E-Governance: Miles to Go....

The Year 2001 was declared as the ‘Year of e-governance’ by the Central

Government. A number of measures suggested by the 1998 Task Force targeted at

promoting and enhancing the use of IT in governance. But a look at actual

implementation shows that almost 40% of MIT’s targets are yet to be achieved

and most of them, directly or indirectly, relate to e-governance. Says IT

Minister Pramod Mahajan, "Technology can not work in isolation, it has to

reach one and all. Most officials still find IT too complicated to use and

unless we train and motivate them to adopt tech tools to speed up their

processes, we can not expect things to change."

Interestingly, the 3% IT budgets allocated to all central and state

government departments are all being exhausted as per the directions. But senior

officials reiterate that just buying equipment will not help unless it is put to

efficient use, which in most cases is not happening. Says Central Vigilance

Commisioner N Vittal: ""Money is not an issue because by and large,

the budget is available for investing in IT. Policy-wise, the government seems

to be encouraging e-governance, but unfortunately that money is being spent on

buying junk. It takes a lot of commitment to translate policy into reality and

that is missing."

Even well known IT companies have not been able to implement software

projects successfully for the government. The prime reasons have been poor

direction (particularly in the case of frequent policy changes) and more

importantly, the non-involvement of end-users during this process. A number of

other factors add to the woes – Lack of IT awareness among decision-makers,

poor management of knowledge and human resources, non-compatibility between IT

projects and business processes, poor risk management, choice of technology and

over-ambitious projects.

Cultural Inhibitors

A lot of stress is laid on the lack of infrastructure in the country, which

certainly can not be ignored. But a bigger question that arises is that IF we

have the infrastructure ready, can we ensure the successful adoption of

e-governance across the country? As of now, the aggressive buying spree that

government offices are indulging in is only creating graveyards of computers.

There is absolutely no accountability or motivation to put them into efficient

use.

Experts insist that the basic work culture and framework of the government in

India does not favor e-governance. "I can say with conviction that 95% of

people in the government don’t believe in e-governance. So, how much can you

expect from the remaining 5%, who have to work under tremendous

constraints," Vittal points out. He explains that the whole issue of

e-governance is stuck in the conflict between domain knowledge and knowledge of

IT. "The policy makers are older people who are not technology savvy and

those who know IT are the junior fellows. The problem with these senior people

is that they have a sense of power, which they may not want to surrender by

sharing information," he says.

The rampant corruption prevalent in all government departments also prevents

the use of IT, because it will make all processes more transparent. And this

again may not be in the interest of many ‘senior’ people. Besides these

issues related to work culture, there exists a lot of disparity across the

country in the level of education and orientation to technology. While southern

states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have higher

literacy and have been more active in implementing IT, the North lags far

behind.

A Cafeteria Approach

"It has been widely accepted that IT implementation in government is the

most difficult process and hence requires careful planning and formulation of

strategies for effective implementation," says Renu Budhiraja, Additional

Director, E-Governance Division, MIT. There is tremendous emphasis on rules and

procedures across all government departments. Unless the records are kept

properly, accessing information and tracing the precedents becomes time

consuming and this is one of the reasons for the delays and inefficiency in

administration.

The use of IT can improve the pace of effectiveness of governance, but it has

to be done in a phased manner. A step-by-step or ‘Cafeteria Approach’ as

they put it. This means that just like a buffet, you have various options laid

out and you pick and choose the ones that suit your taste. "You can’t go

for it all at once, you will obviously have to implement it step by step,"

says Vittal. Based on your existing infrastructure and requirements, you choose

and implement from among the various options such as front-end e-services,

backend digitization, e-services, e-procurement and process reengineering.

E-governance has to go hand in hand with all the other welfare measures

adopted by the government. Whatever approach it adopts, in the end what finally

measures success the success of any policy is its benefit to the citizens. If

the government is not able to improve the life of the common man, there is no

point implementing any amount of IT. And more than infrastructure, it would need

cultural reorientation or a change in the mindset of the bureaucracy. The ‘Year

of E-governance’ calls for a more committed approach, otherwise the government’s

ambitious e-agenda may remain unfinished.

SHWETA VERMA In New Delhi