Overcoming the Challenges in implementing e-Governance in Rural India

To ensure the availability of e-governance to the rural masses is the need of hour for a country like India, where a majority of population lives in rural area. Use of ICT facilities plays a key role in e-governance and is becoming indispensable. Here we try to highlight the Challenges related to implementation of e-Governance in India. E-governance aims at providing information and services to the citizens. It also helps them in decision making process, to make government more accountable, transparent and effective. Effective implementations can take ICT to the Indian citizens and can help government to align their services with the changing needs of stakeholders and Indian citizens to develop the economy. Here we also consider various e-governance projects started by the Government and initiatives that should be taken by the Government for successful implementation of e-governance in rural India

Embracing the Complexity of Policy Processes in Sanitation: Insights from India

[EN] Different stakeholders tried participatory approaches to boost progress in rural sanitation in India. The policy processes around these experiences, despite shaping their outcomes, remain a knowledge gap this paper addresses. Evidence show that the interests of the actors involved resulted in the national campaign being construction-focused. Therefore, participatory approaches could only be successfully introduced through networks with political champions at their centre. Moreover, political dynamics determined the success of the different introduction strategies. A better understanding of these policy processes, using analytical frameworks such as the one we propose, will lead to smarter influencing strategies in the sanitation sector.Hueso, A.; Boni Aristizábal, A.; Fernández-Baldor, Á. (2018). Embracing the Complexity of Policy Processes in Sanitation: Insights from India. Development Policy Review. 36:203-219. doi:10.1111/dpr.12246S20321936Chambers , R. 2009 Going to scale with Community-Led Total Sanitation: Reflections on experience, issues and ways forward https://www.ids.ac.uk/publication/going-to-scale-with-community-led-total-sanitation-reflections-on-experience-issues-and-ways-forwardDeak , A. 2008 Taking Community-Led Total Sanitation to scale: Movement, spread and adaptation http://www.ids.ac.uk/publication/taking-community-led-total-sanitation-to-scale-movement-spread-and-adaptation1DFID 2009 Political economy analysis how to note: A DFID practice paper https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/events-documents/3797.pdfDuncan , A. Williams , G. 2010 Making development assistance more effective by using political economy analysis: What has been done and what have we learned? http://thepolicypractice.com/publications/making-development-assistance-more-effective-by-using-political-economy-analysis-what-has-been-done-and-what-have-we-learned/Government of Himachal Pradesh 2005 Strategy for total rural sanitation in HP http://www.hptsc.nic.in/TSC%20Strategy.pdfGovernment of India 2001 Central Rural Sanitation Programme: Total sanitation campaign http://hptsc.nic.in/crsp2001.pdfGovernment of India 2004 Guidelines on Central Rural Sanitation Programme: Total sanitation campaign https://www.ircwash.org/sites/default/files/DDWS-2004-Guidelines.pdfGovernment of India 2011a Enhanced quality of life through sustained sanitation. India country paper http://www.mdws.gov.in/sites/default/files/IndiaCountryPaper2011.pdfGovernment of India 2011b Towards Nirmal Bharat: Rural sanitation and hygiene strategy 2010-2022 http://www.indiasanitationportal.org/full-view-page.php?title=MTQ2Government of India 2012a Census of India 2011, house listing and housing census data tables - district level http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/hlo/District_Tables/HLO_District_Tables.htmlGovernment of India 2012b Census of India 2011. Availability and type of latrine facility: 2001−2011 http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/hlo/Data_sheet/India/Latrine.pdfHarris , D. Kooy , M. Jones , L. 2011 Analysing the governance and political economy of water and sanitation https://www.odi.org/publications/5911-political-economy-analysis-governance-water-sanitationHueso, A., & Bell, B. (2013). An untold story of policy failure: the Total Sanitation Campaign in India. Water Policy, 15(6), 1001-1017. doi:10.2166/wp.2013.032Kar , K. Chambers , R. 2008 Handbook on Community-Led Total Sanitation http://www.communityledtotalsanitation.org/sites/communityledtotalsanitation.org/files/cltshandbook.pdfKar , K. Milward , K. 2011 Digging in, spreading out, and growing up: Introducing CLTS in Africa http://www.ids.ac.uk/publication/digging-in-spreading-out-and-growing-up-introducing-clts-in-africaKnowledge Links 2011 Mapping CLTS in India: Terrain and the trajectoryKrause , M. 2007 The political economy of water and sanitation in developing countries: Cross-country evidence and a case study on ColombiaRobinson , A. 2012 Enabling environment endline assessment: Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, India https://www.wsp.org/sites/wsp.org/files/publications/WSP-India-Endline-EE.pdfRobinson , A. Raman , R. K. 2008 Enabling environment assessment for scaling up sanitation programs: Madhya Pradesh, India http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/824631468268817633/Enabling-environment-assessment-for-scaling-up-sanitation-programs-Himachal-Pradesh-IndiaRosensweig , F. Perez , E. Robinson , A. 2012 Policy and sector reform to accelerate access to improved rural sanitation http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/787621468330292143/Policy-and-sector-reform-to-accelerate-access-to-improved-rural-sanitationSanan , D. Chauhan , P. Rana , V. 2010 Survey of recent sanitation achievement in Himachal Pradesh http://www.communityledtotalsanitation.org/resource/survey-recent-sanitation-achievement-himachal-pradeshShukla , J. P. 2012 Major challenges in doing CLTS in India http://www.communityledtotalsanitation.org/blog/major-challenges-doing-clts-indiaTransparency International India 2008 India corruption study - 2008 http://www.transparencyindia.org/resource/survey_study/India%20Corruptino%20Study%202008.pdfVaidya , M. K. Sharma , L. R. Negi , Y. S. District human development report - Mandi http://hpplanning.nic.in/hdr-mandi.pdfWaterAid 2008 Feeling the pulse: A study of the total sanitation campaign in five states http://www.wateraid.org/~/media/Publications/study-total-sanitation-campaign-india.pdfWolmer , W. 2006 Understanding policy processes: A review of IDS research on the environment http://www.ids.ac.uk/publication/understanding-policy-processes-a-review-of-ids-research-on-the-environmentWorld Bank 2007 Community-Led Total Sanitation in rural areas: An approach that works http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/672891468324551045/Community-led-total-sanitation-in-rural-areas-an-approach-that-worksWorld Bank 2011 The political economy of sanitation: How can we increase investment and improve service for the poor? Water and sanitation program technical paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/901631468176676382/Main-repor

Public Service Delivery: Role of Information and Communication Technology in Improving Governance and Development Impact

The focus of this paper is on improving governance through the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in the delivery of services to the poor, i.e., improving efficiency, accountability, and transparency, and reducing bribery. A number of papers recognize the potential benefits but they also point out that it has not been easy to harness this potential. This paper presents an analysis of effective case studies from developing countries where the benefits have reached a large number of poor citizens. It also identifies the critical success factors for wide-scale deployment. The paper includes cases on the use of ICTs in the management of delivery of public services in health, education, and provision of subsidized food. Cases on electronic delivery of government services, such as providing certificates and licenses to rural populations, which in turn provide entitlements to the poor for subsidized food, fertilizer, and health services are also included. ICT-enabled provision of information to enhance rural income is also covered

The fiscal cost of weak governance: Evidence from teacher absence in India.

The relative return to strategies that augment inputs versus those that reduce inefficiencies remains a key open question for education policy in low-income countries. Using a new nationally-representative panel dataset of schools across 1297 villages in India, we show that the large public investments in education over the past decade have led to substantial improvements in input-based measures of school quality, but only a modest reduction in inefficiency as measured by teacher absence. In our data, 23.6% of teachers were absent during unannounced school visits, and we estimate that the salary cost of unauthorized teacher absence is $1.5 billion/year. We find two robust correlations in the nationally-representative panel data that corroborate findings from smaller-scale experiments. First, reductions in student-teacher ratios are correlated with increased teacher absence. Second, increases in the frequency of school monitoring are strongly correlated with lower teacher absence. Using these results, we show that reducing inefficiencies by increasing the frequency of monitoring could be over ten times more cost effective at increasing the effective student-teacher ratio than hiring more teachers. Thus, policies that decrease the inefficiency of public education spending are likely to yield substantially higher marginal returns than those that augment inputs