UPSC Preparation: E-Governance

The word “Governance” has a wider scope than “Government”. Governance could constitute an activity where the Government of a country controls/governs various activities, an organisation or compay being controlled by the CEO or a house being controlled by the head of the house. In a similar fashion, E-governance refers to the governing of a country, an organisation or a household through the employment of Communication and Information Technology. E-governance also means other vital activities which constitute administration as outlined below:

•  between Governments,
• between Government agencies,
• between Government and Citizens
• between Government and businesses.  

The four pillars of E-Governance includes connectivity, knowledge, data content and capital.

E-governance aims to improve transparancy, effectiveness and efficiency by providing information to the people regarding the activities that have been carried out and invites suggestions to carry out future initiatives. 

The establishment of the National Informatics centre (NIc) in 1977 was the first major step towards e-Governance in India as it brought ‘information’ and its communication in focus. However, the main thrust for e-Governance was provided by the launching of NIcNET in 1987 – the national satellite-based computer network. This was followed by the launch of the District Information System of the National Informatics centre (DISNIc) program to computerize all district offices in the country for which free hardware and software was offered to the State Governments. NIcNET was extended via the State capitals to all district headquarters by 1990.

E-Governance was started in India by AHSHAYA in Kerala. This project involved setting up around 5000 multipurpose community technology centers called Akshaya e- Kendra’s across Kerala.

The formulation of National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) by the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY) and Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DAR&PG) in 2006 led to the acceleration of the e-Governance process.

The initiatives undertaken by the Centre to promote e-governance consist of the following:

·         National e-Governance Plan (NeGP)

·         National e-Governance Division (NeGD)

·         e-Governance Infrastructure

·         Mission Mode Projects

·         Citizens Services

·         Business Services

·         Government Services

·         Projects and Initiatives

·         R&D in e-Governance

·         Model RFPs for e-Governance Project

The strategies for E-Governance in India include:

1.       To build technical infrastructure/framework across India

2.       To build institutional capacity

3.       To build legal infrastructure

4.       To build judicial infrastructure

5.       To make all information available online

6.       To popularise E-governance

7.       Centre-State Partnership

8.       To set standards

  

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