Inclusive India

• Citizens satisfaction score increases substantially over the previous
  
  year
• In most states (14) the satisfaction scores of businesses are even higher
  
  than that of citizens
• Close to 50% of the participating states have scored between 55 and 58
  
  
  
  (out of hundred) showing a more or less same pace of development
• Delhi, Goa, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala are the Top 5. Laggards:
  
  
  
  Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Haryana, Gujarat, and Jharkhand, in that order
• Biggest gainers: Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and
  
  Rajasthan, gaining by more than 25%. The reason being an increase in user
  
  satisfaction with the ease of interaction in government services
  
  

Kodai Ali Sengol Kudi Ombal Nangum Udaiyanam Vendharkku Oli (generous grants,

compassion, righteous rule and succour to the downtrodden are the hallmarks of

good governance), was exactly how the Finance Minister P Chidambaram began his

recent Budget Speech stressing that these words will guide the UPA government

usher in better governance in the country.

This is precisely what the e-governance juggernaut is trying to achieve in

the country, says the recent Dataquest-IDC e-Gov Survey 2008. In addition to

fostering better governance, it is also keeping alive the traditional Indian

ethos of plurality and diversity amidst diverse sections of the society.

In the good old days of Doordarshan, many might remember with fondness Shyam

Benegals Bharat Ek Khoj, one of the better programs in those days of electronic

state monopoly. This televised version of Nehrus Discovery of India championed

the theme of Indias plurality, and through various historical anecdotes

established the age-old concept of unity in diversity.

In view of the recent shameful son of the soil campaign and its violent

aftermath in Mumbai, the need to reinforce the concept of unity in diversity

has assumed even more relevance. Unfortunately, there is a growing resistance

amongst most constituencies and segments of society to accept this theme of

diversity. While politicians have as usual been the biggest culprits (giving up

on all promises about maintaining the countrys plurality at the first

opportunity), it is a pleasant irony that its the new-age government

administration, more popularly referred to as e-governance, that has proved to

be a big draw in bringing about the ethos of unity in diversity.

Do smaller states help in providing better governance? No clear answers are emerging from this years survey. If having Delhi, Goa and Chhattisgarh topping the charts reinforces the claims of smaller states, having Haryana and Jharkhand in the bottom three is a dampener for small state advocates. And what happened to Gujarat? If better governance was Modis election trump card, a penultimate finish in the DQ-IDC e-Gov Survey 2008 comes as a rude shock

Despite the diversity that distinguishes each Indian state from the other,

and also separates them, e-governance has, to a certain extent, erased the

boundaries between them. It has also managed to create a healthy environment for

delivering the most effective and beneficial services to citizens.

E-governance has created a scenario where every state that has started

striving for administrative excellence. The fact is while a Tamil Nadu or a

Karnataka might be leagues ahead, but even a Bihar or a Tripura has started

aspiring to come of age in terms of giving their citizens a better

administration.

An inherent competition between states is spurring them on to sing the most

elaborate hosannas for further prosperity of e-governance initiatives. However,

the euphoria should not lead us to the false notion that everything is a smooth

bed of roses on the e-governance front. Even before we start talking about the

results of the Dataquest-IDC Survey 2008, one thing which needs to be borne in

mind is that there has been no dearth of e-governance initiatives from the

states, yet there is a lot by way of consolidation that is still required, as we

go forward.

While the total number of active e-governance projects has increased there is

still lot of room to ensure that the benefits reach the intended users in the

quickest possible way. The degree of innovation, ease of use of these services,

the extent of deployment, and the quality of service that they are able to

deliver will ultimately decide how fast one achieves the goal. The results this

time show how constant and diligent effort is required to keep individuals as

well as businesses satisfied with the progress of e-governance initiatives in

their state.

While its true that spreading the fruits of technology has not been easy

because India is a country inhabited by people coming from diverse economic and

cultural backgrounds, it will not be wrong to say that we arrived late. It is

also true that governments are treading a difficult path! After all, if one

assumes that in large sections of the country either there is widespread female

foeticide or women are just treated as sheer objects of carnal desires, or where

farmers commit suicides unable to pay debts, talking of any amount of success in

e-governance is an achievement by itself. The very fact that each state has now

defined its e-gov roadmap indicates that we are not too far from the end of the

road.

Clearly the central government has enabled a positive environment which has

nurtured e-governance in states. Some of the schemes approved by the government

include: the State Data Center Scheme with a total outlay of Rs 1,623 crore; the

Capacity Building Schemes with an outlay of Rs 313 crore; the State Wide Area

Networks with an outlay of Rs 3,334 crore; and the Common Services Centers

Scheme with an outlay of Rs 5,742 crore.

The Finance Minister P Chidambarams recent Budget has added further momentum

to this e-governance juggernaut. It includes an increase in allocation to the IT

department from Rs 1,500 crore to Rs 1,680 crore and the scheme to establish

1,00,000 broadband Internet-enabled Common Service Centers (CSCs), State Wide

Area Networks (SWANs) and state data centers. Breaking down individually, the

finance minister proposed to provide Rs 75 crore for the CSC, Rs 450 crore for

SWAN and Rs 275 crore for the State Data Centre projects that are being

implanted under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP).

Quantifying the Successes



This year, the Dataquest-IDC e-Governance Satisfaction Study focuses on the

citizens satisfaction with e-governance, measured further by satisfaction with

the ease of use, and availability and quality of e-governance services meted out

by the state governments.

The states were measured for satisfaction of the beneficiaries as well as e-readiness of the governments, and, quite often, the results were disparate. Uttarakhand is an interesting example. The state that came last in business satisfaction and #19 in citizen satisfaction index was, however, ranked third in overall e-readiness. This actually implies that though the state has started leveraging ICT extensively to bolster its social/educational infrastructure, the actual benefits have either not permeated to or are yet to impact common citizens or businesses. Also, as expected, many states are finding it difficult to satisfy both citizens and businesses at the same time; Himachal Pradesh at #2 on the citizen charts drops to #14 on the business list. The business topper Tamil Nadu, on the other hand, is only #10 on the citizen satisfaction score

Varied services are being aided by IT, but the satisfaction of the citizens

and businesses with regard to the ease of interaction, availability and quality

of these services differ greatly from state to state. As compared to last year,

this year saw major reshuffling in the ranks. Also the states were measured on

the basis of how satisfied their users were, and the overall e-readiness of the

governments.

While Delhi, Goa, Chhatisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala top the list, in that

order, there are a few lessons for UP, West Bengal, Haryana, Gujarat and

Jharkhand as far as leveraging technology for improving the service delivery

mechanism goes. These states are lagging behind on many fronts.

The high performing states in previous years havent necessarily continued to

stay at the top either, which shows that continuous retention of service quality

and ease of interaction are the key success factors behind satisfaction on

e-governance initiatives for a certain state.

Having said that, political turmoil and elections have adversely affected a

few states like Goa, Karnataka, Gujarat and Uttarakhand where the e-governance

scores have decreased drastically as compared to last year: a clear indicator

that political stability is crucial to the success of e-governance initiatives

launched by a state. In the near future, with assembly elections due in some

states, followed by general elections in 2009 across the country, a high chance

of disruption on the e-governance front for each of the states cannot be ruled

out.

The biggest gainers from the past year have been Himachal Pradesh, Uttar

Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, all gaining by more than 25% mainly because

user satisfaction with the ease of interaction in government services has

increased as compared to last year. Most of them are in the phase of

implementing, Himachal Pradesh already having launched HIMSWAN early this month.

On the other hand Gujarat, Karnataka, Haryana and Uttarakhand lost big time

mainly due to a decrease in satisfaction with the quality of government

services. Most of these states will be implementing projects like setting up an

e-procurement platform, setting up several kiosks across the states (CSCs) and

computerization of police departments.

Among the top five states, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala have jumped up

significantly compared to the previous year. Chhattisgarh, which, for the first

time, made its way into the Top 5. Not only has the user satisfaction increased

tremendously, but e-readiness of the government in deployment projects has also

increased by more than 4.7% in 2008.Punjab and Rajasthan too have taken a jump

of over 8 ranks to come at #10 and #11 respectively this year.

On the overall citizen satisfaction score, Delhi, no surprises here, tops the

e-readiness score and also lands the #1 position, topping in many citizen

services. The other three in the Top 5 of overall citizen satisfaction include

Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra.

Delhis judicial system is a massive hit with businesses scoring a perfect 100, while Chhattisgarhs riding high on both supplies and provisions as well as on the government tenders and contracts fronts. Looks like efforts to modernize local courts in Delhi have started paying off, while other smaller states seeking investments can take a leaf out of Chhattisgarhs book. Unfortunately, nearly two decades after liberalization, licenses and permits along with business registration and small business assistance still remain some of the biggest bottlenecks in states like Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.

In the overall satisfaction levels for e-governance services for businesses,

Tamil Nadu tops the list by scoring 81.6. However, Chhattisgarhs score of 80.2

gives it a tough fight at #2. The others that follow are Delhi, Maharashtra and

Kerala. Goa, at #9 though, has a long way to go it seems as far as business

services are concerned.

However, it is disappointing to see Karnataka going down to #11 from last

years #1 rank and also Gujarat to #16 from last years #3. In fact, there has

been major swapping of positions this year as far as e-governance services for

businesses go. None of the Top 5 players this year were in last years Top 5

list. The overall #1 state in this category, Tamil Nadu, has risen from #10 last

year. Chhattisgarh is #2, up from #16 last year.

From the Eyes of Citizens and Businesses



If theres any one state which has done extremely well on the satisfaction

levels on the citizen front, it has to be Delhi. The state is at the top in nine

parameters out of a total of fourteen. However, what one obviously cannot ignore

is the remarkable performance of Chhatisgarh in the education department. It has

a score as high as 91.4. Delhi is way below at 78.8. While Gujarat hasnt been

too impressive on other parameters, it has done well in the Income Tax

Department for citizens with a score of 81.4.

However, at the same time, surprisingly, it has a low score of 50 in the same

parameter for services for businesses. In fact, Gujarat is one of the states

which has low scores in many parameters in both e-governance services for

citizens and businesses. The other state which has put up an equally bad show is

Jharkhand. The state has scored lowest in state transport services, at 39, and

employment exchange, at 41.2.

In the satisfaction level of e-governance services in businesses,

Chhattisgarh performs extremely well, by scoring the highest in seven out of

seventeen services. It has the highest score in supplies provisions, 93.1; and

government tenders and contracts, 92; sales tax/service taxcommercial tax,

86.8; power utility, 88.8; water utility, 86.6; amongst others.

The other state that has performed well in enabling healthy business

transactions is Tamil Nadu. It scores highest in five parameters. Assam springs

a surprise in satisfaction level for businesses in the passport services

category with the highest score of 89.4, and also Delhi in the judiciary with a

knock-out 100.

The maximum score that any state achieved in any parameter for overall satisfaction is for the education department, and the state is Chhattisgarh. Citizens staying in the national capital seem to satisfied with most services, with Delhi topping the list in 9 categories, especially with high scores in passport services, state transport services, agriculture and healthcare. However, Delhi topping the list in police and security is not just ironical, but a severe indictment of the general police administration across the country. States like Jharkhand (transport and employment exchange) need to catch up fast; Gujarats low scores on both police and judiciary fronts prove it might still be carrying the negative legacy of the 2002 riots

Urvashi Kaul & Shikha Das



urvashik@cybermedia.co.in

The

e-Gov Capital

The

Winner from Down Under

Go

Governance!

Eastern

Sunrise

The

Politics of Downfall

Ready,

but Not Satisfied

The Bhagidari

initiative of the Delhi government provided direct interaction with citizens

All the top

10 IT companies are well established in the state, and are in the process of

rapid expansion

Our objective

is to make at least one person in each family in the state IT literate