Prudential Education

Siddharth S Jain

Chapter 10: E-Governance in India

Learning agenda:

Meaning of governance

History of E-Governance in India

Models of e governance

Benefits of E Governance

E-Governance evolution in India- Challenges

E-Governance action plan

Requirements for implementing successful E-governance

National E-governance division

National e governance plan

E governance infrastructure

State wide area network (SWAN)

National Service Delivery Gateway (NSDG)

Common Service Centre

E-Governance in India has steadily evolved from computerization of Government Departments to initiatives that
encapsulate the finer points of Governance, such as citizen centricity, service orientation and transparency. The
National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), takes a comprehensive view of e-Governance initiatives across the country &
integrating them into a collective vision and a shared cause.
E-Governance is basically the application of Information and Communications Technology (IcT) to the processes of
Government functions in order to bring Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive and Transparent (SMART) governance.
This would generally involve the use of IcTs by government agencies for any or all of the following reasons:
(a) Exchange of information with citizens, businesses or other government departments
(b) Speedier and more efficient delivery of public services
(c) Improving internal efficiency
(d) Reducing costs / increasing revenue
(e) Re-structuring of administrative processes and
(f) Improving quality of services.
Defining E-Governance
Gartner Group defines e-governance as: the continuous optimization of service delivery, constituency participation, and
governance by transforming internal and external relationships through technology, the Internet and new media.
The UNESCO definition (www.unesco.org) is: E-governance is the public sectors use of information and
communication technologies with the aim of improving information and service delivery, encouraging citizen participation
in the decision-making process and making government more accountable, transparent and effective.

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According to Keohane and Nye (2000): Governance implies the processes and institutions, both formal and informal,
that guide and restrain the collective activities of a group.
Basically, e-Governance is generally understood as the use of Information and communications Technology
(ICT) at all levels of the Government in order to provide services to the citizens, interaction with business
enterprises and communication and exchange of information between different agencies of the Government in a
speedy, convenient efficient and transparent manner.
Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, former President of India, has visualizes e-Governance in the Indian context to mean:
A transparent smart e-Governance with seamless access, secure and authentic flow of information crossing the
interdepartmental barrier and providing a fair and unbiased service to the citizen.
E-Governance: History & Present
-- Global shifts towards increased deployment of IT by governments emerged in the nineties, with the advent of the
World Wide Web.
-- The concept of e-Governance has its origins in India during the seventies with a focus on development of in-house
government applications in the areas of defense, economic monitoring, planning and the deployment of IT to manage
data intensive functions related to elections, census, tax administration etc.
-- The efforts of the National Informatics Center (NIC) to connect all the district headquarters during the eighties were a
very significant development.
-- From the early nineties, IT technologies were supplemented by ICT technologies to extend its use for wider
applications with policy emphasis on reaching out to the rural areas and taking in greater inputs from NGOs and private
sector as well.

Interactions in E-Governance
The advent of new information and communication technologies has made electronic governance as a tool to enhance
the following relationship:
-- Government to Government
-- Government to Citizen
-- Citizen to Government
-- Government to Private and other Sectors.
-- Private and NGOs Sector to Government.
E-governance is beyond the scope of e-government. While e-government is defined as a mere delivery of government
services and information to the public using electronic means, e-governance is not just about government web site and
e-mail. lt is not just about service delivery over the Internet. lt is not just about digital access to government information
or electronic payments.
E-governance will allow citizens to communicate with government, participate in the governments policymaking and to communicate with each other. The e-governance will truly allows citizens to participate in the
government decision-making process, reflect their true needs and welfare by utilizing e-government as a tool.

www.mygov.nic.in

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Models of E-Governance
There are five models of E-Governance. These models are briefed in the following:
1. Broadcasting/Wider-Dissemination Mode
The model is based on dissemination of governmental information already available in the public domain into the wider
public domain through the use of ICT. This model could be applied in the following possible ways:
-- Putting Government Laws and Legislations online
-- Making available the names, Contact addresses, e-mails, fax numbers of local/national/regional/international
government officials online.
-- Make available information pertaining to Government Plans, Budgets, Expenditures, and Performances online.
-- Put key judicial decisions, which are of value to general citizens.
2. CriticaI Value lnformation-Flow Model
This model is based on the principle of dissemination/channelizing of information of critical value to targeted audience
or in wider public domain through the use of ICT and convergent media. This model requires a foresight and
understanding of the use value of particular information set and locating users to whom the availability of particular
information set would make a critical difference.
This model could be applied in the following possible ways:
-- Making available the corruption related data about particular Ministry/Division/Officials online to its electoral
constituency or to the concerned governing body.
-- Making available Research studies, Enquiry reports, Impact studies commission by the Government online to the
affected parties.
-- Making available Human Rights Violations of the Government or allied authorities online for access by Judiciary,
NGOs and concerned citizens.
-- Making available Critical Environmental information available to local inhabitants such as radioactivity spills, effluents
discharge information on ratings of the company etc.
3. Comparative Analysis Model
Comparative Knowledge Model is one of the least-used but a highly influential model. The model, if used innovatively,
can harness the potential and capacity offered by the communication technologies and aims it towards better
governance.
This model could be applied in the following possible ways:
-- To learn from historic policies and actions and derive learning lessons for future policy-making.
-- To evaluate the effectiveness of the current policies and identify key learning in terms of strengths and shortcomings
-- To enable informed decision-making at all levels by enhancing the background knowledge and providing a rationale
for future course of action.
-- To evaluate the performance and track record of a particular decision-maker/decision-body.

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4. Interactive-Service Model
Interactive-Service model is a consolidated model of the earlier models and opens up avenues for direct participation of
individuals in the governance processes.
This model could be applied in the following possible ways:
-- To establish an interactive communication channel with key policy-makers and planners.
-- To conduct electronic ballots for the election of government officials and other office bearers.
-- To conduct public debates/opinion polls on issues of wider concern before formulation of policies and legislative
frameworks.
-- Filing of grievances, feedback and reports by citizens with the concerned government body.
-- Establishing decentralized forms of governance.
-- Performing governance functions online such as revenue collection, filing of taxes, governmental procurement,
payment transfer etc.

Benefits of E-Governance
E-Governance is about reform in governance, facilitated by the creative use of Information and communications
Technology. It is expected that this would lead to:
Better access to information and quality services for citizens:
- IcT would make available timely and reliable information on various aspects of governance.
- In the initial phase, information would be made available with respect to simple aspects of governance such as forms,
laws, rules, procedures etc.
- Later extending to detailed information including reports (including performance reports), public database etc.
The ultimate objective of e-Governance is to reach out to citizens by adopting a life-cycle approach i.e. providing
public services to citizens, which would be required right from birth to death.
Simplicity, efficiency and accountability in the government:
- Application of ICT to governance combined with detailed business process reengineering would lead to simplification
of complicated processes, weeding out of redundant processes, simplification in structures and changes in statutes.
- The end result would be simplification of the functioning of government, enhanced decision-making abilities and
increased efficiency across government - all contributing to an overall environment of a more accountable government .
Expanded reach of governance:
- Rapid growth of communications technology and its adoption in governance would help in bringing government
machinery to the doorsteps of the citizens.
- Expansion of telephone network, rapid increase in mobile telephony, spread of Internet and strengthening of other
communications infrastructure would allow the growth in delivery of a large number of services provided by the
government.
- This enhancement of the reach of government would also enable better participation of citizens in the process of
governance.

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Stages of e-Governance Evolution

The phases in Indian e-Governance:
(a) Computerization:
In the first phase, with the availability of personal computers, a large number of Government offices got equipped with
computers. The use of computers began with word processing, quickly followed by data processing.
(b) Networking:
In this phase, some units of a few government organizations got connected through a hub leading to sharing of
information and flow of data between different government entities.
(c) Online presence:
Evolution of the Internet resulted in maintenance of websites by government departments and other entities. Generally,
these web-pages/websites contain information about the organizational structure, contact details, reports and
publications, objectives and vision statements of the respective government entities.
(d) Online interactivity:
The main aim at this stage was to minimize the scope of personal interface with government entities by providing
downloadable Forms, Instructions, Acts, Rules etc. In some cases, this has already led to on-line submission of Forms.

Challenges before stakeholders

1. Lack of IT Literacy and awareness regarding benefits of e-governance
There is general lack of awareness regarding benefits of e-governance as well as the process involved in implementing
successful G-C, G-G and G-B projects.
2. Underutilization of existing ICT infrastructure
To a larger extent, the computers in many departments are used for the purpose of word processing only, resulting in
the underutilization of the computers.
3. Attitude of Government Employees
The psychology of government servants is that they assume themselves as important repositories of government data.
Thus any effort to implement DMS is met with resistance from the government servants.
4. Lack of coordination between Govt. Department and Solution developers
At present the users in Government departments do not contribute enough to design the solution architecture; hence
the solution does not address the requirements of an e-governance project and hence does not get implemented.
5. Resistance to re-engineering of departmental processes
Successful implementation of e-governance projects requires lots of restructuring in administrative processes,
redefining of administrative procedures, which find the resistance in almost all the departments at all levels.
6. Lack of Infrastructure for sustaining e-governance projects on national level
The required networking and communication equipment is either non-existent in Government departments, or if it exists
at all, it does not serve any tangible purpose. The IcT is used in a very limited manner for data transmission purpose
between various locations via. District, State, Centre etc. and is mainly utilized for e-mail and Internet purpose only.

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Requirements for implementing successful e-governance across the nation are

1. E-Governance framework across the nation with enough bandwidth to service a population of one billion.
2. Connectivity frameworks for making the services reach rural areas of the country or development of alternative means
of services such as e-governance kiosks (like a public telephone booth, cubicle) in regional languages.
3. National Citizen Database which is the primary unit of data for all governance vertical and horizontal applications
across the state and central governments.
4. E-governance and interoperability standards for the exchange of secure information with non-repudiation, across the
state and central government departments seamlessly.
5. A secure delivery framework by means of virtual private network connecting across the state and central government
departments.
6. Data centers to handle the departmental workflow automation, collaboration, interaction, exchange of information
with authentication.

Suggestion for implementing successful e-Governance

(a) Create Literacy and commitment to e-governance at high level: The most important requirement is a training
program for policy makers in E-Governance (Senior Public Servants), politicians and IT task force members.
It should be made mandatory for all the stakeholders in implementation and maintenance of e-governance services to
have the general IT skills.
(b) Conduct Usability Surveys for assessment of existing e-Governance projects: There is a varying degree of
development of e-governance among the different states. A few States have jumped into a digital era whereas a few are
yet to start with any initiative. Therefore an e-readiness exercise should be carried out in all states, government
departments to understand their level of acceptability of the e-governance.
(c) Starting with implementation of pilot projects and replicating the successful ones: The pilot projects taken in
various states should be evaluated on their achievement levels. The study should be carried out by an independent
agency for the implementation agency. The study should be carried out at each stage of implementation. Bottlenecks
and causes of delays should be documented, even though they are removed later. The successful projects should be
replicated over the nation with members drawn from the implementing team.
(d) Follow the Best Practices in e-governance & Build National resource Database of e-governance projects: The
study of Best Practices will bring forward the best practices being followed in some states. The State Governments will
not have to re-invent every time and they can learn from the developments already made.
This would allow any department planning an IT project to instantly ascertain whether any such project has already been
implemented anywhere in the country. Intending implementers would know who the key people in similar projects are
and how to reach them. So the lead-time to implement projects can be reduced substantially.
(e) Have clearly defined Interoperability policy:
The e-governance architecture needs to ensure that the components are scalable and adaptable to the future
requirements.
(f) Manage and Update content on govt. websites efficiently and regularly:
Content is the heart of any IT project. The govt. agencies must ensure that the data on the sites is always updated and
relevant.

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National E-Governance Plan (NeGP)

- A large number of initiatives have been undertaken by various State Governments and Central Ministries to initiate an
era of e-Government.
- E-Governance in India has steadily evolved from computerization of Government Departments to initiatives that
encapsulate the finer points of Governance, such as citizen centricity, service orientation and transparency.
- The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), takes a combined view of e-Governance initiatives across the country,
integrating them into a collective vision, a shared cause.
The ultimate objective is to bring public services closer home to citizens, as articulated in the Vision Statement of NeGP
Make all Government services accessible
to the common man in his locality,
through common service delivery outlets,
and ensure efficiency, transparency, and reliability of such services
at affordable costs
to realise the basic needs of the common man
- The Government approved the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), comprising of 27 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs)
and 8 components, on May 18, 2006.
- The Government has given approval to the vision, approach, strategy, key components, implementation methodology,
and management structure for NeGP.
D.E.I.T.Y.

STQC:

Department of Electronics and Information

Technology, Ministry of Communications &
Information Technology
http://deity.gov.in

Standardization Testing and Quality Certification

Directorate is an attached office of the Department of
Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), provides
quality assurance services in the area of Electronics and IT
through countrywide network of laboratories and centers.

Cabinet Minister: Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad

www.stqc.gov.in

NISG
The National Institute for Smart Government is a non-for profit company incorporated in 2002 by the Government of India and
NASSCOM with its head office at Hyderabad, India.
www.nisg.org/

C-DAC: Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) is the premier R&D organization of the Department of
Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), Ministry of Communications & Information Technology (MCIT) for carrying out
R&D in IT, Electronics and associated areas.
http://cdac.in/

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Implementation Strategy, Approach and Methodology of NeGP

- A highly complex process
- Requiring procurement of hardware & software, networking, process re-engineering and change management.
- Based on lessons learnt from the past and the experience from successful e-Governance applications, the approach
and methodology adopted for NeGP contains the following elements:
(i) Common Support Infrastructure:
- Setting up of common and support IT infrastructure such as: State Wide Area Networks (SWANS), State Data Centres
(SDCs), Common Services Centres (CSCs) and Electronic Service Delivery Gateways.
(ii) Governance:
- Monitoring and coordinating the implementation of NeGP under the direction of the competent authorities
- The programme also involves evolving/ laying down standards and policy guidelines, providing technical support,
undertaking capacity building, R&D, etc.
- DEITY & Various institutions like NIC, STQC, CDAC etc. are required to adequately strengthen themselves.
(iii) Centralised Initiative, Decentralised Implementation:
- e-Governance is being promoted through a centralized initiative while allowing for a decentralized implementation
- It also aims at identifying successful projects and replicating them with required customization wherever needed.
(iv) Public-Private Partnerships (PPP):
- PPP model is to be adopted wherever it is possible & practical to involve the private sector without compromising on
the security aspects.
(v) Integrative Elements:
- Adoption of unique identification codes for citizens, businesses and property is to be promoted to facilitate integration
and avoid ambiguity.
(vi) Programme Approach at the National and State levels:
- Considering the need for overall integration at the national level, NeGP is being implemented as a programme
(vii) Facilitator role of DEITY:
- DEITY is the facilitator and catalyst for the implementation of NeGP and also provides technical assistance.
- DEITY is also implementing pilot projects.
- Planning Commission and Ministry of Finance allocate funds for NeGP.
(viii) Ownership of Ministries:
- Under the NeGP, various Missiom Mode Projects are owned and spearheaded by the concerned line Ministries.
- For major projects like Bharat Nirman, Rural Employment Guarantee Schemes, etc. the ministries concerned are
advised to make use of e-Governance & automation techniques from the inception stage.

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National E-Governance Division (NeGD)

The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) envisions establishment of an institutional framework for technical and
professional support to States and Union Territories.
For this purpose, the Department of Information Technology (DIT), Government of India, has created NeGD as an
autonomous business division within Media Lab Asia for taking up the tasks being carried out by NeGP.

Functions of NeGD
(a) Facilitating implementation of NeGP by various Ministries and State Governments.
(b) Providing technical assistance to Central Ministries and State Line Departments.
(c) Serving as a secretariat to the Apex Committee.
(d) Undertaking technical assessment of all NeGP projects to examine issues such as overall technology architecture,
framework, standards, security policy, service delivery mechanism, sharing of common infrastructure etc.
(e) Human Resource Development, Training and Awareness Building.
(f) Framing core policies, technical assistance, R&D, awareness and assessment and creation of Organization structure.
(g) Acting as a Central Agency for an effective implementation of Capacity Building Scheme.

E-governance infrastructure

State Wide Area Network (SWAN)

Data Centre

NSDG

Common Services Centers

SWAN: State Wide Area Network

- Is an advanced telecommunication infrastructure scheme of GoI
- For exchange of data and other types of information between two or more locations
- Separated by significant geographical distances
- The medium of connectivity can be copper, optical fiber cable or wireless, as may be found feasible.
- Create a highway for electronic transfer of information in the form of voice, video and data.
- To bring speed, efficiency, reliability and accountability in system of Government-to-Government (G2G) functioning.

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SWAN Features
- Multi-tier architecture (typically, three-tier)
- State/UT Headquarter (SHQ ) connected to the District Head Quarter (DHQ) connected to Block Head Quarter (BHQ).
- Each SHQ, DHQ and BHQ point of connection is called a Point of Presence (PoP)
- The bandwidth for network connectivity between all the above PoPs is a minimum of 2 Mbps.
-- Currently: SHQ 4 Mbps DHQ
-- Currently: DHQ 2Mbps BHQ
- Around 7500 pops, providing Data, Voice & Video connectivity to more than 50,000 govt. offices.
- To ensure desired Quality of Service (QoS) a Third Party Audit mechanism has been created in the SWAN Scheme
which would monitor the performance of the SWAN network in each State / UT.
- The Third Party Audit (TPA) agency shall perform for a period of five years from of final acceptance test of the network.
Status of SWAN Implementation as on April, 2011
- Till date individual SWAN proposals have been considered and approved for 33 States/UTS with an total DeitY
spending of Rs. 1,964.97 crore and Rs 562.41 crore have been released so far.
- Special arrangement has been made with BSNL for providing bandwidth at concessional tariff.
STATE/UT

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State Data Centre

- One of the important elements of the core infrastructure for supporting e-Governance initiatives of (NeGP).
- To provide efficient electronic delivery of G2G, G2C and G2B services.
- Would provide many functionalities and some of the key functionalities are:
-- Central Repository of the State,
-- Secure Data Storage,
--Online Delivery of Services,
--Citizen information/Services Portal,
--State Intranet Portal,
--Disaster Recovery,
--Remote System Management and
--Service Integration etc.
Department of Information Technology (DIT) has formulated the Guidelines to provide Technical and Financial
assistance to the States for setting up State Data Centre.

National Service Delivery Gateway (NSDG)

The National e-Governance Service Delivery Gateway (NSDG), a MMP under the NeGP, can simplify the tasks of NeGP
by acting as a standards-based messaging switch and providing seamless interoperability and exchange of data across.
Vision of NSDG
The vision of NSDG is an attempt to reduce point to point connections between departments and provide standardized
interfacing, messaging and routing switch through which various players such as departments, service providers can
make their applications and data interoperable (able to exchange and use information from each other).
The NSDG aims to achieve a high order of interoperability among self-governing and diverse entities of the Government.

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Objectives of the NSDG

1. Achieving standards-based interoperability between various e-Government applications.
2. To evolve Gateway messaging standards and build a government owned Central Gateway.
3. Act as a catalyst in enabling the building of Standards based e-Governance applications.
4. Enable integration across Centre, State, and Local Governments for Integrated Service Delivery.
5. Help protect the legacy investments in software/hardware by easily integrating them with other technology platforms.
6. De-link the back-end Service Providers (SP) from the front-end Service Access Providers so as to:
- (a) Separate the Portal, CSC, and Kiosks etc. from the government services,
- (b) Encouraging competition at the front-end by allowing independent service access providers to provide services
7. Enable adding of shared services on to the core services as and when required, as special common services of the
Gateway without affecting the core functionality of the Gateway, thereby providing flexibility and modularity.
8. Reduce the cost of e-Governance projects by nationalizing, distributing and optimizing the services framework.
9. Use PKI (Digital Signature) infrastructure for secure transactions.
10. Enable transaction logging and time stamping for tracking of transactions and centralized control
11. Even the departments which do not have the complete automation or work flow at the back can still deliver eService to the citizens in a limited manner through the Gateway. Example, a server may be put up at the department for
message exchange with Gateway in absence of readily available infrastructure at the department.

Common Service Centers

- The Government of India launched CSC Scheme for setting up of more than one lakhs (100,000) internet enabled
centers in rural areas under the National e-Governance plan (NeGP) in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode.
- The Common Services Centers (CSC) are proposed to be the delivery points for Government, Private and Social
Sector services to rural citizens of India at their doorstep.
- As on 31 December 2012, a total of 99,247 CSCs are operational in thirty-three States/UTs.
- 100% CSCS have been rolled out in 10 (Ten) States (Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya
Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Sikkim & Tripura).
- More than 70% of the rollout has been completed in 12 (Twelve) States (Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Himachal
Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Pondicherry, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal and West Bengal).
- As of November 2012, approximately 10,000 CSCs are providing financial services including banking, micro-finance
and insurance services to over 1.8 lakhs citizens.
- The State Governments like Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Kerala, Maharashtra, Orissa,
Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have issued Government Orders / Notifications to the various
departmental heads / District Level authorities/ Stakeholders for use of CSC to deliver various G2C Services.
The various G2C Services offered are: Agricultural services, RTI Services, NREGA MIS Data Entry service, Postal
Products, Land Records, Issuance of Birth and Death Certificates, Utility Services, Electoral Services, Transport
Services, Grievances, e-District Services, etc.

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