Citizen participation in the process of ICT enabled governance

Abstract

The most powerful weapon on the earth is public opinion [Paul Crouser]Governance encompasses not just government, but also the civil society, the systems, the procedures and processes in place for planning, management and decision-making. Fostering sound public judgment through informed and thoughtful debate is one of the key aspects of the Good Governance. The growing use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools is resulting knowledge based societies and providing greater avenues to the informed masses to participate in the development process. Provision of 'Anytime-Anywhere Access' to government information and services through Internet has been an important facilitator of Good Governance.A concept of Government to Citizen to Government (G2C2G) in many ways is opening up of avenues for direct participation of individuals in the governance processes [6]. This model fully exploits the potential of ICT/Internet and leverages it for greater participation, efficiency and transparency in functioning of the government as well as savings in time and costs relating to decision-making.In order to provide seamless integrated of information and services, Government of India launched National Portal of India two years back as a Mission Mode Project under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) of Prime Minister of India. One of the mandates of the National Portal of India is to provide a platform for encouraging Citizens' Participation in the process of governance in the country.The Sixth Central Pay Commission, constituted by Government of India to revise the pay and perks of government employees, has leveraged on the initiatives of the National Portal of India to invite comments and suggestions in response to a questionnaire. This paper illustrates how the strength and reach of ICT can be leveraged to gather opinions from all stakeholders & citizens and enable them to participate in the process of governance.