1. To build technical infrastructure/framework across India
India lacks a full fledged ICT framework for implementation of
e-governance. Complete implementation of E-governance in India will include
building technical Hardware and Software infrastructure. It will also include
better and faster connectivity options. Newer connectivity options will include
faster Broadband connections and faster wireless networks such as 3G and 4G.
The infrastructure must be built by Government, Private Sector as well as
individuals. Infrastructure will also include promotion of Internet Cafes,
Information and Interactive Kiosks. However while building technical
infrastructure, disabled persons must also be considered. The technology
implemented, shall incorporate the disabled persons.
2. To build institutional capacity
Apart from building technical infrastructure, the Government
needs to build its institutional capacity. This will include training of
Government employees, appointment of experts. Alongwith the Government has also
to create an Expert database for better utilisation of intellectual resources
with it. Apart from this, the Government has to equip the departments with
hi-technology and has also to setup special investigating agency.
3. To build legal infrastructure
For better implementation of e-governance, the Government will need to frame laws which will fully incorporate the established as will as emerging technology. Changing technology has changed many pre-established notions; similarly the technology is growing and changing rapidly. It is important, that the Government makes laws which incorporate the current technology and has enough space to incorporate the changing future technology. These IT laws need to be flexible to adjust with the rapidly changing technology. Currently India has only the IT Act, 2000 which is mainly an E-Commerce legislation. India has also modified many laws to include electronic technology, however it is not sufficient to cover e-governance completely.
4. To build judicial infrastructure
Overall technological awareness in current Judges is very low. The judiciary as a whole needs to be trained in new technology, its benefits and drawbacks and the various usages. The judiciary may alternatively appoint new judges with new judges and setup special Courts to deal with the matters relating to ICT. The Government can also setup special tribunals to deal with matters relating with ICT.
5. To make all information available online
The Government has to publish all the information online through websites. This can be facilitated through centralised storage of information, localisation of content and content management. The information of government is public information, therefore the citizens are entitled to know every piece of information of the Government, because the Government is of the People, by the People and for the People.
6. To popularise E-governance
Literacy percentage in India is alarming. The whole world is moving towards e-governance, but India still lacks in the literacy department. The people need to be educated and made e-literate for e-governance to flourish. There are very few e-literate people in India is very low. The Government needs to campaign for e-governance, increase people’s awareness towards e-governance. Government can only encourage people to go online if it can make people feel comfortable with e-governance. This can be done through educating the people about the advantages of e-governance over physical governance. This can also be done through raising awareness of the leaders who can motivate the people to go online.
7. Centre-State Partnership
Indian setup is quasi-federal. Therefore Centre-State and inter-state cooperation is necessary for smooth functioning of the democratic process. This cooperation is also necessary for successful implementation of e-governance. This cooperation shall extend to Centre-state, inter-state and inter-department relationships. For the same the Government can setup a Central Hub like the current Government of India portal, for accessing the information of all the organs of the central government and also all the state government. The states can cooperate with the Centre to create a National Citizen Database.
8. To set standards
Finally it is important to set various standards to bring e-governance to the quality and performance level of private corporate sector. The Government of India is currently working on standards management and has various drafts prepared for the same. These standards include following: Inter-operability standards, Security standards, Technical standards, Quality standards. Government websites in India currently have no uniform standard. Many Government of Maharashtra websites differ in standards within even two of its webpages. There is no set standard as to quality of the information, document, the formats, etc. It is very important for the Government to set uniform national standards to be followed by all the Governments and agencies.
United Nations E-Readiness Survey contemplates the following
stages of E-governance as to the online presence of Governments worldwide:
1. Emerging Presence – The Stage I i.e. Emerging presence considers online
availability of limited and basic information. A basic online presence of an
e-government involves an official website and few WebPages. Links to ministries
and departments of Central Government, regional/local Government may or may not
be available. The website at this stage may also have some archived information
such as the head of states’ messages or the constitution. However at this stage
most of the information remains static without there being any options for
citizens.
2. Enhanced presence – The Stage II contemplated by UN is Enhanced presence of the
Government online. At this stage the Government provides more public
information resources such as policies of the Government, laws, regulations,
reports, newsletters. This may also be downloadable at this stage. This stage
may allow users to search the information within the documents available
online. A help and a sitemap feature may also be provided on the website to
make navigation of the website simpler. At this stage though there are more
number of documents available online, the navigation of the website is still
not sophisticated and is unidirectional. There are no interactivity at this
stage as the information is only flowing towards the citizens rather than also
from citizens to Government.
3. Interactive presence – The Stage III of Interactive presence considers Governments to
initiate interactivity in their websites. It involves availability of online
services of the government to enhance convenience of the consumer. This will
include downloadable forms and applications for payment of bills, taxes and
renewal of licenses. Government Websites at this stage would have audio and
video capability to increase the interactivity with the citizens. At this stage
the government officials would be able contacted via email, fax, telephone and
post. The website would be updated regularly to keep the information current
and up to date for the public.
4. Transactional presence – The Stage IV i.e. Transactional presence
allows two-way interaction between the citizens and Government. It includes
options such as paying taxes, applying for ID cards, birth certificates,
passports, license renewals and other similar C2G interactions by allowing the
citizen to submit forms and applications online 24/7. The citizens at this
stage will be able to pay for relevant public services, such as motor vehicle
violation, taxes, fees for postal services through their credit, bank or debit
card. Providers of goods and services are able to bid online for public
contacts via secure links.
5. Networked presence – The Stage V as contemplated by UN Survey is ‘Networked Presence’
which represents the most sophisticated level in the online e-government
initiatives. It can be characterized by an integration of G2G, G2C and C2G
interactions. The government at this stage encourages citizen participation,
online participatory decision-making and is willing and able to involve the
society in a two-way open dialogue. Through interactive features such as the
web comment form, and innovative online consultation mechanisms, the government
will actively solicits citizens’ views on public policy, law making, and
democratic participatory decision making. At this stage of E-governance the
integration of the public sector agencies with full cooperation and
understanding of the concept of collective decision-making, participatory
democracy and citizen empowerment as a democratic right, is initiated.
1. Information
Management
2. Identity and Access Management
3. Content Management
4. Standards Management
5. ICT Legal Framework
2. Identity and Access Management
3. Content Management
4. Standards Management
5. ICT Legal Framework
1. Information Management
Information management is gathering and
storing at one place, the information relating to the Government and Governing
process. It is the systematic arrangement/classification of information. If the
information of the Government is gathered at one place without any arrangement
or management, it would prove difficult for the users to find the required
information. Managing information is an important aspect of E-governance.
Information management addresses the issues like – How to provide? What to
provide? Whom to Provide? When to provide? Where to provide? Why to provide?
The process of information management may
further be divided into three aspects – (1) Database Management, (2) Indicator
Management, and (3) Knowledge Management. Database Management involves bare
compilation and organisation of data and information at one place. Indicator
Management involves storing with the information the catch words, labels, tags,
meanings and context relating to the information. Knowledge Management involves
managing the skills and know-how of the employees/experts of the Government for
benefit of the Government.
Information management is an integral aspect
of E-commerce. It also proves essential for E-Governance. It helps transform
the governing process in a business-like efficient and cost-effective
process. Information management aims at reducing cost, improving
performance, differentiating of products and services of Government,
specialised/customised information, and citizen focus.
Information management involves following
stages –
- Gathering – gathering all the available information of
the government
- Creating – creating information which is lost or not
available
- Storing – storing the gathered information in one place
- Accessing – accessing of stored information by the
people
- Distributing – distributing required information to the
public
- Ignoring – ignoring the information not publicly
important
- Discarding – discarding ignored and insignificant
information
- Updating – continuous updating information
- Securing – securing the information with latest
technology so as to give access to information to those who really require
it.
2. Identity and Access Management
Identity management is a set of processes and
infrastructure for the creation, maintenance and use of digital identities for
the purpose of access to E-governance portals and the information on those
portals. Well established Identity management system helps setup an Access
management system. The object of Identity Management is to create scalable,
extensible and secure standards based framework for identity data acquisition
and storage.
Access management involves authentication of
identity of the user and giving access to the Government and public information
available online. Access management is necessary to give a secure access to
information to the public. Securing of public information available online is
very important due to recent online piracy and attacks on websites through
hacking. E-governance would involve huge of sensitive public information up for
grabs for the hackers of other countries. Further there are certain things
which require to be accessed by only the Government officials. So online
security of information is very necessary which can be done through Access
management. Access management is only possible if there is an Identity
Management system is already online and running successfully.
The identities can be classified as follows: (1) Citizens, (2) Employees, (3)
Customers, (4) Organisations, (5) Agencies, (6) Partners, etc.
The process of Identity Management involves
following stages
a) Citizen Request – The first stage is the Citizens’
requests for creation of identities. This may be done physically by submitting
forms and documents.
b) Verification – The second stage is to physically verify the
identities by crosschecking various documents, photo identities, etc.
c) Assignment of identifier – The Government has to assign a unique
identifier which may be a number or a username and password to every citizen so
as to eliminate multiplicity of identities. Today according to the emerging
technologies the identifiers may also be in the form of biometrics, digital
certificates, smart cards, etc.
d) Storage of Identities in ID stores/databases – Once an identifier is
assigned/username and password is created, the identities are stored in the
identity stores.
The process of Access
Management involves following stages:
a) Authentication – Once a user wants to access online portal,
he will need to access it through the unique identifier assigned after
registration. After the user enters the username and passwords or through any
other authentication process like biometrics, digital certificates, etc. his
access to the portal is authenticated.
b) Authorisation – Authorisation of user depends on the
type the user belongs. The user may be administrator, Manager, Author, Creator,
user, etc. A user will only be authorised to access the information. The
Administrator is authorised to change the information.
c) Access
Control – Based on the
authorisation of the user, his access of information in various areas will be
controlled. This will be based on the type of user, i.e. Administrator, user,
etc.
d) Audit and Reporting – Audit and Reporting involves the
monitoring the access of information by users, their authority and access
rights. This helps in improving the access security and also the security of
the information.
Advantages/Benefits of Identity and Access
Management
a) Elimination of
storage of duplicate identities
b) Interoperability
of applications by enforcement of data standardisation
c) Single Sign in
d) Secure Access
e) Curbing
unauthorised access
f) Increased
Citizen participation
g) Improve
performance of the Government Services
h) Improve
Service Delivery
i) 24x7
availability of Government services
3. Content Management
Content management is the process of
organising, distributing and tracking information/data through a website over
the internet. It helps to make users more knowledgeable or informed by offering
instant access to correct information online. It deals with providing right
information, to right people at right time.
Contents of a website can be divided as
follows: Text, Graphics, Audio, Video, Diagrams, Links, etc. Managing this
various type of content is important. It is necessary to decide where to
provide text and where images and graphics.
Content management further involves:
a) Web based
publishing – publishing webpages, documents, charts, graphs, etc
online on a website;
b) Format
management – following practise of fixed formats for webpages, text,
graphics, audio and video;
c) Revision –
involves continuous updating of information;
d) Indexing –
creating indexes of the topics and subjects of which information is available
on the website;
e) Search –
providing search facility to users to find out exact data that user wants.
Object of Content
Management
a) To Communicate
Right Data to Right People at Right Time
b) To ensure that
the contents are need based, relevant, up to date and accurate
c) To avoid
duplication of content
Essentials of Content
Management
a) Centralised
storage – information must be stored centrally, i.e. at one place to make
access easy and avoid complications of networking and computing;
b) Reviewing and
Authentication of Contents – The contents of the website must be continuously
reviewed and authenticated so as to maintain the authenticity of the data
available on the website. It must also be done for providing relevant
content/information on the website;
c) Access of data
by the end user – Unless the user access the data published on the website, the
whole effort is in vain.
4. Standards Management
ICT provides many ways to achieve
E-governance. There are multiple formats to deal with webpages, text, graphics,
audio, and video. However, as seen currently, there is no uniformity in the
e-governance websites as to the use of formats. There are also various levels
of technologies, basic and advanced. For e-governance, basic technologies are not
sufficient because of the security concerns of sensitive data/information.
Therefore, e-governance websites have to maintain standards. Standards
management involves further aspects as follows:
1. Network and
information Security Standards
2. Meta data and
data standards
3. Localisation
and language technology
4. Quality and
documentation standards
5. Technical
standards
6. Web
accessibility standards
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