The Citizen Elixir: Top 25 eGov Projects in India

Forty-year-old Ramdheni Mahato, a landless laborer and member of a

marginalized scheduled tribe, lives in a small village called Bhundu in

Jharkhand some 100 kms from Ranchi. When the state of Jharkhand was carved out

of Bihar few years back, he was allotted a few acres of land by the government

in a ceremony televised nationally with much fanfare. Parties of all political

dispensations leveraged this national focus and subsequently made use of their

largese to Ramdheni and his ilk into an election plank. It helped them win

electionsresult: in less than a decade of existence Jharkhand has had five to

six CMs, including one who has built a global financial empire for himself.

But what happened to Ramdheni and his likes in all these years? Initially,

for the land deed he received on national TV, he had to pay a bribe of Rs 950 to

the village accountant. But even after that his name was not entered into the

land record system. More rounds of palm greasing kept on happening at the

Panchayat level. Still, he was not able to become the legal owner of the land

till a few months back, Ramdheni came to a land record automation center (under

Jharkhand Land Record Department) and applied for a mutation over the counter.

Surprised, because he had almost given up hope over all these years, within a

month he got the mutation order. True, he had to shell out Rs 100 for tempo and

auto and cycle rickshaw charges for coming to Ranchi, but at least he is now no

more a landless laborer.

After a few months when he brought his pregnant wife to consult a doctor in

the city he dropped by at the land department counter where, in only five

minutes and at a cost of Rs 35, he received the corrected copy of the Record of

Right Tenancy and Cultivation (RTC). He was very happy when he saw his name

registered as the legal owner on the RTC. Welcome to the world of e-governance

finally reaching the grassroots; there are several teething problems stillbut

as Ramdheni told his neigbor Jeevlal, next year this entire process could be

done at Bhundu itself without even traveling to Ranchi.

The Holistic Picture



e-Governance has come a long way since the late 80s and has now become an

integral part of governance, be it at the center or the state level. In the

Union Budget 2008-09, the government increased allocations for the IT department

to Rs 1,680 crore from Rs 1,500 crore in the last fiscal. Its target is to

launch one lakh Citizen Service Centers (CSCs) and set up State Wide Area

Network (SWAN) across the country. Schemes for State Data Centers (SDCs) too

have been announced. Out of the Rs 1,680 crore allocation in the budget, already

Rs 450 crore has been allotted for SWANs, Rs 275 crore mobilized for STDs and

another Rs 75 crore given to the CSCs across the country.

e-governance has matured in India. Earlier, e-governance had more to do with

facilitation rather than regulation, but now e-governance involves both

facilitation and regulation. The regulatory aspect of e-governance has taken

time to establish itself. Basically, it is a step towards better administration

by facilitating transparent, speedier, responsive and non-hierarchical system of

governance. Better administration leads to effective management of delivery of

governmental services and this comes from managing e-governance processes.

It may not always be possible to arrive at a definite figure of the costs

involved in the e-governance initiatives, but the estimates are astronomical.

The Unique Identification Number project has been reported to cost around Rs.1.5

lakh crore. Realistic estimates are in the range of Rs

10,000-20,000 crore. This is just for enumeration of citizens of this

country. The associated costs for other services to be provided can just be

imagined. Therefore, accountability in e-governance projects assumes relevance

to ensure value for money for the governments, the taxpayer and the citizen

beneficiary of the country. The other major fact is that use of ICT has

potential for radical transformation in governance and modifications in work

methods and processes. Such changes make the systems vulnerable and therefore

the systemic controls and related accountability in the e-governance project

become all the more important.

While National e-governance plan (NEGP) talks about ambitious national plans,

there are several projects under NEGP both in Mission Mode status and otherwise

which are getting implemented in various states. While it is imperative that the

overall picture is always in perspective, but one should also look at the

various projects happening across different states and whether they are

achieving success or not. And, more importantly in case successful projects in

one states can be replicated in others.

25 of the Best



It should be noted that e-Governance is not a goal in and of itself. The

goal of the National e-Governance Plan in India is about making all government

services accessible to the common man in his locality. This is an ambitious goal

which will only be realized over time. There is lots of good work already done

and much to build upon both in India and internationally. Therefore, as Voltaire

wisely stated "Dont let the perfect be the enemy of the good" as you move

forward with implementation, learn from the experience and adjust for the

future.

This was what was precisely in mind that Dataquest sought to showcase

twenty-five key e-gov projects. We do not claim these are the best projects or

anything, since that is a purely subjective exercise. However, we have put some

filters in the form that all these projects have started after 2003 and all of

them have at least one year of running. This is crucial since as they say proof

of the pudding is in the eating-only when citizens get benefited we can say

that the projects have been successful.

We have tried to be fairly representative and cover as much states as

possiblehence we have not taken more than two projects from any one state. So

its not only projects from Karnataka or Andhra Pradesh or Gujarat that we have

taken, but those from Nagaland, Bihar,



Uttaranchal, Goa, Tripura or Chhattisgarh (so called backwaters) that are
considered. The ambits of the projects too are fairly representativefrom

healthcare to police to utilities to education, from pension systems to

environment to jails, from agriculture to municipalities to land records. The

idea is to cover projects that touch the lives of a large proportion of our

citizensboth rural as well as urban.

Bread-Soup vs Dal-Roti



While it is all very well to select specific projects and discuss their

viability sitting in plush banquets in five-star hotels, we should keep in mind

that their ultimate test is if they can make Ramdhenis happy. The single biggest

challenge to successful implementation is the lack of alignment between the

different levels of government and the different lines of business as

represented by the departments and IT on any or all of these three elements

(vision, strategy and plan).

Implementing e-Governance is difficult at any time in any place. Implementing

integrated services across all levels of government, across many departments,

across a country with the size and complexity of India is a massive challenge.

But that does not mean we should give up for trying. The governments dream of

improving the lots of its citizens should not remain just an election plank or

some paragraph in some contentious Common Minimum Program booklet. If

e-governance can prove to be the elusive elixir for it, lets endeavor for it.

If not for anything else, at least for Ramdhenis sake.

Rajneesh De



rajneeshd@cybermedia.co.in