We are still far from the goals of e-inclusion, but efforts like Aadhaar and broader private participation should help us get there
By Sanjay Gupta
We recently held the 14th edition of Express Technology Sabha, an established platform where vendors and government decision makers come together to discuss and debate the current and future scenarios in e-governance.
Amid the regular presentations, discussions and chit-chat, a couple of things struck me as pleasant detours from the usual lamenting often associated with all things government.
One was the observation that a lot of decision makers, planners and technology implementers in the government are now increasingly open about criticizing their own departments, their colleagues, even to admitting their own mistakes.
This is in stark contrast to the experience many of us often have with government officials whenever we require services such as a certificate, some permission or any other intervention. Things seem to be turning a wheel when it comes to being honest about the service levels and constraints that exist.
Another pleasant discovery was that amid the failed implementations, delayed projects and ceaseless “pilots,” there are some individuals who are making a difference in making the delivery of government services transparent, quick and efficient. They are truly the toast of the e-governance world: by not only deploying IT effectively but also responsibly and sustainably, they are showing that a massive change is indeed possible—if only their efforts can be replicated all across the country.
More important, as one such change-agent pointed out, a successful e-gov initiative doesn’t have to peter out after the particular individual who is heading it moves on to another assignment. What is needed, he suggested, is that the project should directly address the pain points of the majority of government employees involved. So someone associated with the initiative should be able to confidently say: “This is going to make life easy for me” (in addition to making life easy for citizens).
Of course, there are vested interests and layers of middlemen that would rather carry on with status quo than make the slightest change. And they remain harder challenges to tackle than understanding cloud computing and virtualization.
To realize the goals of e-governance on a national scale, we need more change-agents, more determined decision-makers and many more technological resources than currently allocated.
We are still far from the goals of e-inclusion and e-services set out in our vision documents but, hopefully, groundbreaking efforts such as Aadhaar and broader participation from private players will significantly boost our chances of achieving them.
– Sanjay Gupta
Editor, Express Computer
