How e-governance and Digital India are empowering Indian citizens - Expert decodes

Innovation is critical to the vision of a Digital India. Virtual Entertainment, Mobility, Analytics and Cloud are the establishments that will empower the Digital India dreams of giving governance and services on request and carefully enabling residents and backing the social consideration plans being sent off by the Government. Driven through innovation, e-Governance is changing citizens' administrations by giving admittance to data, coordinating different frameworks and administrations among government and citizens, accordingly enabling and upgrading citizen's social, natural and financial qualities. The Government has been leading digitalisation to instigate monetary comprehensiveness and social change, through drives like 'Digital India', 'Make in India' and 'Skill India'. Jitendra Joshi, Director, Probity Soft, shares his knowledge on how the process is empowering citizens.

Greater convenience to citizens and businesses

"Government services like issue of Birth and Death Certificates, trade licenses, building permissions, permits, etc. can be delivered faster and efficiently online. In the offline process, the citizen/business has to visit a government office, find the right window, stand in a queue, fill up a form, pay a fee, photocopy and attach documents to get the job done. This process is time-consuming and if a citizen makes a mistake while filling the form or attaching a document, then the process has to be redone. E-governance transforms this experience by taking citizen service delivery online. The citizen can fill up the form online, attach scanned copies of documents, make the payment and submit the request from the comfort of their homes. This online process takes significantly less time and there is no travel involved. Making these services available on mobile apps makes it even easier since now the service can be availed while being mobile," Jitendra Joshi said.

Citizens’ empowerment through access to information

"Citizens are empowered through correct & timely information. This will make better choices which will benefit the society as a whole. Dissemination of correct information in a timely manner can be done through electronic media such as email, sms, whatsapp, social media, etc. For eg - Government policies around Covid related restrictions was primarily communicated through electronic media. This enabled citizens to be aware of how they can contribute towards control of the spread of Covid," Joshi added.

Less corruption in the administration

"E-Governance modules enable remote interaction of citizens/businesses with government offices. This removes the middle-man from the communication loop and also disables the corrupt official, if any, from wielding the power of his/her authority for unlawful personal gains. Such direct interaction enables the citizens and businesses to get correct information and services without having to engage in pleasing anyone in a government office," he explained.

Improves delivery and efficiency of government services

"Delivery of government services via the traditional paper route is inefficient, time-consuming and prone to errors. This process is often stalled by the personal biases of the officers involved. E-Governance applications shift this process from man to machine. This brings a new level of efficiency and speed to decision making and therefore service delivery. Additionally, service delivery through systems improves the scale at which services can be delivered within a certain time-frame by removing human limitations from the equation," he said.

Cost reductions and revenue growth

"E-Governance applications bring economies of scale to the Citizen Service Delivery experience. The cost of service delivery per application is significantly lower in electronic mode. E-Government can altogether change how the Government capacities both inside and outside. E-Government is considerably more than a tool for further developing public service cost-quality proportions. It is a change model and a device for government change. Therefore, e-Government is tied in with changing the manner in which the public authority carries on with work and conveys administrations," he concluded.

(Disclaimer: The views/suggestions/advice expressed here in this article are solely by investment experts. Zee Business suggests its readers to consult with their investment advisers before making any financial decision.)