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An e-governance book that
disappoints
In India, Ministry of Information Technology has been exclusively created to promote IT. However honest, concerted efforts to use ICT for governance has not yet been made except in Andhra Pradesh. Most of the initiatives in this regard are the result of special effort by enthusiastic bureaucrats rather than planned ICT-use programs. The first chapter deals with The Process of Governance in which the author provides definition and explains the concepts related with various types of governance. The second chapter is devoted to the concept of e-governance, and related concepts like e-democracy, e-republic and e-business. The author has relied heavily on information available in the foreign text for obvious reasons and very little work has been done by the Indian authors. The third chapter is exclusively devoted to ICT and e-governance. The fourth chapter spreading over 170 pages is the reproduction of the E-Government Act of 2002 of the USA, the Information Technology Act 2000 of Government of India and the Electronic Communication and Transaction Act 2002 of the Republic of South Africa. The fifth chapter is related to certain case studies in Indian scene where ITC has been used. Case studies of ‘e choupal’, Gujarat State Wide Area Network (GSWAN), Warana Wired Village project and some other initiatives by a few state governments have been discussed in detail. The author ends up giving
process and concept of e-governance, use of ICT and some case studies
already available with different governments. This could easily be
contained in hundred odd pages. More than 200 pages are the reproduction
of the Acts of different governments. The author should have provided a
reference to these and the reader could refer to these Acts to suit his
requirement. But then that would not have become a ‘book’ and the
heavy price tag could not have been justified. The book remains an
average effort of the author. Any book on e-governance related to the
Indian scene must discuss the applications of ICT to areas like
agriculture, education, commerce, social services, rural service,
services related to economically weaker sections (EWS) of the society,
police services, utility payment, billing services, dissemination of
public information and, as matter of fact, all areas that have an impact
on the existence of a citizen. Unfortunately, this book fails on all
these accounts and remains a mere compilation of available information. |
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THE
term e-governance is of recent origin and has become the buzzword in all
developing countries. It is also perhaps one of the least understood
concepts by politicians, bureaucrats and the general public. Many
understand it only as use of IT for government functions. In fact, it is
the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for
redesigning the traditional mode of governance, through better
coordination and sharing of power among different components of
government, thus taking care of the traditional problems of governance.