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A senior official in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) involved in the programme believes that conventional colonial administrative structure, not geared up to maintain, store and retrieve information electronically was the main reason for the project failing to take-off.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's one-week trip to the United States which was focused to seek a digital seat for India, has soared hopes within the government as well as in the IT industry. They now foresee a holistic focus and 'ache din'' for e-governance, which has so far failed to take-off, despite spending hefty sums on training of babus. Modi during his interactions at the Silicon Valley reiterated the need for electronic governance to accentuate prospects of developments.
Despite the concept of e-governance being launched in mid-90s, the paperless governance in India is still a mirage.
Government sources here said after spending a sum of Rs 313 crore on imparting training on e-governance skills to officers over past eight years, the results have been scanty and even an internal survey had suggested that 75% of these trained babus were still not atoned to electronic governance skills.
A senior official in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) involved in the programme believes that conventional colonial administrative structure, not geared up to maintain, store and retrieve information electronically was the main reason for the project failing to take-off. To make an average district paperless, 2,300 subjects running into some 25,000 files with few lakh pages need to be classified and converted into electronic documents. But, more than than, officials as well as IT experts say, the mindset of middle level babus, who are designed to keep information and public at an arms'length, was the main enemy of electronic governance.
Lack of personnel with appropriate skills is also key challenge while implementing e-governance projects. At present computers in government offices are largely used as word processors, undermining their purpose for data mining and supporting management decession. Vikas Kanungo, an e-governance consultant had found that in government offices time gap between the procurement of the hardware and development of the custom application was so large that by the time application is ready, the hardware becomes obsolete.
A few years ago, the government has approved a Rs.450 core programme for training 20,000 officials on technology and management skills by 2017, required for e-governance rollout.
The framework has defined 19 roles to take into account competencies related to professional skill set, knowledge, behaviour and training and certification. Though, it was approved in 2008, but after several extensions, the first phase ended only in January 2015 with limited success. The first phase had two major components. The recruitment of IT and management professionals from the market and their deputation to different states and the training programme for senior (joint secretary level and above), mid (director level) and junior (section officer, deputy secretary rank) officials.
Though workshops for officers were conducted in 2010, many of them told dna , that the training didn't cater to the actual expertise required for their work. Also they complained that they never had a platform where they could find answer to their queries. Whileas 60 per cent of joint secretary-level trained officials were working on e-governance projects, the percentage comes down to 50 per cent in case of mid-level or director level officials and goes further down to 30 per cent in case of junior officials.
Officials at the DopT, however, take a solace that a paper-less office was possible, pointing out towards Sindhudurg district headquarters in Maharashtra, which has become India's first e-Office .
But, they add that it was possible because 86.54 per cent of Sindhudurg's total 8.5 lakh population was literate and helped in rolling out the project faster.
The arm of e-governance National Informatics Centre (NIC) currently manages over 7,000 websites of various department and agencies of central and state governments, and some 20 lakh email accounts. Government sources say, while the agency provides IT solutions and support to ministries and departments, it has failed to catch up with mobile based technologies. Officials at the NIC said that in 2011 they had asked for recruitment of atleast 355 experts for the cyber security team. They also now pin hopes that Modi's digital India programme will bring some cheers to their organisation. Such is deficienty in the staff, that they don't have a single person to look after the certifying authority work, leave alone creating an anti-hacking crack force.
Source : http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-bureaucrats-and-experts-hope-pm-narendra-modi-s-us-visit-brings-acche-din-for-e-governance-2130719
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Bureaucrats and experts hope PM Narendra Modi's US visit brings 'acche din' for e-governance - Paperless Governance
A senior official in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) involved in the programme believes that conventional colonial administrative structure, not geared up to maintain, store and retrieve information electronically was the main reason for the project failing to take-off.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's one-week trip to the United States which was focused to seek a digital seat for India, has soared hopes within the government as well as in the IT industry. They now foresee a holistic focus and 'ache din'' for e-governance, which has so far failed to take-off, despite spending hefty sums on training of babus. Modi during his interactions at the Silicon Valley reiterated the need for electronic governance to accentuate prospects of developments.
Despite the concept of e-governance being launched in mid-90s, the paperless governance in India is still a mirage.
Government sources here said after spending a sum of Rs 313 crore on imparting training on e-governance skills to officers over past eight years, the results have been scanty and even an internal survey had suggested that 75% of these trained babus were still not atoned to electronic governance skills.
A senior official in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) involved in the programme believes that conventional colonial administrative structure, not geared up to maintain, store and retrieve information electronically was the main reason for the project failing to take-off. To make an average district paperless, 2,300 subjects running into some 25,000 files with few lakh pages need to be classified and converted into electronic documents. But, more than than, officials as well as IT experts say, the mindset of middle level babus, who are designed to keep information and public at an arms'length, was the main enemy of electronic governance.
Lack of personnel with appropriate skills is also key challenge while implementing e-governance projects. At present computers in government offices are largely used as word processors, undermining their purpose for data mining and supporting management decession. Vikas Kanungo, an e-governance consultant had found that in government offices time gap between the procurement of the hardware and development of the custom application was so large that by the time application is ready, the hardware becomes obsolete.
A few years ago, the government has approved a Rs.450 core programme for training 20,000 officials on technology and management skills by 2017, required for e-governance rollout.
The framework has defined 19 roles to take into account competencies related to professional skill set, knowledge, behaviour and training and certification. Though, it was approved in 2008, but after several extensions, the first phase ended only in January 2015 with limited success. The first phase had two major components. The recruitment of IT and management professionals from the market and their deputation to different states and the training programme for senior (joint secretary level and above), mid (director level) and junior (section officer, deputy secretary rank) officials.
Though workshops for officers were conducted in 2010, many of them told dna , that the training didn't cater to the actual expertise required for their work. Also they complained that they never had a platform where they could find answer to their queries. Whileas 60 per cent of joint secretary-level trained officials were working on e-governance projects, the percentage comes down to 50 per cent in case of mid-level or director level officials and goes further down to 30 per cent in case of junior officials.
Officials at the DopT, however, take a solace that a paper-less office was possible, pointing out towards Sindhudurg district headquarters in Maharashtra, which has become India's first e-Office .
But, they add that it was possible because 86.54 per cent of Sindhudurg's total 8.5 lakh population was literate and helped in rolling out the project faster.
The arm of e-governance National Informatics Centre (NIC) currently manages over 7,000 websites of various department and agencies of central and state governments, and some 20 lakh email accounts. Government sources say, while the agency provides IT solutions and support to ministries and departments, it has failed to catch up with mobile based technologies. Officials at the NIC said that in 2011 they had asked for recruitment of atleast 355 experts for the cyber security team. They also now pin hopes that Modi's digital India programme will bring some cheers to their organisation. Such is deficienty in the staff, that they don't have a single person to look after the certifying authority work, leave alone creating an anti-hacking crack force.
Source : http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-bureaucrats-and-experts-hope-pm-narendra-modi-s-us-visit-brings-acche-din-for-e-governance-2130719
This Blog helps you to have a better understanding of STPI scheme, export of IT & software and software services including Information Technology (IT) enabled services/ Bio- IT And other export promotion scheme of Government of India.
You are requested to join STPI Blog for the latest updates, news, RBI guidelines for exporters, FEMA Regulations and other related information.
Become Follower of Our Blog - http://stpi-scheme.blogspot.com/
Join Facebook Group of STPI -
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