What's New

Q. E-governance facilitates administrative systems by enabling administrative development and effective service delivery. Analyze.

Approach:

• Give a brief introduction about e-governance.
• Then bring out how e-governance facilitates administrative systems by enabling administrative development and effective service delivery.
• Conclude with some challenges that need to be overcome for harnessing the potential of e- governance.

Answer:

E-governance is the application of Information and Communication technology to the processes of government functioning for good governance i.e. improving information and service delivery, encouraging citizen participation in decision making and bringing in greater accountability, transparency and efficiency. Technological advancement facilitates the administrative systems by enabling administrative development and efficient service delivery.

E-governance can give further impetus to the process in following ways:

• Automation of administrative processes:

It helps with proper information layout; adequate provisions for navigation and updated content with back office support. e-Governance has enabled online carrying out of operations and file movements.

• Reduction in paperwork:

Paper work is reduced to a greater extent with communication being enabled via electronic route and storage and retrieval of information in the electronic form. Quality of service: People are able to get services efficiently and instantaneously. As volumes of information and transactions can be electronically handled and delivered over a wide area through the net and web, qualitative services become possible in the least time, at the least cost, and with greater convenience.

• Elimination of hierarchy:

It reduces procedural delays caused by hierarchical processes in the organization. Through intranet and LAN, it has become possible to send information and data across various levels in the organization at the same time.

• Change in administrative culture:

With e-governance, public actions coming under public glare would certainly induce norms and values of accountability, openness, integrity, fairness, equity, responsibility and justice in the administrative culture.

E-governance enables efficient service delivery where ICT plays an important role in effectively delivering services to the people as ICT ensures:

• Transparency:

By providing easy access to inform can on the website and subsequently making the system publicly accountable. Also, information can be accessed by all without any discrimination. For example, online filing of RTI applications.

• Social development:

The access to information empowers the citizens. Informed citizenry can participate and voice their concerns, can be accommodated in the program formulation,which includes implementation, monitoring and service delivery. Web enabled participation will counter the discriminatory factors affecting our societal behavior. For example, redressal of grievances through CPGRAMS portal.

• Strategic information system:

Changing organization environment and increasing competitiveness have put pressures on the performance of the functionaries. Information regarding all aspects needs to be made available to the management at every point to make routine as well as strategic decisions. ICTs effectively enable putting such strategic information systems in place.

• Economic development:

The deployment of ICTs makes services available for wider reach and reduces the transaction costs. For e.g. farmers, if they got information regarding markets, products, weather etc. easily through ICTs, would lead to more opportunities and thereby prosperity. For instance, e-Bhoomi portal, MGNREGA portal, DISHA etc.

However, there are some and e-governance-like immediate and pertinent challenges to effective implementation of ICT and e-governance like lack of adequate infrastructure, lack of capital, human resources etc. which needs to be overcome to harness the potential benefit of e-governance. Also, the time has come to focus on implementation especially those related to cross level applications and institutional framework, which would enable broader changes in governance.