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Technological innovation in government has long been an oxymoron. The cheap computing, fast connectivity and easy-to-use interfaces that characterize the e-Governance have long been discussed and yet ignored as tools for making government more efficient. Over the past couple of years, the push for e-Governance has taken on a new sense of urgency. The challenges Indian bureaucrats are facing today in scaling up and how these can be managed over the third e-Governance Summit organized across Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. With more than 200 government officials discussing threadbare issues with an august panel in each city, the discussions attempted to look at ways and means for India to embrace the irresistible force of e-enabled government.

Experts Take on E-Gov
A ballooning budget for e-Governance this year was the baseline for planning strategies for the next generation. In turn, meaning that over the next 20 years, governments at all levels will probably have to accomplish far more with relatively stagnant revenues and resources now! At the e-Governance conference, it was interesting to see that in thinking, we are right up there with the best, and discussing right and practical steps to bring about that radical change except very little has been achieved. Most state representatives of the Indian states pushed forth on citizen-centric services. And indeed, there were several projects showcased in garb of discussions and presentations and deliberated during these sessions that what lacked was sharing and co-ordination: if only they could pool their ideas together. MN Rao, director IT, Government of Goa, stated that the standardization, interoperability is one of the major issues that is evolving and needs to be addressed urgently. Governments also need to focus on the front-end: the access to these services. The thrust being on low open-source and low-cost easily manageable terminals to build computer centers everywhere. Informed Dr Vinay K Dharmadhikari, Scientist "G" at joint secretary scale, Ministry of Communications and IT at Mumbai that there is need for an in-depth discussion with the ministers and not just paper presentations but some serious business like discussions, which would help evolve the next generation government. He also affirmed that the decisions and planning neither has to be vendor driven or vendor profiting, instead citizen profiting.

Ajai Singh, DG, Income Tax Investigation (Bihar & Jharkhand), on good governance: Human Rights Agenda, delivering keynote at Delhi		All smiles during keynote – LK Tripathy, chief secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu
Dr Debesh Das, minister of Information Technology, Government of West Bengal – delivered the keynote address at Kolkata		Serious Plans from Kailash Vijayvargiya, minister of IT, PWD & Energy, Government of Madhya Pradesh, at Mumbai

Even the governments eventually learn how to use new technologies to improve their services. But, there has to be certain set time frame for the execution and delivery if the services, stated Binod Kumar, district magistrate, Hooghly, government of West Bengal. It was discussed that e-Government in our country must accommodate certain unique conditions, needs and obstacles as all of these are ubiquitous in our environment. These may include a continuing oral tradition, lack of infrastructure, corruption, weak educational systems and unequal access to technology. Too often, the lack of resources and technology is compounded by a lack of access to expertise and information.

Just a few years ago, e-Governance was largely synonymous with only the technology enabling of customer services. Today, however, it is really a metaphor for change-sweeping change for good in the fundamental way government operates to serve its citizens. Sheo Shekhar Shukla, DC, Sagar, Madhya Pradesh felt that good governance is basically any effort towards good governance. Good governance requires choices, it can be in any form ranging from bringing about technological change to fundamental training and a serious effort shall go a long way in establishing our credentials. Kavita Gupta, secretary, Accounts and Treasuries, Finance Department; government of Maharashtra reaffirmed that above all, good governance needs a human face and at the end of day we need technology not only to bundle up the information pieces, rather making use of it.

Strategy and Integration Key
The conference basically went on to look at methods for paying the extra bit for e-Governance initiatives, the problems that have arisen with e-Governance implementations, and lessons from experience for both strategy and implementation. It also focused on the role of e-Governance in facilitating the transition to a Knowledge Society. Use of facts, figures, and examples to show why governments should concern themselves with integrating and cultivating information technologies along with investing in upgrading human capital made the discussions intriguing and much out of the ordinary. Amarendra Sinha, secretary, Urban Development, Planning and Externally Assisted Programs, Uttarakhand, emphasized on the fact that developing a solid a robust information infrastructure to facilitate electronic communication, information, information sharing and collaboration between government departments internally, and creating a common architectural framework and common standards for government-wide IT infrastructure are some of the pertinent issues otherwise integration of any of the strategies planned might end up in a night mare. Mona Khandhar, joint secretary, Health and Family Welfare Department, Gujarat, pointed out the problems caused by the scaling and not scaling up as well. She stated that normally hardware procurement is the easiest part to replicate unlike the software and training part of any initiative. Hence a level of standardization cannot be maintained.

The takes from the various officials during the different panel discussions were pretty vocal. It was also discussed that treating e-governance as a reform process, and not merely the computerization of government operations, will contribute to building an "information society" in which the lives of citizens are empowered and enriched by access to information and the social, economic and political opportunities that it offers because ultimately, it is all about mindset, as affirmed by Sanjay Jaju, commissioner, Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad. IT governance must be thoughtfully and actively designed. Executive management must be involved for it to be effective. Without transparency, there is not trust. Transparency must be built in to IT governance so that the citizens' confidence is in place. During discussions at Chennai, Qudsia Gandhi, special commissioner and commissioner of Treasuries and Accounts believed that nothing in the recent times has been done and before gearing up for next generation there is a need to build a successful e-government, which means converting the potential of innovation into real service value. At a time when uncertainty abounds in the Web-enabled environment, the challenge is to create a strategy to maximize both customer value and operational effectiveness for the long term. Such a strategy should be based on a realistic view of how staffing, business processes, technology and organizational structure must change to meet the demands of multi-channel service delivery. To move forward smartly, the discussions provided a strategic framework for building the new government enterprise and a revamped from the inside out while accounting for the common pitfalls of electronic service delivery. According to professor Jhujhunwala, IIT Chennai, the government should not get involved in petty processes of choosing hardware, software, application software but instead these kind of processes should be completely outsourced as government competence is governance of the services. Which in turn directly affect the quality of the services rendered. He also added that the service delivery has to be monitored. A sharp focus on a limited number of goals, behaviors and metrics is necessary. Multiple options can be optimized. Also, there must be a clear exception in handling processes with transparent and rapid escalation processes.

Final product of the Dataquest e-Governance Summit was the summary, that all the state governments and their representatives who participated have perhaps tried their best to make that boldest proclamation in the history of public service, namely, that all information and services be available to the Indian citizens via the Web channel within the near future. Such a statement signifies a commitment to staying on top of the wave of electronic evolution; it also has deep implications for how governments must transform themselves in order to meet the new demands of citizen service in the e-Governance age.

Manogyata Narayan
manogyatan@cybermedia.co.in

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