E-governance is touted by many as the next great Indian revolution. Beyond
the hype, however, is a growing movement in India and other Asian countries to
experiment with government-by-Internet. However, the current e-government mantra–focused
on digital divides, killer applications and budget savings–misses the more
compelling questions: Will e-government transform how government interacts with
the populace or serve as a convenience for busy citizens and civil servants? Are
we on the threshold of a digital democracy or merely heading towards constant
policy-by-polling? If we look at the states offering egovernance solutions
within India then perhaps the name of Andhra Pradesh will come as a
front-runner. Powered by Sun Microsystems, the AP government has deployed a
project ‘e-COPS’ wherein a much needed interface has been created between
the citizens and the police department.
eCOPS is up and running in all the four pilot locations i.e. Hyderabad,
Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, and Srikakulam District. Ranga Reddy District is
expected to be completed by the end of February ’03. Though the facility to
actually file an FIR online is not available as of now, the department is going
to provide it soon. The project will be implemented initially in 279 locations
as a pilot project, covering three Commissionerates of Police (Hyderabad,
Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam), Srikakulam District, one Andhra Pradesh special
police battalion, one police training college and office of director
general of police.
Criminal database
The platform provider Sun has provided AP State police multiple E450 (type
of Sun Server) servers to run this project across the state. Criminals trying to
hoodwink the cops beware–the AP police have a computerized databank of
criminals. The AP police is developing a databank of listed offenders in all
criminal cases reported in Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Vishakapatnam, and Srikakulam
district. During the last six months, the department has generated information
on 11,000 people accused in various cases in Hyderabad alone, while it collected
data on 4,000 other offenders listed in Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, and
Srikakulam.
"Once the e-cops is extended to other districts, the department hopes to
have the largest database available. Access to the database is being provided to
police stations to assist in their investigations. They can use the facility for
interrogation of the persons. A user friendly software is developed for this
that can be handled even at the constable level to operate the software and cull
out the necessary details," said, SV Ramana Murthy, IGP (Police Computer
Services).
This system enables the officers to gather more details about the offenders
and enables them to extract the needed information efficiently and accurately.
At the same time as far as the police department is concerned not much has
changed and there are a lot of people who still don’t know anything about
computers and it will take sometime before benefits from initiatives like this
can be reaped to the full.
This software is being integrated with the existing computerized fingerprint
database of listed criminals. The police computer services has the largest
number of computerized fingerprints–2.64 lakh criminals–which enables the
state police to solve crimes more effectively.
The Kolkata experience
The Traffic Police of Kolkata have introduced a novel service to have a
better interaction between the citizens and the police. The SMS based
interaction service allows people to interact with the traffic police easily.
"If anybody wants to report anything to us, all they need to do is to key
in the message and SMS it to us and we will take care of the matter. So far this
solution has helped us a lot in bridging the divide between the police and the
public. Anyone can dial 9830098100 to make a complaint, and on an average we get
more than 20 complaints a day since it was launched in October. People are now
more open with us," says M K Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police at
Kolkata.
High Bet
Governments of all political persuasions will feel the pressure to adapt.
Investors will increasingly factor in the e-government environment–meaning
less red tape, more transparent regulations, easier payment of fees–into
business decision making. A country’s or city’s future competitiveness will
rest on how it positions itself in the race for investment. Governments,
especially in smaller countries and localities that are not prepared to reform,
will watch businesses migrate elsewhere, or never invest at all. But online
services for businesses will not neatly translate into more participatory
governance for citizens.
None of this diminishes the democratizing potential of e-government. Online
governments need not simply mean fewer lines or faster permits. There are plenty
of caveats to implementing e-government. Digital divides exist within societies.
Unraveling the complexities of online government requires sustained political
commitment and a measure of techno-literacy among leaders. What has been started
by the Southern states within India is catching on very fast all over the
country, and that’s the reason we hear about even states that are less IT
savvy like UP talking high on e-governance now.
Privacy and security concerns must be addressed. Yet, the operative issue for
e-government is the readiness of governments to democratize access to
information. Are they ready to replace command-and-control with
click-and-connect? For the moment, the digital divide applies equally to all
levels of government. Yet, to the extent that citizen-oriented approaches are
adopted, e-government may signal a step toward e-Pluribus Unum.
Zia Askari (Cyber News Service)
in Hyderabad