A Quantitative Framework for Assessing E-Governance Readiness of Indian States

Abstract

The existing definition of governance as adopted by the international agencies like World Bank fails to adequately capture some aspects of the concept of governance especially the nature of the communication medium through which governance is influenced by citizens. It also does not promote deliberations on whether it is actually promoting outcomes which are desirable for a society.In this context, e-governance (i.e. ICT mediated governance) has shown the potential to transform the relations between citizen and state in India as elsewhere in the world. Accordingly, The Government of India has launched a National E-Governance Plan (NeGP) which is a ‘centralised initiative with decentralised implementation’ model. Accordingly, states are required to be e-governance ready to realise the vision of NeGP which is to provide high quality, reliable and timely online public services to all citizens at affordable costs.This study outlines a quantitative framework for assessing e-governance readiness of Indian states with an emphasis on user centricity. Each state is ranked as per its composite user centric e-governance readiness score. The e-governance readiness score is a composite of three sub-indices which are User Readiness Index, Network and Infrastructure Readiness score and a first of its kind State Government Online Readiness Score. Higher the composite user centric e-governance readiness score of a state, the more e-governance ready it is.However, a high user centric e-governance readiness will not always translate into desirable outcomes for any e-governance policy i.e. it will not lead to user centric e-governance outcomes which will positively transform the relations between state governments and their residents. Indeed, there is a need to explore the missing link between e-governance readiness and ‘desirable’ e-governance outcomes. This requires initiation of a multi-stakeholder dialogue to define, monitor and attain these desirable, user centric e-governance outcomes. For this purpose, the study provides a way forward through a theory of change in form of an interactive training course which can be developed by academia in collaboration with government and business to inform citizens about existing e-governance ideas and practises. This interactive course could be designed in a manner that it provides opportunities to citizens to give their feedback for designing appropriate user centric e-governance policies.