Information and communication technologies have been playing an important role not only in enhancing efficiency and effectiveness of various organisations, but are also seen as an important indicator of socio-economic progress of a country. Lots of initiatives are being taken by various governments the world over for utilising the potential of ICT and new media, thus enabling e-government. 

E-governance is a resource intensive activity and governments, particularly in the developing and underdeveloped world, having limited resources, need to know about the better practices and project management skills whereas developed countries can learn from developing countries about the innovative ways of implementing cost-effective e-government solutions.

E-governance originated in India in the early ‘70s with a drive to improve work efficiency in the areas of economic monitoring, planning and the deployment of (ICT). Since then, it has been utilised in every aspect of the work environment, i.e., for reaching out to rural areas, for promoting transparency and accountability, to enable swift delivery of information and services and much more. E-governance is not about software and hardware, but about people and processes.

E-governance has been clearly defined as, “E-governance is the public sector’s use of ICT with the aim of improving information and service delivery, encouraging citizen participation in the decision-making process and making government more accountable, transparent and effective.” 

E-governance can help achieve all this and much more. It allows direct participation of constituents in government activities. The concept is now a reality for Indian citizens, who have realised that it can make a significant contribution to the achievement of good governance goals. The government of India is now gearing up to become SMART (simple, moral, accountable, responsive and transparent) and ICT and e-governance have an indispensable role to play. With the Indian economy chugging along, it is essential for the government to be effective, transparent and accountable. Though India is trying to join the league of developed nations, issues like corruption, lack of proper infrastructure, etc hampers its growth. E-governance thus can play a crucial role in batting all these issues and enhancing the country’s global competitiveness. 

Although there are numerous examples of successful e-governance projects in India, the need for e-governance has not been accepted by many. According to a survey, only 15 percent of e-governance projects are successful in India; 35 percent fail partially due to political apathy and inefficiency and 50 percent are complete failures. But the future seems bright. A lot of e-governance initiatives are graduating from pilots to mission mode projects. The approach is to achieve step-by-step success. 

Moreover, there has been an increasing involvement of NGOs, private sector as well as international agencies to propagate the framework of e-governance in India. The World Bank in 2005 sanctioned increased funding for e-governance initiatives in India as part of the National e-governance Plan (NeGP). Since then, a lot of development has taken place in the field. More participation and enthusiasm by the people who are the users or consumers of e-governance can help make a bigger and better difference. 

The current scenario

The very purpose of e-governance in India can be viewed as a process to facilitate change and redefine the lifestyle of people in government—a process to break the silos among departments from the citizen’s perspective. 

E-governance has helped in converting archaic paper-based systems into online repositories of structured information. Though as of now e-governance projects are being run only in certain departments, this approach will gradually be extended to all departments eventually, leveraging the power of IT to streamline administrative functions and increase transparency. 

Across the globe, countries have recognised the catalyst benefits of e-governance but it has not been able to make rapid progress in India due to several operational, economic, personnel, planning and implementation issues.

With increasing Internet bandwidth and decreasing cost of Internet access, e-governance is expected to grow by leaps and bounds. While on the one hand there are states like Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Chattisgarh, Delhi, Karnataka, etc which have implemented some path-breaking projects, states like Uttar Pradesh and states in the North East are lagging behind in terms of e-governance initiatives. Thus, there is a need to make e-governance initiatives more broad-based, with better co-ordination between the Centre and the states.

Factors that can determine its future

Even if it is the responsibility of the government to further the development agenda of e-governance in India, the government alone cannot ensure that ICT plays its designated role in the development. Citizens and stakeholders also will have to play a vital role in making it a reality.

Public private partnership (PPP) is another crucial factor that would determine the future potential of e-governance in India. The government does need to play a key role in providing the basic socio-economic infrastructure, on which the structure of IT hardware, software and applications can be plugged in 
by the other players. But it is the private sector that has valuable know-how. The Indian private sector has in fact, gained a leadership position across the globe and is well-positioned to use the expertise gathered to work with the government and meet development goals.

NGOs also can bring in their perspectives in promoting equity, transparency and participation goals. They possess the knowledge and the expertise required to induct ICT into existing projects and design projects aimed at utilising ICT in innovative ways. Moreover, international donors, with their noble aim to support development activities, can use their international experiences for scaling up small experiments. Thus, public-private, government-CSO, and 
private sector-CSO partnerships are inevitable and necessary in the area. Building up more and more effective PPPs will also give a spurt to e-governance in India.

To ensure that all e-governance initiatives are successfully implemented and utilised, people’s mindsets and reservations have to be addressed carefully. Capacity building to train staff in using hardware and software is another pre-condition for the success of these initiatives. Various discussion groups can also serve as a platform to exchange ideas. Furthermore, success stories from past e-governance initiatives should be replicated for future projects.

Lack of transparency is another issue that needs to be tackled. Governments need to ensure that there is effective transparency in procedures like the tendering process and procurement, involving e-governance projects.The corporate sector has also experienced a major change of transforming the organisation from the end-customer perspective. It might be a worthy idea for the government to view everything from the citizen’s perspective and re-look at the current structure and functioning of government. Enhanced transparency, accountability, efficiency, effectiveness, responsiveness, flexibility, scalability, anytime delivery of services from anywhere through multiple mechanism/devices should be among the key focus areas for e-governance solutions.

Towards a better tomorrow

E-governance will change how citizens relate to governments as much as it changes how citizens relate to each other. It will bring forth new concepts of citizenship, both in terms of needs and responsibilities. By utilising e-governance as a tool, citizens can communicate with the government as well as actively participate in policy-making decisions. 

Introduction of e-governance in every aspect of life is a key to make IT relevant to every citizen, which can be attained by interface of citizens both with central and local government. A well thought-out vision is essential for its success. 

The future of e-governance is poised on how efforts can sustain momentum and meet the load of increasing expectations and demand; how state governments are able to learn from each other and whether citizens can influence the face of e-governance and the role that society will need to play towards this.