Union Communications Minister Dayanidhi Maran has indicated to the core team responsible for monitoring and implementing the e-governance initiative in the department of information technology that the government will push ahead with the programme. The UPA government has justified its approach by raising the budgetary allocation for e-governance to US$41.6 million in the budget for 2004-05 from US$8.6 million in 2003-04 under the previous administration.
“Every government lays out its priorities and these are made known to the people," explained R. Chandrashekar, Joint Secretary of the Department of Information Technology. "E-governance is a dominant part in the common minimum programme (CMP) of the UPA government and a massive initiative will be undertaken, particularly in the areas of concerns to the common man. The priorities for promotion of e-governance have been set by the new government.”
“It seems that they may take it on to a higher platform. We feel that explicitly there is no drastic change in course. It will take some time to factor in if there is a significant change in the policy. We feel there is more focus on e-governance from the speeches of the communications and IT minister," said Oracle’s e-governance centre head Jaijit Bhattacharya, in news reports.
The budget increase has been taken as a sign that the Indian government is a firm believer in the enabling power of IT in the public sector.
Chandrashekar said the department of information technology budget for e-governance is only for certain aspects and not the total allocation by the government. There is a significantly larger allocation in the budget of other ministries too for e-governance.
“Funding is important for e-governance. Without it, there will not be continuity and low shelf line for missions and project. There is need for adequate government funding,” said Oracle's Bhattacharya.
According to the National Association of Software and Services Companies, the state and central governments together spent more than US$950 million on IT in 2002-03 and are expected to spend more than US$5-6 billion on IT in 2007-08.
However, there is a growing disparity among state governments and also within the departments over the pace of progress made towards e-governance. The first report on e-readiness assessment brought out by the department of IT in 2003 showed a major disparity among states and the government departments.
While a few states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi and Tamil Nadu had scored more than eight on a scale of 10, Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh on an average scored less than five. Bengal does not figure in the top 10 states to have reached the 30 per cent e-governance threshold.
Quelle: Public Sector Technology & Management, 25.08.2004
