"NeGP has been a good success; 23 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) have started delivering services, ICT infrastructure has been laid sufficiently," Rajendra Kumar, joint secretary (eGov), department of electronics and information technology (DeitY),  government of India, said, while elucidating the performance of the national e-governance plan (NeGP) after seven years of its launch. He was speaking at a consultative workshop on “Citizen Centric e-Government”, in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.

Kumar agreed that there is still lot to be achieved in NeGP though the performance of the programme has been satisfactory. "Delhi is more focused on the outcomes-based approach now for more efficiency," he said. 

Kumar informed that the launch of Mobile Service Delivery Gateway (MSDG) is already operational with 165 offices delivering services in India.   

Kumar talked about the e-Pramaan which is being developed using Aadhaar for authentication which will of key use in direct benefits transfer (DBT). "States can use e-Pramaan for both DBT and for their e-governance services," he said.  
 
Kerala has done very well in implementing the MMPs," he said.   Kerala was first to roll out the additional e-district project in the new districts, Kumar added.

Jose Cyriac, chief secretary, government of Kerala, delivering the keynote address, emphasised that handover of services to the e-domain — so that they can be delivered in an automated manner — has not been an easy process.

"If we look at the Income Tax Department, there is a sea change that has taken  place in filing of I-T returns. The change hasn't taken place like that; there was enormous resistance" he said, hinting towards the need of process  reforms required for enabling e-governance in the country.  

Cyriac said that e-governance initiatives came up in India because certain decisions for the same were taken early.

However, he said that the technological innovations in the private sector were way ahead of the e-governance initiatives. "Private sector has been more forthcoming in areas like mobile, banking, ticketing which were driven by market forces," he said.  

Cyriac said that these kinds of  initiatives are not present in e-governance and which is where it is lagging. He cited lack of competition and entrepreneurial drive in keeping e-governance initiatives from achieving their full potential.  

 "Kerala is ahead of all other states but it is still lagging behind in complete delivery of  services as only 40 to 50 per cent services are provided through e-governance — which is not enough," he said. 

Cyriac stressed on the fact  that it is not hardware, software or technology that drives e-governance but it is the will of the government to provide 100 per cent services to the citizens.  

"We have yet not broken the vested interests that have been operating to check that e-governance does not come into force. Higher authorities in the government need to take some tough decisions regarding that," he said.  

"The citizens have to get their services. The moment a person is eligible for pension, he should get his pension," he added. 

Cyriac said that Kerala is in a position to achieve their full potential very fast. "2013 will be excellent year for Kerala government because many projects have  reached the stage where they need to be given the push for the last mile," he said.  

During the daylong workshop, the  Departments of Revenue, Transport and Police showcased e-Government solutions implemented by them under the NeGP.  The workshop was organised by DeitY along with NASSCOM.

The consultative meet is part of the 50 workshops being organised in all States and Union Territories  (UTs) to amplify the mission and message of the NeGP – "Public Services Closer Home".