Toward Electronic Governance

The recently concluded
NASSCOM conference in Mumbai was unique in two aspects. First-the number

of financial analysts sometimes threatened to exceed the software community,

possibly an indication of the fancy that institutional investors have

taken for software stocks. And second-some of the excellent sessions

on the Domestic Track that showed that the software industry is finally

realizing the need for a robust strategy to support and even enhance

the country's software exports thrust.

A session that

merits special attention was the one on electronic governance (e-governance)

which showcased the significant steps that are being taken in Malaysia

and our very own state of Andhra Pradesh toward building Knowledge states.

In spite of the political imbroglios that have clouded the Malaysian

economic and technological progress, the progress through initiatives

like the Multimedia Supercorridor has continued at a fast clip. The

initiatives that have been taken in developing Technology-enabled R&D

clusters, borderless marketing for corporations, 'smart' schools, telemedicine

for every citizen and the introduction of multipurpose card across the

country will see every community, corporation and citizen in Malaysia,

transform their Knowledge and performance capabilities through technology

enablement. What is truly impressive even beyond the 150 major applications

that have been envisaged is the meticulous planning from concept to

pilot to rollout that characterize the entire e-governance initiative.






The following


What every Indian citizen can also take pride in, is the steady progress
that AP is making toward achieving their CEO Chandrababu Naidu's 2020

Vision. A process that began nearly a decade ago, is now moving to fruition

with the APVANS (Andhra Pradesh Value Added Network) encompassing major

initiatives like the Multipurpose Household Survey, Twin City Network,

Land Registration and Commercial Taxes Computerization, all oriented

toward what the energetic IT Secretary, Chandrasekhar calls a 'citizen-focused'

IT Strategy. The unique IBM-AP initiative of an Electronic Governance

Center can show the way to many other states and even countries by providing

a showcase of e-governance applications and providing training to all

who will be involved in the implementation. The capable team of half-a-dozen

IAS officers who have put the plan together under the leadership of

Chandrasekhar and Randeep Sudan can take pride in their achievements

that would put many industry CIOs in the shade.






The incentives


What is common to the successes in Malaysia and Andhra Pradesh besides
the involvement of McKinsey as their Strategy Consultant? For one, there

is the willingness to develop and commit to a comprehensive Blueprint

that is strategic rather than opportunistic in focus and able to weather

the vagaries of political compulsions. And the second is the focus on

citizen rather than the implementors, which is so crucial to the success

of any project of such a large scale. Everything that touches the life

of the common man, from education access to information on everyday

requirements to the satisfaction of having a transparent government

that is both responsive and proactive in its approach to the needs of

the citizen. And the realization that the real benefit of state-wide

computerization is a reduction of the real cost that the citizen pays

in the existing format of delays, inefficiency and bureaucratic acts

of commission and



omission that normally cause so much hassle in the life of every citizen.





E-governance is one step amongst many that will be needed to take our
country to its tryst with a global IT superpower destiny. India's main

advantages over other contenders for becoming an IT superpower in the

new millennium, are its pool of technical English speaking manpower

and the ability to create knowledge workers in all parts of this vast

nation. However, this advantage can be frittered away if we do not find

ways and means to harness, store, disseminate and use the various pools

of capability to the common benefit of our vast population. Six major

metros cannot lone make an IT nation, and so we need to find ways to

ensure that the skills and knowledge available in Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta,

Chennai, Bangalore and of course, Cyberabad, are available to the next

40 major towns and then across the length and breadth of the country.

Every state will have to 'do an Andhra,' every bureaucrat will have

to be a Chandrasekhar and every state and corporate CEO a Naidu .






And talking of state CEOs, one of the most inspiring sessions of the
conference was made, not by any consultant or trainer or CEO but by

aamchi Mumbai's former Chief Minister Manohar Joshi. It is a pity that

the powers, that be did not allow him to fulfil some of the promises

he made to the industry during his Keynote, but we can hope that enough

decision makers have seen the pot of gold that lies at the end of the

software rainbow, and politicians, bureaucrats, industry chieftains

and professionals, will all join hands to build leadership for India

in the 'knowledge society' of the next millennium.






Ganesh Natarajan,


MD, Aptech Ltd, and Director, Hexaware Group.


ganeshn@aptech.ac.in