E-Governance in India PDF

# Chapter 3 E-Governance: Applications, Models, Successes, Limitations and Potential ## Chapter Outline - Introduction - What is e-governance? - Assessment of e-governance in India - Issues with e-governance framework in India - What are the various umbrella plans for e-governance in India? - New...

# Chapter 3 E-Governance: Applications, Models, Successes, Limitations and Potential ## Chapter Outline - Introduction - What is e-governance? - Assessment of e-governance in India - Issues with e-governance framework in India - What are the various umbrella plans for e-governance in India? - New Technologies related to E-governance - Miscellaneous Topics - Digital Signature - Previous Years' Questions ## Introduction It wasn't long ago when people used to stand in long queues to get a ticket at railway ticket counters or get a driving licence application form from the RTO office. But, thanks to e-governance, we can now book a railway ticket by sitting at home or apply for a driving licence using a smartphone. Apart from making our lives easier by bringing governance at our doorsteps, e-governance facilitates efficient storing and retrieval of data, instantaneous transmission of information, processing information and data faster than the earlier manual systems, speeding up governmental processes, taking decisions expeditiously and judiciously, increasing transparency and enforcing accountability. It also helps in increasing the reach of government, both geographically and demographically. ## What is e-governance? E-governance is the application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to government functioning in order to create "Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive and Transparent" (SMART) governance. It brings public services at the doorsteps of our citizens and businesses. ### What are the focus areas of e-governance? **Digital Infrastructure:** - High-speed internet - Unique digital identity - Mobile phone & bank account - Access to CSCs - Private Space on Cloud - Secure cyber-space **Digital Services:** - Integrated services - Services online & through Mobile - Ease of doing business - Digital Payment - GIS as Decision Support System **Digital Empowerment:** - Digital Literacy - Digital resources - Language Localisation - Collaborative digital platforms ### Why e-governance is needed? E-governance has very high utility. It helps uphold all the 8 pillars of good governance. **Remember the 8 pillars of good governance listed in the chapter on good governance. It can be used in many answers.** - Participation of citizens into public affairs increases as citizens become more aware and give feedback through digital medium (e.g., **MyGov.in**). - Transparency in decisional process increases; it also facilitates the proactive declaration of information under Section 4 of the RTI Act, thus enhancing citizen's access to information. - Consensus-building is promoted through the use of e-governance (e.g., GST Council meeting via video conferencing). - E-governance will help in government becoming more responsive and accountable. (e.g., at C-Vigil launched by the Election Commission, grievances related to over election expenditure related to Model Code of Conduct can be filed.) - **Equity** is enhanced: - Better and equitable service delivery is attained (anytime & anywhere). - E.g., through Twitter Samvad, anyone can reach up to the government departments and ministers. - Effectiveness and efficiency - Best use of resources is done in multiple ways, such as: - Efficient storing and retrieval of data - Instantaneous transmission of information ## Governance in India - A Handbook for Civil Services Examination ### Applications of e-governance It is important to know where all e-governance can be implemented. Some areas where e-governance can be applied are as follows: **Applications/Potential of e-governance is a syllabus term.** **E-education:** - Promoting digital literacy and broadband services in all secondary and senior secondary schools; Massive Online Open Courses (MOOC) shall be developed and used for e-education. - Enhancing financial inclusion through mobile banking, setting up common service centres (CSCs). - E.g., **BHIM app.** **E-healthcare:** - Services, like pan-India exchange for patient information, online medical consultation, online medical records and online medicine supply (E.g., online registration system in hospitals). **Farmers Welfare:** - Real-time price information, e-NAM (e-National Agriculture Market), online orders of agricultural inputs, expert advice given online. **Disaster management and emergency services:** - Mobile-based disaster and emergency services to minimise loss of lives by spreading awareness and taking precautionary measures through digital services (e.g., after Cyclone Fani, various portals were created to donate funds). **Financial Inclusion:** - Financial inclusion means universal access to financial services at low and reasonable cost. For the purpose of financial inclusion, we see that internet and mobile banking brings various financial services at the doorstep of citizens. **Fast and effective justice delivery:** - Criminal justice system shall be integrated through services like e-courts, e-police, e-jails and e-prosecution. **Planning:** - **Geographic Information System (GIS)** based decision making used in schemes like MNREGA and PMAY for project planning, conceptualisation, design and development. - For example, **Monitoring of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (PMAY)**. **Cyber Security:** - To mitigate cyber security risks to ensure safe and secure cyberspace within the country. **Women Empowerment:** - **NARI** portal is an initiative of MoWCD (Ministry of Women and Child Development) to provide easy access to information on government schemes running for women. - **Mahila E-Haat** is an online marketing platform for women, where women entrepreneurs can display their products. This platform has been set up by MoWCD under Rashtriya Mahila Kosh as part of "**Digital India**" and "**Stand Up India**" initiatives. **Smart cities/urban planning:** - **Automation of urban local bodies** to improve efficiency. - **Real-time monitoring through CCTVs** to reduce crimes and analyse transport data for smooth traffic flow. - **Data analytics to plan city, performance of various services, disaster management, etc.** - **Payment of taxes, bills and certificates online.** - **Feedback-customers raising complaints**, so as to improve service delivery. - **Disaster management to mitigate the risk of natural hazards** - **Some other technologies can be utilised for smart cities development** - Sensors to continuously monitor pollution. - Smart grids - net metering, smart metering. - Intelligent green buildings incorporating rainwater harvesting, solar heaters, etc. ### Do you know? **(a) Project Loon by Google** can provide Wi-Fi even during natural disaster; Loon consists of stratospheric balloons which are designed to bring internet connectivity in rural or remote areas worldwide. **(b) Centralised communication system**, involving mobile messages to relay distress message quickly. ### Issues with e-governance framework in India Even though the infrastructure has seen some improvement, we still have a lot to do as far as the Digital Infrastructure, capacity-building, etc. is considered, some of them are discussed below: **Low internet penetration** - Even though, India has the 2nd highest number of internet users in the world, still internet usage ratio to population is very low. According to Pew Research Centre's recent finding, internet penetration as measured by smartphone ownership, says that only 22% Indian adult citizens own smartphones. - There is a lack of infrastructure, like broadband connectivity, digital literacy centers, etc. **Digital literacy:** - There is low digital literacy, especially in the rural areas. **Digital Divide:** - Digital Divide refers to the stark contrast amongst the various sections (e.g., the benefits of e- governance are reaped by the affluent sections of society — benefits of IRCTC website are reaped mostly by that section of society which is digitally literate.) - Different states in India are at different levels of e-readiness - Similarly, there is a Digital Divide on the basis of gender, class, etc. **Concerns over reliability and security of network:** - Service delivery is affected by cyber-attacks like Ransomware attack (WannaCry) - Cybercrime such as fishing, stalking, harassment, hacking, etc. get promoted. **Consistency of services:** - Consistency of services may be an issue as problems of break in internet connectivity could delay essential services like in medical or emergency services. ## What are the various umbrella plans for e-governance in India? The umbrella plan for e-governance in India today is the Digital India program. ### Digital India It is a programme to transform India into a digital empowered society, knowledge economy and to provide digital government services to all the citizens, by ensuring high speed net connectivity. **Broadly speaking, there are 3 vision areas of Digital India:** - Digital infrastructure as a utility to every citizen - Governance and services on demand - Digital empowerment of citizens **Digital India is based on 9 pillars. They are discussed as follows:** 1. **Broadband highways:** - Broadband for all rural sectors; 2.5 lakh villages were provided broadband service - Broadband for all urban sectors - National Information Infrastructure: Integrate networks like NKN, SWAN, NOFN along with national and state data centers 2. **Universal access to mobile connectivity** 3. **Public internet access programme** - This is mainly being done through the help of **Common Service Centers**, also called as **Pragya Kendras**. 4. **Reforming government through technology** - Government Business Process Reengineering is being done using IT to improve transactions with government and citizens 5. **E-kranti: Electronic Delivery of Services.** - Under this, 41 Mission mode projects under e-governance are being implemented 6. **Information for All:** For instance, **MygGov.in**, serving as two-way communication for citizens and government. 7. **Electronic Manufacturing:** - There is a target of Net Zero Import of electronics through tax incentives, government preferential procurement, skill development, etc. - Thanks to this, India has now become the second largest mobile manufacturer in the world after China. 8. **Using IT for job creation** - Example is job creation in BPOs, etc. 9. **Early Harvest Programmes** like biometric attendance, public Wi-Fi, e-books, SMS-based disaster alerts, etc. ### Do you know? **Common Service Centers (CSCs)** are physical facilities to provide e-governance services to villages and remote locations where computer and internet facilities are negligible. They are multiple services single point model; **Common Service Centers** provide following: - Digital infrastructure to villages: It also supports village entrepreneurs - Point of e- service delivery - Digital literacy by providing infrastructure - Financial inclusion; Withdrawal facility has been introduced, opening of accounts is also being planned ### National e-Gov. Plan/E-Kranti (NeGP 2.0) The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) takes a holistic view of e-governance initiatives across the country, integrating them into a collective vision, a shared cause. As discussed above, one of the important pillars is e-Kranti which focusses on electronic delivery of services. The platform utilises and utilises emerging technologies such as Cloud and Mobile Platform and focusses on the integration of services. Under E-Kranti there are 44 mission mode projects which are at various levels of implementation. Some of these projects are given below: - **Passport Seva:** - Passport Seva (PS) was launched by the Ministry of External Affairs as an MMP in May 2010 to augment and improve the delivery of passport services to Indian citizens. - **MCA 21:** - MCA 21 is an initiative of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The MCA21 application is designed to fully automate all processes related to the proactive enforcement and compliance of the legal requirements under the Companies Act, 1956, New Companies Act, 2013 and Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008. This will help the business community to meet their statutory obligations - **E-courts:** - It is implemented in district and subordinate courts across India under the Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice. Phase 1 (2010-15) and phase 2 (2015-2020) with an outlay of 1670 crores are being implemented. Its objectives are to provide speedy judicial delivery, to raise transparency and to enhance productivity in the use of resources. - **Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS):** - It is an initiative of the Ministry of Home Affairs. CCTNS has the following objectives: - Provide citizen-centric police services via a web portal - Pan India search on national database of Crime and Criminal records - Producing Crime and Criminal reports at state and central level - Computerisation of police processes - **INDIA STACK PLATFORM:** - A set of APIs to allow governments, businesses, startups and developers to utilise the unique digital infrastructure to solve India's hard problems. - **BHART NET/NOFN PROJECT:** - The National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project aims to connect all the 2,50,000 gram panchayats (GPs) in the country and provide 100 Mbps connectivity to all GPs. - The entire project is being funded by Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), which was set up for improving telecom services in rural and remote areas of the country. The money for this fund comes through a "Universal Access Levy," charged from the telecom operators as a percentage of various licenses fees being paid. - The National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN) project aims to connect all the 2,50,000 gram panchayats (GPs) in the country and provide 100 Mbps connectivity to all GPs. - **Do you know?** - **API** refers to Application Programing Interface. It is a software intermediary that allows 2 applications to talk to each other. In simple terms, it is a tool that makes it easier to develop software. - **UMANG:** - It is an umbrella app that covers all the e-governance apps across all sectors for better governance. - **GEM:** - GeM is hosted by Directorate General of Supplies and Disposal (DGS&D), Ministry of Commerce. - **eBiz:** - It is an online portal for government business interactions launched under the e-governance Plan (NEGP). - It functions under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). - **Do you know?** Earlier DPIIT was called as DIPP. - **Benefits of eBiz portal:** - eBiz provides a one-stop shop for providing G2B services to investors and business communities in India. - Like the establishment of a business, it is an ongoing operation, and the possible closure. - This reduces the delays and complexity in obtaining information and services. - It provides transparent, efficient and convenient interface, through which the government and businesses can interact in a timely and cost-effective manner. - It provides department-centric approach to customer (business) friendly approach. - **Meghraj:** - It is GI Cloud initiative launched by government to harness the benefits of cloud computing. The focus of this initiative is to accelerate delivery of e-services in the country while optimising ICT spending of the government. - **National Knowledge Network (NKN):** - It is a platform to inter-connect knowledge institutions. - 1500 institutions - all universities and institutes of higher learning got inter-connected with this. - PM Grameen Digital Shaksharta Abhiyaan (PMGDisha) has been initiated with the vision to empower at least one person per household with crucial digital literacy skills by 2020. - **Twitter Samvad:** - The service aims to boost the nation's e-governance plans and facilitate direct communication between leaders, government agencies and citizens, through the use of Tweets in Twitter. - **Bhoomi, Karnataka:** - This is a landmark scheme of Karnataka to implement computerisation of land records. - First successfully implemented e-governance scheme for the benefit of common man. Land record kiosk has been setup to provide quick and easy access to land record documents. - **DigiLocker:** - DigiLocker ties into digital India's visions' areas of providing citizens a shareable private space on a public cloud and making all documents/certificates available on this cloud. Targeted at the idea of paperless governance, DigiLocker is a platform for issuance and verification of documents & certificates in a digital way, thus eliminating the use of physical documents. ## Assessment of e-governance in India - **Recent Positives in the Digital Infrastructure:** - In the recent years, thanks to a dedicated push by the Government of India through its multiple plans such as the Digital India, National e- Governance Plan and because of the entry of large private players, India has seen a lot of benefits in the aspect of digital infrastructure. - **Data consumption per SIM is the highest in the world!** - Average data usage increased over 12 times in last three years - Likely to continue at 73% CAGR - Broadband subscribers increased from around 85 million at the end of 2014 to approximately 525 million at the end of 2018 - **Cost per GB data rates is the lowest in the world** - **The only outlier among developed and developing countries.** - **Tele-density:** - Growth from 4 to 92 connections per 100 population ## Issues with e-governance framework in India Even though the infratructure has seen some improvements, we still have a lot to do as far as the Digital Infrastructure, capacity-building, etc. is considered. Some of them are discussed below: - **Low internet penetration** - Even though, India has the 2nd highest number of internet users in the world, still internet usage ratio to population is very low. According to Pew Research Centre's recent finding, internet penetration as measured by smartphone ownership, says that only 22% Indian adult citizens own smartphones. - There is a lack of infrastructure, like broadband connectivity, digital literacy centers, etc. - **Digital literacy:** - There is low digital literacy, especially in the rural areas. - **Digital Divide:** - Digital Divide refers to the stark contrast amongst the various sections (e.g., the benefits of e- governance are reaped by the affluent sections of society — benefits of IRCTC website are reaped mostly by that section of society which is digitally literate.) - Different states in India are at different levels of e-readiness. - Similarly, there is a Digital Divide on the basis of gender, class, etc. - **Concerns over reliability and security of network:** - Service delivery is affected by cyber-attacks like Ransomware attack (WannaCry) - Cybercrime such as fishing, stalking, harassment, hacking, etc. get promoted. - **Consistency of services:** - Consistency of services may be an issue as problems of break in internet connectivity could delay essential services like in medical or emergency services. ## New Technologies Related to E-governance In addition, government is also working on policy plans to develop new technologies related to e-governance, such as: ### National Mission on Artificial Intelligence It aims to leverage the benefits of artificial intelligence in many domains. **Priority Mission Areas**: - **Indian Languages:** - Text to Text, Speech to Text & Text to Speech - Speech to Speech Conversion - **Agriculture:** - Doubling Farmers Income - Prediction of Crop Yield, Precision farming - Scalable, Distributed Healthcare-Crops & Animals - **Finance:** - Detection of financial frauds - Prediction of bad loans/NPA - **Transportation:** - Smart Traffic Management - Indian Navigational System - **Health:** - Ayushman Bharat-Doubling Resources, Halving Costs - Low cost Medical Screening/Diagnostic Solutions - **Education:** - Intelligent Tutoring Systems - Scalable and Reliable Evaluation Systems - **Cyber Security:** - Automated response to cyber attacks - Cyber forensics ## National Policy on Software Products The policy focuses on software development in India. It aims to do the following: - Develop India's a Software Product Nation - Achieve 10 fold increase in India's share in the global software product market by 2025 - Nurture 10,000 software product start-ups; Develop 20 product development clusters - Create a million strong talent pool for the software product industry. ## Miscellaneous Topics ### Mobile Governance (M-governance) M-governance is a sub-domain of e-governance; it ensures that electronic services are available to people via mobile technologies using devices such as mobile phones. **Benefits of M-governance:** - Mobile services are also cheaper as well as accessible in most of the rural areas in India - Added convenience and flexibility - Better services to the citizens - Easy interaction ### Blockchain Technology - Blockchain is a decentralized distributed database existing on many computers simultaneously. It is constantly evolving as new sets of recordings, or "blocks," are added to it. Each block contains a timestamp and a link to the previous block, so they actually form a chain. The database is not managed by any particular body; instead, everyone in the network gets a copy of the whole database. Old blocks are preserved forever and new blocks are added to the ledger irreversibly, making it impossible to manipulate by faking documents, transactions, and other information. - Government is also working on a plan to integrate Blockchain technology into the e-governance setup, such as in land management, records maintenance, etc. ### Digital Signature - Digital signature is basically a type of electronic signature. Its aim is to ensure that the electronic document being signed is authentic. In addition, it also gives the information about who was the creator of the document. Further, it ensures that the document has not been tampered after its creation. This way it is used for validating the integrity and authenticity of any digital document, or software. Additionally, it also a time stamp attached which gives an information about the exact time, when the message was sent. Digital signature has to be issued and certified by a Certifying Authority (CA). ## Previous Years' Questions - **How does e-governance promote transparency and accountability?** - **What are the challenges and opportunities of e-governance in India?**