E Gov Report

e-Governance

The ubiquitous mouse has a special place in the Indian psyche. It is revered as the vehicle of Lord Ganesha—the remover of all obstacles. Today, in the arena of governance, its Pentium-powered avatar reigns supreme in the hands of an increasingly e-literate janata One click is deemed good enough to cut the muchdreaded Indian red tape to shreds. Another one takes the wind out of all those touts hanging around public offices. Public accountability and responsive services seem suddenly just a blip way. Welcome to the transforming potential of eGovernance…

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Introduction E-Governance Defined. Definitions of eGovernance range from “the use of information technology to free movement of information to overcome the physical bounds of traditional paper and physical based systems” to “the use of technology to enhance the access to and delivery of government services to benefit citizens, business partners and employees.”

Why eGovernance It provides a framework and direction in the implementation of Government Policies for the following: • Across the Public Sector Organizations and the institutions (G2G) • Between Government and Business Community (G2B) • Between Government and Citizens (G2C) The term eGovernance has different connotations: 1)eAdministration The use of ICTs to modernize the state; the creation of data repositories for MIS, computerisation of records. 2)eServices The emphasis here is to bring the state closer to the citizens. Examples include provision of online services. EGROUP 3

administration and e-services together constitute what is generally termed e-government. 3)eGovernance The use of IT to improve the ability of government to address the needs of society. It includes the publishing of policy and programme related information to transact with citizens. It extends beyond provision of on-line services and covers the use of IT for strategic planning and reaching development goals of the government. 4)eDemocracy The use of IT to facilitate the ability of all sections of society to participate in the governance of the state. The remit is much broader here with a stated emphasis on transparency, accountability and participation. Examples could include online disclosure policies, online grievance redress forums and e-referendums. Conceptually, more potent. Global shifts towards increased deployment of IT by governments emerged in the nineties, with the advent of the World Wide Web. What this powerful means to publish multimedia, support hyperlinked information and interactive information meant was a clearer avenue for G to C interactions and the promise of the attainment of the goals of good governance. Governments weighed down by the rising expectations and demands of a highly aware citizenry suddenly began to believe that there could be a new definition of public governance characterized by enhanced efficiency, transparency, accountability and a citizen-orientation in the adoption of IT enabled governance.

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eGovernance in India The Indian government is using IT to facilitate governance. The IT industry is doing its bit to help as public-private partnerships become the order of the day, says Atanu Kumar Das The last couple of years have seen e-governance drop roots in India. IT enables the delivery of government services as it caters to a large base of people across different segments and geographical locations. The effective use of IT services in government administration can greatly enhance existing efficiencies, drive down communication costs, and increase transparency in the functioning of various departments. It also gives citizens easy access to tangible benefits, be it through simple applications such as online form filling, bill sourcing and payments, or complex applications like distance education and tele-medicine. According to Sudhir Narang, vice-president, government GROUP 3

& service provider business, Cisco Systems, India & SAARC, "Almost every state has an IT policy in place with the aim of evolving itself from being an IT-aware to an ITenabled government. State governments are fast recognizing the benefits of an IT-enabled working environment." As of now, e-governance projects are being run only in certain departments. This approach will gradually be extended to all departments eventually, leveraging the power of IT to streamline administrative functions and increase transparency. Shivaji Chatterjee, senior director, sales and marketing, Hughes Escorts Communications says, "IT has a vital role to play in all transactions that the government undertakes. It helps the government cut red-tapism, avoid corruption, and reach citizens directly." Chatterjee points out that such initiatives will help citizens learn about the various policies, processes and help-lines that the government offers. The governments of Singapore, Canada and Switzerland have implemented such portals, and set the benchmarks in this regard. With the help of IT, the government can process citizen to government transactions such as the filing of tax returns, death and birth registration, land records, etc. Adds Rajiv Kaul, managing director, Microsoft India, "A strong technology infrastructure can help central and state governments deliver a comprehensive set of services to citizens." Microsoft is working with several state governments to help evolve a long-term technology blueprint for IT infrastructure. It is working with various departments of the central government, and has undertaken several projects and initiatives with state governments as well. Manoj Kunkalienkar, executive director, ICICI Infotech GROUP 3

says, "As far as e-governance projects are concerned, the government is gradually changing its role from an 'implementer' to a 'facilitator and regulator.' It will encourage private sector participation in e-governance projects, so more projects in e-governance based upon the public private participation (PPP) model should come about in the near future." Agriculture, power and education are fields where the government makes use of IT to provide services to citizens. The revenue collection department is in the process of using information technology for applications such as income tax. Some notable examples: 1)A Kolkata-based hospital leverages e-governance for tropical medicine. The hospital employs tele-medicine to assist doctors in rural areas as they analyze and treat panchayat residents. This method does away with patients having to travel all the way to Kolkata for treatment. Patients feel better being examined in their own village. Using tele-medicine, the hospital is able to dispense its expertise to far-flung districts. The patient goes for an examination to the local doctor in the panchayat. This doctor is in contact via a voice & data connection with a doctor at the hospital for tropical medicine. Thus, the panchayat resident gets the benefit of being treated by both a local doctor and a hospital specialist. 2)The Karnataka government’s ‘Bhoomi’ project has led to the computerisation of the centuries-old system of handwritten rural land records. Through it, the revenue department has done away with the corruption-ridden system that involved bribing village accountants to procure land records; records of right, tenancy and cultivation certificates (RTCs). The project is expected to benefit seventy lakh villagers in 30,000 villages. A farmer can walk into the nearest taluk office and ask GROUP 3

for a computer printout of his land record certificate for Rs 15. He can also check details of land records on a touch-screen kiosk by inserting a two-rupee coin. These kiosks, installed at the taluk office, will provide the public with a convenient interface to the land records centre. 3)In Gujarat there are websites where citizens log on and get access to the concerned government department on issues such as land, water and taxes. 4)In Hyderabad, through e-Seva, citizens can view and pay bills for water, electricity and telephones, besides municipal taxes. They can also avail of birth / death registration certificates, passport applications, permits / licences, transport department services, reservations, Internet and B2C services, among other things. 5)eChoupal, ITC's unique web-based initiative, offers farmers the information, products and services they need to enhance productivity, improve farm-gate price realization, and cut transaction costs. Farmers can access the latest local and global information on weather, scientific farming practices, as well as market prices at the village itself through this web portal-all in Hindi. eChoupal also facilitates the supply of high quality farm inputs as well as the purchase of commodities at the farm. Given the literacy and infrastructure constraints at the village level, this model is designed to provide physical service support through a choupal sanchalak-himself a lead farmer-who acts as the interface between the system and the farmers. The contents of this site in their entirety are made available only to the registered sanchalaks.

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Government initiatives The national e-governance plan (2003-07) reflects the strategic intent of the central government in the right perspective. Many projects are earmarked under this plan, and it is trying to address the digital divide. Kunkalienkar says that from a political perspective, after watching the performance of some IT-savvy states in the recent elections, the system has woken up to the need to focus more on rural development. "The political systems are keener to use IT to disseminate information faster to farmers, disburse loans, improve education and the health systems in villages, etc. There is a clear-cut incentive to do it as 60 percent of the vote-bank still lives in rural India." The central government has analyzed and appreciated the concept by creating a separate e-governance department headed by a secretary to trigger egovernance in India. The World Bank, ADB and UN have been approached, and in response they are generously funding e-governance projects. In future, education, agriculture, statewide area networks (SWANs) and Community Information Centre projects will GROUP 3

be rolled out backed by a strong public private participation model (PPP) to achieve long-term sustainability. Projects with PPP models in these segments can revolutionize the governance experience. In the next couple of years the industry is expected to grow by 22-25 percent.

Overview of Trends in the Indian Market Government in India is emerging as the fourth largest vertical purchaser of Information Technology (IT) after the telecom, manufacturing and banking and finance industries. According to Gartner estimates, the Indian government has spent around US$ 1 billion on Information Technology in 2002. This includes the expenditure of the Central and State governments on hardware, software, telecommunication equipment, telecommunication services, and IT services, but excludes salary costs of IT staff. In GROUP 3

fact, the government accounted for 9 per cent of the total IT spending in India for the year 2002, and in five years that is estimated to go up to 15 per cent. Though E-Government is still in its infancy, over 20 states/union territories already have an IT policy in place. In terms of basic computerization, police departments, treasury, land records, irrigation and justice are seen as having the maximum potential. 3% of the plan expenditure of each central ministry is allocated towards computerization and most of the state governments also follow a similar strategy. NASSCOM estimates that in the next five years, state governments in India will spend close to Rs. 15,000 Crores (US$3.3 Billion) on computerizing their operations. This estimate excludes major projects such as the National Identity Card that is currently undergoing pilot implementation and is likely to be executed within the next five years. This project alone is expected to cost the government between 10,000 and 15,000 Crores (US$2.2-3.3 Billion). According to NASSCOM, the E-Governance market is witnessing year-on-year growth and is estimated to be Rs. 1400 Crores (US$308 Million) in size in 2001-02. The E-Governance market grew by 18% last year and is the highest growing vertical in the domestic IT market. NASSCOM’s analysis of EGovernance implementation undertaken in 10 key States revealed that the southern States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu are leading in terms of implementing projects at different citizen - Government interface points. Others like Kerala, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Rajasthan, are catching up fast.

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State-wise Teledensity

Teledensity Delhi Punjab Kerala Andaman & Nicobar Maharashtra Himachal Pradesh Tamil Nadu Gujarat Karnataka Haryana Andhra Pradesh Uttaranchal West Bengal Rajasthan Madhya Pradesh North East Jammu & Kashmir Orissa Uttar Pradesh Assam Jharkand Chattisgarh Bihar Total *As on 31 March 2003

URBAN 30.2 25.7 23.7 15 19.3 39.6 15.2 17.8 15.8 16.5 16.5 12.6 11.5 11.3 10.2 9.2 8.3 11.3 8.8 11.5 6.1 5.6 9.3 15.2

RURAL 0 4.6 7.9 7.7 2.2 5.4 2.1 2.5 2.4 2.3 2 1.3 0.9 1.3 0.6 0.9 0.5 0.9 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.4 0.5 1.5

TOTAL 26.9 11.6 11.1 9.6 9 8.4 7.8 7.4 6.5 6.1 5.6 4 3.7 3.4 2.9 2.7 2.5 2.2 2.1 1.9 1.6 1.4 1.3 5

Source: Information Technology

*As on 31 March 2003 Source: Ministry of Communications and Information Technology

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Partnerships Even as it is the responsibility of the government to further the development agenda through e-governance; government alone cannot ensure that ICT plays its designated role in development. There are several stakeholders, many times better positioned than the government to ensure the success of e-governance initiatives. The government does need to play a key role in providing the basic socio-economic infrastructure, on which the other players can plug the superstructure of IT hardware, software and applications. But it is the private sector that has valuable know-how. The Indian private sector has in fact, gained a leadership position across the globe and is well positioned to use the expertise gathered to work with the government and further development goals. NGOs also can bring in their perspectives in promoting equity, transparency and participation goals. They have played and do play a major role in development and have the knowledge, the experience and the grass roots organization required to induct ICT into existing projects and design projects aimed at utilizing ICT in innovative ways. International donors, with their long track record in supporting development activities, can use their GROUP 3

international experiments.

experiences

for

scaling

up

small

Thus, a range of domestic and international partnerships (public-private, government-CSOs, and private sectorCSOs) is both inevitable and necessary in the area. The private sector has been playing a key role in many egovernance initiatives. The Governments of Madhya Pradesh and Kerala are talking to Gartner India Research and Advisory Services for consultancy. The Andhra Pradesh Government has engaged Gartner for more than four years now as consultant and research provider. IBM India has been closely working are Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, West Bengal, Pondicherry, Goa and Haryana. Last year IBM set up the 'IBM e-Government Center' in Gurgaon, near New Delhi to offer technology, support and infrastructure to help governments and total service providers to design, develop, test and port proof-of-concept and prototypes of e-government applications. Microsoft too has been working closely with the government, signing memoranda of understanding with some of them and helping in evolving a long-term technology blueprint for IT infrastructure. An interesting example of an NGO-government partnership is the RASI Maiyam initiative in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, where FOOD, a Tamil Nadu based NGO has built and implemented the model. However, this is an exception and in terms of NGO involvement to bring in development perspectives into e-governance, governments across the board need to become more proactive.

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Conclusion Hazarding judgments about relative performances of states based on the available information are a rather tricky business. In the Indian landscape, states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh seem to have more thought-out policies and many initiatives on the ground, but islands of innovation exist across the board. This needs to be sorted out fast. The future is poised on how efforts can sustain momentum and meet the load of increasing expectations and demand; how governments are able to learn from each other and leapfrog; whether citizens, particularly the disadvantaged, can and will influence the face of egovernance and the role that civil society organizations will need to play towards this; and the huge challenge in upscaling successes. Worthy of mention here is the unexplored potential in the gizmos of a lesser god like cable TV, radio etc. E-governance is not just the Internet as the common perception goes and governments need to move back in a certain sense, to reappropriate the older communication tools like radio and cable TV. A critical mass of people is required to push e-governance to the next gear. The [email protected] seems to be a platform with much promise for the exchange of ideas. Finally, governments need to start putting in place MIS that track user and beneficiary profiles of their initiatives and ensuring that e-governance is meaningful to the last woman.

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1

CORE POLICIES

Overall Vision, Approach.

2

CORE INFRASTRUCTURE

3

SUPPORT INFRA.

National E-government Intranet (NICNET, ERNET and other service providers), State wide Intranets, National eGovernment Data Center State Data Centers Service delivery infrastructure at State, District, Block and Village levels including Wireless infrastructure for last mile connectivity

4

INTEGRATED SERVICES

India Portal State Portals Document Interchange

5

CORE PROJECTS

Income Tax Passport Visa & Immigration Project Central Excise

6

HRD & TRAINING

7

TECH. ASSISTANCE

8

ORGNASATIONAL STRUCTURE

E-Governance policy makers Chief Information Officer Project specific training Support for undertaking survey on needs, expectations, etc, Benchmarking of interventions, Feasibility studies, National Electronic Governance Council

9

R&D

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Mission,

Strategy

and

Electronic

Architecture, Standards, Integration Strategies, Language technologies

Electronic payment systems 10

AWARENESS ASSESMENT

& E-Readiness assessment of various States/ Departments Setting up of Virtual E-Governance Forums Assessment of E-Projects

KARNATAKA AND E-GOVERNENCE KARNATAKA aims to be the leader in e-governance within the next two years, when all the public-facing initiatives undertaken by various State departments would begin to show results, said the State IT Minister, Mr. D.B. Inamdar. Speaking at the inaugural of the seminar on IT for common man and e-governance in Karnataka, Mr. Inamdar said the State Government is of the firm belief that IT should be utilized to usher in an era e-governance aimed at demystifying the role of the Government, simplifying procedures, bringing in transparency, making need based, good quality timely information available to all citizens and providing all services in an efficient and cost-effective way. Mr. Inamdar said the Government is convinced that egovernance could help bridge the gap between the rich and the poor, urban and rural population by providing GROUP 3

equality of opportunity in a more meaningful way and by empowering the less privileged sections of the society. However, there should be a change in the mind-set of the administration for e-governance measures to bear fruit, he added. The top bureaucracy had to take up e-governance on a war footing for the benefit of IT to reach all sections of the society, he added. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the State Information Technology Department organized the seminar. Mr. Vivek Kulkarni, Secretary, State Information Technology and Biotechnology department, said that while the industry was free to choose its customers, the Government did not enjoy the same liberty. ``Those we serve lack access to information technology tools and that is the biggest stumbling block in the way of delivering e-governance,'' he added. Mr. Kulkarni also called for co-operation from the industry to define parameters for selection of companies so that problems relating to Government procurement could be sorted out. Karnataka's IT policy focuses on using e-governance as a tool and delivering a Government that is more pro-active and responsive to its citizens. The Government's Millennium IT policy, 'Mahithi', emphasizes the importance of taking IT to the common man. Several efforts for implementing Government projects using electronic means are being carried out, under its IT policy. The State has implemented and will be implementing several e-governance projects and actions. The various departments of the State Government are also introducing electronic means to computerize their GROUP 3

activities and take IT to the masses. Each Government department has conducted several departmental activities in e-governance.

Bhoomi Bhoomi Project Karnataka’s computerization of land records system, also known as Bhoomi, is part of a broader state policy called Mahithi. It was started a decade ago or more as a central-sponsored scheme during the early 1990s. However, the project lay in cold storage for a while until about five years ago when Rajiv Chawla was posted as additional secretary to the revenue department. Chawla, a computer science graduate from IIT Kanpur, commenced the project process again from scratch. It is noteworthy to mention that it was his convincing power and five years of tireless efforts that made Bhoomi a big success today. Karnataka has 6.7 million farmers and 20 million records of rights, tenancy and certification (RTCs), spread across 177 talukas in over 30,000 villages. The Herculean task of the project began with the digitization of manual records. Chawla says "It's the sheer size of the database that is the most exciting GROUP 3

part of the whole project. There are 20 million records. Each record has 45 fields. That's a total of 70 million fields."

Yuva.com At another remote village, a group of rural youth are undergoing training in IT-related services. An IT training scheme called Yuva.Com has been conceived by the government agencies. Under this scheme, training centers are being established in each of the 225 assembly segments in the state with the target of training 100,000 rural youths.

Khajane An official sitting at the State Secretariat (administration office) can check treasury payments on his PC. A project titled Khajane (Treasure) essentially involves the computerization of 225 treasuries. Karnataka's treasury payment system handles over $4.166 billion (Rs. 20,000 crore) annually. This consists of, among other things, payments to 1350,000 old-age pensioners, physically handicapped people, and destitute windows, and 470,000 other pensioners, including retired government officers. The government-to-government service is helping to effectively monitor transactions.

Mahithi: IT PolicyKarnataka's IT policy focuses on using eGovernance as a tool and delivering a government that more pro-active and responsive to its citizens. The GROUP 3

government's Millennium IT Policy Mahithi emphasizes the importance of taking IT to the common man. Says Vivek Kulkarni, IT Secretary, and Karnataka: Several efforts for implementing projects using electronics means are being carried out, under the umbrella of Mahithi.

Submitted To: Mr. H.C. Jain

Submitted By: GROUP 3 State wise eGavernance Projects

1) BHOOMI, KARNATAKA

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2)CARD, ANDHRA PRADESH 3)e-DISTRICT, TIRUVARUR, TAMIL NADU 4)FAST, ANDHRA PRADESH 5)FRIENDS, KERLA 6)GYANDOOT, DHAR, MADHYA PRADESH 7)KALYAN DOMBIVLI MUNICIPAL CORPORATION, MAHARASHTRA 8)KOSHWAHINI, MAHARASHTRA 9)SARITA, MAHARASHTRA 10)CIC, LAKHIMPUR DISTRICT, AASAM 11)DRISHTEE KIOSKS, TEJPUR-SONITPUR DISTRICT, AASAM 12)BHULEKH, ORISSA (ANGUL) 13)COMMERCIAL TAXES, BIHAR 14)e-COMPUTERISED OPERATIONS FOR POLICE SERVICES “eCOPS”) 15)ELECTRONIC DATA INTERCHANGE (EDI) OF NIC 16)ELECTRICITY POWER BILLING, BIHAR 17)E-PROCUREMENT, ANDHRA PRADESH 18)GSWAN, GUJARAT 19)INTEGRATED FINANCIAL INFORMATION SYSTEM (IFIS), ANDHRA PRADESH 20)KAVERI, KARNATAKA 21)KHAJANE, ONLINE TREASURY COMPUTERISATION PROJECT, KARNATAKA 22)LOKMITRA, HIMACHAL PRADESH 23)SAUKARYAM, ANDHRA PRADESH 24)SETU, MAHARASHTRA

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For completion of this report we have referred to the following: Data Quest magazine Express Computer Journal Online Articles of Various Newspapers The Hindu The Times Of India Business Line Various websites comatc.com expesscomputeronline.com ciol.com bangaloreit.com

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