During a recent e-gov conference, I was very casually told, by a completely
disinterested delegate from the police department, that he does not know how all
this is going to benefit him. "Everywhere I go, I hear speakers talking
about the great things e-gov does for the public at large. But there is nothing
for us," he said. I see his point and find a big gap in the way e-gov is
being handled in the country. Clearly, the biggest stakeholder and the driver of
e-gov has not joined the bandwagon.
Everybody seems to be talking only about the common man who will finally
benefit from various e-gov initiatives and implementations in the country. If
one looks closely at these benefits, these are things that will actually scare
most government officials away. The government employee does not see anything
for him in this-actually, he feels that all this is for only the common man.
The result will be that even if government officials make lip service
statements in favour of e-gov, they will oppose it tooth and nail. No question
of their real buy-in arises in such a situation. On the contrary, all imaginable
and un-imaginable obstacles will keep coming up, and e-gov will only get
delayed.
The government, the industry, as well as the NGOs must realize that e-gov
will not succeed until and unless the government officers are convinced of its
benefits, and drive it. All the success stories are actually because of some
government officer's passion with and belief in it. And most failures are due
to the lack of interest by government officers.
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At various forums, I hear of IT industry members complaining about lack of
co-
operation from government officials-getting appointments is difficult,
purchase decisions take a long time, IT heads get changed frequently, there is
no sense of direction, and so on. I am quite sure, once the government official
sees the benefits coming out of e-gov, he or she will be much more excited and
involved. Then there would be no dearth of IT champions in sales tax and land
records departments. Most of the problems that solution providers face today
will be gone.
Besides all this, there have been numerous other suggestions on how to
motivate those in the government who are expected to drive e-gov at various
levels. There is a definite need to offer extraordinary incentives, so that more
ambitious people are drawn in. Another suggestion is to create a cadre of IT
professionals and bureaucrats, so that a sense of community and healthy internal
competition develops. Obviously, there will be a lot of resistance to this from
those who think conventionally, and are not currently involved in IT, but the
government will have to handle it very carefully. Actually, if e-gov is really
implemented everywhere, then, over time, every government official will have to
get involved with IT, and be a champion of some sort.
While all these suggestions are there, perhaps, the best and the simplest
method to get the government officials buy into e-gov is to prove that work load
will be reduced, and yet they will be more empowered. But, obviously, more
inputs from experts are needed on this before an action plan can be prepared.
Given the current level of importance the government of India claims to be
giving to e-gov, my recommendation would be to work on this on a priority basis.
The driver of this e-gov bandwagon should be one of the first to be motivated
and excited. Today, the bandwagon seems to be ready, but the driver is not.
The author is Editor of Dataquest IBRAHIM
AHMAD