Right synergy for good results

: E-governance enhances the efficacy of citizen and government interaction. This has been made possible by public-private sector partnerships leading to the availability of more affordable and rugged PCs to suit operating conditions in the hinterland and deepening Internet penetration. With the realisation of e-governance projects in India, the time has come to review the role of the public sector as well as private sector to speed up the process of implementation of different projects related to e-governance.

The government agencies throughout the world are considering and conducting e-governance initiatives with the help of private players; the scene in India is much the same. The development of network-based distributed systems that serve numerous and diverse constituents and improve the overall efficiency and functioning of government is a priority. Considering these requirements, private players such as IT vendors are extending their overall support to realise e-governance projects for Indian citizens. Not just the central government, state governments are also actively participating in these projects. Today, most states have drafted state-specific IT policies that are in various stages of implementation. The central government has also taken several initiatives to advance ICT usage across all government bodies as this will benefit the common man. These include the roll-out of the National e-governance Plan (NeGP), the launch of Mission 2007, and the formation of e-panchayats across the country.

As far as the e-governance initiatives are concerned, the three Ps— public-private partnership — say it all. This model requires less investment from the government.

States R Chandrashekhar, joint secretary, department of information technology, government of India, “We welcome private participation in fulfilling the e-Governance initiatives of the Government of India. But this participation can only happen at the front-end level since the government is handling all the back-end work. For example, in the case of ICT kiosks, any private party can do the setting-up of a kiosk, but to run that kiosk the government will provide all support.”

If we have a closer look at the various projects already implemented in India, as well as those at the pilot stage, then we get a clear idea of the PPP model. Some of the IT companies that have taken a pioneering role in e-governance projects include Microsoft, Sun, IBM, TCS, HCL Infosystems and Adobe.

Microsoft is working with 14 state governments in various projects across the country. Says Rohit Kumar, country head, public sector, Microsoft India, “our e-governance vision is...