Useful baby steps

Away from the infra structurally-deficient rural India, the country’s record in setting up e-Governance targets and meeting them have been praiseworthy. The Indian Railways’ IRCTC portal is the number one site in the country to book online tickets.

Many top government-run educational institutes like UGC, IIT, IIM, IISc and others are using online resources to educate and inform students about latest developments and the various courses on offer, making life a little easier for aspirants who are in any case running from pillar to post. Most privatised banks send SMSs on regular basis to update customers about the status of accounts and loan offers.

Using computers and emails are by no means new to government employees. The spread of internet is constantly on the rise. Websites are being browsed by an eager readership not just in the metros, but even in small towns.

Interestingly, some 67 per cent of the readership comes from small cities. The phenomenal growth of the Indian portals has been made possible by the lead penetration of computers and growing internet connectivity.

According to JuxtConsult’s India Internet report, 37 per cent of the current net users come from the top 10 metros, and more than half of the Indian online population comes from outside the eight largest cities.
Not surprisingly, the majority readership is in the age group of 21-40 years. Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh top the readership list. Professions in the IT, education and media fields constitute almost half (48 per cent) of the users.

There is little doubt that India still has a long way to go in taking e-governance to its rural millions. It has also come a long way since the 1970s when the National Informatics Centre (NIC) was constituted to take e-governance initiatives to India’s hinterland.

With the help of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), several schemes were launched to empower the government. Since then a lot of water has flown under various rivers in the country with India at the hub of this IT revolution.

For more than three decades, however, e-Governance policies were mostly implemented in bits and peaces. The big change arrived in 2003 when the government unrolled the ambitious Rs 12,000 crore National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) to make all government services accessible to the common man through the internet round the clock.

Also, the plan was to bring in changes in the public service delivery system with the help of a centralised initiative and decentralised implementation. After doing groundwork and research for three years in 2006, the government took a plunge into the world the of e-Governance.

Despite the strides, the road ahead is bumpy and long. Says Vikas Kanungo, chairman of the Society for Promotion of e-Governance: “Even though we have achieved a huge target in e-governance, but looking at the the size of the country it is meagre.”

The biggest hurdle in e-Governance’s rapid expansion is that there are regions in India where the net has not penetrated, states Devendra Anand, an e-Governance enthusiast.

“There are improvements but we are far behind advanced countries where internet penetration is more than 90 per cent. In villages, there is no sign of internet. Also, many people don’t have laptops and personal computers. In absence of such systems, how can one benefit from e-Governance schemes’’, he queries.

The fact is that government departments have floated websites but not all of them are user friendly. It is common for emails written to officials bouncing back. There are some state governments who propose coming up with novel ideas. For spreading e-Governance, the Tamil Nadu Government has decided to distribute free laptops to schools and college students from September 15, 2011 onwards.

There is a realisation that a computer and an internet connection with a minimum speed of 250 Kbps are important for the spread of e-Governance.

Even though internet is spreading, it is still relatively expensive and limited to II and III tier cities. Besides, providing a computer with Internet connection to a large number of villagers is not an easy thing to do. It may take many years, if at all.

The stunning growth of the mobile industry can be of help because for every internet user, there are five mobile phone users. Infact, it could also become an alternative to e-Governance because it is low cost.

Most analysts say that the biggest advantage with mobile phones is that it has deep penetration. The gadget is no more a luxury. Available at cheaper prices, virtually everyone has a mobile. This is a virgin territory that the government needs to exploit. Important information on Railways and air flights are already available through SMS. The West Bengal government is using e-policing with a good degree of success. The West Bengal Police Wide Area Network (WAN) is an innovative scheme that connects all police stations in the state.

Former Delhi Chief secretary Rakesh Mehta under whose tenure the Gender Resource Centre Module was launched in Delhi to boost e-Governance, is a proponent of IT-enable services. Says Mehta, now state election commissioner: “There has to be transparency to use better e-Governance practices in India. It should be popularised.”

The other field where government’s attention is sought vitally is the Social Media. Says Chennai-based e-Governance expert Annakannan: “Both Central and the state governments are missing on Social Media Networks and Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Besides, they are giving less priority to regional languages.”

For turning India into a fully e-governed entity, the government has to take strong and effective steps by educating people to the use of websites, kiosks, cell phones; mainly how to self guard from virus, hacking, phishing, spams and others, according to Annakannan.

At the moment, even paying bills through online is risky. Protecting data, storing back-up and resolving errors could be highly technical.

So can India do it?

Extensive training for all functionaries at various levels is considered vital. Experts say that the government can appoint technical assistants or volunteers to help people. Moreover, a national toll free number should be allotted to resolve all issues related with e-Governance in all languages.

In emergencies, technical assistants should go to people to explain directly or they can use video conference. To reach people all over India, states and central governments have to experiment many innovative solutions so that the next generation could catch up with the digital changes taking place in Europe and the United States.

Also, this could help in the spread of e-Governance to India’s remote areas in small villages. The coming years would be crucial for e-Governance.