Discuss about the E-Governance for Public Sector Transformation.
Technology has frequently been mentioned as the solution to all issues faced by the governments. Whilst not being the answers to all governmental problems, e-governance has become an fundamental part of public sector transformation. E-governance can be identified as a footstep towards the modernization of national and local governance. The most prominent issue of governmental fraud, late and ineffective public service delivery, data secrecy and many others are continuously being a major constriction in the effort of establishing democracy. E-governance has been introduced to eradicate all these issues by offering an increased the range of public services to the nationals in a transparent, quick and cost effective manner. The complexities of the governmental processes have been reduced by this technological intervention in the government.
As opined by Garcíaâ€ÂSánchez et al. (2013) e-governance or electronic governance is the use of electronic communication technologies or devices like computer and internet to manage the public service and related issues to provide best service to the citizens. As mentioned by Kumar and Panchanatham (2016) the idea of e-governance includes digital interaction between citizens and the public authority or government (C2G), between two separate governmental agencies (G2G), between government and citizens (G2C), between government and employees (G2E) and between government and business or commercial bodies (G2C). As described by Gatautis, R., (2015) it involves ICTs to transform both back end and front line governmental process and provide services, information and knowledge with more nimbleness and transparency than ever.
E-governance has changed the ids of bureaucracy in the 21st century. The bureaucratic governments have always been criticized for its delaying in service delivery as it involves a number of protocols and channels. Moreover, as mentioned by Gupta and Shah (2012) governmental frauds and corruption are one of the major discrepancies involved with bureaucracy. Incorporating transparency is crucial for better administration of it and success of democracy. Here, e-governance has intervened with significant approach. The following discussion will be helpful in exploring the range of effectiveness of e-governance in bureaucracy.
The most significant of –governance effect can be discerned in the increased participation of the citizens in the governmental activities. As mentioned by Kumar et al. (2013) it has encouraged the fundamental strength and prerequisite of democracy and its success. With the help of ICTs (Information and communication technology), the citizens from every part of the country can tack part, interact, provide input and opinions to the governmental activities, the executive figures, and policies of the government. as mentioned by Yadav and Tiwari (2014) in India, while creating laws regarding sexual harassment against women in 2012, the supreme court bench Justice Verma Committee asked for people’s voice for the suggestions of alteration in laws. Here, the ICTs played a huge role in disseminating people’s voice. Thus, e-governance is being helpful in strengthening democracy.
As opined by Prabhu (2013) e-governance has provided a common framework and direction the public sector agencies and organizations and other bodies. The use of ICT has made the information sharing process timely, reliable and cost-effective. The citizens are now able to access any governmental information from the related portals or websites within fraction of seconds and perfect accuracy. As described by Lee et al. (2016) it has saved time and money of the government and citizens.
“Red tape” is the major constriction in way of effective governance. As mentioned by (), it is an integral part of bureaucracy which is negatively affecting the effectiveness of bureaucracy. However, the Application of ICT has led to elimination of complicated processes and simplification of the structure. By simplifying the work process, e-governance has increased the efficiency and enhanced the decision making power of the governmental bodies. As opined by Gatautis (2015) the simplification of the governmental structure has affected the popular culture of bribery associated to bureaucracy in the hugely populated countries like India. Moreover, the simplified structured has made the governmental bodies more accountable to the citizens.
As described by (), governance has provided the citizens a chance of interacting with the computers to achieve objectives at any time from any location. In the countries like India or Singapore, the e-governance has made the tax return, passport registration and even the health services easier than ever.
However, with all this effectiveness the e-governance involves a few controversies, which are surely affecting its effectiveness and usage.
As opined by Prabhu (2013) with the increased use of electronic contact and its efficiency, the citizens will be encouraged to use this data sharing process, which will in turn reduce the privacy of the citizens. With increased ICT interaction between government and citizens, the government will be able to track every footstep of a citizen. As discussed by Gatautis (2015) in worst cases, this huge information access may lead to the rise of a totalitarian government.
As mentioned by Gupta and Shah (2012) it is vague to claim transparency as a positive result of e-governance. He argues that the data those the public can access to maintained and managed by the government itself. Information can easily be inserted or removed from the public eye.
As opined by Goel et al. (2013) the idea of e-governance is beneficial for the developed countries not the developing or under developed ones. The effectiveness of this service becomes useless when the citizens are illiterate, living below the poverty line or in the remote areas, which are not covered with the internet service. Here, e-governance loses its effectiveness and credibility of modern and efficient governance.
A number of countries and national authorities have introduces e–governance within their governmental procedures. The example of Singapore and India can be typically relevant in this regard. A comparative study about these two nations has been provided bellow.
Singapore has gone so far in the usage of e-governance in the administration. From 1980 to 2015, the notation has achieved a great level in integrating the government with the citizens via ICT. As mentioned by Baum and Mahizhnan (2014) unlike India which is yet to utilize the e-governance in the whole national administration, Singapore has introduced the “Whole-of-Government integration” approach in the national administration via iGov2010.
The country has the 2nd place in the World Economic Forum Global IT Report and UN e-Participation index (Mof.gov.sg 2016). The country has 4 national portals and more than 400 agency websites. While the Indian government is operating with fragmented approach, Singapore’s e-Citizen portal is a “single access” point for government information and services (Mof.gov.sg 2016).
The country is obtaining a huge success in the administration and management of its civic life with the help of e-citizen, SingPass, Online Business Licensing system, Unique Identity number and many other online systems (Mha.nic.in 2016. The government of Singapore has four major portals for ensuring political participation, effective public service deliverance, and help to local entrepreneurs and assistance to the non-residents.
In Singapore, all the public services and transactions are done with the e–citizen portal. It helps the government to rightfully tract all the civil services provided to the public. With authentic documentation, the country becomes able to justify all its expanses to the citizens.
On the other hand, Unlike India, Singapore has a rich infrastructure of e-governance. The country has initiated this program in 1980’s and now it is expanding the execution to its highest level. With the introduction of eGov the national authority has created sophisticated network within and outside of the government agencies (Mha.nic.in 2016).
As mentioned by Gupta (2012) the e-governance is mainly seen as a key element of the country’s administrative and governmental reform agenda. The government has introduced the e-government facilities in customs and excise, Indian railways, Postal department, passport or visa, land reforms and many other central government departments. Introduction of ICT in the railways and central excise has made the facilities hugely effective by correct data and managing it in a proficient manner.
Today 98% of export and 95% of import documentation is computerized. Through ICEGTE electronic filing of taxes is possible (Mha.nic.in 2016). ICT in railways has provided the facility of booking of tickets from anywhere in no time and with better proficient service. ICT in the postal department has introduced direct e-credit of monthly income schemes into the investors’ accounts, dematerialization of savings certificates (NSCs) and Vikas Patras with full portability. ICT in the passport department has introduced 100% computerized information. However, Singapore has all integrated service for all these (Mha.nic.in 2016).
As opined by Mittal and Kaur (2013) the online transaction with the government has reduced the case of bribery in India. It can be identified as a significant achievement of e-governance. The online transaction, payment of bills, EMI, taxes and other dealings are now more time saving and efficient in this country. The project of online payment of bills in India is named as FRIENDS. By first introducing this strategy, the Kerala government made it easy for the citizens to pay the bills without any Yadav and Tiwari (2014) and the government got a good response regarding the payment.
In most of the municipalities, the jobs like house taxes, certificates, property recodes and approvals are now being managed by the ICTs. SDO Suite, by the Assam Government for “issuing certificates like permission for land sale, birth and death report” can be cited here (Mha.nic.in 2016).
In the rural areas, the help of ICT in governance is effectively allocating the social security services and monetary help to the farmers and the concerned persons. Rural Digital Services, or the recent PMJDY (Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojona) can be cited in this regard (Mha.nic.in 2016).
Hover, it cannot be ignored that India does not have an integrated service of e-governance like Singapore. It is restraining the country to enjoy the full potentiality of the service. As described by Loyd and Sivakumar (2015) a country, which has such a huge population, corruption in the civic system the introduction of e-governance, is typically important to ensure best public service with least public spending and best transparency.
As mentioned by Loyd and Sivakumar (2015) with the sophistication of information technology and increased use of ICT in the everyday life, e-governance will be the future of national governance. As mentioned earlier, with decreased cost of governance, better integration among the agencies and the citizen e-governance is continuously being popular among the citizens and governmental agencies.
The Indian government is trying to initiate National e-governance Plan (NeGP) (Mha.nic.in 2016). This plan is attempting to cover all the important areas relating to e-governance- Assessment and awareness, Policy and infrastructure, project management, capacity building, finance and many other sectors.
As mentioned by Garcíaâ€ÂSánchez et al. (2013) there is a hug scope for the e-governance in India. The implication of usage of ICT in governance will increase the efficiency of the government to deliver timely and effective service to a huge number of beneficiaries. With the highly ambitious project of Digital India the nation is trying to have a digital infrastructure within the governance.
On the other hand, Singapore is using this strategy with great precision, sophistication and efficiency. With single one-stop portals, the government agencies are effectively delivering the services to the nationals, which will definitely upgrade and update itself (Ha 2013). With extensive participation from the citizens, the government is creating a strong democratic nation for the future. However, with extensive usage of e-governance in the national authority, not much scope of expansion is left for Singapore. It can be feared that with increased utilization of ICT the nation can face the above discussed issue of surveillance and totalitarian authority. On the other hand, with fragmented approach, huge population and treat of corruption, India has a huge scope of future expansion in the e–governance sector.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, it can be said that e-governance is the future of national administrations. In the countries like India, which has a huge population, e-governance is a prerequisite for the success of democracy. Singapore has utilized this strategy with grate precision by integrating all governmental agencies within one system. This strategy can be followed by India to be successful in the national and local administration. In Singapore, it has propelled better citizen participation, increased efficiency and productivity in the governance. Because of poverty, lack of computer literacy and unavailability of internet coverage is reducing the potentiality of e-governance in India. The country needs to eliminate these issues and implement the e-governance strategy to obtain the impact of modernization in the national administration.
References:
Baum, S. and Mahizhnan, A., 2014. Government-With-You: E-Government in Singapore. E-Governance and Social Inclusion: Concepts and Cases: Concepts and Cases, p.229.
Garcíaâ€ÂSánchez, I.M., Rodríguezâ€ÂDomínguez, L. and Friasâ€ÂAceituno, J.V., 2013. Evolutions in Eâ€Âgovernance: Evidence from Spanish Local Governments. Environmental Policy and Governance, 23(5), pp.323-340.
Gatautis, R., 2015. The impact of ICT on public and private sectors in Lithuania. Engineering Economics, 59(4).
Goel, I., Garg, V. and Garg, S., 2013. A Study of Efforts by Other Countries to Make E-Governance Effective. International Journal of Advanced and Innovation Research, pp.12-18.
Gupta, M. and Shah, S., 2012. ICT and E-governance: A complete overview.Journal of Information and Operations Management, 3(1), pp.178-182.
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Ha, H., 2013. E-Government in Singapore: critical success factors. E-Government success around the world: cases, empirical studies, and practical recommendations, pp.176-197.
Kumar, D. and Panchanatham, N., 2016. A Case Study on Public Private Partnership for an Effective Indian E-Governance. International Journal of Scientific Research, 4(7).
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Lee, S.K., Kwon, H.R., Cho, H., Kim, J. and Lee, D., 2016. International Case Studies of Smart Cities: Singapore, Republic of Singapore. Inter-American Development Bank.
Loyd, B.D. and Sivakumar, D., 2015, July. A case study on VoIP over WMN based architecture for future e-governance of Indian rural areas. InTechnological Innovation in ICT for Agriculture and Rural Development (TIAR), 2015 IEEE (pp. 66-71). IEEE.
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