Govt services caught in web of inefficiency

The plans to make e-governance citizen-friendly are gathering dust in government registers. The Planning Commission has now recommended a proportion of all Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CCS) be earmarked for e-governance training to shore up their efficiency.

The plans to make e-governance citizen-friendly are gathering dust in government registers.

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The Planning Commission has now recommended a proportion of all Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CCS) be earmarked for e-governance training to shore up their efficiency.

The 91 CCS account for 56 per cent of the 2010-11 plan

budget of Rs 3,75,000 crore but most schemes lack a component to train personnel on technology.

To make e-governance work, the panel has recommended e-governance 2.0, which will begin with a renewed focus on resident and public participation.

Some aspects of this have been incorporated in the National e-governance Plan, 2006, which is currently under implementation.

The e-governance 2.0 will be implemented through six lakh Common Service Centers, one for every panchayat in the country. The panel estimates these centers will be set up by the end of the 11th plan, ending in 2012.

“The training must evolve into demand-driven systems through which institutions are able to demand and obtain relevant and useful training at their convenience,” the panel said in a mid-term review discussed with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last Tuesday (March 23).

The review was clear on the need for officials in India to have a mindset change.

“Technological applications support the movement of files and the work of officials…

as technology becomes more central to government functioning, it is necessary to re-orient one's approach to improve the way government agencies interact, deliver services and interact with residents," the review stated.

The panel had found that at present e-governance amounted to automating the internal functioning of departments instead of improving the service delivery to people.

“The focus on these implementations has been on applications rather than on delivery flows,” the review said.

As basic a service as facilitating online applications for driving licences or death certificates remained a dream in most states.

Only 13 state governments, including Gujarat and Delhi, have provided the facility of online application of government services such as getting marriage certificates.

The panel said it happened as government departments have functioned in "silos" and have set up systems tailor-made for specific needs of the departments.

Hence, the scope of expanding them or adding more citizen data has been lost.