Evolution of E-Governance in India

E-Governance in India has steadily evolved from computerization of Government Departments to initiatives that encapsulate the finer points of Governance, such as citizen centricity, service orientation and transparency.

Initial steps taken: 

• The first step towards electronics governance in India was marked by the formation of the Department of Electronics in 1970.
• With the motive to computerise all district offices in the country, the District Information System program was launched by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) which was established in 1977.
• The launch of NICNET– the national satellite-based computer network in 1987 provided the push for e-governance.
• There was a setting up of a National Task Force on Information Technology and Software Development in 1998.
• The creation of the Ministry of Information Technology happened at the Centre in 1999.
• The National Institute for Smart Government (NISG) was set-up at Hyderabad in the year 2002.
• A National Policy on Open Standards for e-Governance was notified in November 2010.
• The National Policy on Information Technology (NPIT) was approved in 2012.

Stages of E-Governance: 

United Nations E-Readiness Survey defined below mentioned stages of E-governance:

1. Emerging Presence: The focus in this stage is at the online presence of basic & limited information which contains an official website along with a few web pages. There is not much clarity on the availability of the links to various ministries and departments.
2. Enhanced Presence: The public information like reports, newsletters, laws and policies is shared largely by the Government and it is also possible for the users to navigate within the records. The only limitation that lies is that of one-way communication as the information transfer is only from Government to citizens and not the other way round.
3. Interactive Presence: This marks the introduction of interactivity in the Government websites in the form of making downloadable forms available & applications for payment of bills, taxes, and licence renewal.
4. Transactional Presence: The provisions such as applying for ID cards, licence renewals, birth certificates, passports, and allowing the citizen to submit forms and applications online in a never-ending manner makes the ideal functioning of twoway interaction between the Government and citizens very much possible.
5. Networked Presence: It is interpreted by an amalgamation of G2C, G2G, and G2B interactions. The citizen participation is encouraged to realise online participatory decision-making with the Government which helps in establishing a two-way open dialogue within the society.

E-Governance four stage evolution:

Computerization, Networking, Online presence,  and Online interactivity

• Computerization: Personal computers were available in many government offices. Many departments of government started using personal computers and programmes like word processing, data processing, etc.

• Networking: In this stage, many government offices were interconnected through a network. This facilitated the inter-departmental network for information sharing and flow of data.

• Online presence: With the increasing network capabilities of government offices, the need was felt to have an online presence of government departments. Websites of government departments came into existence. These websites provided basic information to the citizens such as reports, surveys, schemes, etc.

• Online interactivity: The two-way communication was established in this stage where people could send their feedback to the government through an online portal. This changed the role of citizens merely from the recipient of services to the active involvement of citizens in governance.

In order to promote e-Governance in a holistic manner, various policy initiatives have to be  undertaken and  develop core and support infrastructure.