.2009 or sumissiono its Reports to the Government.

Sd/-

(P.K. Jha)

Joint Secretary to the Government o India


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box 6.2 National Knowledge commission on 72

Government Proess Re-engineering

box 6.3 business Proess Re-engineering Projet o 73Inome Tax Department

box 6.4 common Standards 91

box 6.5 Some Novel Tehnologial Solutions 94

box 7.1 State Data centres 116

box 7.2 comparison o Visa Systems 151

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

Abbreviation Full Form

AOA Artiles o Assoiation

APL Aove Poverty Line

APR Annual Perormane Appraisal Report

ARc Administrative Reorms commission

ATIs Administrative Training Institutes

bIS bureau o Indian Standards

bOD bulk Operations Division

bPL below Poverty Line

bPR business Proess Reengineering

bSEb bihar State Eletriity board

cbDT central board o Diret Taxes

cbRMs capaity building RoadmapsccTNS crime and criminal Traking Network and System

c-DAc centre or Development o Advane computing

cDb core Dataase

cET common Entrane Test

cIO chie Inormation Oer (USA)

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cIOc chie Inormation Oer counil (USA)

cIPA common Integrated Polie Appliation

cIU central I Unit (UK)cLR computerisation o Land Reords

cOD compliane Operations Division

cSc common Servie centre

cSS centrally Sponsored Sheme

DAR&PG Department o Administrative Reorms and Puli Grievanes

DDA Delhi Development Authority

DGF Diretorate General o Foreign rade

DHS Department o Homeland Seurity (USA)

DIN Diretor Identifation Numer

DISNIc Distrit Inormation System o the National Inormatis centre

DI Department o Inormation ehnology

DMA Disaster Management At, 2005

DoLR Department o Land Resoures

DPR Detailed Projet Report

EA Enterprise Arhiteture

Ec Empowered committee

EDI Eletroni Data Interhange

EFc Expenditure Finane committee

EGOM Empowered Group o Ministers

EOI Expression o Interest

ERNE Eduation and Researh Network

ES Eletroni otal StationEXIM Export Import

FAR Federal Aquisition Regulation (USA)

FEA Federal Enterprise Arhiteture (USA)

FIFO First in First out

FIUIND Finanial Intelligene Unit India

G2b Government to business

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G2c Government to citizen

G2G Government to Government

GIS Geographi Inormation SystemGPS Gloal Positioning System

GSA General Servies Administration (USA)

HRSI High Resolution Satellite Imagery

IcT Inormation & communiations Tehnology

IEc Inormation Eduation and communiation

IEE Internal Eieny and Eetiveness

IRM Institute o Risk Management (USA)

ISRO Indian Spae Researh Organization

IT Inormation Tehnology

ITES Inormation Tehnology Enaled Servies

ITIN Individual Tax Identifation Numer

JNNURM Jawaharlal Nehru National Uran Renewal Mission

KISS Keep it Small and Simple

KM Knowledge Management

LAN Loal Area Network

McA Ministry o corporate Aairs

MEA Ministry o External Aairs

MHA Ministry o Home Aairs

MIS Management Inormation System

MMPs Mission Mode Projets

MNIc Multi-purpose National Identity card

MOA Memorandum o AssoiationMoUD Ministry o Uran Development

MPLADS Memer o Parliament Loal Area Development Sheme

MSA Measurement System Analysis

NARA National Arhives & Reords Administration (USA)

NASScOM National Assoiation o Sotware and Servies companies

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NeGP National eGovernane Plan

NIc National Inormatis centre

NIcNE National Inormatis centre NetworkNISG National Institute o Smart Governane

NLRMP National Land Reords Modernisation Programme

NLSA National Level Servie Ageny

NMMP National Mission Mode Projet

NPR National Population Register

NREGA National Rural Employment Guarantee At, 2005

NSDG National eGovernane Servie Delivery Gateway

OEcD Organisation or Eonomi cooperation and Development

OFPP Oe o Federal Prourement Poliy (USA)

OMb Oe o Management and budget (USA)

OPM Oe o Personnel Management (USA)

PAN Permanent Aount Numer

PDS Puli Distriution System

PeM Projet eGovernane Mission eams

PESU Patna Eletri Supply Undertaking

PFO Physial Front Oe

PIAs Privay Impat Assessments

PPP PuliPrivate Partnership

PSUs Puli Setor Undertakings

RAcE Revenue Administration through computerised Energy

REGS Rural Employment Guarantee Sheme

RDs Regional DiretorsRFP Request or Proposal/Partiipation

RGI Registrar General o India

ROc Registrar o companies

RoR Reords o Rights

RPO Regional Passport Oe

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Rc Reords o Right, enany and cultivation

RI Right to Inormation

ScA Servie centre AgenySDA State Designated Ageny

SDcs State Data centres

SeM State e-Governane Mission eams

SMAR Simple, Moral, Aountale, Responsive and ransparent

SRA Strengthening o Revenue Administration

SROs Su-Registrars Oes

SSc State Servies commission (New Zealand)

SQc Standardization esting and Quality certifation

SWAN State Wide Area Network

IN ax Identifation Numer

UID Unique Identity

ULbs Uran Loal bodies

ULR Updating o Land Reords

URL Uniorm Resoure Loator

Us Union erritories

VFO Virtual Front Oe

VLE Village Level Entrepreneur

WAN Wide Area Network

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1INTRODUCTION

1

1.1 One o the terms o reerene o the Seond Administrative Reorms commission

pertains to promoting e-Governane and in partiular, to the ollowing aspets o this

sujet:

i. o redue red-tape, delay and inonvenienes through tehnology

interventions inluding the use o modern tools, tehniques and instrumentso e-Governane.

ii. Promote knowledge sharing to realize ontinuous improvement in the quality

o governane.

1.2 Te e in e-Governane stands or eletroni. Tus, e-Governane is asially

assoiated with arrying out the untions and ahieving the results o governane

through the utilization o what has today ome to e known as Ic (Inormation and

communiations ehnology). Te reason why ountries around the world are inreasingly

opting or e-Governane is that governane per se has eome more omplex and variedin the last ew deades and more importantly, itizens expetations rom government have

inreased maniold. Ic ailitates eient storing and retrieval o data, instantaneous

transmission o inormation, proessing inormation and data aster than the earlier manual

systems, speeding up governmental proesses, taking deisions expeditiously and judiiously,

inreasing transpareny and enoring aountaility. It also helps in inreasing the reah

o government oth geographially and demographially.

1.3 Te primary purpose o governane is the welare o itizens. While one aspet o

governane relates to saeguarding the legal rights o all itizens, an equally important aspet

is onerned with ensuring equitale aess to puli servies and the enets o eonomigrowth to all. It is expeted that e-Governane would enale the government to disharge

its untions more eetively. However, this would require the government to hange itsel

its proesses, its outlook, laws, rules and regulations and also its way o interating with

the itizens. It would also require apaity uilding within the government and reation

o general awareness aout e-Governane among the itizens.


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1.4 During the initial stages o introdution o Ic in governane there was resistane rom

some quarters. Some elt that omputerization annot work in the omplex government

system and that introdution o omputers would lead to un-employment. Tere were

also serious douts whether government employees at all levels would e ale to handleomputers. Fortunately all these misgivings have proved wrong. oday, new sotware tools

have enough fexiility, to aommodate the most omplex situations. Te new tehnology

makes the mahine human interae very user-riendly. Te Inormation ehnology (I) and

Inormation ehnology Enled Servies (IES) setors have reated millions o jos esides

improving vastly on the servies provided y government undertakings like banks, Airlines,

Railways et. Tus e-Governane is no longer a ar-ethed dream.

1.5 Te commission in its various Reports has advoated the need or introduing

e-Governane tools or reorming governmental proesses and ringing elements oaountaility and transpareny along with itizen-entriity. In its First Report, entitled

Right to Inormation: Master Key to Good Governane, while disussing suo motu

dislosures, the commission reommended that In respect to electronic disclosures, NICshould provide a single portal through which disclosures o all public authorities under appropriate

governments could be accessed, to acilitate easy availability o inormation(paragraph 5.4.11.d).However, while making this reommendation, the commission was not unaware o the

ground realities prevalent in the ountry, espeially in the rural areas, whih alled or a thrust

towards apaity uilding and reating adequate inrastruture or taking e-Governane

to the people. Tus, the commission autioned that there are inherent limitations inelectronic communication. Te vast majority o people will not have access to computers in the

oreseeable uture. Also a large number o small public oces and village panchayats are unlikelyto be able to use this mode o communication(paragraph 5.4.2).

1.6 Te commissions Seond Report entitled Unloking Human capital: Entitlements

and Governane A case Study, ontained a omplete module on Use o Inormation

ehnology in implementation o the National Rural Employment Guarantee At, 2005.

Some o the important reommendations made y the commission are quite illustrative

in the ontext o e-Governane whih is the ous o the present Report:

Blocksmustbethenodallevelsofgovernmentatwhichallinformationiselectronic.

Any inormation collected in non-electronic orm at this or a lower level ogovernment must be digitized at block level (paragraph 5.4.8.1.6).

Datafromtheblocksshouldbeaggregatedincentralrepositoriesineachofthestates.A

single data centre may be adequate or each state, and transmission to this centre romeach o the blocks should be enabled. Te Union Government should maintain its owndata centre, aggregating data rom each o the state repositories (paragraph 5.4.8.3.3).

Promoting e-Governane Te SMAR Way Forward


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3

eidenticationofparticipantsintheREGSshouldbedevelopednationally,in

preparationforwideruseofanationalcitizenidenticationnumber.epotential

or such identity to be developed congruently with other systems o nationwide

part icipation e.g. elections should be explored along with appropriaterepresentatives rom such other arenas as well (paragraph 5.4.8.5.3).

AGeographicInformationSystem(GIS)fortheREGSshouldbedevelopedand

inormation that is developed through aggregation should be presented throughthis system as well. A zoom-able and pan-able interace should allow perormanceto be understood at diferent levels o administration rom the same base data.

Wherever possible, suo motu disclosures should be in GIS ormat also, in additionto their other means o dissemination (paragraph 5.4.8.7.5).

Afewpilotprojectsindierentregionsmaybetakenupinaclusterofvillagesusing SMAR cards. Such SMAR cards should store inormation aboutthe persons identity (including biometrics) and should have the capacity o recordingtransactionsunderNREGAandevenauthorizepayments(paragraph

5.4.8.9.5).

1.7 In its Report on crisis Management, the commission had one again put emphasis

on the use o Geographial Inormation System tools in order to integrate spatial datasuch as topography, hydrology, land use, land cover, settlement pattern and built structure aswell as non-spatial data such as demography, socio-economic conditions and inrastructure in a

common platorm. Tis should be integrated with satellite and aerospace data as well as data romGeographicalPositioningSystemsforrealtimemonitoringofcrisissituationsandforscientic

assessment o damages(paragraph 5.3.8).

1.8 Te commissions Fourth Report entitled Ethis in Governane also emphasized

the use o Inormation ehnology and highlighted the need or onomitant proess re-

engineering in the government. Its spei reommendations were as ollows:

EachMinistry/Department/OrganisationofGovernmentshoulddrawupaplan

or use o I to improve governance. In any government process, use o Inormationechnology should be made only ater the existing procedures have been thoroughlyre-engineered (paragraph 6.4.7a).

eMinistryofInformationTechnologyneedstoidentifycertaingovernmental

processes and then take up a project o their computerization on a nationwidescale (paragraph 6.4.7b).

Introdution


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Forcomputerizationtobesuccessful,computerknowledgeofdepartmentalocers

needstobeupgraded.Similarly,theNICneedstobetrainedindepartmentspecic

activities, so that they could appreciate each others view point and also ensure

that technology providers understand the anatomy of each department (paragraph6.4.7c).

Alloceshavinglargepublicinterfaceshouldhaveanonlinecomplainttracking

system. If possible, this task of complaint tracking should be outsourced (paragraph6.10.2a).

Anationaldatabasecontainingthedetailsofallcorruptioncasesatalllevelsshould

becreated.isdatabaseshouldbeinthepublicdomain.Identiedauthorities

should be made responsible for updating the database regularly (paragraph

6.16.2).

1.9 In its Fith Report entitled Puli Order, the commission had emphasized the use o

tehnology in making the registration o FIRs hassle ree. It also suggested that tehnology

should e used to improve the aessiility o Polie Stations to the puli.

1.10 Te commission had urther oasion to disuss the use o Inormation and

communiations ehnology (Ic) in its Sixth Report on Loal Governane with a view

to strengthening the institutional strutures and servie delivery mehanisms with reerene

to the third tier o government. It was o the view that Information and Communication

echnology provides tools which could be utilized by the local governments for simplifyingcumbersome processes, reducing contact between the cutting edge functionaries and thecitizens, enhancing accountability and transparency and providing single window servicedelivery for a variety of services. Te Commission would discuss such issues in detail in itsReport on e-Governance(paragraph 3.10.1.1). Having said this, however, the commissiondid look into some spei uses o e-Governane tools in matters related to panhayats and

uran loal odies. Some o the reommendations made in this Report are as ollows:

Information andCommunicationTechnology shouldbeutilized by thelocal

governmentsinprocesssimplication,enhancingtransparencyandaccountabilityand providing service delivery of services through single window (paragraph3.10.1.2 a).

Localgovernmentsshouldbecomeonepointservicecentresforprovidingvarious

web based and satellite based services. Tis would however require capacity buildingin the local governments (paragraph 3.10.2.8 b).

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StateGovernmentsshouldmakeuseofthesoftwareonfundtransfertoPanchayats

prepared by the Union Ministry o Panchayati Raj or speedy transer o unds

(paragraph 4.3.7.5d).

StepsshouldbetakentosetupInformationandCommunicationTechnology(ICT)

and Space echnology enabled Resource Centres at the Village and Intermediate

Panchayat levels or local resource mapping and generation o local inormationbase. Tese Resource Centres should also be used or documenting local traditionalknowledge and heritage (paragraphs 4.5.5.6 a&b).

Municipalbodiesshouldhaveaperiodicallyupdateddatabaseofitsproperties.

I tools like GIS should be used or this purpose. Tis database should be in thepublic domain (paragraph 5.3.8.7a).

Paymentofwaterchargesinurbanareasshouldbemadehassle-freethroughuse

o Inormation echnology (5.4.3.2.8e).

Anexhaustivesurveytoidentifytheurbanpoorshouldbecarriedoutwithinone

year.eurban poor so identiedmaybe issuedmulti-utility identity cards for

availingofbenetsunderallpovertyalleviationprogammes(paragraph5.6.2.3).

1.11 While dealing with illegal immigration into the North East in its Seventh Report

entitled capaity building or confit Resolution, the commission drew attention

towards having a multi-purpose national identity ard or itizens. It was o the view thatTe Multi-purpose National Identity Card (MNIC) will also unction as a necessaryinstrument or e-Governance. It will provide a user-riendly interace between the citizenand the government and will unction as a deterrent or uture illegal immigration

(paragraph 12.6.6.1). However, the commission noted that there were several Union and

State Government agenies whih issue similar identity ards. Aordingly, it reommended

that the MNIC project needs to be taken up on a priority basis. Since there are severalUnion Government and State Government agencies which issue similar identity cards,

it would be necessary to achieve convergence amongst all such systems so that the MNICbecomesthebasicdocumentforidenticationofapersonandlendsitselftobeusedasa

multi-purpose individual card. Priority should be given to areas having internationalborders, or implementation o this Project(paragraph 12.6.6.3).

1.12 In its earlier Reports, the commission has examined some aspets o e-Governane

while dealing with spei issues o governane. In the present Report, e-Governane is

examined as the ore issue in improving governane as a whole. Te Report disusses the

oneptual ramework o e-Governane in chapter 2 and then looks into some international

Introdution


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praties in chapter 3. chapter 4 examines some o the e-Governane initiatives undertaken

in India prior to the ormal launh o the National e-Governane Plan (NeGP) in 2006. In

chapter 5, the core Priniples o e-Governane have een outlined in the Indian ontext

and chapter 6 elaorates upon the issues involved in implementation o e-Governanereorms on the asis o these ore priniples. Te asi omponents o NeGP are disussed

in chapter 7. Tis chapter also ontains a disussion on some o the issues involved in

the implementation o the mammoth National e-Governane Plan. chapter 8 deals with

the legal ramework required or e-Governane in the ountry. chapter 9 inludes a rie

disussion on Knowledge Management.

1.13 Te commission has visited several States and Us to eliit the views o State

Government oials and the puli. During these visits, the presentations made y the

State Governments generally inluded a presentation on the e-Governane initiativesundertaken y them. Te commission has also enefted rom additional inputs on

e-Governane initiatives provided y several State Governments. Te commission is grateul

to Shri Dayanidhi Maran, the then Union Minister or communiations and Inormation

ehnology, and oers o the Ministry or disussing the initiatives undertaken in

relation to e-Governane. Te commission is also grateul to Dr. Sam Pitroda, chairman,

the National Knowledge commission and its memers with whom it had a very useul

interation. Te commission would also like to thank Shri Rajiv chawla, commissioner,

Survey and Settlement, Land Reords, Government o Karnataka, Shri Ajay Seth, Seretary

(Finane), Government o Karnataka; Shri S.G. Hegde, Exeutive Diretor, KEA; and

Shri Amod Kumar, Speial Seretary (I&), Government o Uttar Pradesh or their valuale

inputs on the Bhoomi, Khajane, computerised counselling and Lokvani projets

respetively. Te commission aknowledges the ontriution o Shri Harish Gowda,

commissioner o commerial axes, Karnataka. Te commission would like to plae on

reord its gratitude to Dr. N. Sheshagiri, ormer Diretor General, National Inormatis

centre; Shri Vivek Kulkarni, chairman and cEO, brikwork India; and Shri Nazeer

Hussain, ormer Diretor, Planning Department, Government o Karnataka or their valuale

suggestions. o assist in the preparation o this Report, the commission had entrusted the

task o preparing a onept paper on the commissions erms o Reerene on e-Governane

to the National Institute o Smart Governane, Hyderaad. Te inputs provided y them intheir onept paper were invaluale. Te commission also aknowledges the ontriution o

Shri R. chandrasekhar, Speial Seretary (I), Department o Inormation ehnology;

Shri J. Satyanarayana, cEO, NISG and Shri b.b. Nanawati, Prinipal consultant, NeGP

Projet Monitoring Unit.



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2e-GOVERNANCE : CONCEPTUAL FRAMEwORK2.1 Enabling Good Governance through Use o ICT

2.1.1 Te emergene o Inormation and communiations ehnology (Ic) has provided

means or aster and etter ommuniation, eient storage, retrieval and proessing o

data and exhange and utilization o inormation to its users, e they individuals, groups,

usinesses, organizations or governments. What had egun as a aster, more aurate andsimpler means o word-proessing quikly lent itsel to eing used as a tool or proessing

and taulating data as an aid in deision making. With growing omputerization and

inreasing internet onnetivity, this proess has presently reahed a stage where more and

more users are motivated to modiying their ways o doing things in order to leverage the

advantages provided y Ic. In other words, this has led to usiness proess re-engineering.

So ar as governments are onerned, the oming together o omputerization and internet

onnetivity/we-enalement in assoiation with proess re-engineering, promises aster

and etter proessing o inormation leading to speedier and qualitatively etter deision

making, greater reah and aountaility, etter utilization o resoures and overall goodgovernane. In the ase o itizens, it holds the promise o enhaned aess to inormation

and government agenies, eient servie delivery and transpareny in dealings and

interations with government.

2.1.2 With the inreasing awareness among itizens aout their rights and the resultant

inrease in expetations rom the government to perorm and deliver, the whole paradigm

o governane has hanged. Government, today, is expeted to e transparent in its dealings,

aountale or its ativities and aster in its responses. Tis has made the use o Ic

imperative in any agenda drawn towards ahieving good governane. It has also led to the

realization that suh tehnologies ould e used to ahieve a wide range o ojetives and

lead to aster and more equitale development with a wider reah. In its Fourth Report

entitled Ethis in Governane, the commission had learly stated that the tools o modern

tehnology suh as Inormation and communiations ehnology (Ic) should e used to

transorm the relationship o the government with its onstituents, itizens and usinesses,

and also etween its own agenies. While reognizing the potential o Ic in transorming

and redening proesses and systems o governane, the commission had suggested that


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e-Governane : coneptual Framework

articulation o their interests and exercise o their legal rights and obligations.E-Governancemaybeunderstoodastheperformanceofthisgovernancevia

the electronic medium in order to acilitate an ecient, speedy and transparent

process o disseminating inormation to the public, and other agencies, and orperorming government administration activities.

Tis denition visualizes the use o the eletroni medium in the exerise o

authority in the management o a ountrys aairs along with artiulation o

itizens interests leading to greater transpareny and eieny.

iii. Te counil o Europe has taken e-Governane to mean:6

the use o electronic technologies in three areas o public action:

- relations between the public authorities and civil society

- unctioning o the public authorities at all stages o the democratic process

(electronic democracy)

- the provision o public services (electronic public services)

In this ase, the ous is on making use o eletroni tehnologies with a view

to enourage etter interation etween government and itizens, promote

demoray and provide puli servies.

iv. Te US E-Government At o 2002 denes eletroni Government to mean

(Setion 3601):7

the use by the Government o web-based Internet applications and otherinormation technologies, combined with processes that implement thesetechnologies, to-

(A) enhance the access to and delivery o Government inormation and servicesto the public, other agencies, and other Government entities; or

(B)bringaboutimprovementsinGovernmentoperations thatmayinclude

eectiveness, eciency, service quality, or transormation.

Tis denition refets the strategy o the US Government regarding the use

o Ic in improving Government operations on the one hand and enhaning

the aess and delivery o inormation and servies to itizens and government

entities on the other.

6Soure: http://www.oe.int//E/com/Files/Temes/e-voting/denition.asp7Soure: E-Government At o 2002; http://rwegate.aess.gpo.gov/gi-in/getdo.gi?dname=107_ong_puli_laws&doid=:pul347.107.pd


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2.2.2 basially, e-Governane is generally understood as the use o Inormation and

communiations ehnology (Ic) at all levels o the Government in order to provide

servies to the itizens, interation with usiness enterprises and ommuniation and

exhange o inormation etween dierent agenies o the Government in a speedy,onvenient eient and transparent manner.8 Dr. APJ Adul Kalam, ormer President o

India, has visualized e-Governane in the Indian ontext to mean:

A transparent smart e-Governance with seamless access, secure and authentic fow o

inormation crossing the interdepartmental barrier and providing a air and unbiased

service to the citizen.9

2.3 Stages of e-Governance

2.3.1 It is evident that e-Governane is intrinsially linked with the development o omputer

tehnology, networking o omputers and ommuniation systems. In developing ountries,

suh tehnologies and systems eame availale with a pereptile time lag as ompared to

developed nations. However, in the ase o India, with the lieralization o the eonomy

rom the early 1990s onwards, there has een a onvergene in the availaility o utting

edge tehnologies and opportunities in the eld o e-Governane. Generally speaking, the

Indian experiene demonstrates that the onset o e-Governane proeeded through the

ollowing phases:

(a) Computerisation: In the rst phase, with the availaility o personal omputers,a large numer o Government oes got equipped with omputers. Te use o

omputers egan with word proessing, quikly ollowed y data proessing.

() Networking: In this phase, some units o a ew government organizations got

onneted through a hu leading to sharing o inormation and fow o data

etween dierent government entities.

() On-linepresence: With inreasing internet onnetivity, a need was elt or

maintaining a presene on the we. Tis resulted in maintenane o wesites

y government departments and other entities. Generally, these we-pages/we-sites ontained inormation aout the organizational struture, ontat

details, reports and puliations, ojetives and vision statements o the

respetive government entities.


8e-Government: From Vision to Implementation y Suash bhatnagar; Sage Puliations; 2004.9Inaugural address at II Delhi during International conerene on e-Governane.


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(d) On-lineinteractivity:A natural onsequene o on-line presene was openingup o ommuniation hannels etween government entities and the itizens,

ivil soiety organizations et. Te main aim at this stage was to minimize the

sope o personal interae with government entities y providing downloadaleForms, Instrutions, Ats, Rules et. In some ases, this has already led to

on-line sumission o Forms. Most itizen-government transations have the

potential o eing put on e-Governane mode.

2.4 Types o Interactions in eGovernance

2.4.1 e-Governane ailitates interation etween dierent stake holders in governane.

Tese interations may e desried as ollows:

G2G (Government to Government) In this ase, Inormation and communiationsehnology is used not only to restruture the governmental proesses involved in the

untioning o government entities ut also to inrease the fow o inormation and

servies within and etween dierent entities. Tis kind o interation is only within

the sphere o government and an e oth horizontal i.e. etween dierent government

agenies as well as etween dierent untional areas within an organisation, or vertial

i.e. etween national, provinial and loal government agenies as well as etween

dierent levels within an organisation. Te primary ojetive is to inrease eieny,

perormane and output.

G2C (Government to Citizens) In this ase, an interae is reated etween the

government and itizens whih enales the itizens to enet rom eient delivery

o a large range o puli servies. Tis expands the availaility and aessiility o

puli servies on the one hand and improves the quality o servies on the other.

It gives itizens the hoie o when to interat with the government (e.g. 24 hours

a day, 7 days a week), rom where to interat with the government (e.g. servie

entre, unattended kiosk or rom ones home/workplae) and how to interat with

the government (e.g. through internet, ax, telephone, email, ae-to-ae, et). Te

primary purpose is to make government, itizen-riendly.

G2B (Government to Business) Here, e-Governane tools are used to aid the

usiness ommunity providers o goods and servies to seamlessly interat with

the government. Te ojetive is to ut red tape, save time, redue operational



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osts and to reate a more transparent usiness environment when dealing with the

government. Te G2b initiatives an e transational, suh as in liensing, permits,

prourement and revenue olletion. Tey an also e promotional and ailitative,

suh as in trade, tourism and investment. Tese measures help to provide a ongenialenvironment to usinesses to enale them to perorm more eiently.

G2E (Government to Employees) Government is y ar the iggest employer and like

any organisation, it has to interat with its employees on a regular asis. Tis interation

is a two-way proess etween the organisation and the employee. Use o Ic tools helps

in making these interations ast and eient on the one hand and inrease satisation

levels o employees on the other.

2.5 Benefts o e-Governance

2.5.1 In the end, e-Governane is aout reorm in governane, ailitated y the reative use

o Inormation and communiations ehnology. It is expeted that this would lead to:

i. Betteraccesstoinformationandqualityservicesforcitizens: Ic would makeavailale timely and reliale inormation on various aspets o governane. In

the initial phase, inormation would e made availale with respet to simple

aspets o governane suh as orms, laws, rules, proedures et later extending

to detailed inormation inluding reports (inluding perormane reports),

puli dataase, deision making proesses et. As regards servies, therewould e an immediate impat in terms o savings in time, eort and money,

resulting rom online and one-point aessiility o puli servies aked up

y automation o ak end proesses. Te ultimate ojetive o e-Governane

is to reah out to itizens y adopting a lie-yle approah i.e. providing puli

servies to itizens whih would e required right rom irth to death.

ii. Simplicity, efciency and accountability in the government: Appliation o Ic to

governane omined with detailed usiness proess reengineering would lead

to simplifation o ompliated proesses, weeding out o redundant proesses,

simplifation in strutures and hanges in statutes and regulations. Te end

result would e simplifation o the untioning o government, enhaned

deision making ailities and inreased eieny aross government all

ontriuting to an overall environment o a more aountale government

mahinery. Tis, in turn, would result in enhaned produtivity and eieny

in all setors.



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iii. Expandedreachofgovernance:Rapid growth o ommuniations tehnology andits adoption in governane would help in ringing government mahinery to

the doorsteps o the itizens. Expansion o telephone network, rapid strides in

moile telephony, spread o internet and strengthening o other ommuniationsinrastruture would ailitate delivery o a large numer o servies provided y

the government. Tis enhanement o the reah o government oth spatial

and demographi would also enale etter partiipation o itizens in the

proess o governane.



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e-GOVERNANCE : INTERNATIONAL SCENARIO33.1 Many ountries have initiated e-Governane programmes in order to make government

and its agenies eient, more responsive and transparent. Some o these initiatives are

desried in this hapter.

3.2 Recent Steps in the USA10

3.2.1 In July, 2001 an initiative known as Expanding Eletroni Government was initiated as

a part o the Presidents Management Agenda. Te ojetive was to make use o inormation

tehnology to eliminate wasteul ederal spending, redue governmental paperwork and

improve government response time to itizens. Tis expansion o e-government had three

guiding priniples:

i. It should e itizen-entered and not ureauray or ageny-entered.

ii. It should produe measurale improvements or itizens.

iii. It should e market-ased, aimed at promoting innovation.

3.2.2 Te approah o the Federal Government was aimed frst at modernizing the use

o inormation tehnology within its agenies through using the priniples o e-usiness;

seondly, it aimed at integrating inormation tehnology appliations aross dierent

agenies with a ous on dierent groups o itizens inluding individuals, usinesses, Federal

Government employees, et. Te frst strategy envisaged adoption o ertain e-Governane

praties within government agenies and departments. Te seond strategy involved

ahieving the ollowing perormane ojetives in ase o speifed Portolios:

Government to Citizen (G to C): o provide one-stop, on-line aess to inormation

and servies to individuals.

GovernmenttoBusiness(GtoB): Te Federal Government should not ontinue

to make usinesses report the same data multiple times to multiple agenies.

Government should re-use the data appropriately and take advantage o

ommerial eletroni transation protools.

10Soure: based on Implementing the Presidents Management Agenda or E-Government: E-Government Strategy, April 2003; Exeutive Oe o thePresident


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Government to Government (G to G): Federal, State and Loal Governments should

work together to improve servies to itizens within key lines o usiness.

InternalEciencyandEectiveness(IEE): Te Federal Government should

modernize internal proesses to redue osts.

3.2.3 Te initial e-government aomplishments an e gauged rom the ativation o the

ollowing programmes:

FirstGov.gov: Tis is the itizens gateway to millions o pages o inormationontained in more than 22000 Federal and State Wesites.

Volunteer.gov: Allows itizens to volunteer or more than hundred thousandopenings at National Parks, Veteran Hospitals and other ederal ailities.

Recreation.gov: Provides itizens one-stop online aess to National Parks andPuli rereation areas.

GovBenets.gov:Provides one-stop aess to inormation and servies o over ourhundred government programmes or the eneft o itizens.

IRS Free Filing:Allows itizens to fle their taxes on-line or ree.

BusinessLaw.gov:Provides on-line resoure guide to small usinesses enaling aessto legal and regulatory inormation, ompliane assistane et.

Regulations.gov: Provides a single system supporting the rule making proess.

GoLearn.gov.: Provides e-training ourses, e-ooks and areer developmentresoures.

E-Payroll: consolidates government payroll proessing entres.

E-Clearance: Provides an integrated data ase to enale redutions in the seuritylearane aklog.

3.2.4 Tese initial eorts also led to the realization that a Federal Enterprise Arhiteture(FEA) was needed or implementing suh initiatives. basially, an enterprise arhitetureis the omprehensive view o what an organization does, how it does it and how it is

e-Governane : International Senario


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supported y inormation tehnology. Tis led to the estalishment o the FEA in the

Oe o Management and budget (OMb).

3.2.5 Te importane o e-Governane was also reognized y the US congress whihresulted in the passage o the E-Government At o 2002 whih was signed y the Presidenton Deemer 17, 2002. Tis legislation :

CodiesandexpandstheE-GovernmentleadershiproleofOMBthroughthe

estalishment o an Oe o E-Government and I headed y a Presidentially-appointed Administrator;

Authorizes severalinitiatives (E-Rulemaking,GeospatialOne-Stop,E-Records

Management, E-Authentiation and Disaster Management), and endorses the

FirstGov.gov portal;

Sponsorsongoingdialoguewithstate,localandtribalgovernments,aswellasthe

general puli, the private, and non-proft setors to fnd innovative ways to useI to improve the delivery o government inormation and servies; and

EstablishesanE-GovernmentFund,administeredbyGSA,tosupportITprojects

approved y OMb, that enale the Government to ondut ativities eletronially.Te At authorizes unding through FY07.

3.2.6 Tus, the Oe o Management and budgets (OMb) E-Government and Inormationehnology Oe, has, with the support o the General Servies Administration (GSA) and

the Federal chie Inormation Oers (cIO) counil, estalished the Federal EnterpriseArhiteture (FEA) Program whih uilds a omprehensive usiness-driven lueprint o

the entire Federal Government. Te development o this ramework aims to enale theFederal Government to identiy opportunities to leverage tehnology to :11

Reduceredundancy;

Facilitatehorizontal(cross-federal)andvertical(federal,stateandlocal)informationsharing;

EstablishadirectrelationshipbetweenITandmission/programperformanceto

support itizen-entered, ustomer-oused government; and

MaximizeITinvestmentstobetterachievemissionoutcomes.


11Soure: Expanding E-Government: Partnering or a Results-Oriented Government, Deemer 2004; Exeutive Oe o the President, Oe oManagement and budget


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12http://arhive.ainetoe.gov.uk/e-envoy/resoures-pds/$fle/Strategy.pd

3.3 Recent Steps in the UK

3.3.1 In April 2000, the cainet Oie in the UK ame out with the doument

E-Government: A Strategi Framework or Puli Servies in the Inormation Age.12 Tisdoument did not propose any tehnial solutions to a set o usiness needs. Instead, yreognizing that the usiness o Government is too varied and omplex or adopting suh

an approah, it provided a strategi diretion to the puli setor or transorming itsely exploiting the possiilities o new tehnology. Tis strategy ouses on using e-usinessmethods as a means o meeting the governments targets or eletroni servie delivery,eletroni prourement and e-ommere. Te strategy has our guiding priniples:

Buildingservicesaroundcitizenschoices

MakingGovernmentanditsservicesmoreaccessibleovertheinternetandthroughmoile phones, digital V, all entres and personal omputers

Socialinclusion

Usinginformationbetter.

3.3.2 Tis strategy is entered around ertain ramework poliies whih are geared towardsproviding standardization and uilding onfdene. Tus, the Seurity Framework Poliyprovides a ramework against whih servie providers will need to assess their servies.However, servie providers are ree to propose implementations within the ramework.Te Authentiation Framework Poliy and guidelines estalish a ommon approah

to authentiation or government departments, agenies and the wider puli setor.Tis ramework poliy does not assume the estalishment o a single, national system oidentifation. It looks to the estalishment o a range o authentiation servies y entraland loal government and private and puli setor odies. Further, the Smart card

Framework Poliy provides a mandatory set o standards to ailitate interoperaility.Tis is intended to allow the holder o a smart ard issued y any private or puli setorody to aess the roadest possile range o puli servies. Te strategy also proposes the

development o a Privay Framework to seure the system. Te overall ommon poliyand standards are set out in the interoperaility ramework poliy.

3.3.3 Te institutional mehanism or implementing the strategy is desried elow:

A. Te e-Envoy, supported y the Inormation Age Government champions,will

articulateadetailedchangeprogramme



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leaditsimplementation

identifynewopportunitiesforcross-cuttinginitiatives

reportregularlyonprogresstoMinisters.

b. Te central I Unit (cIU) in the cainet Oe, in ollaoration with

ounterparts in the devolved administrations and lead agenies, will

supportcitizen-focusedserviceintegration

leadimplementationofframeworkpolicies,standardsandguidelines

promotesharedinfrastructureandapplications

establishagovernmentportal

promotecommonpoliciesonthemanagementofinformation.

c. Puli setor organizations will

establishnewwaysofdoingbusiness

implementcommonstandardsandframeworkpolicies

develope-businessstrategies

provide services which are accessibleviathegovernment andother

portals.

3.3.4 In Novemer 2005, the cainet Oe ame out with the doument ransormational

Government: enaled y tehnology. Tis doument reognizes that many systems and

proesses are still paper ased and sta-intensive. Tey are strutured around the produt

or the underlying legislation rather than the ustomer. Further, most government agenies

are designed as islands, having their own dataases, inrastruture and seurity and identityproedures. Tis makes it diult to work with other parts o government as also with the

voluntary and ommunity setor. Te doument also reognizes that the numer, sale

and sheer diulty o puli setor projets puts a stress on the apaity o the puli and

the private setors to deliver eiently. Aordingly, the doument stresses on three key

transormations. Tese are:



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ServicesenabledbyITmustbedesignedaroundthecitizenorbusiness,not

the provider, and provided through modern, o-ordinated delivery hannels.

Tis will improve the ustomer experiene, ahieve etter poliy outomes,

redue paperwork and improve eieny y reduing dupliation and routineproessing, leveraging delivery apaity and streamlining proesses.

Governmentmustmovetoasharedservicecultureinthefront-oce,in

the ak-oe, in inormation and in inrastruture and release eieniesy standardization, simplifation and sharing.

eremustbebroadeninganddeepeningofgovernmentsprofessionalism

in terms o the planning, delivery management, skills and governane o I

enaled hange. Tis will result in more suessul outomes; ewer ostlydelivery ailures; and inreased onfdene y itizens and politiians in the

delivery o hange y the puli servies.

3.4 Recent Steps in New Zealand

3.4.1 Realising the importane o opportunities oered y Ic, the New Zealand Governmentame out with its e-government vision doument in May 2000 and an E-GovernmentUnit was estalished y the State Servies commission (SSc) in July 2000. In April 2001,the government ame out with its E-Government Strategy.13 Tis strategy had a simple

operational vision: New Zealand will e a world leader in e-government. Tis vision wassupported y a time-ound mission: By2004,theInternetwillbethedominantmeanso enabling ready access to government inormation, services and processes.basially, thisstrategy was in the nature o a programme or ation or the State Servies commissions

E-government Unit (EGU) and government agenies working alongside the Unit, aimedat making the most o e-tehnology in government. Te overall ojetive was to reate apublic sector (includingthe public service,Crownentities,StateOwnedEnterprisesandlocal government) that is: structured, resourced and managed to perorm in a manner which

meets the needs o New Zealanders in the inormation age and which increasingly delivers

inormation and services using online capabilities.As per this strategy, e-government wasexpeted to provide:

Better services more onvenient and reliale, with lower ompliane osts,higher quality and value;

Cost efectiveness and eciency heaper, etter inormation and servies or

ustomers and etter value or taxpayers;


13Soure: http://www.e.govt.nz/aout-egovt/programme/e-gov-strategy-apr-01/


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HealthInformation

Strategy or New

Zealand

I CT S tr a t eg i c

Framework or

Eduation.

3.5 UN eGovernment

Survey

3 . 5 . 1 b a s e d o n t h ee-Governane preparedness

levels internationally, theUnited Nations rings outan annual survey report- he United NationsE-Government Survey.

he UN Survey (2008)has used a omprehensivee-government readinessi n d e x t o a s s e s s t h e

preparedness o variousountries or e-Governane. Te omponents o this omposite index inlude the wemeasure index, the teleommuniation inrastruture index and the human apital index.Tese omponents o the index are desried elow:

(a) Te Web Measure Index: It is ased on a fve-stage model, whih uilds uponthe previous levels o sophistiation o a ountrys online presene.

() Te elecommunication Inrastructure Index: Tis is a omposite index o fveprimary indies relating to a ountrys inrastruture apaity as they relate tothe delivery o e-government servies. Tese are:

i. Internet Users /100 persons

ii. Pcs /100 persons

iii. Main elephones Lines /100 persons

Box 3.1: Evaluation o eGovernance Initiatives in New Zealand

o help understand what transormation an mean, and how we an gaugethe extent to whih it has een suessul, the evaluation will look at questions

like:1. Are New Zealanders ale to ahieve the results they need, without

searhing aross many agenies?2. can New Zealanders get onsistent servie whihever omination o

hannels they use to engage with government?3. can New Zealanders provide inormation to government just one, or

do they have to provide the same inormation many times to dierentagenies?

4. Do workers in State agenies work with olleagues aross the setor toput results or New Zealanders ahead o individual ageny interests?

5. Are they drawing on the est examples o learning and development andtools rom aross the government setor?

6. Are mehanisms eing developed or agenies to work together and share

inormation and researh?7. Are inrastruture and systems supporting ollaoration and

partnership?8. Are New Zealanders using the servies provided y agenies, and are

arriers to aess eing redued?9. Are New Zealanders fnding the government servies intended or

them?10. How muh do agenies know aout the experiene o servie users and

do they use this knowledge to improve servie delivery?11. Do New Zealanders have onfdene in the integrity o government

agenies and workers?

Source:EnablingTransformation:Astrategyfore-government2006



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iv. cellular telephones /100 persons

v. broad anding /100 persons

() Te Human Capital Index: Tis is a omposite o the adult literay rate and

the omined primary, seondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio, with

two thirds weight given to the adult literay rate and one third to the gross

enrolment ratio.

It is evident that improving

e-Governane readiness

would require addressing

issues related to not only

inrastruture development

ut also human apital.

3.5.2 Te Survey has laid

stress on the marh rom

e-government to connected

g ov er nment. I t s ta tes

that many governments

a r e m o v i n g t o w a r d s

e-government-as-a-wholeconcept whih ouses on

the provision o servies at

the ront-end, supported y

integration, onsolidation

and innovation in ak-

end proesses and systems

to ahieve maximum ost

savings and improved servie

delivery. Here, the termak oe reers to the internal operations o an organization that support ore proesses

and are not aessile or visile to the general puli. Tese are government untions that

normally do not interat with outside entities. Te term ront oe reers to government

as its onstituents see it, meaning the inormation and servies provided and the interation

etween government and oth the itizens and usiness. In this ontext, the UN doument

mentions that onneted or networked governane involves the governmental promotion

o olletive ation to advane the puli good, y engaging the reative eorts o all o

Box 3.2: UN Five-stage Evolution Model

Stage I-Emerging: A governments online presene is mainly omprised awe page and/or an oial wesite; links to servie providing ministries ordepartments may/may not exist. Muh o the inormation is stati and thereis little interation with itizens.Stage II-Enhaned: Governments provide more inormation on puli poliyand governane. Tey have reated links to arhived inormation that is easilyaessile to itizens, as or instane, douments, orms, reports, laws andregulations, and newsletters.Stage III-Interative: Governments deliver online servies suh asdownloadale orms or tax payments and appliations or liense renewals.In addition, the eginnings o an interative portal or wesite with serviesare evident.Stage IV-ransational: Governments egin to transorm themselves yintroduing two-way interations etween itizen and government. Itinludes options or paying taxes, applying or ID ards, irth ertifates,passports and liense renewals, as well as other similar G to c interations,and allows the itizen to aess these servies online 24/7. All transations areonduted online.Stage V - conneted: Governments transorm themselves into a onnetedentity that responds to the needs o its itizens y developing an integratedak oe inrastruture. Tis is haraterized y:1. Horizontal onnetions (among government agenies)2. Vertial onnetions (entral and loal government agenies)3. Inrastruture onnetions (interoperaility issues)4. connetions etween governments and itizens5. connetions among stakeholders (government, private setor, aademiinstitutions, NGOs and ivil soiety)(Source: United Nations e-Government Survey 2008)



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16Soure: Figure 1.2; Te United Nations e-Government Survey 2008

soiety. Tus, in this ase, Ic-ased onneted governane eorts are aimed at improvedooperation etween governmental agenies, allowing or an enhaned, ative and eetive

onsultation and engagement with itizens, and greater involvement with multi-stakeholders

regionally and internationally. It onludes that An efective connected government is abouta bigger and better ront-end with a smaller and smarter back-end.Te enefts o suhgovernane are indiated in the Fig.3.1:16

3.5.3 Some o the key lessons identifed in the Survey are as ollows:

A key lesson or developing countries in this regard is the necessity o ollowing throughthe trajectory sketched out above (as either three phases o e-government or the closelyrelated ve-stage framework adopted in previous surveys)with a sustained focuson both internal change within the public sector and external connectivity or the

jurisdiction as a whole.

A key lesson or developing countries is the importance o a realistic and incrementalapproach to both upgrading and aligning the rontline interace with the public as

service recipients and back oce capacities or processing inormation and conductingtransactions. Any notion o an available e-government solution or holistic integrationis now widely viewed as unrealistic, and governments in the developing world areincreasingly cognizant o the need or a genuine partnership with industry (where 123



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e-GOVERNANCE : INITIATIVES IN INDIA44.1 Introduction

4.1.1 Reognising the inreasing importane o eletronis, the Government o India

estalished the Department o Eletronis in 1970. Te susequent estalishment o the

National Inormatis centre (NIc) in 1977 was the frst major step towards e-Governane

in India as it rought inormation and its ommuniation in ous. In the early 1980s, useo omputers was onfned to very ew organizations. Te advent o personal omputers

rought the storage, retrieval and proessing apaities o omputers to Government oes.

by the late 1980s, a large numer o government oers had omputers ut they were mostly

used or word proessing. Gradually, with the introdution o etter sotwares, omputers

were put to other uses like managing dataases and proessing inormation. Advanes in

ommuniations tehnology urther improved the versatility and reah o omputers,

and many Government departments started using Ic or a numer o appliations like

traking movement o papers and fles, monitoring o development programmes, proessing

o employees pay rolls, generation o reports et.

4.1.2 However, the main thrust or e-Governane was provided y the launhing o

NIcNE in 1987 the national satellite-ased omputer network. Tis was ollowed y

the launh o the Distrit Inormation System o the National Inormatis centre (DISNIc)

programme to omputerize all distrit oes in the ountry or whih ree hardware and

sotware was oered to the State Governments. NIcNE was extended via the State apitals

to all distrit headquarters y 1990.

4.1.3 In the ensuing years, with ongoing omputerization, teleonnetivity and internet

onnetivity, ame a large numer o e-Governane initiatives, oth at the Union andState levels. A National ask Fore on Inormation ehnology and Sotware Development

was onstituted in May 1998.20 While reognising Inormation ehnology as a rontier

area o knowledge per se, it oused on utilizing it as an enaling tool or assimilating and

proessing all other spheres o knowledge. It reommended the launhing o an Operation

Knowledge aimed at universalizing omputer literay and spreading the use o omputers

and I in eduation. In 1999, the Union Ministry o Inormation ehnology was reated.

by 2000, a 12-point minimum agenda or e-Governane was identifed y Government

20Soure: http://it-taskore.ni.in/prem.htm


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o India or implementation in all the Union Government Ministries/Departments. Te

agenda undertaken inluded the ollowing ation points:21

i. Eah Ministry/Department must provide Pcs with neessary sotware up to

the Setion Oer level. In addition, Loal Area Network (LAN) must alsoe set up.

ii. It should e ensured that all sta who have aess to and need to use omputer

or their oe work are provided with adequate training. o ailitate this, interalia, Ministries/Departments should set up their own or share others Learningcentres or deentralized training in omputers as per the guidelines issued ythe MI.

iii. Eah Ministry/Department should start using the Oe Proedure Automationsotware developed y NIc with a view to keeping a reord o reeipt odak,issue o letters, as well as movement o les in the department.

iv. Pay roll aounting and other house-keeping sotware should e put to use inday-to-day operations.

v. Noties or internal meetings should e sent y e-mail. Similarly, sumission oappliations or leave and or going on tour should also e done eletronially.Ministries/Departments should also set up online notie oard to display orders,

irulars et. as and when issued.

vi. Ministries/Departments should use the we-enaled Grievane RedressalSotware developed y the Department o Administrative Reorms and Puli

Grievanes.

vii. Eah Ministry/Department should have its own wesite.

viii. All Ats, Rules, cirulars must e onverted into eletroni orm and, alongwith other pulished material o interest or relevane to the puli, should emade availale on the internet and e aessile rom the Inormation and

Failitation counter.

ix. Te wesites o Ministries/Departments/Organisations should speiallyontain a setion in whih various orms to e used y itizens/ustomers are

e-Governane : Initiatives in India

21Adapted rom Minimum Agenda or e-Governane in the central Government; http://darpg.ni.in/arpg-wesite/ReormInitiatives/eGovernane/IndianExperiene/EgovExp73.do


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availale. Te orms should e availale or eing printed or or eing ompleted

on the omputer itsel and then printed out or sumission. Attempts should

also e made to enale ompletion and sumission o orms online.

x. Te Hindi version o the ontent o the wesites should as ar as possile e

developed simultaneously.

xi. Eah Ministry/Department would also make eorts to develop pakages so as

to egin eletroni delivery o servies to the puli.

xii. Eah Ministry/Department should have an overall I vision or strategy or a

fve year period, within whih it ould dovetail speif ation plans and targets

(inluding the minimum agenda) to e implemented within one year.

4.1.4 ax administration departments oth at the Union and State levels were among the

frst to use Ic to improve their internal working. Ic was used to have etter reporting

systems, preventing leakages and aster proessing o returns. Te ax Reorms commission

o Karnataka (2001) had the ollowing to say:

ComplexityanddiversityarethedeningcharacteristicsofgovernmentattheleveloftheStateaswellastheCentre.TeStatewouldserveitselfbestbydevelopingauniede-Governance plan and assigning priorities inter-ministerially, inter-departmentally

and intra-departmentally to achieve and maintain minimum break-evenness duringadenedplanperiod.Tismakesiteasiertoprovideadequatefundsforoptimumcomputerization. It also brings in the essential discipline o managing to projectedcosts and returns.

AuniedplanandprioritizationattheStatelevelallowsgovernmenttomaintainthe right balance between its interests and those o the citizen. Frequently the ocusappears to settle on citizen satisaction through citizen visible e-Governance initiatives,such as kiosks and citizens charters. While this is not, by itsel, objectionable it isnot clear whether computerization within the department should not ocus also on

attaining higher internal productivities and efciencies. While popular appeal wasessentialintheearlydaystogivealliptoe-Governanceinitiatives,itistimenowto adopt a more tough-minded approach.

4.1.5 Prior to 2006 when the Government o India ormally launhed its National

e-Governane Plan (NeGP), whih is disussed in chapter 7 o this Report, some

Departments o Government o India as well as State Governments had initiated steps to


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c. States which have placed RoR data on websites: Andhra Pradesh (AdangalPani), chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Orissa and

Uttarakhand.

4.2.1.4 Due to the unsatisatory implementation o the sheme, the Union Ministry orRural Development onstituted a committee to suggest pratial steps to implement the

sheme. Te committee on computerisation o Land Reords sumitted its Report inApril 2005. Tis Report suggested that:

i. In addition to omputerizing Reords o Rights, all States must omputerize

the details o rops, ultivation, soil lassiation, irrigation, et. Sanning oasi land reords and digitization o adastral maps/village maps may also e

taken up under the Sheme o cLR.ii. Village /adastral maps/tippan should e digitized under the sheme o cLR

or integration, updation and preservation o maps, whih will enale a landowner to get a omputerized opy o the Reords o Rights along with plotoundaries. Due to variations in the system o maintenane o adastral map,

States may adopt the strategy suitale to their requirements. However, priorityor digitization should e given to those distrits, whih have suessullyompleted omputerisation o textual land reords.

iii. Integration o omputerisation o land reords and omputerisation o landregistration should e initiated at the earliest on pilot asis in some States

without waiting or amendments suggested in the provisions o the RegistrationAt, 1908. Funds or setting up o omputer entre in the oe o the Su-

Registrar may e given under the sheme o cLR equivalent to unds providedto su-divisions. (Te committee also suggested making amendments to theRegistration At, 1908 to simpliy registration and its integration with the landreords).

iv. Tere should e a time rame or the implementation o this sheme.

4.2.1.5 However, the proess ontinued as earlier and so ar, 582 distrits, 4423 taluks /

tehsils /irles and 1021 su-divisions have een overed under the sheme. In 3356 tehsils,omputer entres have een set up and in 2902 tehsils / taluks / irles omputerized opieso RoRs are eing issued to landowners on demand. Tus, even in twenty years, this shemehas not een ale to over the entire ountry.26


26iid


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4.2.1.6Lessons:

i. Te scheme ailed to address the main problem in case o land records in India,

i.e. the land records do not refect the actual ground reality. Computerisationofexistinglandrecordswithoutcorroboratingitwiththeactualeldposition

only led to perpetuation o existing loopholes and errors.

ii. Complex e-Governance projects have various components all o which

need to be implemented or which a holistic approach is needed during

implementation.

4.2.2 BhoomiProject in Karnataka : Online Delivery o Land Records27

4.2.2.1 Bhoomiis a sel-sustainale e-Governance project or the computerized deliveryo 20 million rural land records to 6.7 million armers through 177 Government-owned

kiosks in the State o Karnataka. It was elt that rural land records are central conduits

to delivering etter I-enaled services to citizens ecause they contain multiple data

elements: ownership, tenancy, loans, nature o title, irrigation details, crops grown etc. In

addition to providing the proo o title to the land, this land record is used y the armer

or a variety o purposes: rom documenting crop loans and legal actions, to securing

scholarships or school-children. Tese records were hitherto maintained manually y 9,000

village ocials. Trough this project, computerised kiosks are currently oering armers

two critical services - procurement o land records and requests or changes to land title.Aout 20 million records are now eing legally maintained in the digital ormat. o ensure

authenticity o data management, a iometric nger authentication system has een used

or the rst time in an e-Governance project in India. o make the project sel-sustaining

and expandale, Bhoomilevies user charges. Te need or a project such as Bhoomiwas elt

or the ollowing reasons:

i. In the traditional system, land records were not open or pulic scrutiny

resulting in manipulation and avouritism.

ii. Te process or applying or transer o title was cumersome, time consumingand prone to harassment.

iii. Tere were instances o Government land eing illegally transerred in the

name o infuential persons.

iv. It was not possile or the administrators to procure, collate and analyse data

rom the manually maintained records.

Promoting e-Governance Te SMAR Way Forward

27Source: based on inormation urnished y Government o Karnataka and their we-site.


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v. Land reords oered a unique opportunity to make people in the rural areasaware o the enets o e-Governane. A numer o enets were attahed

with suessul implementation o suh projets: or example, the santion o

rop loans, sine anks would insist on prodution o land reords; reduingdelay in the disposal o ourt litigation due to non-availaility o reords et.

4.2.2.2 o ahieve its ojetives, ertain I innovations had to e arried out. Teseinluded:

i. Due to limited exposure o the oials in the use o I and the ritial nature o

the data, the projet relies on ngerprint iometris or not only authentiationo identity ut also at eah stage o any transation relating to updation o

data. Tis multi layered seurity aess looks eyond the ovious danger ohaking o passwords and ensures aountaility at all levels with no sope or

repudiation.

ii. o ensure that the oials are responsile or the deisions they take onBhoomi,the original papers onneted with the deisions are sanned. o ontain

rivolous litigation y people laiming that noties seeking possile ojetionsto hange o titles were not served on them, the noties are also sanned on tothe system.

iii. o onvine a armer o the genuineness o a omputer interation, a seondomputer sreen aing him has een provided at the kiosk. Separate touh sreenkiosks linked to the dataase are also availale or armers to independentlyveriy the reords in question.

iv. In order to protet the data rom physial threats like re or alamities, akingup o data was done y way o online repliation.

v. Bhoomisotware runs on a First in First Out proess.

4.2.2.3 During projet implementation, all the oials involved were assigned well-denedroles and responsiilities, down to the grass roots level. However, in the initial stages, inspite o elaorate and detailed guidelines, these were not perolating down. Tis was nallyahieved through State level workshops and intensive trainings or ringing aout hangesin the attitude among departmental sta.



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4.2.2.4 Te Bhoomiprojet is a noteworthy eort and sets an example or other projets inits approah towards piloting a projet, as well as its rolling out and sustenane. It may e

mentioned here that manually written Reords o Right, enany and cultivation (Rc)

have een delared illegal. based on the suess story o this projet and its innovations,the Union Ministry o communiations and Inormation ehnology has announed

that Bhoomiwould e a national model or omputerisation o land reords and repliatedthroughout the ountry. In at, Bhoominow envisages oering some additional serviesin the uture:

i. Issue o land reords with digital signature

ii. Providing onnetivity with Bhoomito ourts and anks

iii. Sanning o survey skethes/maps and linking them with Bhoomi

iv. Deentralisation the issue o land reords to Hobli(su taluk) level on a PPPmodel along with RDS projet.

4.2.2.5Lessons:

i. Awell conceptualized andexecutedBPR is apre-requisite forsuccess ofe-Governance projects.

ii. Tere should be end-to-end computerization.

iii. Largee-Governanceprojects,havinglargescaleimpactrequiretotalsupportat the political level.

iv. Continuity in the Project Management team helps in proper implementationof e-Governance projects.

v. Ifbenetstocitizensarerealandsubstantial,projectsbecomesustainable.

vi. A holistic approach is necessary for e-Governance. Adequate time and resourcesneed to be devoted in conceptualization, implementation and maintenance of

projects.

vii. Systems should have a strong back-up mechanism.



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ottleneks. It also mentions that SincethecostofGyandootE-commercetransactionsfor

most villagers is high, it is important for basic services (e-mail, government databases) ratherthan high-end applications.30 Te centre or Eletroni Governane, Indian Institute o

Management, Ahmedaad also made an evaluation o this projet or the World bank in2002. It onluded that power supply, onnetivity, and akend support are the essential

pre-requisites or suh projets and signifant re-engineering o akend proesses and

introdution o servies that diretly ontriute to poverty alleviation are needed to make

suh initiatives sustainale.31

4.2.3.4Lessons:

1) Supporting infrastructure is a pre-requisite for e-Governance projects

2) User charges may act as a deterrent, especially in rural areas

3) Te interface with the users should be simple and citizen-friendly

4) echnolog y should be tailored to the environment.

4.2.4 LokvaniProjet in Uttar Pradesh32

4.2.4.1 Lokvaniis a puli-private partnership projet at Sitapur Distrit in Uttar Pradesh

whih was initiated in Novemer, 2004. Its ojetive is to provide a single window, sel

sustainale e-Governane solution with regard to handling o grievanes, land reordmaintenane and providing a mixture o essential servies. As 88 per ent o the Distrit

population resides in villages and the literay rate is only 38 per ent, the programme had

to e designed in a way whih was user-riendly and within the reah o the people oth

geographially as well as soially. o ahieve this, the programme ormat uses the loal

language, Hindi, and is spread throughout the distrit to a hain o 109 LokvaniKiosk

centres. Tese Kiosks have een estalished y liensing the already existing yer aes.

Te servies oered yLokvaniare:33

a. Availaility o land reords (khataunis) on the internet

. Online registration, disposal and monitoring o puli grievanes

. Inormation o various Government shemes

d. Online availaility o presried Government orms

e. Online status o Arms Liense appliations


30

India: e-Readiness Assessment Report 2003; hapter 3, page 4231http://unpan1.un.org/intrado/groups/puli/douments/apity/unpan015131.pd32Soure: based on inormation urnished y the State Government o Uttar Pradesh33Soure: http://sitapur.ni.in/lokvani/rojgar/tt.htm (27.08.08)


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. GPF Aount details o basi Eduation teahers

g. Details o work done under MPLAD/Vidhayak Nidhi

h. Details o allotment o unds to Gram Sahas under dierent developmentshemes

i. Details o allotment o ood grains to Kotedars(air prie shops)

j. Other useul inormation o puli interest.

4.2.4.2 As was the ase in the Gyandootprojet in Madhya Pradesh, no loan or governmentsusidies were involved in this projet. Sine existing yer aes are eing used to run theprojet, apital outlays are not involved. Te system is expeted to generate its own unds

rom the itizens and also ontriute to the earnings o the Kiosk operators. However,like Gyandoot in Madhya Pradesh, low literay rate omined with minimal omputerliteray, poor internet onnetivity and only 5 to 6 hours availaility o power in rural areasonstitute major ottleneks. Despite these ottleneks, the response to this projet has

een overwhelming. Te main attration or the itizens is the online grievane redressalsystem. Te Lokvanicentre enters the omplaint on ehal o the omplainant. Te userneed not e literate or omputer expert to lodge his / her grievane. A opy o the omplaintis given to the omplainant along with the omplaint numer (like th

Documents

Promoting Egov11