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