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Context

• E-Governance became an inevitable evolution in successful governance in the modem era.
• As a coordinator and service provider, the Governments are required to embrace Information and Communication Technology to meet the demands of their citizens.
• ‘Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive and transparent’ (SMART) Governance became the order of the day to build effective and efficient governance.
• India being the largest democracy in the world, started adopting e-governance in the 1970s and adopted the change quickly, and progressed towards good governance policy at a rapid speed.

E-Governance

• The e-Governance aims to make the interaction between government and citizens (G2C), government and business enterprises (G2B), and inter-agency relationships (G2G) convenient, transparent, friendly, effective, and cost-effective.

Four phases of e-governance

A/c to Gartner E-Governance Maturity Model, there are four phases:

• Phase I- Information
• Phase II- Interaction
• Phase III-Transaction
• Phase IV-Transformation

• To overcome the challenges such as inter-operability, infrastructural challenges, digital divide and Covid-19 pandemic, etc., India is taking new initiatives to develop the overall effectiveness of service delivery mechanism from a citizen’s perspective and trying to bridge the gap between urban and rural e-governance structures.
• The Government of India introduced the National e-Governance Services Delivery Assessment (NeSDA) framework in August 2019 to assess the effectiveness of the e-Governance initiatives of the different government departments from the central to the local level.
• The Online Service Index (OSI) of NeSDA is based on the UNDESA e-Governance survey to develop the e-Governance structure of India at an international standard.

National e-Governance Plan (NeGP)

VISION: “Make all Government services accessible to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency& reliability of such services at affordable costs to realize the basic needs of the common man “.

The following strategy, approach& methodology is adopted for successful implementation of the NeGP:

• Common Support Infrastructures such as SWANs, SDCs, CSCs and Electronic Service Delivery Gateways.
• Suitable governance systems development to monitor and coordinate the implementation of NeGP
• Centralized Initiative, Decentralized Implementation
• Public-Private Partnership
• Integrative elements
• Programme approach at the National and State levels
• Facilitator role of’ DIT III implementation of NeGP by various Ministries and State Governments by providing technical assistance
• Ownership of Ministries over Mission Mode Projects (MMPs)

Various initiatives

Digital India Initiative

• The Digital India Initiative was launched in the year 2015 to bridge the gap between urban and rural areas by promoting investment in digital infrastructure, fostering digital literacy, and expanding online services provision.
• The vision of the Digital India programme is to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy by focusing on the following key vision areas:

• Digital infrastructure as a core utility to every citizen.
• Governance & Services On demand
• Digital empowerment of citizens

National e-Governance Services Delivery Assessment (NeSDA)

• NeSDA was launched to promote the participation of various departments and ministries at State and Central level to adopt the e-Government framework in day-to-day functioning.
• To encourage e-participation of citizens and businesses in policymaking and to help India in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• To provide efficient public service delivery to all levels of population in the country by reducing the digital divide.
• To develop innovative and improved public service delivery by developing ICT infrastructure capacity building and to develop a simple single-entry point for all e-services at every level of governance i.e., from central to local self-governance.
• The parameters of assessing under NeSDA are accessibility, ease of use, ‘end service delivery, integrated service delivery, content availability, information security & privacy, and status and request tracking.

E-Governance & Covid-19 Pandemic

• During the current pandemic, e-governance stepped into the central role as a necessary element of communication, leadership, and coordination between policymakers, administration, and society.
• Digital technologies established through e-governance initiatives became an important source for sharing knowledge, encouraging collaborative research, and providing transparent guidance to the citizens.
• E-governance became an important ICT tool for disseminating Covid-19 related data in a more transparent, safe, interoperable, and secure manner.
• The online database of Covid-19 cases, lockdown guidelines, travel restrictions, locating the vacant beds in the hospitals, oxygen cylinders, financial assistance and relief distribution, etc., were carried out only through e-governance infrastructure.
• Jan Dhan Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM) delivery system became the main vehicle for the distribution of the cash payments, rations of food supplies through the public distribution system, the distribution of the reliefpackage under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan (PMGK) scheme supported thepeople in the pandemic.
• AarogyaSetu App and Co-WIN App are the main e-governancetools that supported the citizens andgovernment to trace the Covid patientsand manage the vaccination.
• E-Doctor tele-video consultation facilities have been launched as an alternativeto reduce hospital visits.

Challenges and Way Forward

• The scope of the e-governance projects expanded at an unexpected speed during Covid-19, by adding many new features and innovativee-infrastructure.
• The population of India now connected with e-governance can be considered as one of the largestdatabases in the world having personal information of people.
• The important challenge ahead of the sudden surgeof the ambit of e-governance in the post-Covid scenario is assuring a secure, effective, reliable, transparent system that is reconciled with the basic rights and values guaranteed in the Constitution of India.
• Another challenge in e-germane is to adopt new methods to decrease the digital divide and to promote inclusive e-governance for achieving the promise, ‘to leave nobody behind’.

In the post-Covid scenario, the government is required to develop effective e-governance through:

• Interoperability of e-governance
• Infrastructure between intergovernmental departments and agencies
• Developing inclusive e-governance structure to make sure that there is no one is left out
• Legislating effective data protection
• Law and administrative regulations
• Enhancing data security levels to avoid data leakage, misuse, etc.
• Reducing digital divide by creating an inclusive digital ecosystem, e-literacy for inclusiveness, improving accessibility for higher uptake
• Mandatory sector-specific service focus to attain SDO goals
• Embracing New Age Technologies (NAT) for improved service delivery and focusing on integrated service delivery