Information technology in India

In India there has been the profound influence of the mushrooming software/ICT professionals (commonly known as knowledge workers) who at present constitute the majority of the upper-middle class, working population. These professionals are pushing the boundaries of change within the social fabric, and demanding higher participation in the governance enabled through ICTs.

In 1999, Government of India decided to set up a National Institute of Smart Government as a tripartite venture between government, business and community. Although India’s teledensity is 2 fixed lines per 100 persons, and is very low on PC ownership due to purchasing power, the ministry of Information technology envisions Internet based information facilitation for the common public by various government agencies by establishing 100 million Internet connections and one million Information kiosks (ie 1-2 connections per village) by 2008 with private sector and unorganized sector participation; promotion of Indian language content over the Internet; re-engineering of government processes leading to Governance and launching of mass campaign on IT awareness. Together with Nasscom, the government of India is committed to push eGovernance with high priority.

Most National and State Administrations have websites that are comprehensive and multi-lingual. They are informative, but not very interactive at this stage. Center for Development of Advanced Computing through GIST technology with directives from the government initiated and commissioned the project of developing Indian language tools with natural language processing in evolving script and font standards to run a common eGovernance thread through the 95% population speaking 18 officially recognized, disparate languages.
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Thus, if the fruits of information technology revolution have to spread to all these participating members, in Government and public, it is best done through the use of computers in their own languages. Out of a billion population, there are only 11% people in India who know or speak English, with the rest speaking in at least 18 different officially recognized languages. This poses both a challenge and an opportunity. Significant parameters of this initiative were:

* Improve government's own functioning
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Provide better service to citizens in a transparent manner
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Potential Priorities for e- Governance Pilot Projects
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Strengthening the pressure points
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Local "external drivers" are to be used on a priority basis. This would mean targeting three sectors – (a) independent media (b) local NGOs and (c) public libraries, community centers, post offices and other access points which provide information to citizens.
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Priority should be given to building data and management information systems, and there after moving on to institutional links and finally to intermediate citizen related projects.
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Projects that will be used as demonstration sites should get priority as they build knowledge.
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Supportive cross cutting development priorities

Over the last two to three years e-governance has caught up with the state governments around the country. Today most of the state governments have a degree of departmental computerization, many have basic information websites, and even IT secretaries and state IT policies. The state governments are competing with one another to bring in transformation in governance through the IT.(7) Political parties see this as a vehicle to have access to wider range of information relating to development, citizen services, etc. which was otherwise being camouflaged by the government bureaucracy.

Almost all the states have an IT policy, which not only intend to facilitate investments in IT but also include governance related issues. The southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu have taken the lead in terms of implementing these projects at different citizen government interface departments. Other states like Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and West Bengal have been catching up fast. (18)

Andhra Pradesh has covered a long distance towards egovernance. Twenty-three districts of the state, 1125 mandals, 295 assembly constituencies and 28245 revenue villages are being connected through a state wide area network called APSWAN.(2) With the establishment of such a network, the state administration is geared up to tackle several issues and help extend the reach of people and government alike. Over 70 markets across the state are computerized and networked to the Agricultural Market Yard department at the state government headquarters. This provides total on-line connectivity to monitor arrivals of the commodities and the prevailing prices. This enables the farmer to get a better deal for their produce. The information available in the network enables the government to monitor the functioning of the markets and also in formulating appropriate strategic plans for the state. Karnataka government has also taken similar project.

Specific action agenda chalked down points to the direction in which e-governance is heading in the country. True appreciation of egovernance comes when its impact is reflected in accountability and transparency in activities at the grassroots level with regard to finances, providing minimum wages, and determining greater