What ails PPP in e-governance?

Today: TCS's Tanmoy Chakrabarty

GN Bureau | February 13, 2010


Tanmoy Chakrabarty, VP and Global Head - Government Industry Solutions, TCS
Tanmoy Chakrabarty, VP and Global Head - Government Industry Solutions, TCS

"The biggest challenge is institutionalising e-governance in the country, transforming of government through e-governance.

"To expect government servants to be change makers and bringers is too much. The main change should be to change the working environment. We still have a 200-year old environment in the country. We still have thanedar rules.

"The government needs to move out of the socialist mindset. And those beyond government are wherewithal to do anything. But the younger bureaucracy is realising that it is difficult to not follow the PPP model.

"The civic amenities that people want are being benchmarked as per the global level. Government should become real time. There should a change in the way they govern.

"MCA21 does way with corruption. Who will you ask bribe from if no one is coming to your office?  From proposal to implementation, the work is happening in pockets but there is sheer absence of holistic approach. The work is happening only in silos. The ministry and the departments are playing a turf war. IT leverage can bring dramatic transformation.

"Government is reticent to let go of control. People want local governance. CSCs dissipate power but the government has vested interest and doesn't want to let go of the power.

"95 percent of India can't be cajoled to use the internet. What the citizens want from CSCs are caste certificates, birth certificates, loans for next crops but they are missing in CSCs.

"The Indian bureaucracy has doggedly underestimated the Indian citizen's ability to absorb environment. Onus is on government and industry to create the environment.

"60 billion dollar worth IT industry in India is making people's lives better around the world, but not in India. Our own adoption of IT is very less. We don't need to go anywhere in the world to learn. We are teaching them.

"Do we have a India 2020 vision? We don't have a road, everyday we have new direction. But the problems and solutions lie within us.
Giver and taker should be like-minded. In Madhya Pradesh, the bureaucracy was very helpful. Every district in MP has gained from it. There are 2400 online kiosks running which are financially sustainable. We were able to do it in Andhra Pradesh because there was Chandrababu Naidu.

"There should be solutions to address the digital divide. Instead of measuring how many people have internet, we should be assessing how many of them have email ids and access internet through cyber cafés.

"Capacity, thinking and ability are the key. Governments should have their mindsets open to best practices. There is a conscious effort to move from IT to measure of IT. We need to deal with mindsets, it is not an issue of technology." 
 

Comments

 

Other News

How social media is reshaping elections

Since Brazil’s return to direct presidential elections in 1985, no candidate who finished second in the first round of polling had ever won the presidency. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, now 81, has just done it. What explains the comeback, and what changed in Brazilian politics to make it possi

Cabinet approves Dearness Allowance, Dearness Relief

The union cabinet chaired by prime minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the release of an additional instalment of Dearness Allowance (DA) to central government employees and Dearness Relief (DR) to pensioners with effect from 01.07.2026 representing an increase of 3% over the existing rates of 6

Cyclone Arnab strikes Andhra as warming oceans amplify storm risks

Cyclone Arnab made landfall along the Andhra Pradesh and Yanam coasts in the early hours of Wednesday as a very severe cyclonic storm, with maximum sustained wind speeds of 125–135 kmph and gusts reaching 150 kmph. Its rapid intensification has raised concerns about how warmer oceans, global warmin

Counting matters but which ones?

The first instinct of public policy is to count. Its harder task is to count what counts. We have become remarkably good at measuring the reach of the welfare state vis-à-vis beneficiaries covered, rupees transferred, houses built, connections installed and services delivered. But some of the most

Inching closer to a trade deal with America

The cooperation between India and the United States goes back quite a time. We need to relegate that era to the backburner when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru visited US in the times of president Dwight Eisenhower and called the American let-off of 10 million dollars in defence aid to Pakistan as a “gun w

Manch vs Musk: Forty people and a foreign billionaire

About forty people walked the roundabout on Teen Murti Marg to the gate of Chanakyapuri police station, a distance you could cover in under a minute, on Friday to protest against Elon Musk’s Starlink. The walk was called by the Swadeshi Jagaran Manch. Nobody joined them on the way, and nobody seeme

Upcoming Conferences



-->

Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter