Sanjay Jaju, Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Electronics and Communications, Government of Andhra Pradesh, shares his views with Express Computer on the status of eGovernance in the state.
In your opinion what are the key challenges that the new state of Andhra Pradesh faces in taking the agenda of eGovernance forward?
When you are trying to deliver eGovernance services to people, there are bound to be a few challenges that one will have to overcome. The challenges that we face are related to the selection of best possible solutions for enabling delivery of integrated services to the citizens. We have to improve the availability of the citizen centric services in all rural areas. More modern technologies need to be incorporated in the delivery of citizen services. We also need to encourage citizen participation in decision making at appropriate levels. The question that we ask ourselves constantly is how to ensure quality in service delivery? Quality is of utmost importance. The people of this state, and the country, deserve better quality of services. We also need to keep in mind that in the long run eGovernance must be sustainable. We need to build capacity for sustaining eGovernance.
What are the solutions to the challenges that you have talked about?
We are working on the solutions to address the challenges that are there. We are defining and deploying unified eGovernance architecture for the state which is scalable, flexible and robust. The idea is to have ‘Service Oriented Architecture’ for better delivery of citizen services. Effort is being made to enable the use of latest technologies like Microsoft Whitespace Networking, Wi-Max, etc., which can provide last mile connectivity to remote areas. We are also working on services that can be provided through mobile devices. Mobile phones give an advantage of better coverage in the state. The reach of the social media is immense, so we are leveraging the social media tools to conduct surveys and encourage citizen participation in the process of governance. Further, for ensuring that the quality of service delivery is high we are recommending adherence to service levels and standards. The deployment of help desk interface can lead to improvement in quality of service. One thing that we need to keep in mind while using IT to provide services, is a check on the cost of IT infrastructure and hence, we are keen to adopt technologies like cloud computing, which is highly cost effective.
The field of IT is evolving constantly. Is Andhra Pradesh planning to invest in new technologies for upgrading the existing infrastructure for eGovernance or create new infrastructure? Please tell us about your plans in this area.
There is a possibility of upgrading the existing network capacity to higher bandwidths for delivery of higher volume of services. At the same time we are also thinking about extending the existing network to remote areas, which are still unconnected, through multiple technologies. One thing that is very important at this stage is the State Data Centre, this has to be in perfect order so that we are able to provide seamless services. We are also considering to deploy a centralised Data Analytics platform for executive decision making. As I said earlier, there is lot of scope for using social media tools and cloud computing to modernise the existing infrastructure.
The Mee Seva initiative has brought lot of benefits to the people of the state. It is now being replicated in many other states of the country. In your opinion what are the factors that have led to the rapid replication of Mee Seva?
Today Mee Seva is one of the most highly regarded eGovernance programmes in the country. This programme has served the needs of millions of citizens in the state. It boasts of an easily adaptable framework consisting of a web based front-end for accepting citizen requests. The programme also has a system for routing requests through web services to the relevant back office systems for request processing. The system facilitates extensive digitisation of citizen records related to income, community and birth certificates. The data can be stored in a repository for easy fulfilment of multiple request for the same. Mee Seva comes with a range of appropriate legislative measures to enable seamless delivery of citizen services. There is scope for revenue sharing by all stakeholders. The programme also supports intensive capacity building through online tools.
What new innovations can we expect in Mee Seva in times to come? Are you planning to further strengthen Mee Seva by the use of new technologies?
We are now planning to use mobile devices to further improve the reach of eGovernance services. This is being done under the “Mobile First” initiative. We are also going to have the transition to a Service Oriented Architecture. We also plan to use a Data Analytics platform for decision making. We are planning to use cloud computing to optimise “Mee Seva” infrastructure for delivery of more services with higher volumes.