Misra, D.C. (2009) An E Governance Vision For India By 2020 Gvmitm 23.5.09

(c) Dr D.C.Misra 2009 E-governance Vision for India by 2020

GVMITM, Sonepat, May 23, 2009 1

An E-governance Vision for India by 2020

byDr D.C.Misra



One-Day Seminar on E-governance

G.V.M Institute of Technology and Management,

Sonepat, Haryana, Saturday, May 23, 2009 at 9-30 a.m., www.gvmgc.org



An E-governance Vision for India by 2020

byDr D.C.Misra, I.A.S. (Retd.)

Formerly Chief Knowledge Officer, Republic of Mauritius, Port Louis, under the aegis of Commonwealth Secretariat, London, and

Chairman, Task Force for ICT Policy for Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi

• Address: C-183 Madhuvan, Madhuvan Marg, New Delhi-110092• Tel: 22452431; Tel/Fax: 42445183• Email: [email protected] • Blog: http://egov-india.blogspot.com

mailto:[email protected]



Overview

I. INTRODUCTIONII. THE ROADMAPIII. CONCLUSION



I. INTRODUCTION

A vision is a mental map of future. It is not necessarily a projection in future as it could

be something entirely new. It is part dream, part reality. It is a dream because it is wishful thinking, but it is a

dream grounded in reality. It is essential for a country to have a vision, failing

which it will not know where is it going.



WHAT IS VISION? A vision should also be brief, sharp and pin-pointed. It should capture the imagination of all the

stakeholders. The stakeholders should also have faith in it. To develop a vision, the present should be carefully

analysed and the organization projected in future, say after 10 years or 15 years. Then a roadmap has to be drawn for realizing the vision.



REALISING THE VISION

SituationAnalysis

Vision

ROADMAP

Where are we? Where we want to go?

How to go there?



Planning Commission:Vision for 2020

In India, a committee appointed by the Planning Commission came out with a Vision for 2020 (PC 2002).

It devoted a full chapter, Chapter 8, to Governance. The report with regard to e-government, among other things

noted: “E-government will improve responsiveness and reduce

corruption in some areas. Computerisation of information systems coupled with

downsizing, higher recruitment standards and stricter discipline will increase administrative efficiency.” (ibid: 90).



What should be India’s vision for e-governance?

A number of competing ideas come to the fore. For example, vision could be good governance, an objective

which has been eluding India’s policy makers during last more than six decades when India became independent.

Or it could be eradication of India’s chronic poverty (which, given sound policies, has no reason to exist).

But these are only objectives, worthy of attainment as they are, which could follow if we have a sound vision for e-governance.



Our Vision for E-governance in India by 2020

MAKE INDIA INTERNET NATION NO. 1

IN THE WORLD.



What is Internet Nation?

The community of Internet users in a country. It represents a “critical mass” for ushering good

governance through e-governance The community is overwhelmingly young being in

the age group of 18-35 years The community is full of ideas for making our world

a better place.



II THE ROADMAP Sweden has a vision to be a “prominent Internet nation in

2015.” (IVA 2008). The country proposes to realize this vision through a

proposed programme called “Ambient Sweden.” The vision document suggests a number of measures under

the programme. By taking these measures, for example, “Sweden can, by 2015, be a leader in mobile Internet, be best at e-administration and green IT, and also be regarded as a pioneer within digital media distribution.”

(ibid: 4).



Make India the Internet Nation No.1 in the World

India is currently world’s “Internet Nation No. 4, with some 81 million Internet users (Table 1).

It registered a phenomenal growth of 1520% during 2000-2008.

However, it had an unsatisfactory Internet penetration of 7.1% (that is, number of Internet users as percentage of population).

Also, its share as percentage of world Internet users was mere 5.1% which is not commensurate with its size of population.

India can emerge as the Internet Nation No.1 in the world if appropriate policies are put in place to improve Internet penetration in India.



Make India the Internet Nation No.1 in the World

Table 1 Top Five Countries with the Highest Number of Internet Users 2009

S.N Country Population 2008 est

Users (Latest Data-million)

%Population(Penetration)

%Growth 2000-2008

% of World Users

1 China 1.3 billion 298 22.4 1,244.4 18.7

2 U.S. 304 million 227 74.7 138.3 14.2

3 Japan 127 million 94 73.8 99.7 5.9

4 India 1.15 billion 81 7.1 1,520.0 5.1

5 Brazil 196 million 68 34.4 1,250.2 4.2



2. But Look After the SMS Nation

The growth of cell phones, also called mobile phones, in India has taken every one by surprise.

The number of wireless subscribers in India stood at 392 million in March 2009 (as against wireline subscribers of 38 million, giving total number of 414 million subscribers) (TRAI 2009).

“Cell Phone Nation” does not require Internet connectivity. This SMS Nation, independent of Internet, requires to be

looked after by e-government by providing SMS-based e-government.

In this mode e-government will reach citizens who have no Internet connectivity.



3. Make E-government Citizen-centric and Criteria-based

E-government as currently conceived and practiced in India is not citizen-centric and criteria-based.

This denies citizens the benefits of e-government. E-government thus loses its one of the basic premises of introduction of e-government, namely, helping citizens in his relationship with the state.

Secondly, the lack of citizen-centricity in e-government acts as a spanner in the faster growth of Internet penetration in India.

An attempt has been made to define citizen-centric criteria-based e-government (Misra 2007).

Unless citizen is brought to the centre stage in e-government, e-government is unlikely to make the desirable progress.



4. Make E-government Pro-Poor

If e-government does not serve the poor, it fails in one of its basic promises, namely, helping the poor.

E-government helps the poor in two significant ways. Firstly, indirectly, by making administrative processes

transparent and thus minimizing the scope of corruption. Secondly, directly, by direct service delivery to the poor. In the first category fall measures like computerization of

land records which eliminates middle men. In the second category fall schemes like the employment

guarantee scheme under NREGA.



5. Formulate National ICT Innovation Policy

The relevant public policy space in India is currently occupied by a number of policies like

National Telecom Policy 1994, IT Policy 1998 (since implemented), Science and Technology (S&T) Policy 2003, Broadband Policy 2004, Policy on Open Standards for E-government 2008, and ICT Policy for Schools 2009? (under formulation). There is, however, no National ICT Innovation Policy. (Figure

1).



Formulate National ICT Innovation Policy

Department of Science and Technology (DST) has proposed a national innovation bill (DST 2008), but its focus is not on ICT but understandably on S&T.

Its preamble states: “An Act to facilitate public, private or public- private partnership initiatives for building an Innovation support system to encourage Innovation, evolve a National Integrated Science and Technology Plan and codify and consolidate the law of confidentiality in aid of protecting Confidential Information, trade secrets and Innovation.” (ibid.).

Absence of a national ICT innovation policy hampers the growth of entrepreneurship among the youth in the ICT sector and deprives e-governance of innovativeness in serving the citizens.



Formulate National ICT Innovation Policy

S&T Policy 2003

Policy on Open Standards for

E-government 2008

Broadband Policy 2004

ICT Policy for Schools 2009?

National Telecom Policy 1994

IT Policy 1998

National ICT Innovation Policy



6. Formulate National ICT Policy for Schools

There is an urgent need to formulate the national information and communication technology (ICT) policy for schools without further delay. Its importance is threefold.

First, schools are where the future of India, say in 2020, is being developed. If school children become IT literate, they will strengthen the Indian “IT nation.”

Secondly, IT literacy has already become an essential educational requirement. As such entry of ICT in schools can no longer be delayed.

Lastly, ICT offers a management tool for schools. In India less than 10% of schools have Internet or broadband

connectivity and less than 5% have IT labs (ET 2009). The earlier efforts to formulate an ICT policy for schools got mired into

controversy (Vishnoi 2008). Time has come now to finalise this pending policy.



7. Do Not Repeat Failed E-government Projects

One of characteristic, and very beneficial, features of e-government is that experience in one state is highly relevant to another state.

This is primarily due to similarity in organizational structures under which e-government is planned and implemented.

Yet lessons learnt in one state are not being learnt by another. As a result precious resources, financial, physical and manpower, go

waste. Take, for example, the case of making cities unwired. In 2006, reports Raghu (2009:8), Bangalore and Pune declared they

would offer city-wide broadband access-on-the-move to their citizens through a public-private partnership model.

After three years, the projects have been abandoned primarily because the projects were unviable, and the requisite services were increasingly being made available by private parties.

There is thus no point in undertaking any unwiring projects in our cities without having sustainable business model.



8. Issue Citizen ID Card Issue of citizen identity (ID) card is a controversial issue. According to Privacy International, a London-based not-for-profit organization,

“around a hundred countries have official, compulsory, national IDs that are used for a variety of purposes.

Many developed countries, however, do not have such a card. Amongst these are the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Ireland,

the Nordic countries and Sweden. Those that do have such a card include Germany, France, Belgium, Greece,

Luxembourg, Portugal and Spain.” (PI 1996). In India, a citizen ID card is a necessity as it (i) recognizes the existence of a citizen, irrespective of his socio-economic status,

and (ii) thus connects the citizen with the state. The state is thus forced to think in

terms of his welfare. This identity is far more valuable than the fear of intrusion by the state in a

citizen’s privacy or any other argument against issue of such cards.



9. Involve People in Developing Agenda for Good Governance Through E-government

Governance is about good governance and e-government is a tool to secure good governance for the citizens.

Citizens are not involved in developing agenda for good governance.

The U.S. government has taken an innovative step in setting up a portal – recovery.gov- in the wake of the ongoing recession and the steps being taken by it to rejuvenate the economy.

The portal proclaims: “This is your money. You have right to know where it’s going and how it’s being spent.” This is $787 billion bail-out money.

Such a step directly involves citizens in governance and is thus worthy of emulation by others.



10. Nurture E-democracy E-democracy, or democracy online, is fast becoming a

reality. More and more people are now interacting with the state or

fellow citizens on public issues online. The U.S. President Barrack Obama made brilliant use of the

Internet in his Presidential campaign. He also came out with an ambitious agenda for e-

governance (Misra 2008) which he has been successfully implementing so far.

For India’s Parliamentary election in May 2009, it was suggested that e-governance should be included in election manifesto (Misra 2009).



11. Care for E-citizen The rise of e-citizen, a citizen who accesses the state online

(that is, on the Internet), is now a reality. The state is now required to look after his interests. Misra (2009: 61) has suggested a 10-point agenda in this

regard: 1. Constitution of India (Amend the Constitution to provide

rights and duties of e-citizens), 2. Right to E-governance (Enact Right to E-governance Act on

the lines of Right to Information Act), 3. Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000 (Delete Section 9 of

the Act,



Care for E-citizen

4. Right to Information (RTI) Act (Integrate Right to Information (RTI) Act with E-governance),

5. E-citizen Charter (Provide E-citizen Charter on the lines of Citizen Charter),

6. E-petitions (Provide for e-petitions in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and Chief Minister’s Offices (CMOs),

7. E-engagement Tools (Provide e-engagement tools on official websites discussion groups, blogs, and wiki),

8. Call Centres (Set up call centres for public service delivery), 9. Standardisation (Standardise e-government websites), and 10. Grievance Redress Architecture (Integrate online public service delivery

with the citizen grievance architecture).



12. Promote ICT Entrepreneurship

India has taken initiatives in Venture Funding National Venture Fund for Software and IT Industry

(NFSIT) (SIDBI, MIT & IDBI) SIDBI Venture Fund Ltd. (Rs. 100 crore/ US$ 22.22

million ) (1999) 10-year Closed Fund State level Venture Funds SME Growth Fund (Rs 500 crore) (2004) SIDBI and Public Sector Banks 8-year Fund



III CONCLUSIONVision:

MAKE INDIA INTERNET NATION NO. 1 IN THE WORLDHow?

1. Nurture the emerging Internet Nation in India.2. Nurture the emerging SMS Nation in India.3. Make E-government Citizen-centric and Criteria-based.4. Make E-government Pro-Poor.5. Formulate National ICT Innovation Policy.



MAKE INDIA INTERNET NATION NO. 1 IN THE WORLD

6. Formulate National ICT Policy for Schools7. Do Not Repeat Failed E-government Projects8. Issue Citizen ID Card9. Involve People in Developing Agenda for Good

Governance through E-government10. Nurture E-democracy11. Care for E-citizen. Adopt the 10-point agenda for E-citizen.12. Promote information and communication technology (ICT)

entrepreneurship



10-Point Agenda for E-citizenS.N. Feature Action

1 Constitution of India Amend the Constitution to provide rights and duties of e-citizens

2 Right to E-governance Enact Right to E-governance Act on the lines of Right to Information Act

3 InformationTechnology (IT) Act, 2000

Delete Section 9 of the Act

4 Right to Information (RTI) Act

Integrate Right to Information (RTI) Act with E-governance

5 E-citizen Charter Provide E-citizen Charter on the lines of Citizen Charter



10-Point Agenda for E-citizen

S.N. Feature Action

6 E-petitions Provide for e-petitions in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and Chief Minister’s Offices (CMOs)

7 E-engagement Tools

Provide e-engagement tools on official websites discussion groups, blogs, and wiki.

8 Call Centres Set up call centres for public service delivery

9 Standardisation Standardise e-government websites, and

10 Grievance Redress Architecture

Integrate online public service delivery with the citizen grievance architecture.



CONCLUSION

Our vision is to make India Internet Nation No.1 in the world by 2020

A roadmap has been suggested to realise this vision.

A 10-point agenda for E-citizen forms the essence of the roadmap.

Given appropriate policy responses there is no reason why the vision should not be realised.



End of Presentation

Any questions? Have a nice day!

Thank You.

-- Dr D.C.Misra, May 23, 2009