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A flop show called
Haryana e-governance
In Fatehabad district though computers have been supplied to almost all departments, these have been virtually turned into electronic typewriters in the absence of proper training to the staff. However, computers are being effectively used for registration of sale deeds in the offices of sub-registrars all of which have been fully computerised. The system has definitely proved effective in checking the evasion of stamp duty as the collector's rates for registration of deeds for different areas are stored in the computers. But unscrupulous elements have already found a way to fool the computers by getting their deeds registered by giving the correct khasra numbers of their plots but changing the location of their plots in favour of areas for which the rates are lower. So much for e-governance and transparency. Computerisation has been partial so far in the district treasury office, passport application collection centre, district rural development authority and some branches of the DC office. But the use of computers in most of these offices is restricted to the preparation of pay rolls and dak and meeting monitoring systems. E-mail facilities have been provided to the departments by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). The preparation of driving licenses and the registration of vehicles continues to be done manually. Other offices are using computers for typewriting only. Officials rue that they have not been trained to use computers. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr. Mahtab Singh Sehrawat, says issuance of driving licences will soon be computerised as the software was being readied. He said a computerised information centre for farmers called Agmark Network was performing well and providing all types of information to the farmers. That's all there is to e-governance more or less in every other district.
(With inputs from Bhupinder Dharmani, Sirsa and Sushil Manav, Fatehabad) |
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THE
much hyped e-governance project in Haryana is still to benefit the man
on the street. Despite massive allocation of funds and investments in
hardware, the common man is neither aware of e-governance nor is his
day-to-day dealings with the government offices any easier. If anything,
partial computerisation has only added to the citizens' woes.
E-governance was supposed to make their lives easier by eliminating the
need for visiting government offices for routine official work. However,
practically it is the reverse that has been achieved. Many of Haryana's
districts have now introduced preparation and renewal of driving
licences through computers. For this, the applicants are now required to
visit the registering and licensing authorities' offices so that they
can be photographed by a Webcam. Earlier, all that applicants were
required to do was to file an application along with their photographs.
Computerisation has thus complicated the procedure rather than making it
easier so far as the common man is concerned. By the way, computerised
driving licences are the most flaunted sign of computerisation and
e-governance at the grassroots. However, even this is limited to a few
districts.
Sirsa, the home district
of the Chautala family, which was considered as the forerunner in
implementing e-governance is facing problems too. When the Sirsa Website
was launched it was presumed that Sirsa would become the hub of
e-governance in the state. During the initial two years, the district
administration launched a number of information kiosks (IKs) in
different villages. These were aimed at making the entire district
administration available to the rural people at their doorsteps and
eliminate the need for villagers to visit government offices for routine
work at the district headquarters. The IKs were also supposed to handle
applications for loans, domicile certificates, different kinds of
licences and public complaints. D. Suresh who first started the project
as Additional Deputy Commissioner and later executed it as Deputy
Commissioner admitted that the kind of success he hoped for had remained
elusive. He said he was not satisfied with the working of the IKs though
he had identified the problems in implementing IT in the rural areas. He
candidly admitted that the non-cooperation of government officials,
threat of exposure due to transparency in e-governance in
corruption-ridden departments and the lack of connectivity in the rural
areas were the main reasons behind the tardy progress. However, he is
not disheartened. He said he will complete the Land Record
Computerisation Project in Kalanwali town of the district by the month
end. This project will be the second of its kind in the country after
Karnataka where the state government is earning more than Rs 6 crore per
year through it. He said if this project was publicly accepted it will
benefit farmers immensely as patwaris will not be able to change land
records at will as computerisation will ensure their accountability.
The digital age governance
may have eluded the masses but senior officers like deputy commissioners
do effectively use the state network for liaison with the state
government headquarters. Many claim this has brought in efficiency.
However, there are others who admit in private that even this is a
fallacy. They are of the view that computers and IT will usher in
e-governance only when the men behind the machines change their mindset.
They say computer training will not achieve anything merely. For
e-governance corrupt elements have to go first for they will never like
it to succeed for obvious reasons. Elderly officers nearing retirement
occupy senior positions. They are neither interested in learning nor
trying to encourage the younger officers to speed up computerisation.
There has also been no help available from BSNL for good connectivity in
the rural areas. E-governance will never be a reality unless villages
can benefit from it. 