(Sample Material) Gist of Important Articles from IIPA Journal

Topic: Role of Information Technology and E-Governance in Effective Delivery of Public Service - Initiatives, Challenges and Prospects Inderjeet Singh Sodhi

IT and E-governance in Delivery of Services

Information technology is created by human beings for the sole purpose of facilitating their work and rendering better services to the people. The information technology has been intensely used for delivery of public services. There exists a large inventory and repository of appropriate technological platforms which perform public functions in a cost and time effective manner. Most of the governments particularly local governments have already launched or in the process ‘of launching on-line information and monitoring system for delivery of services-like issue of certificates/licence, payment of bill for telephone, electricity, water supply, etc. Citizens in the urban areas are able to obtain and submit electronically application forms for most of the services. Even it may be possible for them to pay heir bills electronically. The facilities provided by the information technology are:

1. On-line access and electronically handling of syllabus, prospectus, fee exemption and scholarships, etc;
2. On-line access to vacancies and employment opportunities,
3. public access, to electronic driving license application forms;
4. On-line access to electronic forms for tax assessments;
5. On-line collection and handling of IT returns;
6. On-line access to library catalogues, databases and publications;

Information technology helped to radically change the way development is perceived by its practitioners), The delivery of public service is improved through IT and e-governance since it leads to less time in completing transactions, It enhances accountability, responsiveness and transparency in the delivery of services and also checks corruption, It helps to enhance the quality of public service provision to the poor, downtrodden, marginalised sections of the society and also to the women and rural people.

Indicators and Parameters of e-governance for Excellent Service

The factors that decide the popularity of information technology and e- governance are availability, costs involved, and usefulness of the service. The quality of the sites and web-portals is improving at a rapid pace, and they often link to specific agency/body’s websites that provide detailed and prompt information for current and potential consumers of services.

The parameters to measure e-governance performance could include: “(a) Standards that measure a government’s adoption of e-governance, which includes volume of transactions handled electronically, response time to enquiries, length of trouble-free operations of e-government services from their launch, number ‘and percentage, of territorial area covered by a service; and (b) Standards ,that measure the ‘impact of e-governance applications include the number and percentage of customers accessing information or services electronically, increased convenience or efficiency in information/services(reduction in number of days to deliver the service), length of time for procuring services, reduction in costs for citizens and also for the government”.

The delivery of public services through information technology and e-governance depends on a number of factors but it is expected that there should be:

1. instant access to dynamically updated information and data
2. instant, interactive and selective access to clients
3. fast and worldwide dissemination of information at the least cost
4. reduced need for human response to enquiry and less costs
5. updates organisations with relevant knowledge and information
6. longer hours of service delivery,
7. improved quality of service
8. reliable, real-rime-services
9. transparent, efficient and effective delivery of services at the citizens doorsteps

Role of IT and E-Governance in Effective Delivery of Public Services

Most of the project of information technology and e-governance provide broad spectrum of public services to citizens through integrated multi-service single window system, ensuring accountability, transparency, efficiency and effectiveness, The use and: spread of e-governance helps to reduce the interference of brokers, middlemen and public officials to extract payments in return for delivery of services.”

E-governance is advantageous for people as well as the government; the former because they get better services and the latter because they save money, reduce inefficiencies and gain popularity

E-governance enables the people to access, interact and receive services from the government at any time, say 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The role and applicability of IT and e-governance leads to:

1. increased speed and efficiency of inter-department and intra-department workflow and data exchange;
2. sharing of government data and information across administrative institutions and agencies/bodies;
3. improved cooperation and coordination between various departments, agencies, bodies working for the administrative machinery;
4. increase in the delivery of services: and
5. availability and accessibility of government data and information (documents, statistics, data, ere).

The effectiveness of e-governance in terms of improved transactions between government and citizens can be assessed. There are various ways and methods to measure the effectiveness of the delivery of services provided to the citizens by e-governance. These could be: the percent of citizens reached, response time for delivery of services, incurring cost for procuring services, availability of services, citizen satisfaction, etc. The effectiveness and usefulness of e-governance can be expressed in terms of “the performance of its attributes such as validity, accuracy, clarity, reliability, timeliness, relevancy, sufficiency, message content, freedom from bias, comparability, scope of multiple users, database and Cost. These contribute to the value of information and services”.

It is expected that the following parameters should be considered while delivering services through IT and e-governance:

1. Timely response by civil servants to queries and less time in completing transactions;
2. Improved communications;
3. On-line accessibility to administrative structure, chart, form;
4. On-line accessibility to government reports, documents;
5. Availability of on-line intervention on decision-making and policy development by civil service (participatory legislative processes, participatory budgeting, etc.);
6. On-line availability of government’s budgets and expenditure reports;
7. Delivering public services to larger segment ofpopulati6n;
8. Increase in the responsiveness, accountability and transparency in administrative institutions;
9. Availability of on-line requisite application form for recruitment process;
10. On-line process of tendering, procurement, etc. is open to the public;
11. Availability of e-documentation, e-record keeping, and e-transaction; and
12. Availability of on-line appealing and e-ombudsmen,

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