E- Office Platform and E- Governance in India

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19 Jul E- Office Platform and E- Governance in India

Posted at 19 Jul 2024 in Current Affairs by
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( This article belongs to the section ‘ Indian Polity and Governance, Government Policies and Interventions ‘ of General Studies Paper – 2 of UPSC Civil Services Mains Exam and ‘ E-Office Platforms in India, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, e-Governance ‘ of UPSC Prelims Exam. It also includes suggestions from the PLUTUS IAS Team. This article belongs to the section ‘ E-Office Platforms and e-Governance in India ‘ of ‘ Daily Current Affairs ‘.)

 

Why in the News ? 

 

  • The Government of India has announced the implementation of the e-Office platform in subordinate offices and autonomous bodies as part of the 100-day agenda of the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG). 
  • E-Office is a digital workplace solution combining various products that works to simplify government functions for the general public. 

 

Objective of e-Office Initiative : 

 

  • It aims to digitize file handling and receipts in various government bodies. 
  • This initiative has been taken in view of the significant pace of adoption of e-Office in the Central Secretariat during the period 2019 to 2024, where 94 percent of the files are in the form of e-file and 95 percent of the receipts are in the form of e-Receipt. Has been safely handled by converting to.
  • Based on this success, the Government has identified 133 entities for implementation of the e-Office initiative after inter-ministerial consultation. Guidelines for its adoption were issued by DARPG and National Informatics Center (NIC).

 

For digital transformation and administrative efficiency : 

 

  • The Government has appointed all Ministries/Departments Nodal Officers, set up data centers, and coordinated with NIC for digital transformation and administrative efficiency.
  • Strengthening the commitment of the Government under the e-Office platform, all Ministries/Departments will appoint nodal officers, set up data centers and coordinate with NIC for seamless, time-bound implementation of the e-Office platform.

 

Benefits of e-governance in India :

Following are the benefits of e-governance in India – 

  • Data-Driven Governance : The use of the Internet and smartphones has made possible instant transmission of data, which is important for effective governance.
  • Ensuring Cost Savings : A large portion of government expenditure goes towards the cost of purchasing stationery for official purposes. By replacing it with smartphones and internet through e-governance, crores of rupees can be saved every year in the expenditure incurred on this item.
  • Promoting Transparency : With e-governance, all official information can be uploaded on the Internet, which increases the transparency of governance programs.
  • Determining Accountability : E-governance increases accountability for the functioning of governance, because when any information related to governance is publicly available to citizens, the government is more accountable for its actions.
  • To ensure land records monitoring : There is a need for effective land monitoring in a large developing country like India. To ensure that transactions related to properties (including physical transactions) are fraud-free, maintenance of online records related to land by the administration or government is a key feature of e-governance in India.

 

Challenges related to e-governance in India : 

 

Following are the main challenges related to e-governance in India – 

  1. Interoperability Challenges : One of the major challenges of e-governance is that of interoperability, which creates difficulty in ensuring interoperability between ministries and departments in India. This becomes a major hurdle in processing and sharing data.
  2. Linguistic Barriers : India’s linguistic diversity is also a significant challenge for e-governance. Most of the rural population cannot use English or Hindi, rendering them unable to avail government services. This situation reflects the need for services in local languages. Which may be incapable of English or Hindi for e-governance.
  3. Existence of digital illiteracy in India : The literacy rate in rural areas of India is around 67%, with male literacy rate at 77% and female literacy rate at 60%. Due to lack of technological awareness and related knowledge, most of the rural people are not able to use government facilities.
  4. Lack of digital infrastructure : Lack of internet connectivity and uninterrupted supply of electricity in rural areas of India is a major challenge for effective e-governance.
  5. Authentication Problems : Identification of the true user of the services is extremely important, otherwise it can be misused by private competitors. ‘Digital signature’ plays an important role in providing authenticity, but it is expensive and requires maintenance.
  6. Privacy Issues : Online transactions and privacy issues are becoming increasingly prominent. Insurance, banking, utility bill payments—all these services are provided by e-government. Along with this, protection of privacy of citizens is also important.
  7. Lack of effective grievance redressal mechanism : Lack of timely and effective grievance redressal mechanism poses serious challenges. These particularly include biometric identification errors and errors in online applications such as the National Mobile Monitoring Software. Authorities often make rights-holders feel liable for technical disruptions.
  8. Responsibility of the officer : Most authorities often make the rights holder feel responsible for technical disruptions. They help operate relevant mechanisms to protect the rights of citizens.
  9. Integration of Services : Most of the e-governance services offered by state and central governments are not integrated, creating barriers to their use.

All these challenges hamper the effectiveness of e-governance and underline the need for appropriate policies and measures to address them.

 

Solution/ Way Forward:

 

  • To ensure participation of local people in the implementation of policy making : The deployment of intermediaries is necessary to establish coordination between policy makers or planners at the government level and the beneficiaries. E-governance will improve accountability of the public service delivery system and increase citizen participation and satisfaction. Involvement of local people in policy implementation can bridge the communication gap between government and citizens, as well as encourage local initiatives.
  • Providing demand driven services : There is a need for planning with an upward approach through urban and rural level socio-economic databases. Government ministries should adopt a holistic and integrated approach that includes identification, evaluation, formulation, implementation and redressal of data-driven policies to address the needs of the population as a matter of urgency.
  • Focusing on local e-governance : There is a strong need to implement e-governance at all levels in India, but special attention should be paid to local governments as they are closest to the citizens and primarily interact with the government to implement government schemes at the grassroots level. Do it.
  • Need to pay special attention to better digital infrastructure and connectivity : Special attention should be paid to improving digital infrastructure (especially in rural areas) and better internet connectivity. 
  • Need to use regional languages ​​more and more : For a multilingual country like India, e-governance through regional languages ​​would be more suitable.
  • There is a need to implement e-readiness at different levels : Different states in India are at different levels of e-readiness. It is important to keep this aspect in mind while implementing e-governance reforms.
  • Scaling up successful models nationwide : There are many successful e-governance projects currently running in the country, but only a few of these are implemented on a nationwide level. These successful models need to be implemented and scaled up uniformly across the country.

 

Source – The Hindu and PIB.

 

Practice Questions for Preliminary Exam : 

 

Q.1. Consider the following statements regarding e-office platforms in India। 

  1. Its objective is to digitize file handling and receipts.
  2. Under e-governance in India, online records related to land are to be maintained.
  3. It provides authenticity of digital signatures.
  4. Under this, there is a hindrance in processing and sharing the data.

Which of the above statement /statements is/ are correct? 

A. Only 1, 2 and 3.

B. Only 2, 3 and 4.

C. None of these.

D. All of the above.

Answer – D

 

Practice Questions for Main Exam : 

 

Q.1. Describe the main challenges related to e-governance in India and discuss in detail the measures to solve it.  (UPSC – 2018 Word Limit – 250 Marks – 15)

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