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Published: 23 September 2006
Remember, it’s about changing governance
Get on with it. And never forget this is only a tool for the real thing. The reference is to the Union Cabinet’s formal approval to the earlier-announced plan for one lakh ‘common service centres’ in rural areas as part of the new National E-governance Plan (NEGP). The centres would basically be computer kiosks for government services (with licensees also allowed to offer citizen interface for private services), all broadband internet-enabled. With one for every six or so villages, the hope is to “bridge the digital divide” and, more to the point, make government services accessible to villagers at the click of a mouse — applications, certificates, payments and on to health, education and more. Private businesses coming on could offer all these and more.
No quarrel with the reasoning: information technology has revolutionised our world and our lives and it has to be used to change governance. The National Knowledge Commission (NKC) has been pressing for doing so in the services which form the daily interface between citizen and state. The NEGP aims to begin by addressing this and, in the manner described, optimise use of infrastructure (and minimising the state’s outgo). It makes sense and we await progress with interest, mixed with needed scepticism. Why the latter? For two reasons. The NEGP involves a lot of money—Rs 230 billion over five years is the present official estimate, with a lot of bureaucracy involved, 26 ‘mission mode projects’ and various ‘support components’ for now, to be implemented top-down at central, state and local levels. This is a lot of money to be handled by the very structure which is part of the problem. Almost every state has, for some years now, a policy on e-governance: they’ve been, as a rule, unable to detail and replicate the best practices in even adjoining districts, let alone reform governance and its culture. No IT was ever required to ensure applications/complaints sent through any medium were acknowledged immediately and dealt on a schedule. So, spread IT this way, but remember that what the NKC termed “re-engineering government” is the touchstone.
Quelle/Source: The Financial Express, 23.09.2006
