e-Gov Summit 2007: The E for Governance!

Technological innovation in government has long been an
oxymoron. The cheap computing, fast connectivity and easy-to-use interfaces that
characterize the e-Governance have long been discussed and yet ignored as tools
for making government more efficient. Over the past couple of years, the push
for e-Governance has taken on a new sense of urgency. The challenges Indian
bureaucrats are facing today in scaling up and how these can be managed over the
third e-Governance Summit organized across Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.
With more than 200 government officials discussing threadbare issues with an
august panel in each city, the discussions attempted to look at ways and means
for India to embrace the irresistible force of e-enabled government.

Experts Take on E-Gov

A ballooning budget for e-Governance this year was the baseline for planning
strategies for the next generation. In turn, meaning that over the next 20
years, governments at all levels will probably have to accomplish far more with
relatively stagnant revenues and resources now! At the e-Governance conference,
it was interesting to see that in thinking, we are right up there with the best,
and discussing right and practical steps to bring about that radical change
except very little has been achieved. Most state representatives of the Indian
states pushed forth on citizen-centric services. And indeed, there were several
projects showcased in garb of discussions and presentations and deliberated
during these sessions that what lacked was sharing and co-ordination: if only
they could pool their ideas together. MN Rao, director IT, Government of Goa,
stated that the standardization, interoperability is one of the major issues
that is evolving and needs to be addressed urgently. Governments also need to
focus on the front-end: the access to these services. The thrust being on low
open-source and low-cost easily manageable terminals to build computer centers
everywhere. Informed Dr Vinay K Dharmadhikari, Scientist "G" at joint
secretary scale, Ministry of Communications and IT at Mumbai that there is need
for an in-depth discussion with the ministers and not just paper presentations
but some serious business like discussions, which would help evolve the next
generation government. He also affirmed that the decisions and planning neither
has to be vendor driven or vendor profiting, instead citizen profiting.

Ajai Singh, DG, Income Tax Investigation (Bihar & Jharkhand), on good governance: Human Rights Agenda, delivering keynote at Delhi		All smiles during keynote — LK Tripathy, chief secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu
Dr Debesh Das, minister of Information Technology, Government of West Bengal — delivered the keynote address at Kolkata		Serious Plans from Kailash Vijayvargiya, minister of IT, PWD & Energy, Government of Madhya Pradesh, at Mumbai

Even the governments eventually learn how to use new
technologies to improve their services. But, there has to be certain set time
frame for the execution and delivery if the services, stated Binod Kumar,
district magistrate, Hooghly, government of West Bengal. It was discussed that
e-Government in our country must accommodate certain unique conditions, needs
and obstacles as all of these are ubiquitous in our environment. These may
include a continuing oral tradition, lack of infrastructure, corruption, weak
educational systems and unequal access to technology. Too often, the lack of
resources and technology is compounded by a lack of access to expertise and
information.

Just a few years ago, e-Governance was largely synonymous with
only the technology enabling of customer services. Today, however, it is really
a metaphor for change-sweeping change for good in the fundamental way
government operates to serve its citizens. Sheo Shekhar Shukla, DC, Sagar,
Madhya Pradesh felt that good governance is basically any effort towards good
governance. Good governance requires choices, it can be in any form ranging from
bringing about technological change to fundamental training and a serious effort
shall go a long way in establishing our credentials. Kavita Gupta, secretary,
Accounts and Treasuries, Finance Department; government of Maharashtra
reaffirmed that above all, good governance needs a human face and at the end of
day we need technology not only to bundle up the information pieces, rather
making use of it.

Strategy and Integration Key

The conference basically went on to look at methods for paying the extra bit
for e-Governance initiatives, the problems that have arisen with e-Governance
implementations, and lessons from experience for both strategy and
implementation. It also focused on the role of e-Governance in facilitating the
transition to a Knowledge Society. Use of facts, figures, and examples to show
why governments should concern themselves with integrating and cultivating
information technologies along with investing in upgrading human capital made
the discussions intriguing and much out of the ordinary. Amarendra Sinha,
secretary, Urban Development, Planning and Externally Assisted Programs,
Uttarakhand, emphasized on the fact that developing a solid a robust information
infrastructure to facilitate electronic communication, information, information
sharing and collaboration between government departments internally, and
creating a common architectural framework and common standards for
government-wide IT infrastructure are some of the pertinent issues otherwise
integration of any of the strategies planned might end up in a night mare. Mona
Khandhar, joint secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, Gujarat,
pointed out the problems caused by the scaling and not scaling up as well. She
stated that normally hardware procurement is the easiest part to replicate
unlike the software and training part of any initiative. Hence a level of
standardization cannot be maintained.

The takes from the various officials during the different panel
discussions were pretty vocal. It was also discussed that treating e-governance
as a reform process, and not merely the computerization of government
operations, will contribute to building an "information society" in
which the lives of citizens are empowered and enriched by access to information
and the social, economic and political opportunities that it offers because
ultimately, it is all about mindset, as affirmed by Sanjay Jaju, commissioner,
Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad. IT governance must be thoughtfully and
actively designed. Executive management must be involved for it to be effective.
Without transparency, there is not trust. Transparency must be built in to IT
governance so that the citizens' confidence is in place. During discussions at
Chennai, Qudsia Gandhi, special commissioner and commissioner of Treasuries and
Accounts believed that nothing in the recent times has been done and before
gearing up for next generation there is a need to build a successful
e-government, which means converting the potential of innovation into real
service value. At a time when uncertainty abounds in the Web-enabled
environment, the challenge is to create a strategy to maximize both customer
value and operational effectiveness for the long term. Such a strategy should be
based on a realistic view of how staffing, business processes, technology and
organizational structure must change to meet the demands of multi-channel
service delivery. To move forward smartly, the discussions provided a strategic
framework for building the new government enterprise and a revamped from the
inside out while accounting for the common pitfalls of electronic service
delivery. According to professor Jhujhunwala, IIT Chennai, the government should
not get involved in petty processes of choosing hardware, software, application
software but instead these kind of processes should be completely outsourced as
government competence is governance of the services. Which in turn directly
affect the quality of the services rendered. He also added that the service
delivery has to be monitored. A sharp focus on a limited number of goals,
behaviors and metrics is necessary. Multiple options can be optimized. Also,
there must be a clear exception in handling processes with transparent and rapid
escalation processes.

Final product of the Dataquest e-Governance Summit was the
summary, that all the state governments and their representatives who
participated have perhaps tried their best to make that boldest proclamation in
the history of public service, namely, that all information and services be
available to the Indian citizens via the Web channel within the near future.
Such a statement signifies a commitment to staying on top of the wave of
electronic evolution; it also has deep implications for how governments must
transform themselves in order to meet the new demands of citizen service in the
e-Governance age.

Manogyata Narayan

manogyatan@cybermedia.co.in