This book has been divided into 12 chapters looking at the interlinking of topics on e-Governance. These topics include (among others) -- i) The introduction to e-Government, ii) Vision of e-governance, iii) Architecture or e-governance infrastructure of different countries and a special reference to the AP portal, iv) The PPT, PPP and e-Government readiness, technology and standards, v) Security for e-government, the digital divide, e-government and cyberlaw.e-Governance

Deepak Kumar

English

Research Papers in Economics

88 The ICFAI Journal of Infrastructure, March 2005
e-Government
The Science of the Possible
© 2004 Prentice–Hall of India Private Limited. All Rights Reserved. The ICFAI University Press holds the copyright
for the review.
Book Review*
1. Introduction
This book has been divided into 12 chapters looking at the interlinking of topics on
e-Governance. These topics include (among others) —
i) The introduction to e-Government,
ii) Vision of e-governance,
iii)Architecture or e-governance infrastructure of different countries and a special reference
to the AP portal,
iv) The PPT, PPP and e-Government readiness, technology and standards,
v) Security for e-government, the digital divide, e-government and cyberlaw.
e-government refers to the delivery of government services and information to the public,
using electronic means to transform the way it serves its constituents. In this case, in general,
citizens are seen as passive recipients of the digital information and services. But the trend
has been changing drastically and citizens are now demanding more user-friendly programs.
However, most importantly, e-government must be on governance and not just IT; on citizens
and their needs and not just on computers; on transforming the process not on translating
the process; and on software not on just hardware and focus on people but not on systems.
Thus, e-government is not just ‘e’ but about facilitating the system by ‘e’ and getting it to
work for citizens to benefit them in their daily activities of practical life.
2. Benefits of e-Government
The main stakeholders of e-Government are—government, citizens, businesses and the ICT
industry. The citizens are benefited in a great way because they cannot meet the necessary
government employees every time. There is no transparency (often deliberate) as withholding
of information becomes a powerful
tool to assert power and authority.
For these reasons getting a simple
transaction done often becomes a
problem of major proportions. This
results not only in the monetary
cost to the citizen but both the
psychic and time costs. The same
applies in an even more relevant
manner to the businesses where
getting the information related to
* Deepak Kumar, Associate Consultant, The ICFAI University Press.
Source:  Book:  Figure 1.2. e-Government Benefits to Stakeholder
Government
Citizens e-Government
ICT Industry
Businesses89 e-Government: The Science of the Possible
the excise regulations, custom duties, filing
the returns etc., becomes very important.
ICT industries are benefited in that the
establishment of e-government needs the
backup supports and helps in employing
many persons. The government is surely
benefited in that it creates an environment
of simplicity, accountability and
responsibility and helps in creating the user-friendly environment.
3. e-Government Evolution
e-Government has four stages of
the development i.e., i) Information
ii) Interactive iii) Transaction and iv)
Integration. None of the countries in the
world has reached the integration stage of
e-government and majority of the countries
are still at the information stage of
e-government, where the government is
mainly utilizing the electronic means for
providing information.
4. Pillars of e-Government
There are four important pillars of e-government: People, process, technology and resources.
However, it is the process of interaction among people, process and technology which
basically helps in integrating the system, and  for better utilization of the available resources.
Process is basically a set of defined actions, which involves the steps like validation,
computation, approvals, interpretation, searches regarding the modes of transaction aimed
to provide better services etc.
5. PPP in e-Government
The concept of Public Private Participation (PPP) is the new cliché of today. This has the
capacity, if executed effectively, to make the system efficient, cost-effective and customer
centric. Private sector is generally very sensitive to its customer needs and so it comes up
with the new technologies to meet their rapidly changing demands of service. So, while
the government wants to deliver better services to its citizens, the private sector helps it
in providing better technologies to implement the projects in the stipulated time. This
increases the accountability of the government to its citizens. However, in certain cases,
there is lack of transparency and political will on part of the respective governments, which
restricts the public participation. Thus there is need to have a big change in the architecture
to improve the image of the state, in the eyes of the public. PPP model in e-government
can be basically in G2B, G2C and information infrastructure projects. A few models related
to PPP in e-government are as follows:
JV Model — In this case, a special purpose vehicle is formed, which can be either led by
the government or the private party. A JV is preferred where,
J Satyanarayana is an IAS of the batch of 1977,
and the CEO of National Institute for Smart
Government (NISG), Hyderabad, and has been
the pioneer in the implementation of projects
like e-Seva, CARD and e-procurement.
About the Author
Source: Book: Figure 1.3. e-Government Evolution
Integration
Transaction
Interaction
Information
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Time90 The ICFAI Journal of Infrastructure, March 2005
i) Delivery of services are basic and permanent,
ii) Setting up of infrastructure is for steady ROI in the long term,
iii) The information is sensitive, and
iv) Where the government wants to hold the control for various reasons.
The selection of the partner is carried out based on an open competitive process depending
on suitable and clearly defined pre-qualification criteria.
BOO Model (Build , Operate and Own ): In this case, the selected partner designs, develops,
operates and owns the system for a predetermined period of time, often at his own cost.
The revenue model for this project is generally through transaction charges, with or without
suitable contribution from the government.
BOOT Model (Build, Operate, Own and Transfer): In this model, the asset created by the
private party is transferred to the government after a pre-specified time, and such models
are adopted where the technology is time-tested and assets are expected to outlast the
concession period.
ASP Model (Application Service Provider): The government contracts with the private party
whereby the private party delivers the service for a specified time, based on commercial terms
and conditions. This is a win-win situation to both  private and public sectors, because the
government does not have to look into the operations very closely. It is only concerned with
the quality and quantity of the service. The ICT infrastructure and the skills of the private personnel
are leveraged and the government optimizes the cost by using already available infrastructure.
6. e-Government Blueprint of Government of Andhra Pradesh
The Government of Andhra Pradesh has been really successful in providing the services to
its citizens by implementing the ICT technologies in the projects like CARD, e-Seva, Smart
gov, FAST, and APonline portal. The figure 4.1. in the book has shown the blueprint of
Government of Andhra Pradesh, after a critical survey of 50 departments, which will, in
reality, help in providing better services to the citizens. A critical analysis of the figure 4.1.
reveals how different state governments can be interlinked by using the e-government
applications and infrastructure. This blueprint aims to provide  transparency and optimization
of the costs, better delivery of services and thus reducing the psychic costs of the citizens.
For example, if a farmer wants the single-window solutions for the latest prices of various
produce, credit facilities available, and advice related to enhancement of farm yields, it can
be made available at one place. This helps him to escape from demerits of arbitrage in prices
and to increase agricultural output through application of scientific methods of farming.
e-Seva
e-Seva is another good example of good governance. Most of the urban utility transactions
are handled by this method such as payment of Electricity and Telephone bills etc.The contracts
have been given out to the eligible service providers who run the show, subject to the periodic
supervision of the government. Generally speaking, such data is not very sensitive or confidential
beyond the point, which a normal service provider would be able to give.
A PPP model was found most suitable and a group of ICT companies were selected to
implement this project. The work consisted of setting up the hardware, software and networking91 e-Government: The Science of the Possible
at 18 centers (called delivery points) where the citizen could avail the services of 18 different
types of transactions such as bill payments, registration of vehicles, issuance of learning  and
driving licences etc. The ICT companies were made responsible for all the operations over
here. Thus the look and feel of the delivery points have totally been transformed.
7. International Models
There are three main global e-government leaders—the US, the UK and Singapore. These
countries have not only identified the core services to be delivered to their citizens, but have
been upgrading the technology, business and relevant architecture of the personnel required,
in tune to the demands of the changing times.  In case of the US, the strategy of e-government
focuses on Government to Citizen (G2C), Government to Business (G2B), Government to
Government (G2G) and Internal Efficiency and Effectiveness (IEE). The same model has been
adopted in most of the countries but USA has been more successful in the above e-government
models. The structure of service component reference model of FEA in USA is only an indicative
of how USA has developed with regard to e-government (See the above diagram).
• This is a typical model with reference to the registration of a company.
• It helps in describing the business elements related to the change of the name or address
of the company and other core particulars related to the business.
• Also helps in providing the related company law and other information related to register
this type of company.
Admission Scholarship
E-learning Exams
Student
Info Payments
Works Services
Citizen
Grievances
Returns
e-Payments Licenses
Registration
Medicines e-Health
HealthInfo Telemed
Patient
Schemes
Benefits
Poor
Prices Advice
Source: Fig 4.1. of the book, e-Government Blueprint of GOAP.
Credit
Farmer
Subsidies
Licenses Returns
Subsidies Helpdesk
Business
Pensions
Insurance Old Age Home
Senior
Citizen
Health
Benefits
Rights Crime
Women
SHGs
Rights
Literacy Child Home
Children
Delivery Channels
Infrastructure
Government
e-Government
Applications
e-Government Blueprint
.. an‘outside in’ view
Taxpayer
e-Business92 The ICFAI Journal of Infrastructure, March 2005
• G-CIM also helps in providing basic registration documents and certificates,
electronically.
This is a very advanced model, but may contain several features which India may like
to adopt and progress steadily towards a model such as this. This is more feasible than trying
to adopt such an advanced model straightaway.
UK Model
UK e-Government architecture can be a benchmark in the Indian case. As many of the systems
have been copied from the British, this architecture can be helpful in providing the better
service delivery, which is backed up by the ICT systems of the Government. In this system,
each UK online portal is connected to the Internet as it can be accessed by all the citizens
through multiple access channels like Call centers, PC, mobile and DTV etc. E- Government
gateway basically includes all the facilators like original service providers, transaction service
providers, enforcement service providers, repository, payment and support service providers.
To build up the confidence of the citizens and to encourage the citizen participation, the
portal provides government's secure Intranet so that any online transaction, like payment
of telephone bills, electricity bills, railway ticket booking etc., can be done.
Other Aspects Related to e-Government
The presence of various service operators and the improvement of the delivery points would
lead to a greater usage of these e-governance tools. There would also be various revenue
models, thus reducing the burden on the government.
Technology, security of data, and enforcement of Cyber laws are also other very important
issues, while discussing e-governance. Much of the data is highly sensitive and has to be
managed most carefully and confidentially. Other data may not be so sensitive but cannot
be subject to alteration (such as land records and date of birth). The book, then, has further
Registration of
a Company
Registrar of
Companies
Registration
Number
Address of
Company
G2B
Interaction
Company
Law
Registration
Certificate
Information needed to
Register a company
Source: Book, Figure 2.6 (b) Model of G-CIM Applied to Registration of a Company
          Government Common Information Model (G-CIM) (USA)93 e-Government: The Science of the Possible
gone on to elaborate various security and technical standards which would interest the serious
reader. The book has also discussed different case studies such as UK online, e-Seva, CARD
etc., which have worked in their respective environments.
8. Conclusion
This is a book which has been written by a practitioner who has been one of the pioneers
in implementing some form of e-governance in a difficult country like India, where both
computer literacy and computer penetration is low. Remember, the author talks here about
the needs and requirements of the average citizen. This means that the users should have
the capability to increasingly understand and use the services which are meant for the
common man. Therefore any government first starts with only an information portal and
then gradually moves forward to the more user-friendly models, increasing stages of
awareness.
The gains from reading this book are many, both for the superficial reader (who just wants
to know what e-governance is all about)as well as the more professional readers who wish
to find some solutions to the task on hand. Both types of readers and those in between
will find some gain from reading this book.
Users of e-Government
Citizens Businesses
Multiple Access Channels
(Call Center, PC, Mobile, DTV)
Local Authority
Portals
Internet
Local Authority
Portals UK Online Portal
Government Gateway
Government Secure Intranet
Government ICT Systems
Local
Government
Departmental
Systems
PSUs
Source: Book, Fig 2.4. Overview of UK e-Government Architecture
Reference # 27J-2005-03-09-03


Book Review--- e-Government:The Science of the Possible

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Book Review--- e-Government:The Science of the Possible

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