E-Delivery of Public Services Development Policy Loan

Recently the World Bank and Indian government signed a loan agreement of $150 million for the e-delivery of public services in India. The loan has been granted as the e-delivery of public services development policy loan to be utilised under the national e-governance plan of India (NEGP).

Although the intentions are good yet the final outcome is not difficult to predict. India has a very poor track record of policy formulation and its implementation. For instance, policies pertaining to cyber law, cyber security, encryption, telecom, telecom security, mobile security, etc are still missing.

Further, India also has a poor track record of e-governance utilisation and providing of electronic delivery of services in India. We have no legal enablement of ICT systems in India and legal framework for e-delivery of services in India is also missing. In fact, as per e-governance experts of India, e-governance in India is dying. Without a mandatory e-governance services in India, e-delivery of services in India cannot be achieved.

According to Praveen Dalal, managing partner of New Delhi based law firm Perry4Law and leading techno legal expert of India, “The Government and Indian Bureaucrats need to change their mindset and stress more upon outcomes and services rather than mere ICT procurement. India needs a services-based approach that is not only transparent but also backed by a more efficient and willing Government. Presently the Bureaucrats and Government of India are in a “resistance mode” towards novel and effective e-governance policies and strategies and they are merely computerising traditional official functions only. This is benefiting neither the Government nor the citizens and is resulting in wastage of thousands of crores of public money and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and World Bank Grants amount”.

“The Governmental will and leadership is missing in India. To worsen the situation the Government of India is concentrating more upon the image rather than upon the end results. The grassroots level action is missing and the benefits of ICT are not reaching to the under privileged and deserving masses due to defective ICT strategies and policies of Indian Government. India is suffering from the “vicious circle” of defective e-governance, as the basic input .i.e. governance itself is poor. India needs a “virtuous circle” of e-governance through good governance that would have multiplication and amplification effect upon e-governance efforts of Indian Government, says Praveen Dalal.

E-delivery of public services in India is missing and World Bank is not at all interested in establishing transparency and accountability in Indian NEGP. World Bank must ensure accountability of Indian NEGP in order to show that its loans are actually meant for growth and development of Indian masses rather than benefiting few politicians and bureaucrats as is happening right now.

In these circumstance, the e-delivery of public services development policy loan would just add to the woes of Indians as this type of e-governance would be a source of corruption itself rather than removing the mass corruption existing in India. No time in the past the need for a strong and effective Jan Lokpal Act is felt more than the present circumstances where neither India nor International organisations like United Nations, World Bank, UNDP, etc are questioning the acts and omissions of Indian government.

Indian E-Delivery of Public Services

Electronic delivery of public services in India is in news these days. E-delivery of public services in India cannot be provided till we have a sound legal framework supporting the same. Till now we have no framework for mandatory e-delivery of public services in India.

The sole cyber law of India is incorporated in the information technology act, 2000 (IT Act 2000). IT Act, 2000 does not provide a mandatory framework for providing e-delivery of public service in India On the contrary, section 9 of the IT Act, 2000 is expressly denying the same to Indian citizens.

According to Praveen Dalal, managing partner of New Delhi base law firm Perry4Law and leading techno legal expert of India, E-Delivery of Public Services in India cannot succeed till we have “Mandatory E-governance Services in India”. Presently, providing of E-Delivery of Services in India is discretionary and this is resulting in “Poor Growth” of E-Governance in India, says Dalal. Even the proposed Essential Services Delivery Bill 2011 of India is “Not Conducive” for E-Delivery of Services in India, informs Dalal.

The national e-governance plan of India (NEGP) has been suffering from many defects and shortcomings. There is no performance based appraisals and neither is there any accountability for the funds issued to various e-governance projects. There seems to no accountability for the loans, funds, and grants issued by International organisations and programmes like World Bank and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The department of information technology (DIT) has released a paper note covering a framework for citizens’ engagement in NEGP. The idea is to engage citizens in policy formulation and its implementation at all the stages. Although the intention is good yet its accomplishment is next to impossible keeping in mind the poor past record of use of public private partnership (PPP) for governmental projects and initiatives.

Even the draft electronic services delivery bill 2011 is suffering from numerous limitations. It seems the sole purpose of this Bill is to use it as a façade so that international community, especially World Bank, can be fooled and the recent $150 million loan to India in this regard can be used on papers once again.

India has to be honest and corruption free if it wish to use the information highway of e-delivery of public services. But for the next ten years expecting mandatory e-delivery of public services in India would be ignoring the ground realities and vast corruption existing in India.

World Bank Must Ensure Accountability Of Indian NEGP

International organisations and programmes like World Bank and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have been supporting e-governance initiatives of various countries world wide. While this is a praiseworthy concept yet neither World Bank nor UNDP have been ensuring accountability and transparency for the granted funds.

Recently, World Bank approved $150 Million to accelerate implementation of India’s National e-Governance Plan (NEGP). The aim of NEGP is to transform the service delivery system across the country. The World Bank granted the loan for the purposes of electronic delivery of public services in India. While this World Bank loan will not target specific services per se, it will initiate policy and institutional actions that will affect all services.

However, of all the matters policy formulation in India is worst. Till now we do not have a sound ICT policy of India. Similarly, we do not have a legal framework for mandatory e-governance services in India. Even the proposed draft electronic services delivery bill 2011 of India is mere eyewash and nothing more. According to techno legal experts of India, e-governance in India is dying.

This is clear from the recent draft Electronic Services Delivery Bill, 2011 of India (ESD Bill 2011). However, the real problem with Indian E-Governance Initiatives in general and proposed ESD Bill 2011 in particular is that Legal Framework for Mandatory Electronic Services Delivery in India is missing from it, says Praveen Dalal, Supreme Court lawyers and Managing Partner of India’s exclusive techno legal law firm Perry4Law. Citizen to Government (C2G) Participation in India needs rejuvenation and an implementable Framework for Citizens Engagement in NEGP is the need of the hour, suggests Dalal.

Similarly, on the m-governance policy of India as well India is well beyond the required standards. The regulatory framework for m-governance in India is still missing. In fact, the most important requirement for establishing legal enablement of ICT systems in India is missing. We have no legal enablement of ICT systems in India and failure of e-courts project of India is directly attributable to the same.

If UNDP and World Bank are unaware of these failures of India nothing can be more unfortunate. However, if both UNDP and World Bank are aware of these circumstances and still prefer to do nothing, there is something very wrong with the system itself. UNDP and World Bank must immediately evaluate the circumstances prevailing in the Indian e-governance initiatives and take necessary actions in this regard.

Citizen To Government (C2G) Participation In India Rejuvenated

National E-Governance Plan (NEGP) of India is one of the most important projects. However, by and large e-governance in India has failed. Further, even plans to use m-governance in India are in the pipeline. However, there is no regulatory framework for m-governance in India.

In the absence of proper policies and guidelines, e-governance, m-governance and cloud computing are not going to be successful in India at all and all projects of Indian government are bound to fail.

For instance, e-courts project of India has failed to materialise despite spending huge money. We are still waiting for the establishment of first e-court of India. Further, there is no legal framework for mandatory e-governance services in India. The proposed draft electronic services delivery bill 2011 of India is mere eyewash and nothing more. Even legal enablement of ICT systems in India is missing.

These failures are attributable to the fact that grassroots level stakeholders are not consulted while formulating and implementation of e-governance and m-governance related projects in India. Public private partnership (PPP) has been used for long in India. However, it always remained ineffective. It is only now that crucial fields like internal security and defence sector have been opened up for PPP purposes.

Of course, the department of information technology (DIT) has recently released a concept note on framework for citizen engagement in NEGP. Although the framework is promising yet there is lack of legal enablement of ICT systems in India. Further, by its very nature it is knowledge driven and cannot be undertaken by government itself.

A model that can help in meeting the techno legal requirements of NEGP and framework for citizens’ engagement in NEGP has been suggested by India’s exclusive techno legal ICT law firm Perry4Law. It has launched the exclusive citizen to government (C2G) LPO and KPO services in India. This unique C2G LPO and KPO services by Perry4Law would not only help Indian government in enacting suitable techno legal policies but would also help in meeting the objectives of mandatory e-governance services in India as well as effective PPP in India on a C2G model.

Let us hope experts and stakeholders would be included in the fold this time by Indian government in general and DIT in particular. After all for how long can we tolerate corruption and failures in India? Let us hope that the proposed Jan Lokpal bill 2011 of India would also bring some respite in this regard.

Draft Electronic Service Delivery Bill, 2011 Of India

The proposals to ensure mandatory e-governance services in India have been mooted for long. However, by and large they remained mere proposal alone with no actual implementation. This has happened because mere wish without any mandatory legal framework never works in India.

Realising this truth, Indian government has proposed the Draft Electronic Delivery of Services Bill 2011 (EDS Bill 2011). The draft Bill was the first in the series to be considered by Indian Parliament. It was for the first time that the proposed Bill tried to confer a right upon Indian citizens to insist upon mandatory e-governance services.

The Bill if made a law would require complete overhaul of the present e-governance infrastructure and services delivery mechanism of Indian government. However, the real problem with Indian E-Governance initiative is that Legal Framework for Mandatory Electronic Services Delivery in India is missing, says Praveen Dalal, Supreme Court lawyers and Managing Partner of India’s exclusive techno legal law firm Perry4Law.

The Bill has now been revised and an updated version of the Bill has been released for public inputs. The updated version of the Bill is a useless law that would not make any difference. The mandatory delivery of e-governance services in India would still remain an unfulfilled dream for another decade or more.

Further, there are also chances that the mandatory electronic delivery of services would not be implemented at all. The proposed electronic services delivery bill 2011 has no purpose to serve and it would only amount to wastage of hard earned public money.

E-governance in India has failed to a greater extent and the proposed ESD Bill 2011 would be another chapter added to this failure. The national e-governance plan (NEGP) of India has failed to bring the desired results despite crores of public money wasted upon it.

Accountability and fairness are still missing in the e-governance initiatives of India and the proposed ESD Bill 2011 would further add to the woes of Indian e-governance initiatives.

In short, e-governance success in India is still a far dream. There is a complete lack of understanding about the legal enablement of ICT system in India and e-governance implementation. The proposed Bill proves this point. In all probability the Cabinet would reject the ESD Bill 2011 in its current form.