E-governance and Libraries: an assessment
case study towards grass roots development
in Himachal Pradesh.
Sudesh Kumar Sood
Librarian (SG)
Postgraduate Govt. College,Una,H.P
Sudhir Gupta
Assistant Librarian (SG),
Dr Y S Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Solan, India
Urgian Chhering
Librarian (SG)
Govt. Degree College, Haripur(Manali), H.P
Introduction
‘Success is a Journey, Not a Destination’
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State of Himachal Pradesh has been blessed with an enormous potential of
IT.
Every government attempts continuously to bring maximum benefit and
happiness to majority of its citizens.
If the government takes recourse to electronic means in delivery of public
services, then no wonder, it becomes easier and this process of the
government is nothing but e-Governance. State has tremendous potential
to make it to the top notches in the field of e-Governance.
State has received nine National Awards for its consummations in the field
of e-Governance
Various projects like e-Procurement, e-District, Human Resource
Management System (HRMS), Management Information System (HMIS),
HIMSWAN, and Grievance Redressal System, various core ICT infrastructure
projects like Integrated Community Service Center (i-CoSC) or SUGAM,
Himachal Pradesh State Data Center, Secretariat LAN and Hi-Tech City &
Software Technology Park are in the process of implementation.
Definition of E-Governance
E-governance is an emerging trend to re-invest the ways the government
work and a new model of governance would be based upon the
transactions in virtual space, digital economy and dealing with knowledge
oriented societies.
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In simple words it is the application of ICTs to governmental functioning to
accomplish simple, accountable, speedy, responsive and transparent
administration in government.
 E-governance is the public sector’s use of information and communication
technologies with the aim of improving service delivery, encouraging
citizens in the decision making process and making government
accountable, transparent and effective (UNESCO,2010)
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E-Governance Model
The present model of e-governance doesn’t aim
to reduce the role of government in the life of
citizens but to serve them more timely and
efficiently
 Now it is the government, which tries to adopt
itself to the life of a citizen particularly the under
privileged as against the traditional model,
which is just the opposite of it
 The emphasis is to make the user in charge of
affairs and in command of situation
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Objectives of E-Governance
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The objectives of e-governance are to enhance efficiency, provide
total transparency, high responsiveness, accountability, convenience
and accessibility of services and information from the point of view
of citizens
From governments perspective it is to abolish corruption, cut in
costs, an antidote to ‘Parkinson’s law’ i.e., “works expands to fulfill
available”
The purpose of this study was to identify the E-Government related
information at the library and to identify current library EGovernment practices in Himachal Pradesh in order to provide
practical guidance to public libraries to meet the needs of the local
community members they serve.
Role of E-Governance
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Increase efficiency by automation, computerization and networking.
Supports effective decentralization decision-making by providing an efficient
information flow.
Increase accountability of public services to agencies to citizens.
Improves resource management.
Offers the various departments and agencies involved in public service provision, the
facility of effective interface with the citizens.
Increase the accessibility of individual citizens to information and services and allow
them to influence government operations.
Provides comprehensive database which helps policy makers to design, formulate and
evaluate policies.
Facilitates the strategic planning processes which help organization to clearly lay
down the objectives, goals, programmers’ and projects.
Enables reduction of paperwork with the use of e-mail and electronic data
interchange.
Enables marketization by supplying information related to the market and enhance
public service.
E-Governance Infrastructure Projects in
Himachal Pradesh
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HIMSWAN
State Data Centre
State Portal and SSDG
Community Service Centers (CSC) or LokMitra Kendras
Integrated Community Service Centers (i-CoSC) or SUGAM
Scheme Portal (e-Marg Darshan)
E-Samadhan
E-Sameeksha
E-Kosh
HimBhoomi
E-Pension (Pension Disbursement System)
Digital Gazette (e-Gazette)
HIMSWAN Network
HIMSWAN
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Himachal State Wide Area Network or HIMSWAN is the core
infrastructure project under NeGP that intends to support various eGovernance initiatives in Himachal Pradesh by providing connectivity to
Government Offices and Integrated Community Service Centers at State,
District, Sub-Divisional, Tehsil and Block headquarters in the state
The HIMSWAN project has been divided into two phases: HIMSWAN
I and HIMSWAN II
Under the HIMSWAN-I, a Local Area Network with 600 nodes has been
established in HP Secretariat
The HIMSWAN-II project proposal has been approved by the Ministry of IT,
Govt. of India.
Various applications which are being run over HIMSWAN include Online
HRTC Bus Reservation, SUGAM (Integrated Community Service Centre) bills
payment, e-Registration for Electoral rolls, Factory database for Labour and
employment, HP Public Service Commission, Online registration for HP
Judicial Services Examination, Court Case Monitoring Software for Divisional
Commissioner office, Weekly prices of essential commodities and many
more.
Source: http://hp.gov.in/himswan/
State Data Centre
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In order to consolidate the G2G, G2B and G2C services,
the State Data Centre project has been proposed under
NeGP. These services can be rendered by the States
through common delivery platform seamlessly supported
by core Connectivity Infrastructure such as State Wide
Area Network (SWAN) and Common Service Centre
(CSC) connectivity extended up to village level. In the
case of Himachal Pradesh, the RFP of the project is
under review and finalization by DIT/State.
Source www. mit.gov.in/
State Portal and SSDG
The State Portal of the Himachal Pradesh has been developed by the State
NIC unit.
 Under NeGP, the Government desires to create an integrated information
infrastructure that will expand, integrate and enhance the utility and reach
of the services provided by the Government by utilizing the network of the
Common Service Centres. In order to provide single interface for all the
G2C services, the State Portal (SP) along with State Service Delivery
Gateway (SSDG) are being developed in the Himachal Pradesh.
 One can also avail many e-services through the portal that includes RTI
Search, Online bill submission, downloadable forms for Birth certificate,
Ration Cards, Vehicle registration etc., and links for schemes like Lok Mitra
and AGMARKNET etc.
 Currently, the SP and SSDG project is in its implementation stage
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Source: www. mit.gov.in/
Community Service Centers (CSC) or
LokMitra Kendras
An objective to develop a platform enabling Government, private and social
sector organizations to align their social and commercial goals, especially
for the benefit of the rural population
 a total of 3366 Common Service Centers have been sanctioned by the
Government of India to be setup in Himachal Pradesh
 Integrated Community Service Centre (i-CoSC) which is an enlarged
and improved version of the "LOKMITRA" project (a pilot in Hamirpur
District), is being setup in the state providing one-stop shop information
resource and service center for the people ensuring greater transparency,
effectiveness, neutrality, responsibility and speed.
 Various services offered by the LokMitra Kendras include Land Records,
Employment exchange services (Job Portal), Electoral services, Registration
for pension schemes, RTI, Public Grievances (Lokvani / Lokmitra mode),
Issuance of Himachali Domicile, Caste and Agriculturist Certificates, HRTC /
Railway Booking, all Government forms, AGRISNET Portal services, EKalyan scheme, Examinations results, information related services like Blood
donors, Hotel directory, etc., Complaint / FIR registration with Police,
REFNIC etc
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Model of Community Service Centers (CSC) or LokMitra Kendras
Structure ofCommunity Service Centers (CSC) or
LokMitra Kendra
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NIC Himachal Pradesh State Unit is in the process of establishing Statewide Government
INTRANET, connecting the State Secretariat, all the Directorates & State level Offices, all the
District Collectorates & District level Offices of all the Departments/ Blocks & Tehsils with each
other. This project is being executed as a joint project between NIC and the State Govt.
District level Web Servers will be installed at the District Collectorates accessed by the respective
District level Offices/ Blocks & Tehsils also. State level Web Servers will be installed at the
Secretariat accessed by the Directorates and other State level Offices.
The State-wide INTRANET will facilitate information flow from District level offices to the District
Web Servers at the Collectorates, and then to the LokMitra Web Server. Similarly, from
Directorates to the State Web Server at the Secretariat, and then to the LokMitra Web Server.
The LOKMITRA Web Server will be installed at the NIC Headquarters accessed by the Citizen
Information Centres through Internet. IT enabled Citizen Services With the maturing of IT in
India, there has been a shift in focus with emphasis being on providing more citizen services. The
NIC HP has implemented the following citizen centric projects:
Electoral Rolls: The Electoral Rolls of HP, in Hindi, covering 42 Lakh electors have been published
on the HP Government website and can be searched on name, polling station and serial number
wise.
Web enabled Hotels Reservation System software: The Web Enabled Hotels Reservation System
software developed and implemented for the HP Tourism Development Corporation, with hotels
CITIZEN CENTRIC ADMINISTRATION
Integrated Community Service Centers (i-CoSC) or
SUGAM
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i-CoSC (Sugam) brings all citizen related services and information under a single roof,
cutting across different tiers of administration, providing services at the doorstep of
rural community
A number of SUGAM Centers have been setup at all Tehsils/ Sub-Tehsils, SubDivisions and District Headquarter of Shimla District and now are being rolled out in
other districts as well.
The project enables document submission and collection of licenses or certificates at
a place other than the place of sanction (except where physical presence is necessary
as per law).
Various services like Voter Registration and Issuance of Voter Id, Land record (Nakal/
Jamabandi), Revenue (HimBhoomi-Land records forms), Transport(Vahan – Vehicle
registration and Saarthi – Driving license), Bus booking & Time table; Caste
certificates, Vacancy listings, Electricity and telephone bills, REFNIC -Reference
Monitoring of Files, Tourist Information etc. can be availed through the
SUGAM centers.
Source: http://hp.gov.in/sugam/
Scheme Portal (e-Marg Darshan)
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In order to provide opportunities to the citizen for their economic and social
development, the State Government has launched e-Marg Darshan project
The portal attempts to provide easy and single point access to information about the
various Welfare Schemes being provided by the State Government for the citizens
and other stakeholders.
Through this portal a citizen can identify schemes for which he is eligible, simply by
providing information pertaining to his Gender or Age or Caste or APL/BPL status or
Occupation or Annual Income
Source: http://hp.gov.in/scheme/home/home.aspx
E-Samadhan
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E-Samadhan is the Grievance Redressal System portal of the Government
of Himachal Pradesh. It is web-based software for speedy redressal of
grievances that has been developed by NIC, Himachal Pradesh using
ASP.NET. The software gives an instant view of the grievance to both, the
concerned office and the public. It also shows the department-wise
pendency summary of the grievance. Implementation of this project has
resulted in enhanced transparency and accountability along with reduction
in paper work and corruption.
Source: http://admis.hp.nic.in/eSamadhan
E-Sameeksha
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E-Sameeksha is an e-Governance initiative
of Government of Himachal Pradesh for
effective monitoring of various schemes
rolled out by the Government.
Source: http://admis.hp.nic.in/esameeksha/Default.aspx
E-Kosh
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E-Kosh is a web portal developed by the
Department of Finance to provide State
financial reports online. It provides the
reports of the Finance Department as well
as other Departments of the state.
Source: http://himachal.nic.in/treasury/eKosh.htm
HimBhoomi
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Developed by NIC state Unit, the HimBhoomi software is a futuristic Land Record
System that is helping out in resolving the Land Record related issues in the state.
The software is an exact replica of existing manual system with improvements &
compatible to requirements thereby enabling its replication without any resistance
from the revenue staff.
The software comes with built-in user manuals and can be used easily by village
patwari. The software has following five modules:
Gram Nideshika
Master Entry Module
HimBhoomi-LaPort Module
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HimBhoomi-Mutation Module
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HimBhoomi-ROR (Nakal) Distribution Module
Efforts are on to enable encryption/decryption of data in the system. Also,
the system will be linked with GIS system and integrated with HIMRIS (Himachal
Registration Information System).
Source: http://himachal.gov.in/himbhoomi/AboutHimbhoomi.htm
E-Pension (Pension Disbursement System)
The e-Pension software is the result of complete reversal of the manual system of
pension disbursal and has resulted in direct benefits to both the State Government
and to the pensioners during pilot implementation of the project in the Districts of
Solan and Una since June 2001.
The main objectives of the project include:
 Improvise accounting system for recovery of pre-1966 pension amounts from other
states
 Providing a 24x7 interface for information and grievance redressal
 Ensuring compliance with Pension Rules
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A number of process and procedural changes have been made as part of the
implementation. These include:
 Pension Processing at District Treasury only instead of the sub-treasuries/ bank
branches
 Pension disbursal through bank accounts only
 The web-interface of the software is available http://himachal.nic.in/epension where
the details of individual’s pension are displayed for the last 12 months.
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The project won the Golden Icon Award for Innovative Operations & Best PracticesProfessional category in the 9th National e-Governance Conference held at Kochi,
Kerala in the year 2006.
Source: http://admis.hp.nic.in/epension/epensionkhoj.asp
Digital Gazette (e-Gazette)
Being one of its own kinds, Digital Gazette is the first paperless,
completely digitized official Gazette in India, which was first published in
Himachal Pradesh.
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The whole process has been decentralized as all departments send
their notifications for publication now only through the S/W interface. This
has resulted in huge cost savings to the State Government besides
benefiting the citizens, lawyers, bankers, departments, employees, as any
Gazette notification issued after the cut-off date is available on the Internet
in searchable format.
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This exemplary initiative has won the Bronze Icon Award under
Category I-Excellence in Government Process Reengineering in the National
e-Governance Conference held in Goa on 12th and 13th of February 2008.
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Source: http://himachal.nic.in/egazette
Role of Libraries in promotion of EGovernance
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Already established libraries especially public libraries can be used as
information centers or public kiosks in the absence of basic infrastructure
These libraries can work as depository libraries for all types of government
information from where the public can access and monitor the work of its
elected officials and policy makers.
Libraries can also help to bridge divide in the digital contents by providing
special services to the general public.
Libraries ensure to freedom to speech, the freedom to read and freedom to
view. When the people are better informed, they are more likely to
participate in the political process, thus keeping an eye on their elected
representatives and making them more accountable.
Local and state government needs access to information from comparable
jurisdiction in order to do their work effectively and efficiently
In the field of information literacy, library professionals can play a pivotal
role. Besides acting as facilitators and tutors, they can also act as
aspirators’ and help along with teaching community to spread the culture of
information literacy.
Role of Libraries in promotion of E-Governance
In the words of James Madison “Knowledge will forever govern ignorance and that
people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power
that knowledge gives. A popular government without popular information or means
of accruing is it but a prologue to a force or tragedy perhaps both”.
 The main trust in this area should go to the rural public library. A village or a village
cluster with an adequate population should have a community library which will also
serve as an information centre.
 The Seventh plan Working Report of the Planning Commission states that “No
community, institution or organization is considered complete without a good library
service.
 According to the Library Association, Britain, “Community Information Services assist
individuals and groups with daily problem solving and with participation in the
democratic process.
There are two major roles that public libraries play in the delivery of e-governance. The
first, information access, involves working in partnership with other areas of the
organization or other tiers of government to deliver and distribute information
personally, seamlessly, wherever and whenever it is desired. The second bridging the
digital divide, is achieved by providing access to information, developing training
programmes in the community, ensuring that all people have to access to
information, and by understanding the impact of new technologies in the life of
people.
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Community information services via the EGovernance
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Services provided at the villager’s door steps via the e-governance route can
presumably cut out the inherent social biases.
The important task of e-governance is to remain in touch with the concerned
authorities in villages, blocks, tehsil and districts and even in the Metropolis.
Richard Heeks points out that governance is both, the present and the future of
developing countries like India, which still have a long way to go. Currently, more
than half of India’s villages lack telephone connectivity, let alone internet access. The
26 million phone lines (mostly business-owned) and 2 million internet subscribers
that do exist nationwide are concentrated in urban areas, while rural community are
left out of the loop.
ICT has made services amenable to people living in cities and villages. The
GYANDOOT programme in Madhya Pradesh, the e-Seva network in Andhra Pradesh,
FRIENDS (Fast, Reliable, Instant, Efficient, Network for Disbursement of Services) in
Kerala, the Saukaryam project in Vishakapatnam, the GRAMSAT project in Orissa, eGram Suvidha in 5 districts i.e. Chhattarpur, Bhopal, Dhar, Madla and Damoh of
Madhya Pradesh, Lokvani Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh and Lok Mitra in Himachal Pradesh
are efforts to foster connectivity, accessibility to services and information to the
people.
Conclusion
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E-governance is step towards reform in government and administration. These
reforms focus on bringing improvements in the service delivery, dissemination of
information, transparency, public and private partnership, efficiency and
accountability. There is an urgent need for sustainable development, In developing
countries like India, it is not easy to fulfill all the pre-conditions.
E-Governance is also seen as a multi- dimensional concept an IT driven methodology
that improves efficiency in administration, brings about transparency and leads to
reduction of costs in running the government. There are three main domains of egovernance: improving governmental processes (e-administration); connecting
citizens (e-citizens and e-services); and building external interaction (e-society).
Himachal Pradesh Government, have taken several initiatives for rural development
through community information centers. These may be considered as rural electronic
libraries. The project has been started in Himachal Pradesh to provide IT facility in
each and every block. Each CIC will have one server computer system and five client
configuration computer systems linked in a local area network and connected to a V–
SAT for Internet access
From the above assessment it can be concluded that Himachal Pradesh has made
encouraging efforts to bridge the gap by initiating a number of projects and
programmes for rural and remote locations, a lot more needs to be done to bring the
people into the information society.