application of information technology for delivering government services,
exchange of information, communication transactions, integration of various
stand-alone systems between government to citizen (G2C), government-tobusiness (G2B), government-to-government (G2G), government-to-employees
(G2E) as well as back-office processes and interactions within the entire
governance framework.[1] Using e-governance, government services are made
available to citizens through IT. The three main target groups that can be
distinguished in governance concepts are government, citizens, and
businesses/interest groups.
Scope of E Governance
The scope of e-governance is vast and continually evolving as technology
advances and societal needs change. Some key aspects of the scope of egovernance include:
1. **Service Delivery Transformation**: E-governance encompasses the
digitization and delivery of various government services to citizens and
businesses. This includes services such as applying for permits, licenses,
certificates, paying taxes, accessing healthcare, education, and social welfare
services, all of which can be made available online, reducing the need for
physical visits to government offices.
2. **Citizen Participation and Engagement**: E-governance facilitates citizen
involvement in the decision-making process through digital platforms. Citizens
can provide feedback, participate in surveys, express concerns, and engage with
government representatives through online forums, social media, and mobile
applications.
3. **Government Transparency and Accountability**: E-governance promotes
transparency by making government information and processes accessible to
the public. This includes publishing government budgets, expenditures, policies,
and performance metrics online. Through transparency, citizens can hold
government officials accountable for their actions and decisions.
4. **Administrative Efficiency and Effectiveness**: E-governance aims to
streamline bureaucratic processes and improve the efficiency of government
operations through automation, digitization, and integration of systems. This can
lead to cost savings, reduced paperwork, faster service delivery, and improved
resource allocation.
5. **Digital Inclusion and Accessibility**: E-governance initiatives strive to
bridge the digital divide by ensuring that government services are accessible to
all citizens, regardless of their socioeconomic status or geographical location.
Efforts may include providing internet access in rural and underserved areas,
offering digital literacy programs, and designing user-friendly interfaces for
online services.
6. **Data-driven Decision Making**: E-governance leverages data analytics and
insights to inform policy-making and resource allocation. By collecting and
analyzing data on citizen needs, preferences, and behaviors, governments can
make more informed decisions and better target their interventions to address
societal challenges.
7. **Cybersecurity and Data Privacy**: Ensuring the security and privacy of
citizens' data is a critical aspect of e-governance. Governments must implement
robust cybersecurity measures to protect against cyber threats and
unauthorized access to sensitive information. Additionally, they must adhere to
data protection regulations and ethical standards to safeguard citizens' privacy
rights.
8. **Interoperability and Collaboration**: E-governance involves the integration
and interoperability of various government systems and databases to enable
seamless data exchange and collaboration across different departments and
agencies. This interoperability enhances coordination, efficiency, and service
delivery across the entire government ecosystem.
Overall, the scope of e-governance encompasses a wide range of initiatives
aimed at leveraging technology to improve government services, engage
citizens, enhance transparency and accountability, and drive administrative
efficiency and effectiveness.
Importance of E-Governance in digitisation era:
1. Transforming lives: The government has been trying hard for digitisation
to induce economic inclusiveness and social transformation, through
initiatives like, ‘Digital India’, ‘Make in India’ and Skill India. India, as a
result, is gearing up for an era of increased digitisation. E-governance is
important to distribute various benefits of economic growth due to
digitisation to all the sects of society. Blending technology and citizen
centricity, catalysing, government operations to create a safer, more
efficient and sustainable society.
2. Good governance: The complex nature of governance in India demands a
holistic approach. Shedding old methods and embracing new
technologies in governance, would lead to faster, smarter and more proactive government needed in the age of digitisation catering its citizens.
3. Modern problems : With world moving towards new era of digitisation, it
is necessary for government to adopt modern methods of governance to
tackle new threats of modern time like cyber fraud, fake news etc.
4. Ease of Business: It is important for making doing business for economic
growth of the country. Timely approval of projects and tracking of the
projects and policies is important and can be made easy through Egovernance.
5. Ease of services: E-governance include the digitisation of land records,
single-window handling of grievances and maintenance of essential
services; easing tax payments and government dues; along with internet
based delivery of services. It led to faster work culture with reduction in
inefficiencies and better services to Indian citizens.
6. Real Time Governance: With the help of E-Governance, the government
can swiftly resolve citizen grievances and monitor infrastructure projects,
incidents and weather & climatic events across the state in real time,
leveraging technology services.
7. Cost Reduction: Most of the Government expenditure is appropriated
towards the cost of stationary. Paper-based communication needs lots of
stationary, printers, computers, etc. which calls for continuous heavy
expenditure. Internet and Phones makes communication cheaper saving
valuable money for the Government.
8. Transparency: Use of ICT makes governance transparent. Most of the
information of the Government is made available on the internet. The
citizens can see the information whenever they want to see. Egovernance helped in reducing corruption by online track of various
government activities.
9. Accountability: As the governing process is made transparent the
Government is automatically made accountable. Accountability is
answerability of the Government to the people.
Governance is a challenge in a country as vast, diverse and rapidly developing as
India. That’s where new technologies intervene and enable large-scale
transformation and help in the implementation of ambitious government plans.
E-governance thus is important to make governance effective and easy catering
to the needs of people.
E Governance Applications
E-Governance applications refer to the use of electronic platforms and
technologies by governments to deliver public services, interact with citizens,
and manage governmental operations more efficiently. These applications
leverage information and communication technologies (ICTs) to improve
governance processes, enhance transparency, increase citizen participation, and
streamline administrative procedures. Here's a breakdown of some common egovernance applications:
1. **Online Portals and Websites**: Governments develop websites and online
portals to provide information about public services, policies, procedures, and
regulations. Citizens can access these platforms to obtain forms, submit
applications, make payments, and access various government services from
anywhere with internet access.
2. **E-Taxation**: E-taxation systems allow citizens and businesses to file taxes,
make payments, and track tax-related information online. These systems
streamline the tax collection process, reduce paperwork, and minimize errors.
3. **E-Procurement**: E-procurement platforms enable government agencies
to conduct procurement processes electronically. Suppliers can submit bids,
proposals, and invoices online, leading to increased transparency, efficiency, and
cost savings in government procurement.
4. **E-Voting**: E-voting systems allow citizens to cast their votes electronically
in elections. These systems can enhance voter turnout, reduce voting fraud, and
expedite the counting process. However, they also raise concerns about security,
privacy, and accessibility.
5. **E-Health**: E-health applications facilitate the delivery of healthcare
services electronically. These may include online appointment scheduling,
telemedicine consultations, electronic health records (EHRs), and health
information systems. E-health initiatives aim to improve healthcare access,
efficiency, and quality of care.
6. **E-Education**: E-education platforms provide online learning resources,
courses, and educational materials to students and teachers. These platforms
support distance learning, digital classrooms, and lifelong learning initiatives,
expanding access to education and promoting skill development.
7. **E-Justice**: E-justice systems digitize legal processes, case management,
and court proceedings. They enable online filing of legal documents, electronic
case tracking, and virtual hearings, enhancing access to justice, reducing delays,
and improving the efficiency of the judicial system.
8. **E-Participation**: E-participation platforms engage citizens in policymaking
and decision-making processes through online forums, surveys, and
consultations. These platforms promote civic engagement, gather public
feedback, and foster collaboration between governments and citizens.
Overall, e-governance applications leverage technology to transform traditional
government processes, making them more accessible, efficient, and responsive
to the needs of citizens and businesses. However, successful implementation
requires robust cybersecurity measures, digital literacy programs, and efforts to
bridge the digital divide to ensure equitable access for all members of society.
The Broadcasting or Wider-Dissemination Model
The Broadcasting or Wider-Dissemination Model refers to a communication
approach aimed at reaching a large audience through various channels
simultaneously. This model is commonly used in media, advertising, marketing,
and public relations to maximize the exposure of a message or content.
Key features of the Broadcasting/Wider-Dissemination Model include:
1. Mass Reach: The primary goal is to reach as many people as possible. This
can be achieved through mass media channels such as television, radio,
print media, and the internet.
2. One-to-Many Communication: Messages are disseminated from one
source to a large and diverse audience. The communication is typically
one-way, with limited opportunity for feedback or interaction from the
audience.
3. Brand Awareness and Exposure: The focus is often on creating awareness
about a product, service, idea, or event. By broadcasting messages widely,
organizations aim to increase brand visibility and recognition among the
target audience.
4. Content Replication: The same message or content is replicated across
different channels to ensure maximum exposure. This may involve
adapting the message format or content slightly to suit different media
platforms.
5. Limited Audience Targeting: While efforts may be made to target specific
demographic groups or market segments, the primary emphasis is on
reaching a broad audience rather than tailoring messages to individual
preferences.
6. Cost-Effectiveness: Broadcasting messages widely can be more costeffective compared to individually targeting smaller audience segments.
This is because the cost per reach tends to decrease as the size of the
audience increases.
7. Measurable Impact: Despite its one-way nature, the impact of the
Broadcasting/Wider-Dissemination Model can be measured through
metrics such as audience reach, impressions, website traffic, and sales
figures.
8. Risk of Information Overload: With the proliferation of media channels
and content, there's a risk that the audience may experience information
overload or become desensitized to messages. Therefore, creating
compelling and relevant content is essential to capture and retain
audience attention.
Overall, the Broadcasting/Wider-Dissemination Model remains a popular
approach for organizations seeking to amplify their messages and achieve broad
exposure among target audiences. However, it's increasingly being
complemented with more targeted and interac The Broadcasting or WiderDissemination Model tive communication strategies to enhance engagement
and effectiveness.
Applications:
Some of the situations in which the wider-dissemination model could be
used are:
• Putting government laws and legislation online.
• Making available the names, contact addresses, emails, fax numbers of
local
governmental officials online.
• Make available key information pertaining to governmental plans,
budgets,
expenditures, and performances online.
• Putting key court judgements / judicial statements which are of value to
common
citizens and create a precedence for future actions online, viz. key
environment
related judgements, State vs. Citizen Court rulings etc.
This model is the first step to more evolved forms of digital governance
models.
The model is also the most crucial one as it catalyses free access and flow
of
information to all segments of the society and serves as the building block
to better
governance. National Governments therefore need to aggressively adopt
this model if
they want to create an environment for enhanced participation of its
citizens in the
governmental processes.
The model however loses its effectiveness where free-flow of information
is not
encouraged or is not objective. Tight governmental controls and bids to
censor the
content being transmitted through this model would be the bane of this
model. The
onus is therefore both on governmental organisations as well as civil
society
organisations to ensure such models continue to proliferate.
2. Critical-Flow Model
The model is based on channelling information of critical value to a
targeted
audience or dissemination it in the wider public domain through the use
of ICT and
convergent media. The model requires foresight to understand the
significance of a
particular information set and using it strategically. It may also involve
locating users
to whom the availability of a particular information set would make a
critical difference
in initiating good governance.
The strength of critical-flow model is the inherent characteristic of ICT
that
makes the notion of distance and time redundant. This reduces the cases
of
exploitative governance possible earlier due to time lag between
availability of
information to different users.
Applications
Some of the situations in which the model could be use are:
• Making available information on corruption of a particular government
ministry or
government officials, to its electoral constituency or to the concerned
governing body.
• Making available research studies, enquiry reports and appraisals
commissioned by
the government to the affected parties.
• Making available Human Rights violation and criminal impeachment
records against
government officials to NGOs and concerned citizens.
• Making available environment related information available to local
communities.
For example, information on radioactivity spills, effluent discharge in
rivers, green
ratings of a company etc.
Critical-Flow model is more directed in terms of its information content
and its
intended users. By focusing on the critical aspect of information, it
exposes the
weakest aspects of governance and decision-making mechanisms. It
informs people
about specific cases of state-failure and badgovernance to build up a case
for
concerted action. At the same time, by fuelling public unrest, the model
exerts
pressure on the concerned government institutions and individuals to
take into
cognisance the interest and opinion of the masses in decision- making
processes. The
onus of creating such models may lie more with the civil society
organisations to
emerge as an effective WatchGuard to government policies and actions.
The
government by itself may not have sufficient incentive and an attitude
towards sharing
such information.
The model will not work in cases where government mechanisms do not
foster
public debates and censure all information of critical nature. It will also
fail where the
government maintains a tight control over all information and it remains
restricted to
top few levels of the government.
3. Comparative Analysis Model
Underlying Principle
This is one of the least-used but a highly effective model that is gradually
gaining
popularity. Comparative Analysis model is based on exploring information
available in
the public or private domain and comparing it with the known
information sets to
derive strategic learnings and arguments. The model continuously
assimilates new
knowledge products and uses them as a benchmark to evaluate, influence
or advocate
changes in current governance policies and actions. The comparison
could be made
over a time scale to get a snapshot of the past and present situation
(before-after
analysis) or between two different situations to understand the
effectiveness of an
intervention. (With-without analysis). The strength of this model lies in
the boundless
capacity of ICT to store information in a retrievable manner and transmit
it almost
instantaneously across all geographical and hierarchical barriers.
Applications
Some of the situations in which the model could be used are:
• For gauging the effectiveness of current policies by gleaning learnings
from
government policies and actions in the past.
• Establishing conditions of prior-precedence, especially in the case of
judicial or legal
decision-making and using it to influence future decision-making. This
could be useful
in resolving patent-related disputes, public goods ownership rights etc.
• Enabling informed decision-making at all levels by enhancing the
background
knowledge and providing a rationale for future course of action.
• Evaluating the performance record of a particular government official or
ministry.
Developing countries can effectively use this model to their advantage as
ICT
opens access to global and local knowledge products at a relatively low cost.
WatchGuard organisations and monitor-groups could use the model to
track the
performance records of electoral candidates and share them in their
constituency. The
model is however reliant on the availability of comparative information
sets and the
ability of users to analyse and bring out strong arguments or selfexplanatory graphics
from the analysis. The model becomes ineffective in absence of a strong
civil society
interest and short public memory.
4. Mobilisation and Lobbying Model
Underlying Principle
Mobilisation and Lobbying Model is one of the most frequently used
digital
governance model and has often come to the aid of the civil society
organisations in
developing countries to impact international decision-making processes.
The model is
based on planned, directed, strategic flow of information to build strong
virtual allies
to strengthen action in the real world. It takes up the pro-active approach
of forming
virtual communities which share similar values and concerns, promoting
active sharing
of information between these communities, and linking them with real
world
activities.
The strength of this model is in the diversity of its virtual community, and
the
ideas, expertise and resources accumulated through virtual forms of
networking. The
model is able to effectively overcome geographical, institutional and
bureaucratic
barriers to shape concerted action. The model also provides a strong
virtual arm to
several activities such as directing campaigns against a particular
individual or
decision-making body.
Applications
Some of the examples in which the model could be used are:
• Fostering public debates on global issues, themes of upcoming
conferences, treaties
etc.
• Formation of pressure groups to pressurise decision-makers to take
their common
concerns into cognisance
• Amplifying the voices of marginalised groups who are traditionally
marginalised from
decision-making process.
• Building up wider participation in decision-making processes.
data warehouse and it’s role in E governance
A data warehouse is a centralized repository that stores structured,
historical data from multiple sources within an organization. It's designed
for query and analysis rather than transaction processing. Data warehouses
are typically used to support decision-making processes by enabling users
to analyse large volumes of data to identify trends, patterns, and insights.
In the context of e-governance, data warehouses play a crucial role in
improving the efficiency, transparency, and effectiveness of government
operations. Here are some ways data warehouses contribute to egovernance:
1. Data Integration: Governments collect vast amounts of data from
various sources, including administrative systems, public records,
surveys, and sensors. Data warehouses integrate these disparate
datasets into a single, unified repository, providing a comprehensive
view of government operations and citizen interactions.
2. Data Analysis and Reporting: Data warehouses enable government
agencies to perform complex analyses and generate reports to
support decision-making processes. Officials can gain insights into de
mographic trends, service utilization patterns, resource allocation,
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
and performance metrics, allowing them to make informed policy
decisions and allocate resources more effectively.
Performance Monitoring: By consolidating data from different
departments and agencies, data warehouses facilitate performance
monitoring and evaluation. Government officials can track key
performance indicators (KPIs) in real-time, identify areas for
improvement, and measure the impact of policy interventions over
time.
Predictive Analytics: Data warehouses support predictive analytics
by enabling governments to identify emerging trends and anticipate
future needs. By analyzing historical data, governments can develop
predictive models to forecast demand for public services, identify
potential risks, and allocate resources proactively to address future
challenges.
Fraud Detection and Prevention: Data warehouses help
governments detect and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse by
analyzing patterns and anomalies in transactional data. By identifying
suspicious activities and irregularities, governments can implement
controls and measures to mitigate risks and safeguard public funds.
Transparency and Accountability: Data warehouses promote
transparency and accountability by providing citizens with access to
government data and information. Through open data initiatives and
public dashboards, governments data warehouse can enhance
transparency, foster public trust, and encourage civic engagement.
Emergency Response and Disaster Management: In times of crisis,
data warehouses play a critical role in supporting emergency
response and disaster managemen data warehouse t efforts. By
aggregating data from various sources, including emergency services,
weather forecasts, and geographic information systems (GIS),
governments can analyze situational awareness, coordinate response
activities, a data warehouse nd disseminate timely information to
citizens and first responders.
Overall, data warehouses serve as a foundational infrastructure for egovernance initiatives, enabling governments to leverage data-driven
insights to enhance public service delivery, improve decision-making
processes, and address societal challenges more effectively.