The Making of e-Citizens!
By Muntazir Abbas
Delhi, Aug 29, 2008 1217 hrs IST

As e-governance takes root, government bodies are advocating the implementation of e-services at the municipal level as well.

While e-governance has countless benefits, the process will have to be slowly and painstakingly achieved, said Infosys' co-chairman Nandan Nilekani in an interview with CXOtoday.com.

He said that these implementations take time within the existing framework, as tracking the talent is still a challenging issue for the government bodies and organizations.

"A municipal e-governance suite can serve an array of applications, including asset and works management, inventory and property assessment, and payroll and human resource while property tax is the largest source of revenue in most of the municipalities," Nilekani said.

And the e-municipalities have changed the general picture. Local city services are now just a click away. One can pay telephone and electricity bill, water and house tax, etc.

Gone are the spiraling queues and bribes to be paid to the babus to get work done. E-municipalities have become the safest, cost-effective and hassle free mode to avail local city services from work or home.

Software vendors too have responded well to the government's interest in e-enabling civic infrastructure. Microsoft has come up with a planning application- Citizen Service Program (CSP). The program operates through automated agent that can respond to queries and has a live e-counselor agent.

Outsourcing has also found foot here. Kolhapur (in Maharashtra) has outsourced the activity. One can get a birth certificate for Rs 160, and a building plan at Rs 2000. "If financial accounting package gets automated, it is a great thing. Municipality innovation can facilitate e-democracy and RTI compliance," said Nilekani.

Another unrelated 50-city project in Karnataka is in the pilot stages, and if successful, will be implemented across India, according to sources.

They said that the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) will offer technology education and training to the local government employees in order to make them aware of e-governance applications. In addition, Nilekani said that besides a decline in the hardware and software cost, a political and administrative reform is must for technology implementation.


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