E-governance or electronic governance is normally defined as the delivery of government services and information to the public using electronic means with direct participation of constituents in government activities. Such means of delivering information is often referred to as information technology (IT).

Broadly speaking, E-Government is not just “electronic” government. It is “enabled” government, the government that delivers different and better programs and services.The e-Government is about people: new skill sets, mindsets and leadership approaches.

Goals of e-governance

The ARC report defined the need for e-Governance to bring the government closer to its citizens (G2C) and businesses (G2B) while promoting inter-government agency cooperation in a friendly, convenient, transparent and inexpensive fashion.According to this report the goals of e-Governance were defined as follows:

1.   Better service delivery to citizens

2.   Ushering in transparency and accountability

3.   Empowering people through information

4.   Improved efficiency within Governments

5.   Improve interface with business and industry.

The report recognized the existence of ongoing e-Government initiatives in India at that time and recommended them to be consolidated under NeGP for coordinated implementation.

Pre-requisites for successful e-governance are

• Large-scale computerization: Starting point of E-government, this would involve huge investments for the acquisition of hardware and software.
• Capability of Use of local languages in the IT systems: existing technologies available in the country such as GIST and language software by which transliteration from English into other languages can be made.
• Awareness: bringing of a change in the mindset of the government functionaries who have been accustomed to work only in the manual mode. It will be necessary to train all employees in basic computer usage.
• Infrastructure: Adequate and appropriate Infrastructure for Information Technology has to exist across the country with sufficient bandwidth.
• Standardization: Some of the key areas are: data encoding (ISCII or UNICODE). Application logic for common horizontal applications, user interfaces, data dictionaries, etc.
• Certification Authorities: Public Key Infrastructure and Certification Authorities to provide digital certificates that help create an on-line identification and security system for the Internet allowing individuals, corporations and government organizations to conduct transactions and communications is an important requirement for E-governance and E-business.
• Knowledge Networking for better governance: Digitization of the entire set of knowledge within a network which links every individual including the decision-makers and gives democratic freedom to everyone to access and make use of this knowledge paves the way for Digital Governance.
• Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), which envisages the use of Digital Certificate, and, is the key to ensuring authenticated private and non repudiable communications & transactions overun-trusted networks.

Importance of e-Governance

The application of information and communication technology in various administrative and governmental operations can bring about efficiency and responsiveness in the functioning of public institutions. Some of the benefits of the e-governance are listed below:

1.   First and foremost is the record keeping and reduction in files papers and other documents. Large amount of information can be stored in a small disc and can be retrieved as per the requirement.

2.   Many of the administrative processes can be automated with the use of ICT to save human labor. For example, short listing of candidates with minimum qualifications or in alphabetical order or preparation of Budget with the help of post information. Thus, many of the administrative processes done earlier manually can be performed through ICT based automation.

3.   Co-ordination, Supervision and Integration of administrative personnel,            processes and institutions is made effective and cost-effective through the use of ICT.

4.   Elimination of hierarchy and delay caused by hierarchical processes can be reduced through the use methods of ICT. Administration largely functions through the various level of hierarchy which causes delay in arriving at decisions. The ICT helps in reduction of hierarchical levels without compromising the quality of effectiveness of disposal of cases.

5.   Change towards transparent and accountable administrative culture can be brought about with the use of modern information technology. The secretive, non-responsive, self-centered and other dysfunctional aspects of bureaucratic culture can be corrected by opening the administrative processes to various stake-holders e-governance has come as a effective tool to do away with many negative aspects of what victor Thompson calls bureaupathological culture.

6.   Better quality and effective delivery of public services The information technology can handle demands of large numbers of customers in such fields as railways and education. The e-government services are cost and time effective.

7.   The e-governance processes and practices empower citizens by providing them opportunity to participate in decision making access to information and transparency in the administrative operations.

8.   The present age of globalization and liberalization is the age of competition in every field. Any administrative organization can gain competitive edge over others by the effective and proper use of e –governance processes. The strategic information system based on ICT may help an administrative organization to take strategic decision at appropriate time.

In brief the use of ICT in e-governance makes the governing system more efficient, accountable, responsive, transparent, participative and strategically competent.

Disadvantages

The main disadvantages concerning e-government is the lack of equality in public access to the internet, reliability of information on the web, and hidden agendas of government groups that could influence and bias public opinions.

There are many considerations and potential implications of implementing and designing e-government, including disintermediation of the government and its citizens, impacts on economic, social, and political factors, vulnerability to cyber attacks, and disturbances to the status quo in these areas.

Hyper-surveillance- Increased contact between government and its citizens goes both ways. Once e-government begins to develop and become more sophisticated, citizens will be forced to interact electronically with the government on a larger scale. This could potentially lead to a lack of privacy for civilians as their government obtains more and more information on them. In a worse case scenario, with so much information being passed electronically between government and civilians, a totalitarian-like system could develop. When the government has easy access to countless information on its citizens, personal privacy is lost.

Cost-Although "a prodigious amount of money has been spent" on the development and implementation of e-government, some say it has yielded only a mediocre product. The outcomes and effects of trial Internet-based governments are often difficult to gauge or unsatisfactory.

Inaccessibility-An e-government site that provides web access and support often does not offer the "potential to reach many users including those who live in remote areas, are homebound, have low literacy levels, exist on poverty line incomes."

False sense of transparency and accountability-Opponents of e-government argue that online governmental transparency is dubious because it is maintained by the governments themselves. Information can be added or removed from the public eye. 

Status of e-Governance in India

Recognizing the increasing importance of electronics, the Government of India established the Department of Electronics in 1970. The subsequent establishment of the National Informatics centre (NIC) in 1977 was the first major step towards e-Governance in India as it brought ‘information’ and its communication in focus.

The issue of accountable and citizen friendly administration was raised in the Chief Ministers conference in 1987. The conference also resolved to ensure transparency in administration and right to access to information to citizens.

In the light of the above concerns, the policy framework for the use of ICT in government operations was laid down by the Information Technology Act, 2000 passed by the parliament. The main features of this are that both e-commerce and e-governance operations are covered under the ambit of the Act and it provides legal validity to the electronic transactions in government and commercial functioning.

Another milestone in the evolution of e-governance in India is the report of Study Group on Convergence and e-Governance, 2002-07. The report, inter alia, suggested institutional framework, including a central body for the proper development of e-governance in India. The study group felt the need for    transforming administration from passive provider of information to a forum for active involvement of citizens.

National e-Governance plan has been put in place with three core elements—Data Centres, State wide Area Networks and Common Service Centres. The plan aims at bringing about transparency and citizen centric approach in the functioning of administration. The Department of Information Technology is the nodal agency to implement the National e-Governance Plan.

Yet another milestone in the history of e-governance in India is the enactment of Right to Information Act, 2005 by Indian Parliament empowering the citizens to have the right to access to , to inspect to or to take the certified copies of public documents. A network of information officers and State level information commissions is being evolved to implement the provisions of the Act.