From clips to clicks – The age of E-Governance

E-governance

The idea of e-governance reflects a watershed moment in how governments around the world approach their missions. Many are using the power of information technology in disruptive ways, from strengthening public service delivery to making data-driven decisions to enacting evidence-based policies, ensuring greater transparency and enhancing public confidence. Digital reforms are the need of the hour as they overcome the innate inertia of the system, excessive delays, slow decision-making, and corruption. Solutions are not that difficult to create but extremely cumbersome for enactment at the grass root level. It is not merely the absence of digital literacy on the part of users but also the hesitancy to use digital platforms, that makes initiatives difficult for large scale adoption. The advent of the Covid pandemic has instilled a sense of urgency to conceptualize and commission e-governance initiatives to ensure seamless and effective governance. Let us explore the challenges, possible solutions and a few e-governance initiatives.

Change. Most people are uncomfortable with change and hence avoid it. The implementation of any digital initiative from inception to execution is like a steeplechase, moving from hurdle to hurdle.

To deal with the resistance to digital platforms, various steps are necessary. First, the introduction of any technology should subsume the processes it aims to digitize. Second, it is crucial to do away with paperwork that becomes redundant in due course. People are averse to duplication of activities in both hard and soft formats. Third, ample training resources should be made available, which offer tutor based and self-enabled learning. Hands-on training should also be provided to familiarize the users with all aspects of the digital platform. The provision of dedicated helplines is beneficial when it comes to large scale technological introductions.

A major setback is the lack of resources in terms of internet connectivity, availability of digital devices and other converging factors. India’s digital gap is still wide, with more than 400 million people without access to the internet. The connectivity in rural areas is far less than in metropolitan areas.

The Path of E-Governance

Many years down the memory lane, e-ticketing was implemented by Indian Railways through IRCTC. People may not have realized it at the time, but it revolutionized ticketing and travel for all classes of citizens. People in villages without access to the internet could receive text messages from their children who had purchased tickets for them in any town or city. To address the digital divide, both the manual and electronic modes were kept intact and the device required to carry the ticket was as low tech as a keypad mobile.

E-initiatives Impacting Governance

There have been different applications which have been used from time to time by the government to bring in new e-governance applications. Underneath I have elaborated a few of such applications which I feel have been successful with regard to the vision of their implementation.

DigiLocker: DigiLocker was launched in 2015 is a digital vault which eliminates the need for physical papers and allows for the sharing of e-documents among government departments was a revolutionary concept for all of us. DigiLocker has evolved over the years and many ministries ranging from health, education to transport have been linked with it. From an initial review score of 1.8 on the play store it has now reached 4.2, which is impressive.

E-office: A long-awaited initiative, implemented for the movement of e-files in all Government departments. It ensures timely decisions, quick movement of files and complete transparency in the process. Public servants who have been criticized for not clearing files on regular working days deserve to get their due for signing e-files on weekends as well. During the national lockdown, Government machinery shifted from offices to home but continued like clockwork due to this single but most crucial application. Approvals for purchase of inventory, work orders, transport of critical materials etc. were seamless.

DIKSHA: The digital platform implemented by the Ministry of Education, DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing), as a one-stop solution is a convenient answer to the Covid crisis which shut down the schools. DIKSHA brought together learning resources for students and teachers in the online mode. Thus, in the pandemic era, DIKSHA enabled learning for students and simultaneously allowed teachers to improve their skills using training modules.

GeM: GeM (Government E-Marketplace) is the “GoI Amazon”. It is an unprecedented initiative which offers a contactless, cashless, and paperless procurement process. GeM allows procurement of items based on standard specification along with price comparability. This platform is unique as it hosts multiple sellers and buyers (Govt departments), allowing them to select, compare and buy products as well as services with just a few sets of clicks. The seller’s identity is masked thus eliminating any means for favoritism or bias. Now as a user one can argue regarding the inherent deficiencies of the platform, hiccups in processing etc. but we must remember that “Rome wasn’t built in a day”. The icing on the cake is the stringent timelines which enforce timely decisions concerning the finalization of tenders, acceptance or rejection of materials as well as payment of dues. GeM has eased the method of procurement for the buyer and mode of payment for the seller while ensuring complete transparency in the process.

The Way Ahead

Implementation of all such digital initiatives will accrue and lead to an overall efficient, paperless, transparent, and reliable working environment. However, it has to be ensured that a digital initiative has to take cognizance of the digital divide, digital literacy of the stakeholders and yet be a user-friendly solution. In the light of the imminent adoption of 5G technology, gradual proliferation of the internet to rural areas and multiple initiatives by the government on the front of e-governance I, for one, have my hopes up for the future of e-governance in India.