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ICT -eGovernance for Rural Citizens
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eGoernance interdependently can not be a facilitator
of effective and efficient service unless citizens are able to inculcate awareness and learn to apply a wide set of literacy skills to access, understand and use such ICT enabled delivery channels. Rural Citizen Faces number of limitations and restriction (Environmental,Social, Economical, Educational / Literacy level,Regulatory etc) between the crucial components e.g.
(1) access to ICT enabled services and
(2) usages of ICT enabled service channels. Rural
Information Kiosks in developing countries will
essentially work in – “Assisted Information Kiosk Mode”initially, as development of learning skills amongst rural citizen will take its own time.
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Dr. R K Dave, SM.I.E.E.E., B.E., M.B.A., M.S.H.S.
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Ex-OSD (IT), DIT, Ministry of Communication and IT, Government of India
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CONNECTED GOVERNMENT – A MUST FOR eGOVERNANCE
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Poor and inadequate broadband connectivity remains at the top of the identified issues responsible for e-government status in country. Connected Government is the prime enabler for e-government, and e-government is the prime enabler for e-governance. Public Telecommunication infrastructure and the utility infrastructures (specifically electric power) are critical in the e-governance process as people need reliable broadband access to the Government and other services offered electronically.
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Dr. R K Dave, SM.I.E.E.E., B.E., M.B.A., M.S.H.S.
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Ex-OSD (IT), DIT, Ministry of Communication and IT, Government of India
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STANDARDISATION & eGOVERNANCE
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Standardization is a must for all ICT infrastructures as this will enable uniformity and interoperability without which inter-governmental information exchange or services will not function. The current world dynamics ask for “anywhere-to-anywhere” service links and, in this context, E-Government and hence e-governance cannot be realized without Standardization.
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Dr. R K Dave, SM.I.E.E.E., B.E., M.B.A., M.S.H.S.
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Ex-OSD (IT), DIT, Ministry of Communication and IT, Government of India
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COMMUNITY SERVICE CENTER IN RURAL INDIA
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Rural ICT-enabled service centers (CsC or CeC or CiC) should cascade with and support the traditional information exchange procedures (e.g. sitting at the local tea shop, one educated person –volunteer- reads the newspaper and all others listen to him; or elders speak out the message and a volunteer writes a letter in a typical village environment; etc.) until the literacy level comes to a threshold point in rural India. Generic service delivery channels and their operating mechanism may not necessarily be applicable or acceptable in rural India under the current circumstances.
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Dr. R K Dave, SM.I.E.E.E., B.E., M.B.A., M.S.H.S.
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Ex-OSD (IT), DIT, Ministry of Communication and IT, Government of India
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BROADBAND ACCESS AND RURAL COMMUNITY
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Broadband access will be a major requirement in rural areas without means for education and basic health services. Audio-video based deliverables ON EDUCATION AND HEALTH are important to rural community with very low literacy, which makes broadband connectivity more critical in rural then other areas. New wireless based technologies (like WiMAX, DVB-RCS etc.) might prove useful in quicker roll out of broadband connectivity in inaccessible areas.
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Dr. R K Dave, SM.I.E.E.E., B.E., M.B.A., M.S.H.S.
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Ex-OSD (IT), DIT, Ministry of Communication and IT, Government of India
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EFFECTIVE eGOVERNANCE
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Success of e-government / e-governance will rest on the quantity and quality of the contents and services made available in electronic form and the reliability and speed of the broadband access infrastructure. Ease of use (including the right language) will also be an important factor in view of the low literacy levels.
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Dr. R K Dave, SM.I.E.E.E., B.E., M.B.A., M.S.H.S.
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Ex-OSD (IT), DIT, Ministry of Communication and IT, Government of India
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eGOVERNANCE PROJECTS, THEIR MANAGEMENT & THIRD PARTY AGENCY:
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Project Management tools and techniques are important every where but are more crucial & critical in the Governments due to amount of “uncertainties involved” in definition and scope of works (scope may changes any time in pre or post project implementation phase) attributed to political variable and changing priorities.
But then - Modern Project Management Techniques seldom works successfully in a deep-rooted hierarchical functioning system where employees are shifted / transferred frequently. “ Concurrent communication” for bringing “common knowledge & understanding” on the various components of the project is a must for effective project management.
Needless to say that – existing hierarchical architecture and functioning of the Government may not change as such system facilitates “distribution of responsibility” to which civil services (which is vulnerable to questioning and complaints from public for any thing they do) are very sensitive, as no one would prefer to owe “individual responsibility”.
The answer to this chronic problem is – Let Government keeps away from day to day management and just concentrate on using the services! Appointment of APPROPRIATE “Third Party Agency” with a rigid SLA (no scope for introducing flexibilities at later stage) for overall Project Management, during the currency of the project would bring effective results and timely completion of eGov projects.
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Dr. R K Dave, SM I.E.E.E.
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Ex - OSD (Information Technology)
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