Information Technology has brought in many changes to the society around us. None of course is as promising as the possibilities in improving the Citizen –Government relationship. The E-Governance (EG) as it is often referred to has many dimensions. 

On August 15th, a center for E-Governance (EG) was set up in the premises of the Ministry of Information Technology. This  initiative to promote procedural simplicity, speed and convenience  in Governance is a welcome step in bringing the benefits of Information Technology to the operations of the Government. However,  recent developments regarding the implementation of ITA-2000 , leave room for the public to be  skeptical about the immediate benefits of EG to the common man.

EG initiative normally starts at “Computerisation” and “Connectivity”. Unfortunately, the initiative often gets stuck at this point leaving the hardware grossly underutilized. Computers and Connectivity are only the means to achieve EG objectives  and need to be supplemented with “Content”  and “Training” so that the system is able to harness the benefits of EG.
 

To some extent, the industry has already been liaising with the Government about providing the computers and connectivity at different levels of Governance. As Responsible Netizens let’s therefore worry about the availability of  “Content” and “Training” and what we can do to improve the situation in this regard.
 

Before proceeding further on identifying the requirements of Content and Training, we need to understand the “Essence of EG”.  Information Technology is a powerful tool that can be put to a variety of uses. For example, as a means of increased efficiency,  it can provide for better tax collection and control of tax evasion. But in this respect, EG would only be a tool of efficiency in the hands of the Government. But the test of good EG is “Whether it has improved the quality of life of the average Citizen of  the Country”. If this objective has to be achieved, the focus of the EG initiative should be the Citizen. The convenience of the executive would in such a case be of secondary importance.

The need of identifying the focus becomes more relevant when we try to assess the needs of  Content and Training. It would be obvious that the priority in Content should be in identifying the Information needs of the Citizen  and presenting it in a user friendly manner. Simultaneously, the Citizen should be capable of using the information to complete his transaction with the Government. 
For example, take the case of an utility payment such as the Electricity or Telephone payment. The obvious Government centric approach of EG would be  for  the department to put up the billing details on a website, and make it the onus of the Citizen to check the outstandings, make the payments and verify the updations. The Citizen centric approach would be to also provide online payment mechanism, access to the CEO for complaints and a good interactive channel of communication with the officials. Such a system would also place a  responsibility on the department to send e-mail reminders before punitive action is taken on defaults.

Similarly, when we look at   the needs of the rural citizens, the online interactions to documents like encumbrance certificates, could go a long way to reduce corruption which is the biggest boon that EG can bring to the public.

Also, if the Police can accept FIR s online, the law enforcement machinery can be freed from  corruption at the station level to a large extent.

Lastly, if the judiciary can decide cases on line through E-Courts, there is a hope that the ever increasing list of pending cases can be brought down.

It is through such  Content initiatives  focussing on the needs of the Citizen, that the EG initiative can improve the life of the  common man in the society.

Once the relevant content is available  to  the common man , it also becomes necessary that the users are appropriately trained to make the best use of the content. This may require continuous education programmes at all levels and appropriate context sensitive help being embedded to the content itself. The objective would be to make access to “Helpline” as easy as a “Click” and then make a “Online guide” available to take the most uninitiated through the process of goal realization. With the multimedia tools available today, it should be possible to achieve this objective irrespective of the language and literacy barriers.

For the EG programme to succeed, there has to be  a comprehensive plan to integrate the four pillars namely the Computer, Connectivity, Content and Training  towards achieving the EG objective of “Let’s make the life of the Common man better”. Does the E-Governace Center address this requirement?..We are awaiting an answer with a hope.

Naavi
September 9, 2000