What are the factors that determine the success and failure of e-governance model? Discuss taking examples of three e-governance initiatives taken India

E-governance is the application of information and communication technology (ICT) for delivering government services, exchange of information, communication transactions, integration of various stand-alone systems and services between government-to-citizen (G2C), government-to-business (G2B), government-to-government (G2G) , government-to-employees (G2E) as well as back office processes and interactions within the entire government framework.                                        
Various Initiatives have been initiated by state and central governments and have met with limited success.
Message alert to the PDS beneficiaries in Karnataka

• The Karnataka government has initiated an e-governance model to provide message alerts to the beneficiaries. The aim of the initiative is to provide alerts to the beneficiaries about the allotments every month so has to enlighten the beneficiaries regarding their entitlements.
• But the model has failed to achieve its desired objectives as the automated messages were being sent irrespective of whether the grains were allocated to the beneficiaries or not. As a result the messages have become a junk without practical utilisation.
• The e-governance must not become an end in itself. But the end aim must be to provide enhanced quality of service. The initiative of government though had a novel intention it failed in implementation. E-governance initiative didn’t add any utility. Hence it became an unsuccessful initiative.

Passport Seva Portal

• Few decades ago availing of passport was a cumbersome process. The complexity of process had resulted in many middlemen exploiting the situation. The burden had resulted in dissatisfied customers and inability of the government to provide an enhanced service.
• The intervention through passport seva portal automated the process from applying to booking slots for verification. This eased the process for consumers and reduced the burden on the government officials.
• The structured mechanism with technical expertise of technical giant TCS had made the process simple and effective.

Pahal

• The DBT for the subsidy of the LPG marked a new beginning in e-governance initiative. It aided in eliminating leakages without compromising the benefit to the customers.
• The financial inclusion mechanism through Jandhan coupled with Aadhaar and mobile governance trinity ensured the achievement of objectives causing minimal disruptions.

Factors which aid in success of the e-governance initiatives

• Simplicity of the process
• The disruptions it causes in the existing mechanisms.
• Ease of the process.
• Support system to ensure the sustainability of process.
• Support system to enable the ease of governance.
• Factors which hinder the governance
• Lack of objectivity in the process.
• Lack of enabling environment. The Pahal initially faced challenges but over time it got integrated due to the enabling environment provided by triad of JAM. Absence of it will make the process redundant.
• Sustainability of process, the message alerts for PDS though had noble intentions the lack of mechanisms to sustain the process to achieve its objectives made the process redundant.

E-governance must be a tool not an end in itself. The combination of factors makes the process effective. Inability to ensure the sustainability through constant improvements will make the process redundant and make it ineffective.

Topics: GS-II: Important Aspects of Governance Transparency and Accountability Citizen Charters