ICT and Governance | New Topic UGC NET 2019 Sylalbus

Short Notes on ICT and Governance

Introduction

The “e” in e-Governance stands for ‘electronic’. Thus, e-Governance is basically associated with carrying out the functions and achieving the results of governance through the utilization of ICT (Information and Communications Technology).

In this century where almost everything has been made electronic like e-commerce, e-service, e-learning, etc. the Indian government is also trying to go with the wave and wants to govern through ICT. E-governance needs the help of ICT services to achieve their objective anytime and anywhere. It eliminates the need of physical travel by citizens to various government offices in order to get their work done.

• The major objective of e-governance is to support and simplify governance for all the government agents, citizens and businesses.
• E-governance also means e-democracy where all forms of communications between the electorate and the electoral happen electronically or digitally.

Background

India is country of villages and for overall prosperity, growth and sustainable development ,ICT and Governance play a key role not only in terms of e-Governance models to demonstrate the key changes we see in the services for healthcare, education, banking, mobility, agriculture and other allied fields but also to keep country on the path of development in emerging competition on various fronts from other countries.

Journey so far …

• 1970 : Department of Electronics

• 1977 : National Informatics Centre(NIC)

• 1980 : Use of computers began

• 1987 : Launch of NICENET & DISNIC

• 1998 : National Task Force on Information Technology and Software Development

• 1999 : Union Ministry of Information Technology

• 2000 -05: 12 point e-Governance launched by central & state Govt with focus on G2C,G2B, G2G initiatives

• 2006 -11: National e-Government Plan(NeGP)

• 2012 -17: Current E-GoV & Digital India

About ICT and Governance

• The term e-governance focuses on the use of new ICT by governments as applied to the full range of government functions. Thus e-governance is the application of information and communication technology for delivering government services, exchange of information, communication, transaction, integration, various stands alone systems and services between government and citizens, government and business as well as back office process and interaction within the entire government frame work.
• ICT acts in speeding up the flow of information and knowledge between government and citizen and transforming the way in which government and citizen interact.
• Types of Government Interaction in e-governance.
  • G2G: Government to Government
  • G2C: Government to Citizen
  • G2B: Government to Business
  • G2E: Government to Employee

Some important Initiatives in the fields of E-governance

Benefits

• Increases accountability
• Increases transparency
• Higher availability of public domain information
• Reduces corruption
• Higher penetration due to automation
• Increases efficiency due to connectivity

2006 -11: National e-Government Plan(NeGP)

National e-Governance Plan(NeGP) – make all government services accessible to common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency & reliability of such services at affordable cost to realize the basic needs of the common man.

Initiatives under NeGP

• State Wide Area Networks – connect all state
• State Data Centres – host Govt apps
• Common Services Centres – internet enabled centres at district level
• Electronic forms through state portal – download forms & submit applications
• Capacity Building – implementation from city to village
• E-District – provide district administration services by web services like right to information, social welfare, ration card, birth & death certificate etc.
• Citizen engagement – deep awareness of project

Current E-Gov – 12th 5yr plan (2012-17)

Deliver all Govt services in electronic mode so as to make Govt process transparent, citizen centric, efficient and easy accessible

• Create sharable resources for all Govt entities
  • To deliver both information & transaction of Govt services over mobile
  • Build shared service platforms to accelerate e-Gov project implementation
  • To strengthen & improve existing project through innovation and infusion of advanced technology
  • To promote ethical use of technology & data and create safe & secure cyber world
  • To create ecosystem that promotes innovation in ICT for governance & for applications that can benefit the citizens Ø To better target welfare schemes of central & state Govt
  • To increase all round awareness & create mechanism that promotes & encourages citizen engagement
  • To make available as much data as possible in public domain for productive use by citizens

Digital India

The Digital India programme is a flagship programme of the Government of India with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.

• The focus is on being transformative – to realize IT + IT = IT
• The focus is on making technology central to enable change.
• It is an Umbrella Programme – covering many departments.

It weaves together a large number of ideas and thoughts into a single, comprehensive vision so that each of them is seen as part of a larger goal.

1. Each individual element stands on its own. But is also part of the larger picture.
2. It is coordinated by DeitY, implemented by the entire government.
3. The weaving together makes the Mission transformative in totality

The Programme:

1. Pulls together many existing schemes.
2. These schemes will be restructured and re-focused.
3. They will be implemented in a synchronized manner.
4. Many elements are only process improvements with minimal cost.
5. The common branding of programs as Digital India highlights their transformative impact.

Nine Pillars of Digital India

Digital India Nine Pillars

1. Broadband highways – To support Broadband for all Rural, Broadband for all Urban & National Information infrastructure by DoT & DeitY
2. Universal access to mobile connectivity- For providing coverage to uncovered villages with mobile connectivity
3. Public internet access programme-  This has two important sub components
   1. CSCs- Aims to cover each gram panchayat to provide delivery of e_services to the citizens
   2. Post-Office- To be converted into multi service centers
4. E-governance – reforming government through technology
   1. Online applications and tracking – Online applications and tracking of their status should be provided.
   2. Online repositories – Use of online repositories e.g. for certificates, educational degrees, identity documents, etc. should be mandated so that citizens are not required to submit these documents in physical form.
   3. Integration of services and platforms – Integration of services and platforms e.g. Aadhaar platform of Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI), payment gateway, Mobile Seva platform, sharing of data through open Application Programming Interfaces (API) and middleware such as National and State Service Delivery Gateways (NSDG/SSDG) should be mandated to facilitate integrated and interoperable service delivery to citizens and businesses.
5. Ekranti – electronic delivery of services- There are 44 Mission Mode Projects under e-Kranti programme. These mission mode projects are grouped into Central, State and Integrated projects. You can read more details – here.
6. Information for all- Open Data platform, Social Media Engagement and Online Messaging
7. Electronics manufacturing- promoting electronics manufacturing in the country with the target of NET ZERO Imports by 2020.
8. IT for jobs- This pillar focuses on providing training to the youth in the skills required for availing employment opportunities in the IT/ITES sector.
9. Early harvest programmes- Early Harvest Programme basically consists of those projects which are to be implemented within short timeline. Such as Biometric attendance, Wi-Fi in public places, secure email, SMS based alerts.

Important Key Points to remember

• 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.