The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) was approved in 2006 to take a holistic view of e-governance initiatives across the country, integrating them into a collective vision. Around this idea, a massive countrywide infrastructure reaching down to the remotest of villages is being developed, and large-scale digitisation of records is taking place to enable easy and reliable access over the internet. The ultimate objective was to make all government services accessible to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets, and ensure efficiency, transparency, and reliability of such services at affordable costs to realise the basic needs of the common man”.
Six elements are crucial for ensuring that governance and services are made available on demand to all citizens and other stakeholders in the country.
- Seamlessly integrated services across departments or jurisdictions
- Services available in real time from online & mobile platforms
- All citizen entitlements to be portable and available on the cloud
- Digitally transformed services for improving ease of doing business
- Making financial transactions electronic & cashless
- Leveraging Geospatial Information System (GIS) for decision support systems & development
Seamlessly integrated services across departments or jurisdictions
Access to some services often also involves documents, approvals and clearances from authorities outside the department/ jurisdiction providing the service. Today, the focus is on providing single-window access to such services so that the citizens and businesses save time and effort across multiple departments or jurisdictions concerned. This is exemplified by the e-Biz and e-Trade projects under the NeGP. In order to provide integrated services, DeitY has notified e-governance standards (available at https://egovstandards.gov.in ). Further, Open API and Open Source policies are also being finalized by DeitY. The API policy sets out the Government’s approach on the use of open APIs to promote software interoperability for all e-governance applications and systems and provide access to data & services for promoting participation of citizens and other stakeholders. Also, common platforms like MeghRaj Cloud Platform, Mobile Seva, PayGov and eSangam have been established by DeitY for the Departments and States for the purposes of interoperable and integrated services.
Services available in real time from online & mobile platforms
The focus today is on designing e-Governance applications in such a way that the related information, services and grievance-handling mechanism are accessible online on a real time basis and across all types of access devices such as desktop computers, laptops, tablets, mobiles, etc.
To ensure provisioning of high speed broadband connectivity at panchayat level, the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project is being implemented by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). This aims to resolve the connectivity issues by taking gigabit fibre to all the panchayats in the country.
The Mobile Seva project of DeitY is a highly successful project that provides a common national platform to all Government departments and agencies at the central, state and local levels for providing mobile based services and mobile apps. Over 1900 government departments and agencies across the country are using the mobile platform for mobile enabled services. This initiative has won the 2014 United Nations Public Service Award. Mobile Seva is a winner at United Nations Public Service Awards (2014) under the category “Promoting Whole-of-Government Approaches in the Information Age”. It is the only winner from India in 2014.
Services available in real time from online & mobile platforms
The focus today is on designing e-Governance applications in such a way that the related information, services and grievance-handling mechanism are accessible online on a real time basis and across all types of access devices such as desktop computers, laptops, tablets, mobiles, etc.
To ensure provisioning of high speed broadband connectivity at panchayat level, the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project is being implemented by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). This aims to resolve the connectivity issues by taking gigabit fibre to all the panchayats in the country.
The Mobile Seva project of DeitY is a highly successful project that provides a common national platform to all Government departments and agencies at the central, state and local levels for providing mobile based services and mobile apps. Over 1900 government departments and agencies across the country are using the mobile platform for mobile enabled services. This initiative has won the 2014 United Nations Public Service Award. Mobile Seva is a winner at United Nations Public Service Awards (2014) under the category “Promoting Whole-of-Government Approaches in the Information Age”. It is the only winner from India in 2014.
Table:3 Changing the Life of Citizens through Internet & Mobile connectivity
Current scenario:
- Difficulty in availing government services due to lack of internet connectivity
- Use of mobile phone or laptop would help in checking the status of entitlements, bank account details, etc.
- Access to internet and focus on digital literacy will also help citizens aspire for better jobs and improved quality of life.
- Text books will be available in the form of e-books which can be downloaded on laptops.
- Citizens may avail government and private services from home by accessing the software applications through internet.
All citizen entitlements to be portable and
available on the cloud
The flexibility, agility, cost effectiveness and transparency offered by the cloud technologies should be
considered while designing and hosting of applications. In order to utilize and harness the benefits of
Cloud Computing, Government of India has embarked upon an ambitious initiative – “GI Cloud” which
has been named as ‘MeghRaj’. The focus of this initiative is to accelerate delivery of e-services in the
country while optimizing ICT spending of the Government.
The cloud platform can host online repositories for all possible entitlements thereby providing a single
source of truth. This includes areas like Public Distribution System, BPL entitlements, social sector
benefits, LPG and other subsidies, etc. The platform can enable automated registration, maintenance and
delivery of citizen entitlements under several government schemes. This will provide delivery for these
entitlements on an anywhere, anytime basis. A citizen moving to a new place shall not lose his/her
entitlements and will not have to go through a lengthy process to register and supply documents afresh to
continue getting the benefits. The plan is to leverage the cloud platform for addressing the portability
issue towards ensuring continuity of citizen entitlements across the entire country.
A major milestone was achieved in October 2014 with the launch of provident fund portability through
the Universal Account Number (UAN). Employees now need not worry about transferring the funds
lying in their provident fund accounts when they change their locations.
Digitally transformed services for improving ease of doing business
Starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting
credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving
insolvency and other clearances etc. are the various experiences that define how easy or difficult it is to
do business in a country. Government services for businesses shall be digitally transformed for improving
Ease of Doing Business in the country.
The existing MMPs under the NeGP shall be strengthened using latest tools and technologies:
The e-Biz project provides integrated services across various central and state departments/ agencies
through a single window mechanism to all businesses and investors for setting up a commercial
enterprise.
The ‘MCA21’ MMP aims at providing electronic services for statutory requirements and other business
related services.
The e-Trade MMP facilitates foreign trade in India by promoting effective and efficient delivery of
services by various regulatory/ facilitating agencies involved in foreign trade, to enable traders to avail
online services from these agencies.
Making financial transactions electronic & cashless
Electronic payments and fund transfers have the advantage of targeted and direct delivery to the intended
beneficiaries without the involvement of middlemen who may otherwise subvert the system. Similarly,
online mechanisms for payment of fees for certain public services offer a transparent, friendly and
expeditious channel to citizens for payments. All financial transactions above a threshold shall be made
electronic & cashless.
DeitY has created PayGov India as a centralized payment gateway for all Government Departments and
agencies in the country. It is operated and maintained by NSDL Database Management Ltd (NDML), a
wholly owned subsidiary of National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).
PayGov India is securely integrated with National and State Service Delivery Gateways (NSDG and
SSDG) to enable sharing of information across databases for efficient service delivery, and also with the
Mobile Services Delivery Gateway (MSDG) under Mobile Seva. The citizens can choose from a host of
e-payment options such as Net banking, credit card, debit card, prepaid/ cash card/ wallet, Immediate
Payment Service (IMPS) and mobile wallet.
Leveraging Geospatial Information System (GIS) for decision support systems & development
Various government services can be offered in a better way by proper use of GIS technology in the e
governance applications. National Geospatial Information System (NGIS) is being implemented to
integrate geo-spatial data available with a number of organizations such as Survey of India, National
Informatics Centre (NIC), NRSA and Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) to develop a GIS platform for
e-Governance applications.
This GIS platform will be leveraged as a service for the benefit of various mission mode projects and
other e-governance initiatives. NGIS can also be leveraged for monitoring the physical progress of
projects, disaster management and specialised needs of public safety agencies.
The flexibility, agility, cost effectiveness and transparency offered by the cloud technologies should be
considered while designing and hosting of applications. In order to utilize and harness the benefits of
Cloud Computing, Government of India has embarked upon an ambitious initiative – “GI Cloud” which
has been named as ‘MeghRaj’. The focus of this initiative is to accelerate delivery of e-services in the
country while optimizing ICT spending of the Government.
The cloud platform can host online repositories for all possible entitlements thereby providing a single
source of truth. This includes areas like Public Distribution System, BPL entitlements, social sector
benefits, LPG and other subsidies, etc. The platform can enable automated registration, maintenance and
delivery of citizen entitlements under several government schemes. This will provide delivery for these
entitlements on an anywhere, anytime basis. A citizen moving to a new place shall not lose his/her
entitlements and will not have to go through a lengthy process to register and supply documents afresh to
continue getting the benefits. The plan is to leverage the cloud platform for addressing the portability
issue towards ensuring continuity of citizen entitlements across the entire country.
A major milestone was achieved in October 2014 with the launch of provident fund portability through
the Universal Account Number (UAN). Employees now need not worry about transferring the funds
lying in their provident fund accounts when they change their locations.
Digitally transformed services for improving ease of doing business
Starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting
credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, resolving
insolvency and other clearances etc. are the various experiences that define how easy or difficult it is to
do business in a country. Government services for businesses shall be digitally transformed for improving
Ease of Doing Business in the country.
The existing MMPs under the NeGP shall be strengthened using latest tools and technologies:
The e-Biz project provides integrated services across various central and state departments/ agencies
through a single window mechanism to all businesses and investors for setting up a commercial
enterprise.
The ‘MCA21’ MMP aims at providing electronic services for statutory requirements and other business
related services.
The e-Trade MMP facilitates foreign trade in India by promoting effective and efficient delivery of
services by various regulatory/ facilitating agencies involved in foreign trade, to enable traders to avail
online services from these agencies.
Making financial transactions electronic & cashless
Electronic payments and fund transfers have the advantage of targeted and direct delivery to the intended
beneficiaries without the involvement of middlemen who may otherwise subvert the system. Similarly,
online mechanisms for payment of fees for certain public services offer a transparent, friendly and
expeditious channel to citizens for payments. All financial transactions above a threshold shall be made
electronic & cashless.
DeitY has created PayGov India as a centralized payment gateway for all Government Departments and
agencies in the country. It is operated and maintained by NSDL Database Management Ltd (NDML), a
wholly owned subsidiary of National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL).
PayGov India is securely integrated with National and State Service Delivery Gateways (NSDG and
SSDG) to enable sharing of information across databases for efficient service delivery, and also with the
Mobile Services Delivery Gateway (MSDG) under Mobile Seva. The citizens can choose from a host of
e-payment options such as Net banking, credit card, debit card, prepaid/ cash card/ wallet, Immediate
Payment Service (IMPS) and mobile wallet.
Leveraging Geospatial Information System (GIS) for decision support systems & development
Various government services can be offered in a better way by proper use of GIS technology in the e
governance applications. National Geospatial Information System (NGIS) is being implemented to
integrate geo-spatial data available with a number of organizations such as Survey of India, National
Informatics Centre (NIC), NRSA and Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) to develop a GIS platform for
e-Governance applications.
This GIS platform will be leveraged as a service for the benefit of various mission mode projects and
other e-governance initiatives. NGIS can also be leveraged for monitoring the physical progress of
projects, disaster management and specialised needs of public safety agencies.
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