Leveraging Technology to Improve Public Service Delivery: A Case of Implementation of National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) System in Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO), India

During the recent past, the governments across the countries have started deploying information and communication technologies to offer public services in a more efficient and effective manner. The implementation of e-governance projects in developing countries requires an altogether different approach as the challenge is to offer public services to all the citizens including those who are less technology savvy. It can be safely inferred that a technology solution implemented in some developed countries may not be simply replicated in a developing country, which has its own set of challenges. In this paper the implementation of National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) in Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO), a government body in India has been taken as an illustration to exemplify the effective use of technology to improve the service delivery in public sphere. Keywords: e-government, e-governance, e-payment, EPFO, ICT, India, NEFT, Provident Fund, Public Services, Social Security

Developing and Harnessing Software Technology in the South: The Roles of China, India, Brazil, and South Africa

Software technology is gaining prominence in national information technology (IT) strategies due to its huge potential for socioeconomic development, particularly through the support it provides in the productive sectors of the economy, delivery of public services and engagement of citizens. In growing numbers of developing countries, software technology is also being leveraged for income generation from digital services and products. For instance, in recent years, India, Chile, the Philippines, Brazil, China, and Indonesia have emerged as important global players in the offshore software services industry, with India and China standing out as leaders. Cooperation between developing countries (south-south) in the area of software technology has also been growing; particularly in the application of software technology to agriculture, public administration and governance (e-governance), transportation and the society (knowledge society). The paper presents the current state of software technology in the south and specifically, the maturity of the software industries in China, India, Brazil, and South Africa (CIBS). It establishes profiles of different regions based on the level of education, quality of research and availability of e-infrastructure and e-applications for determining the potential of these regions in terms of growth and competitiveness in the global software industry. Further complementary analysis of country profiles produced country clusters, helping to identify potential collaboration scenarios for advancing software capacity in the south. Finally, the paper discusses how CIBS can pivot regional or inter-regional cooperation in software technology in the south.software technology, software industry, south-south cooperation, China, Brazil, India, South Africa

E-GOVERNANCE INITIATIVE IN A DEVELOPING COUNTRY: THE CASE OF BANGLADESH

In this new era of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) the role of government is changing rapidly. To bring overall effective improvement in administration government has changed their patterns by implementing ICT in different sector of a country and adopting the new concept of e-governance. To reinvent a country‟s whole administration is not an easy task. Most of the developing countries still depend on the paper-based service delivery and the information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure condition is in a very poor situation. For this reason, as a developing country Bangladesh government also has to face many obstacles in implementing e-governance. In this thesis I try to show the barriers of implementing e-governance in Bangladesh and how Bangladesh can achieve a more citizen friendly service through e-governance. This thesis is mainly a theoretical based study. The impact of e-governance in public service is the main concern of this thesis. Here, in this thesis I will be discussing two successful projects of India and Sri Lanka concerning e-governance implementation. The reason behind for giving the example is that as a South Asian neighbour countries both India and Sri Lanka can be a role model for Bangladesh government for implementing e-governance. In the conclusion part, I would try to figure out a collaborated model for smooth running of e-governance operation in Bangladesh. It is nearly impossible for Bangladesh government to run e-governance project alone. This collaboration model is inspired from e-Sri Lanka model of Sri Lankan government. This model is unique and best for implementing in a developing country. Bangladesh government should collaborate with donor institutions and private sector to implement e-governance project in Bangladesh. Under the SICT (Support to ICT Task Force Program Project) project some small project already start to get success, so Bangladesh government should do more research in e-governance for better outcome. Bangladesh government e-governance project should be citizen-centric not techno-centric project. Bangladesh government should plan e-governance project in a way which brings efficiency and effectiveness with countries overall socio-economic development. Bangladesh government should take care of that e-governance project objective should be connected with the countries development objective. Bangladesh government should also take care of that it should never make ambiguous vision for e-governance project with its too little capacity.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format

A Conceptual Framework for Measuring Benefits of E-Governance

E-Governance is about reform in governance, facilitated by the creative use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). This leads to better access to information and quality services for citizens. Government invests large sums of money in implementing e-governance projects for benefiting the citizens. The main objective behind e-governance is to provide support and simplify governance for citizens. Therefore it is important to understand the types of benefits realized by citizens as a result of adopting e-governance services. The present paper discusses the benefits of e-governance by reviewing the previous studies done by various researchers. The researches on the benefits of e-governance in the contexts of various developing and developed countries are reviewed. Based on the review of prior research, a framework for categorizing the benefits of e-governance is proposed in the context of India, wherein four dimensions of benefits are identified i.e., Economic Benefits, Quality of Service (QoS) benefits, Quality of Governance (QoG) benefits and Personal Development. The scales for measuring these benefits are also proposed. The proposed framework can be used for empirically examining the extent of these benefits realized by the citizens and for studying the contribution of these benefits in the overall effectiveness of e-governance. Keywords: E-governance, Information and Communication Technology, Economic Benefits, Quality of Service, Quality of Governance, Indi

Clothing and export diversification : still a route to growth for low-income countries ?

Can the clothing sector be a driver of export diversification and growth for today's low-income countries as it was in the past for countries that have graduated into middle income? This paper assesses this issue taking into account key changes to the market for clothing: the emergence of India and especially China as exporting countries; the rise of global production chains; the removal of quotas from the global trading regime but the continued presence of high tariffs and substantial trade preferences; the increasing importance of large buyers in developed countries and their concerns regarding risk and reputation; and the increasing importance of time in defining sourcing decisions. To assess the importance of the factors shaping the global clothing market, the authors estimate a gravity model to explain jointly the propensity to export clothing and the magnitude of exports from developing countries to the E U and US markets. This analysis identifies the quality of governance as an important determinant of sourcing decisions and that there appears to be a general bias against sourcing apparel from African countries, which is only partially overcome by trade preferences.Economic Theory&Research,Free Trade,Trade Policy,Emerging Markets,Transport Economics Policy&Planning

Reflection of eGovernance on websites of India and Russia

Governments of the developing countries have been exploring new ways to allow participation of citizens in the governance, enabled by the Internet revolution. In this paper, we have explored, through a preliminary analysis of national government web sites, the attempts of two developing nations -- India and Russia, to establish digital governance. We have used the KPMG E-Commerce maturity model, WiIIcoks eBusiness evolution model and the WebQual site analysis tool as a theoretical framework to analyse the website performance and content, as a social construct that reflects government intentions, attitudes, digital governance directions and policies.<br /

Electronic waste, an environmental problem exported to developing countries: The GOOD, the BAD and the UGLY

Electronic waste (e-waste) is a rapidly developing environmental problem particularly for the most developed countries. There are technological solutions for processing it, but these are costly, and the cheaper option for most developed countries has been to export most of the waste to less developed countries. There are various laws and policies for regulating the processing of e-waste at different governance scales such as the international Basel Convention, the regional Bamoko Convention, and various national laws. However, many of the regulations are not fully implemented and there is substantial financial pressure to maintain the jobs created for processing e-waste. Mexico, Brazil, Ghana Nigeria, India, and China have been selected for a more detailed study of the transboundary movements of e-waste. This includes a systematic review of existing literature, the application of the Driver, Pressure, State, Impact, Response (DPSIR) framework for analysing complex problems associated with social ecological systems, and the application of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for evaluating the environmental impact of electronic devices from their manufacture through to their final disposal. Japan, Italy, Switzerland, and Norway have been selected for the LCA to show how e-waste is diverted to developing countries, as there is not sufficient data available for the assessment from the selected developing countries. GOOD, BAD and UGLY outcomes have been identified from this study: the GOOD is the creation of jobs and the use of e-waste as a source of raw materials; the BAD is the exacerbation of the already poor environmental conditions in developing countries; the UGLY is the negative impact on the health of workers processing e-waste due to a wide range of toxic components in this waste. There are a number of management options that are available to reduce the impact of the BAD and the UGLY, such as adopting the concept of a circular economy, urban mining, reducing loopholes and improving existing policies and regulations, as well as reducing the disparity in income between the top and bottom of the management hierarchy for e-waste disposal. The overarching message is a request for developed countries to help developing countries in the fight against e-waste, rather than exporting their environmental problems to these poorer regions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

ICT's role in e-Governance in India and Malaysia: A Review

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) play a key role in Development & Economic growth of the Developing countries of the World. Political, Cultural, Socio-economic Developmental & Behavioral decisions today rests on the ability to access, gather, analyze and utilize Information and Knowledge. Government of India is having an ambitious objective of transforming the citizen-government interaction at all levels to by the electronic mode by 2020.Similarly according to the Vision 2020-The Way Forward presented by His Excellency YAB Dato' Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad at the Malaysian Business Council "By the year 2020, Malaysia can be a united nation, with a confident Malaysian society, infused by strong moral and ethical values, living in a society that is democratic, liberal and tolerant, caring, economically just and equitable, progressive and prosperous, and in full possession of an economy that is competitive, dynamic, robust and resilient". This paper presents a comparative study and review relating to e-Governance and application of ICT development between India & Malaysia.Comment: 9 page

Geospatial and e-Governance readiness assessment : a case study from India and South Africa

E-governance and Geospatial technology adoption in the context of service delivery of municipalities is meant to have transparent, efficient and responsive government. In this globalised world, the technology adoption and its application is emerging at a very rapid pace. However, world over municipalities are facing enormous challenges to have effective municipal service delivery with changing scale of cities and changing socio economic background state of its citizens. The prime objective to implement E-governance and Geospatial Technology is usually cost cutting and also minimizing the complexities of procedure by possible business process reengineering. Municipalities are entrusted to provide efficient service delivery to its citizens and subsequent technology adoption however they still have issues like digital divide, affordability etc. The municipalities are keeping abreast of latest technologies and implementing them to enable greater facilitation of its services and at the same time increasing the accessibility of its services to the citizens. The concomitant advantage could be empowering people through so called “disintermediation” or eliminating middleman between government and its citizen. Just to mention a small example, implementing online property tax assessment and collection system could eliminate element of corruption in form of “middleman” and also improve on service delivery or consumer convenience especially in developing countries. The paper discusses and evaluates the dimensions of e-Governance and Geospatial adoption at select municipalities in India and South Africa and their readiness level for further change. The scope of this Geospatial and e-Governance Adoption is kept within the context of GIS and web enabled services, which further leverage transparency, responsiveness and accountability. Based on this overview of Geospatial and e-Governance Adoption level study, the paper identifies the lessons learned from the qualitative analysis of the Geospatial and e-Governance adoption levels for strengthening the areas of planning, governance and service delivery services to the citizens