Reformulating the role of bureaucracy through e-government reform in India

Reformulating the role of bureaucracy through e-government reform in India

Published Aug 2007

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Shirin Madon, false

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Reformulating the role of bureaucracy through e-government reform in India

Information technology plays a central role in government reform projects in India. In recent years, these projects have been launched under the label of ‘e-government’. The state of Gujarat is one of the first in the country to have achieved wide access to its e-government services, but are these services working effectively?

A report from the London School of Economics looks at anumber of information technology-based e-government reform initiatives in thestate of Gujarat in western India.As elsewhere in India,governance reforms in Gujarat have increasingly focusedon more participatory forms of delivering public services. E-governmentprojects have provided opportunities to improve service delivery and therelationship between government and citizens.

Computers were first introduced to the government sector in Gujaratin the late 1970s. While early information technology (IT) applications focusedon internal government (‘back-end’) systems, from the late 1990s projectsfocused on improving the delivery of citizen-focused (‘front-end’) governmentservices.

A nationwide ‘back-end’ project to introduce decentralisedinformation systems was introduced to Gujarat’s 19 DistrictRural Development Agencies (DRDAs) in 1988, but hashad little effect. A more popular ‘front-end’ application has been theproviding of computerised certificates to citizens for land, income, caste, andration entitlements. Another ‘front-end’ application, the MahitiShakti project, has established village informationkiosks providing government information and services to citizens.

The state now has a mix of ‘front-end’ and ‘back-end’systems, and the relationship between them for delivering public services isunclear. The author notes that:

  • The provision of online government applicationforms has triggered a demand for the improved processing of these applications.
  • The government has introduced a state-widetraining programme aimed at improving overall performance amongst governmentofficers.
  • Improvements in ‘back-end’ processing act as ananti-corruption mechanism by enabling people to obtain registrationcertificates without paying bribes to local revenue officers.

The delivery of government services through IT projects hasbecome popular, but their success depends on the improvement of back-endapplications. Since 2003, the momentum for new projects and learning withingovernment administration has been lost due to ambiguity about the role of the bureaucracywith the increased popularity of e-services delivered through front-endapplications.  Government departmentsinvolved in these projects must promote experimentation and adaptation, andrecognise the importance of the relationship between bureaucracy and servicedelivery. In particular, there is a need to improve the understanding of thekinds of institutions and activities needed to support service delivery reform.The state government should:

  • divertattention from e-government back to improving planning and administration
  • developplans with loosely-defined targets, where learning can come through action
  • encouragedecentralisation through alternative means of government reform,particularly by giving contracts to private businesses and entrepreneursto run information kiosks
  • actas a coordinating agency for improving links between the DRDA,non-governmental organisations, self-help groups and entrepreneurs runninginformation kiosks
  • buildtighter links between the groups involved in IT-based government reform
  • encourage change by developing staff capacity to workcreatively.

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