E-Governace : Tool to Eradicate Inefficiency and

Corruption

Importance: There is no question asked on E-Governance in 2016 RBI Phase 2 Exam. However
government has been recently taking some steps in this area, so one can expect a question in the
coming year

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 Contents
1 Introduction....................................................................................................................... 4
2 Types of E-Govenrnace ........................................................................................................ 4
3 Characteristics of E-Governance Program and Benefits............................................................. 5
4 How E-Governance helps in tackling Corruption and Inefficiency ............................................... 6
5 Initiatives in E-Governance................................................................................................... 6
5.1 Government to Citizen (G2C) Initiatives: .......................................................................... 6
5.2 Government to Business (G2B) Initiatives: ....................................................................... 8
5.3 Government to Government (G2G) Initiatives: ................................................................. 9
5.4 National E-Governance Plan .........................................................................................10
5.5 MMP (Mission Mode Projects) By Central Government ....................................................11
5.6 MMP (Mission Mode Projects) By State Government .......................................................12
5.7 Integrated MMP (Mission Mode Projects).......................................................................14
5.8 Recent Initiatives ........................................................................................................14
6 Challenges in E-Governance ................................................................................................15
7 MCQ’s (Multiple Choice Questions) ......................................................................................17

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 1 Introduction

E-government generally refers to the delivery of national or local government information and services
via the Internet and ICT (Information and Communications Technology) to citizens or businesses or
other governmental agencies. The purpose of e-government is to develop a government e-portal, a one-
stop Internet gateway to major government services. While Governance relates to safeguarding the
legal rights of all citizens, an equally important aspect is concerned with ensuring equitable access to
public services and the benefits of economic growth to all

In India, the main thrust for e-Governance was provided by the launching of NICNET in 1987 – the
national satellite-based computer network. This was followed by the launch of the District Information
System of the National Informatics Centre (DISNIC) programme to computerize all district offices in the
country for which free hardware and software was offered to the State Governments. In the ensuing
years, with ongoing computerization, tele-connectivity and internet connectivity established a large
number of e-Governance initiatives, both at the Union and State levels

2 Types of E-Govenrnace

1. G2G: Central Government provides online portals for information to be accessed by Local
Government
2. G2C: Government provides online governance initiatives for Citizens such as online registration
of property
3. G2B: Government provides online governance for Business etc. such as online environment
clearance for construction project

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 3 Characteristics of E-Governance Program and Benefits

1. It results in low Asset specificity. Low Asset specificity means it can be used from anywhere like
from home, office etc. because services are online
2. It reduces uncertainty as Information is available online on quick basis
3. It results in online availability of services 365 days. For example you can apply for passport even
on Sunday using the online mode
4. It results in Disintermediation i.e. removal of agents, touts etc.
5. It results in low information symmetry as information is available to everyone at the same time
6. It results in better Audit trail. Audit trail means there is proper record of what happened when?
For example if file is stuck somewhere for approval, it would be clearly visible on the online
portal

Benefits
1. The efficiency of government increases as work is tracked and employees are made accountable
2. People become satisfied as their work is done quickly and without corruption
3. Better surveillance as performance of government employees would be tracked online
4. Reduced Corruption

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 4 How E-Governance helps in tackling Corruption and Inefficiency
Corruption is a major problem In India. The Berlin-based corruption watchdog Transparency
International (TI) has put India at rank 76 out of 168 countries in its latest Corruption Perception
Index in 2016. E-governance helps in tackling corruption due to below points

I. E-government introduces transparency in all its decisions, actions, performance, rules and all
kind of data.
II. Build accountability for access the information through internet.
III. Entry point for simplification of rules & reengineering processes.
IV. Makes decision traceable.
V. Provide documentation to citizens for follow up

5 Initiatives in E-Governance
5.1 Government to Citizen (G2C) Initiatives:

1. Computerization of Land Records: The main Objectives of the scheme are

I. Ensuring that landowners get computerized copies of ownership, crop and tenancy and
updated copies of Records of Rights (RoRs) on demand.
II. Realizing low-cost and easily-reproducible basic land record data through reliable and
durable preservation of old records.
III. Ensuring accuracy, transparency and speedy dispute resolution.
IV. Facilitating fast and efficient retrieval of information for decision making.
V. According legal sanctity to computer-generated certificates of land records after
authentication by the authorized revenue official.
VI. Setting up a comprehensive land information system for better land-based planning and
utilization of land resources.
VII. Focusing on citizen-centric services related to land and revenue administration.

2. Bhoomi Project:
I. Bhoomi is a self-sustainable e-Governance project for the computerized delivery of 20
million rural land records to 6.7 million farmers through 177 Government-owned kiosks
in the State of Karnataka.
II. It was felt that rural land records are central conduits to delivering better IT-enabled
services to citizens because they contain multiple data elements: ownership, tenancy,
loans, nature of title, irrigation details, crops grown etc.
III. In addition to providing the proof of title to the land, this land record is used by the
farmer for a variety of purposes: from documenting crop loans and legal actions, to
securing scholarships for school-children.
IV. These records were hitherto maintained manually by 9,000 village officials. Through this
project, computerized kiosks are currently offering farmers two critical services -
procurement of land records and requests for changes to land title.

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 V. About 20 million records are now being legally maintained in the digital format. To
ensure authenticity of data management, a biometric finger authentication system has
been used for the first time in an e-Governance project in India. To make the project
self-sustaining and expandable, Bhoomi levies user charges

3. Gyandoot:
I. It is an Intranet-based Government to Citizen (G2C) service delivery initiative. It was
initiated in the Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh in January 2000 with the twin objective
of providing relevant information to the rural population and acting as an interfa ce
between the district administration and the people.
II. The basic idea behind this project was to establish and foster a technologically
innovative initiative which is owned and operated by the community itself. Initially,
computers were installed in twenty village Panchayat centers and connected to the
District Rural Development Authority in Dhar town. These were called Soochanalayas
which were operated by local rural youth selected for this purpose (called Soochaks).
No fixed salary or stipend was paid to them. Later, 15 more Soochanalayas were
opened as private enterprise.
III. The Soochanalayas are connected to the Intranet through dial-up lines. The services
offered through the Gyandoot network include

a. Daily agricultural commodity rates (mandi bhav)

b. Income certificate
c. Domicile certificate
d. Caste certificate
e. Public grievance redressal
f. Rural Hindi email
g. BPL family list
h. Rural Hindi newspaper.

5. Lokvani Project in Uttar Pradesh:

I. Lokvani is a public-private partnership project at Sitapur District in Uttar Pradesh which was
initiated in November, 2004.
II. Its objective is to provide a single window, self-sustainable e-Governance solution with
regard to handling of grievances, land record maintenance and providing a mixture of
essential services.
III. As 88 per cent of the District population resides in villages and the literacy rate is only 38 per
cent, the programme had to be designed in a way which was user-friendly and within the
reach of the people both geographically as well as socially.
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 IV. To achieve this, the programme format uses the local language, Hindi, and is spread
throughout the district to a chain of 109 Lokvani Kiosk Centers. These Kiosks have been
established by licensing the already existing cyber cafes. The services offered by Lokvani are
V. The services offered by Lokvani are

a. Availability of land records (khataunis) on the internet

b. Online registration, disposal and monitoring of public grievances
c. Information of various Government schemes
d. Online availability of prescribed Government forms
e. Online status of Arms License applications
f. GPF Account details of Basic Education teachers
g. Details of work done under MPLAD/Vidhayak Nidhi
h. Details of allotment of funds to Gram Sabhas under different development schemes
i. Details of allotment of food grains to Kotedars (fair price shops)
j. Other useful information of public interest.

6. Project FRIENDS in Kerala: FRIENDS (Fast, Reliable, Instant, and Efficient Network for the
Disbursement of Services) is a Single Window Facility providing citizens the means to pay taxes
and other financial dues to the State Government. The services are provided through
FRIENDS Janasevana Kendrams located in the district headquarters.

7. E-Mitra Project in Rajasthan: e-Mitra is an integrated project to facilitate the urban and the

rural masses with maximum possible services related to different state government
departments through Lokmitra-Janmitra Centers/Kiosks.

8. E-Seva (Andhra Pradesh): This project is designed to provide ‘Government to Citizen’ and ‘e-

Business to Citizen’ services. The highlight of the eSeva project is that all the services are
delivered online to consumers /citizens by connecting them to the respective government
departments and providing online information at the point of service delivery.

5.2 Government to Business (G2B) Initiatives:

1. E-Procurement Project in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat:

I. Prior to the introduction of an e-Procurement system in Andhra Pradesh, procurement in

Government departments was done through a manual tendering process.
II. The process consisted of a long chain of internal authorizations and scrutiny which
necessitated several visits by the suppliers to government departments. The manual tender
system suffered from various deficiencies, including discrimination, cartel formation, delays,
lack of transparency etc.
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 III. Government wanted to reduce the time and cost of doing business for both vendors
and government.

IV. In order to achieve these objectives, the entire e-Procurement process was designed to
avoid human interface i.e., supplier and buyer interaction during the pre-bidding and post-
bidding stages. The system now ensures total anonymity of the participating suppliers, even
to the buyers, until the bids are opened on the platform. The e-Procurement application
provides automatic bid evaluation based on the evaluation parameters given to the system.
These improved processes have eliminated subjectivity in receipt and evaluation of bids and
has reduced corruption to a significant extent

2. MCA 21: This project is by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The project aims at providing easy

and secure online access to all registry related services provided by the Union Ministry
of Corporate Affairs to corporates and other stakeholders at any time and in a manner that best
suits them. The goals of this project were formulated keeping in mind different stakeholders.
These were:
a. Business: to enable registration of a company and file statutory documents quickly and

easily.
b. Public: to get easy access to relevant records and effective grievances redressal.

c. Professionals: to enable them to offer efficient services to their client companies.

d. Financial Institutions: to easily find charges for registration and verification.

e. Employees: to enable them to ensure proactive and effective compliance of relevant laws
and corporate governance.

5.3 Government to Government (G2G) Initiatives:

1. Khajane Project in Karnataka: It is a comprehensive online treasury computerization project of

the Government of Karnataka. The project has resulted in the computerization of the entire
treasury related activities of the State Government and the system has the ability to track every
activity right from the approval of the State Budget to the point of rendering accounts to the
government.

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 2. SmartGov (Andhra Pradesh): SmartGov has been developed to streamline operations, enhance

efficiency through workflow automation and knowledge management for implementation in the
Andhra Pradesh Secretariat.

5.4 National E-Governance Plan

The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) has been formulated by the Department of Electronics and
Information Technology (DEITY) and Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances
(DARPG) in 2006.
The NeGP aims at improving delivery of Government services to citizens and businesses with the
following 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.”
E-Kranti is an essential pillar of the Digital India initiative. Considering the critical need of e-Governance,
mobile Governance and Good Governance in the country, the approach and key components of e-Kranti
have been approved by the Union Cabinet on 25.03.2015 with the vision of “Transforming e-Governance
for Transforming Governance”.
There are 44 Mission Mode Projects under e-Kranti, which are at various stages of implementation.

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 5.5 MMP (Mission Mode Projects) By Central Government
1. E-office: The Government of India has recognized the need to modernize the Central

Government offices through the introduction of Information and Communications Technology.

E-Office is aimed at increasing the usage of work flow and rule based file routing, quick search
and retrieval of files and office orders, digital signatures for authentication, forms and reporting
components.
2. Immigration, Visa and Foreigner’s Registration & Tracking (IVFRT): India has emerged as a key

tourist destination, besides being a major business and service hub. Immigration Check Post is
the first point of contact that generates public and popular perception about the country, thus
necessitating a state of the art system for prompt and user-friendly services.
3. Pensions: The pensions MMP is primarily aimed at making the pension/ retirement related

information, services and grievances handling mechanism accessible online to the needy
pensioners, through a combination of interactive and non-interactive components, and thus,
help bridge the gap between the pensioners and the government

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 4. UID: The unique identification project was conceived as an initiative that would provide

identification for each resident across the country and would be used primarily as the basis for
efficient delivery of welfare services. It would also act as a tool for effective monitoring of
various programs and schemes of the government.
5. Banking: The Banking MMP is yet another step towards improving operational efficiency and

reducing the delays and efforts involved in handling and settling transactions. The MMP which is
being implemented by the banking industry aims at streamlining various e-services initiatives
undertaken by individual banks. Implementation is being done by the banks concerned, with the
banking Department providing a broad framework and guidance
6. Posts: Modernization of Postal Services has been undertaken by the Department of Posts

through computerization and networking of all post offices using a central server-based system,
and setting up of computerized registration centers (CRCs)

5.6 MMP (Mission Mode Projects) By State Government

1. e-Governance in Municipalities: It is a unique initiative of the Government of India

conceptualized under the umbrella of the overall National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) and the
Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) aimed at improving operational
efficiencies within Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).
2. Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems : Crime and Criminal Tracking Network &

Systems (CCTNS) MMP aims at creating a comprehensive and integrated system for enhancing
the efficiency and effective policing at all levels and especially at the Police Station level through
adoption of principles of e-Governance, and creation of a nationwide networked infrastructure
for evolution of IT-enabled state-of-the-art tracking system.
3. Public Distribution System: Computerization of the PDS is envisaged as an end-to-end project

covering key functional areas such as supply chain management including allocation and
utilization reporting, storage and movement of food grains, grievance redressal and
transparency portal, digitization of beneficiary database, Fair Price Shop automation, etc.
4. Health: ICT for programme management has been undertaken by the Ministry of Health &

Family Welfare in the Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS) programme and the Ministry
envisages a more comprehensive use of ICT including for Hospital Information Systems, supply

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 chain management for drugs and vaccines, providing ICT tools to ASHA and ANM workers,
programme management of National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), etc through this MMP.
5. E-Panchayat: The Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) are saddled with the problems of

inadequate physical and financial resources, technical capabilities and extremely limited
computerization. As a result, the potential of PRIs as the preferred delivery channel for the
schemes of State and Centre as well as for citizen services has not been fully realized. While
some computerization efforts for PRIs have been made by NIC over the years, the e-Governance
revolution sweeping the country has not touched the PRIs yet in significant measure. The
Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India has therefore decided to take up the
computerization of PRIs on a mission mode basis.
6. E-District: E-District is one of the Mission Mode Projects under National e Governance Plan

(NeGP) with the DIT, GoI being the nodal ministry. This project aims at providing support to the
basic administrative unit i.e. District Administration by undertaking backend computerization to
enable electronic delivery of high volume citizen centric government services which would
optimally leverage and utilize the three infrastructure pillars of State Wide Area Networks
(SWAN), State Data Centers (SDC) and Common Service Centers (CSCs) to deliver services to the
citizen at his doorsteps.
7. National Land Records Modernization Programme (NLRMP): A Project for Computerization of

Land Records (CLR) was launched in 1988-89 with the intention to remove the inherent flaws in
the manual system of maintenance and updation of Land Records. In 1997-98, the scheme was
extended to tehsils to start distribution of Records of Rights to landowners on demand. The
focus of the entire operation has always been to employ state of the art information technology
(IT) to galvanize and transform the existing land records system of the country.

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 5.7 Integrated MMP (Mission Mode Projects)
1. E-procurement: Ministry of Commerce & Industry (Department of Commerce) has been
nominated as the Nodal Ministry for implementation of e-Government Procurement (e-GP)
Mission Mode Projects (MMP). The vision of the e-Procurement MMP is “To create a national
initiative to implement procurement reforms, through the use of electronic Government
procurement, so as to make public procurement in all sectors more transparent and efficient”.

2. E-Courts: The e-Court Mission Mode Project (MMP) was conceptualized with a vision to
transform the Indian judiciary by making use of technology. The project had been developed,
following the report submitted by the e-Committee under Supreme Court on national policy &
action plan on implementation of information communication tools in Indian judiciary. A clear
objective is to re-engineer processes and enhance judicial productivity both qualitatively and
quantitatively to make the justice delivery system affordable, accessible, cost effective,
transparent and accountable.

3. E-Biz: The e-Biz Mission Mode Project, being executed by Department of Industrial Policy and
Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India, was
conceptualized with the vision. Its vision is “To transform the business environment in the
country by providing efficient, convenient, transparent and integrated electronic services to
investors, industries and business throughout the business life cycle”.

4. Common Services Centers: The CSCs would provide high quality and cost-effective video, voice
and data content and services, in the areas of e-governance, education, health, telemedicine,
entertainment as well as other private services. A highlight of the CSCs is that it will offer web-
enabled e-governance services in rural areas, including application forms, certificates, and utility
payments such as electricity, telephone and water bill

5.8 Recent Initiatives

1. Direct Cash Transfer: To facilitate disbursements of Government entitlements like NREGA, Social

Security pension, Handicapped Old Age Pension etc. of any Central or State Government bodies,
using Aadhaar and authentication thereof as supported by UIDAI.
2. Aadhaar Enabled Payment system (AEPS): AEPS is a bank led model which allows online

interoperable financial inclusion transaction through the Business correspondent of any bank
using the Aadhaar authentication. This has helped in financial inclusion. The four Aadhaar
enabled basic types of banking transactions are as follows:-
o Balance Enquiry
o Cash Withdrawal
o Cash Deposit

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 o Aadhaar to Aadhaar Funds Transfer

3. MyGov Citizen Portal: Prime Minister launched an online platform mygov.nic.in to engage
citizens in the task of “good governance” ( surajya ). MyGov is a technology-driven platform that
would provide people with the opportunity to contribute towards good governance

5. Digital Cloud for every Indian: Certificates issued by the government — education, residential,
medical records, birth certificates, etc. — are to be stored in individual ‘digital lockers’ and a
communication protocol established for government departments to access them without
physically having to see the hard copy. The purpose of government is that copies of certificates
issued by the government itself not to be carried around by people to government offices for
various services.

6 Challenges in E-Governance
1. Trust: The implementation of public administration functions via e-government requires the
presence of two levels of trust. The first is that the user must be confident, comfortable and
trusting of the tool or technology with which they will interact. The second dimension of trust
pertains to trust of the government. There has to be a balance between ensuring that a system
prevents fraudulent transactions and the burden that extensive checks can take place on people
who are honest .
2. Resistance to change: The resistant to change phenomenon can explain much of the hesitation
that occurs on the part of constituents in moving from a paper based to a Web-based system for
interacting with government. Citizens, employees and businesses can all have their biases with
respect to how transactions should be processed. However, government entities and public
policy administrators cannot ignore the changes that occur as a result of the implementation of
information and communication technology (ICT). Education about the value of the new systems
is one step toward reducing some of the existing resistance .

3. Digital Divide: The digital divide refers to the separation that exists between individuals,
communities, and businesses that have access to information technology and those that do not
have such access. Social, economic, infrastructural and ethno-linguistic indicators provide
explanations for the presence of the digital divide. Economic poverty is closely related to limited
information technology resources. An individual living below poverty line does not afford a
computer for himself to harness the benefits of e-government and other online services. As the

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 digital divide narrows, broader adoption of e-government in the public domain becomes
possible. Economic poverty is not the only cause of digital divide. It can also be caused by the
lack of awareness among the people. Even some of the economic stable people don’t know
about the scope of e -governance.
4. Privacy and Security: There will be three basic levels of access exists for e-government
stakeholders: no access to a Web service; limited access to a Web-service or full-access to
a Web service, however when personal sensitive data exists the formation of the security access
policy is a much more complex process with legal consideration. With the implementation of e-
government projects, effective measures must be taken to protect sensitive personal
information. A lack of clear security standards and protocols can limit the development of
projects that contain sensitive information such as income, medical history.
5. Fitment for E-Governance: There are many services which cannot be provided online. For
example if a person has to go for a driver test to get the license, he has to be present physically
there. In such cases he may be asked to give a bribe

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 7 MCQ’s (Multiple Choice Questions)
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