The definition of e-Government and various enabling provisions of the Right of Information Act clearly demonstrate that if the various provisions of the enactment are given effect to in letter and spirit, e-Government and Governance is not at all a distant dream.

Girish Sharma Joint Collector, Betul (MP) g10sharma@gmail.com

Understanding e-Government Definitions of e-Government range from “the use of information technology to free movement of information to overcome the physical bounds of traditional paper and physical bound systems” to “the use of technology to enhance the access to and delivery of government services to benefit citizens, business partners and employees.” The key to e-Government is the establishment of a long term, organization-wide strategy to constantly improve operations with the end in view of fulfilling citizen needs by transforming operations such as staffing, technology, processes and work flow management. Thus, e-Government should result in the efficient and swift delivery of goods and services to citizens, businesses, government employees and agencies. To citizens and businesses, e-Government would mean simplification of procedures and streamlining of the approval process. To government employees and agencies, it would mean the facilitation of cross-agency coordination and collaboration to ensure appropriate and timely decision making.

Right to Information (RTI) Mahatma Gandhi said “The real Swaraj will come not by the acquisition of authority by a few but by the acquisition of capacity by all to resist authority when abused.”

The Objective of The Right to Information Act 2005 (22 of 2005) is……..An Act to provide for setting out of practical regime of right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities, in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority, the constitution of a Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions and for matters connected therewith and incidental thereto. WHEREAS the Constitution of India has established democratic Republic; And WHEREAS democracy requires an informed citizenry and transparency of information which are vital to its functioning and also to contain corruption and to hold Governments and their instrumentalities accountable to be governed;… NOW, THEREFORE, it is expedient to provide for furnishing certain information to citizens who desire to have it.

According to section 4 of the Act, (1) Every public authority shall-

Maintain all its records duly catalogued and indexed in a manner and the form which facilitates the right to information under this act and ensure that all records that are appropriate to be computerized are, within a reasonable time and subject to availability of resources, computerized and connected through a network all over the country on different systems so that access to such records is facilitated.

It shall be a constant endeavour of every public authority to take steps in accordance with the requirements of clause (b) of subsection (1) to provide as much information suo-moto to the public at regular intervals through various means of communications, including internet, so that the public have minimum resort to the use of this Act to obtain information.

For the purpose of sub-section (1), every information shall be disseminated widely and in such form and manner which is easily available to public.

All materials shall be disseminated taking into consideration the cost effectiveness, local language and the most effective method of communication in that local area and the information should be easily accessible, to the extent possible in electronic format with the Central Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer, as the case may be, available free or at such cost of the medium or the print cost price as may be prescribed.

Affinity between e-Government and RTI The definition of e-Government and various enabling provisions of The Right of Information Act clearly demonstrates that if the various provisions of the enactment is given effect to in letter and spirit, e-Government and Governance is not at all a distant dream. Establishing the regime of Right to Information Act in the entirety shall pave the way for establishing the framework and structure of e-Government and Governance. Thus it is amply clear that the enactment can act as basic rock solid foundation on which the structure of e-Government and Governance can successfully rest, for the benefit of public at large. Section 4(1)(b) mandates the disclosure of various information through various methods so that the information is available for the public in public domain. This duty has been cast on every public authority. Since e-Govt. and Governance is all about “the use of information technology to free movement of information to overcome the physical bounds of traditional paper and physical bound systems” to “the use of technology to enhance the access to and delivery of government services to benefit citizens, business partners and employees”, it is as clear as noon day that with the enactment in place, e-Govt. and Governance have become a reality.

Some of NIC's initiatives in establishing the regime of e-Gov. and RTI in Madhya Pradesh

Web Services The Web Services Center of NIC MP primarily maintains nearly 400 web-sites on MP Portal to facilitate greater access to all interested netizens and also to promote G2G/G2B/G2C/G2E interaction. The portal http://mp.gov.in is the cyber gateway to MP and has added to improved transparency through its interactive/ informative contents apart from providing various citizen services.

Land Record Information System Bhuabhilekh:- Bhu-Abhilekh is an application software product designed by NIC for the office of Commissioner, Land Records and Settlement, GoMP, to deliver excellent grass root governance within the domain of Land Management. Records of 35 million khasara (Plot/survey) numbers comprising of 10.5 million land owners have been computerized.

BSMP-Basic Services / Amenities Monitoring Programme Even though the Government spends most of the annual budget in providing/ maintaining the Basic Services and Amenities to its citizens, it was noticed that the public, in general, remain dissatisfied with the administration since large number of the services/ amenities remain affected many a times. Hence a proactive mechanism is evolved to capture the relevant information from all the villages of the State from an independent agency directly and to monitor it through the Basic Services/Amenities Programme to provide effective delivery of Basic Services/Amenities. Govt. is contemplating on making the data available in Public Domain.

Web based Rural Soft In order to monitor the physical and financial progress of poverty alleviation schemes of both state and central government, NIC MP State Center, Bhopal has designed and developed a computerized web-based system “Rural Soft” package for the Department of Rural Development, GoMP. The schemes included in the software are IAY, SGSY, SGRY, NFFWP, MDM, RSVY, MPREGS, MMAY, PMGY (Awas), Watershed Management etc. It has basically G2G and G2C interface. Samadhan Online and Samdhan Kendras have also G2C interface and also proving to be very effective in Public Grievance Redressal.

Above are the few examples which elucidate that in MP, Govt. with the help of NIC has established the regime of Right to Information and thus marching ahead in making e-Government and Governance a reality.