The above seminar, which was held in New Delhi’s Hyatt Regency hotel, was attended by a large number of participants from Central and State Governments and Public Sector Undertakings. From Indian Railways, Shri A.K. Bhatnagar, EDFC/Railway Board, attended the seminar.
The Round Table was organized by IMA India, an associate
of Economist Corporate Network – a part of The Economist Newspaper Group, UK.
The Keynote address was delivered by Shri Digvijay
Singh, Chief Minister, Madhya Pradesh, with Shri Adit Jain, MD, IMA India, in
the chair. Shri Digvijay Singh’s vision for Madhya Pradesh and the enthusiasm
that he has displayed has initiated an eye-opening transformation within this
so-called 'old economy' state. Equally, it is offering inspiration to a
multitude of others. Mr Digvijay Singh offered insights into the role of the
political leadership and the bureaucracy in bringing about change. He shared
his vision for IT in governance for India as a whole. Based on the Madhya
Pradesh experience, he commented on the benefits that eGovernance can offer and
how these are being harnessed for Madhya Pradesh.
There was then a panel discussion on Preparing for
e-governance. The principal speaker was Shri S. Regunathan, Principal
Secretary to Chief Minister of Delhi & Principal Secretary, IT, Government
of National Capital Territory(NCT) of Delhi. There was a lively discussion
after his speech, which was aptly summed up by Shri D. Prakash, former
Secretary, IT, Government of Tamil Nadu. Shri Regunathan said that while
infrastructure, technology, connectivity and communication networks are
important prerequisites for launching an eGovernance initiative, in the Indian
context, preparatory work must focus on a lot more than that -fundamental
changes in Government decision making and management, procedural and legal changes
in processes as well as institutions, changes in accountability and the
delegation of authority, transparency in governance and the resulting loss of
vested interest and assumed power etc. He gave his assessment of how can India
manage this change and what will be the key drivers. While summing up, Shri
Prakash stated that over the last few years, Tamil Nadu has tread surely and
rapidly and has made significant progress in the area of eGovernance.
Importantly, the focus of this
initiative has always been on 'governance'. Despite the fact that Tamil Nadu is
one of the most urbanised states in the country, the path towards IT enabling
governance in the state was far from being easy. He provided a first hand
account of how Tamil Nadu readied itself for the eGovernance challenge.
This was followed by another panel discussion on Overcoming
the barriers. The participants were: Shri R. Gopalakrishnan, Secretary to
the Chief Minister, Government of Madhya Pradesh, Shri Anil Mukim, Additional
Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister of Gujarat and Shri Rajeev Chawla,
Additional Secretary, Department of Revenue, Government of Karnataka. The
discussions were moderated by Shri Adit Jain, Managing Director, IMA India. The
participants in the panel discussion agreed that several impediments exist on
India's path towards e-enablement - technology, connectivity and communication
networks are some of these. There is low level of development, lack of
education and low literacy rates in rural India. Perhaps the most challenging
task would be to bring about a change in the attitude, mindset and thought
processes within the government's decision-making levels. Funding eGovernance
initiatives is another constraint, especially in the Indian context. They also
agreed that best practices need to be exchanged between state governments in
order that the wheel is not re-invented. Ultimately, the success of any model
is to be judged with reference to the costs involved versus the benefits
realised.
After a short lunch break, the forum reassembled for
another discussion on The ‘E’ in Egovernance: Optimal Models. The main
speaker was Shri Tariq Farooqui, Director Services Sector, SAP India. Shri
Rohit Singh, Additional Commissioner, Commercial Taxes Department, Government
of Rajasthan also spoke. Shri Farooqui said that a successful eGovernance
initiative requires technology infrastructure that can act as a backbone.
Profound changes are required in improving the communication with citizens,
redesigning processes and structures, enhancing co-operation within and between
government agencies and managing knowledge for support of complex
administrative decisions. How can the use of IT bring transparency and balance
into the government-citizen relationship? He stated that a technology company like
SAP with wide-ranging experience in bridging this gap can offer an
international perspective. Long known as an 'old economy' state, Rajasthan is
now well poised to make headway in the area of eGovernance. It is, perhaps, the
first among Indian states to experiment with outsourcing the use and
implementation of IT in governance through the 'managed service provider
model'. Shri Rohit Singh described what led the Rajasthan Government to opt for
this model, how were the various technology vendors evaluated and what was it
that the Government looked for during the process of selection? Importantly, he
also explained what benefits does the Government foresee accruing as a result
of this choice?
Thereafter, Shri Manish Kapoor, Sales Manager, Asia South,
Sun Microsystems, spoke on The Future Beckons. He stated that as
governments try to reshape themselves through the Internet age, the private
sector could provide vital support systems. It can contribute significantly
towards building and maintaining the
infrastructure to deliver (24X7) services, re-engineering
and the security of back-end IT infrastructure as well as evaluation of
operational schemes. Finally, systems can be put into place to assess
electronically, the advantages to businesses and citizens in accessing the
range of government services. He gave examples of some e-governance initiatives
where Sun Microsystems has provided the necessary support. Among other
examples, he mentioned about the Java-based Smart Card (Common Access Card)
provided to all defence personnel in US Armed Forces. Later Shri Rajeev Chawla,
Additional Secretary, Department of Revenue, Government of Karnataka described
as to how in the Indian context technology can be harnessed to make it
accessible to the common man. He spoke about the need to integrate and forge a
successful partnership between the private sector, community groups, media and
the government. He said that technology could assist governments and public
service providers in their quest to empower the entire gamut - citizens, public
servants and businesses. Shri Chawla then presented the case study of Bhoomi:
Online Delivery of Land Titles in Karnataka.
Shri N Vittal, Central Vigilance Commissioner, Government
of India delivered the valedictory address, on EGovernance: The Next
Chapter. Shri P C Sharma, Director, Central Bureau of Investigation,
Government of India also spoke on the subject.
Shri Vittal stated that between the grand vision of
e-governance and its actual realization, there is a big gap. The main impediment
is the government culture of secrecy, seniority and corruption. Secrecy because
the entire work of government is seen as an exercise of power. Lack of access
to information to the citizen and monopoly of information gives a sense of
power to the public servant. Since IT can make citizen’s right to information
more meaningful (it can make information more easily available to the public),
the culture of secrecy of the government goes against it. The second element of
culture in government is the element of seniority. Generally, senior people are
conservative and definitely innocent of IT. They may suffer from techno phobia
and also feel threatened by the youngsters who may be more computer savvy. The
third important element of government culture is corruption. In fact, greater
e-governance means lesser scope of corruption. We can expect all sorts of
resistance for the process of e-governance from the corrupt elements in the
government.
Shri Vittal stated that any attempt at introduction of IT
in governance should take in to account the above aspects of the culture in
government. Perhaps, it would be best to adopt a cafeteria approach. We need
not try to reengineer the entire government systems at one go but try the
following recipes/steps that seem to be working in our country:
(i)
Making citizens interface with government easier.
(ii)
Back end computerization.
(iii)
Total system reengineering.
(iv)
To take individual departments and see how extensively
they can be computerized.
(v)
Experiments like the Gyandoot model in MP, where IT has
been taken to the rural areas.
(vi)
Introduction of transparency like the publishing of the
names of charged officers on the CVC website.
Apart from the culture aspect, Shri Vittal stated that
perhaps the most important aspect to promote e-governance is the imagination
and commitment. We must go after ostensible and demonstrable benefits to the
people so that e-governance develops its own momentum. Initially, e-governance
may require champions in the bureaucracy and the political leadership. But once
new schemes like the Gyandoot are introduced or for experiments going on as in
Andhra Pradesh, the benefits must themselves be so tangible and persuasive that
even in our country full of illiterate people the benefits will outweigh the
objections.
In this context, Shri Vittal mentioned the computerization
of the passenger reservation system in the Railways, and said that that is the
only long standing positive example of successful application of computers and
information technology.
Finally, Shri Vittal said, in the next chapter of
e-governance, we should ensure that it is more demand driven rather than supply
pushed. Ultimately, we will have to practise what the Chadokya Upnishad says if
we want to succeed. We have to apply our knowledge with faith and conviction
and also deep thinking. Only then our actions would become stronger and lead to
success.
In his brief speech, Shri P C Sharma, Director, Central
Bureau of Investigation, Government of India, implored that it is also
essential to exercise caution amidst the 'hype' that has been created around
the potential for information technology in governance. What would be the
implications of a widespread and all-pervasive electronic infrastructure for
economic and criminal offences in the country ? The costs and benefits of any
scheme of e-governance should be clearly worked out before any funds are
committed.
The seminar ended with a vote of thanks to the speakers,
to the sponsors and to the participants.
-
Alok Bhatnagar
EDFC/Railway Board