Twenty Five Steps to Successful e-Governance

This 35-page paper analyses the various essentials for successful e-governance from the perspective of developing nations. It emphasises that the first step toward e-governance is understanding governance. Examining the vision and objectives of various successful countries, the author suggests some guidelines, noting that an e-governance roadmap must answer the questions of what, when, who and how for e-governance implementation. Sachdeva outlines a strategy for identification and prioritisation of the key initiatives and highlights the role of leadership in driving the e-governance projects. Underlining an institutional framework for successful implementation, this paper also suggests the importance of procedural reforms prior to computerisation. It identifies that some processes need to be eliminated or reformed rather than automated. In area of legal reforms, it looks into international laws like the Information Technology Act, e-Governance Act, Right to Information Act, Government Paperwork Elimination Act, Right to Privacy Act and examines the importance of each in successful e-governance. Apart from institutional capacity building, the paper identifies the need for human capacity building and how awareness campaigns that include workshops, seminars and trainings can play an important role.



The paper looks into cost benefit analysis of e-governance and evaluation methodologies for this purpose. It also suggests that as far as finances are concerned, efforts should be to evolve sustainable business models, preferably with private partners.



Sachdeva further looks into the evolving service delivery paradigm, highlighting how, because of e-governance, the paradigm has shifted from an output-based approach to an outcome-based approach and elaborating the need for integration between various stakeholders. Content is identified as a key element within the e-governance space, along with issues such as website architecture, privacy and security. Sachdeva explores building a national information infrastructure (NII) which may be constituted of networks, data centres, and access points. He also notes the need for universal accessibility, local participation, and highlights interventions that include change management, project evaluation and feedback mechanisms. Concluding, this paper suggests that from e-governance, countries will have to evolve to i-governance, or an integrated government.