The Hindu : New Delhi News : President for `extremely fast' implementation of e-governance

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 14, 2005

New Delhi

New Delhi

President for `extremely fast' implementation of e-governance

Staff Reporter

`A powerful tool for governance initiatives'

NEW DELHI: Stating that the big challenge before India was to implement an e-governance system for a billion people, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Thursday urged the Government to implement the e-governance process "extremely fast".

E-governance would enable seamless access to information and seamless flow of information across the Union Government and the States in a federal set-up, particularly in a democratic nation of billion people like India, he pointed out.

Speaking after inaugurating a new e-governance portal at Rashtrapati Bhavan here, Dr. Kalam said: "The Internet revolution has proved to be a powerful tool for good governance initiatives. An important dimension of the Internet potential is the possibility of providing services any time, anywhere. Along with this there is a conscious effort to put the citizen at the centre of the focus of governance. Citizens are being perceived as customers and clients. E-governance has to be citizen friendly. Delivery of services to citizens is considered a primary function of the government."

Emphasising the need for e-governance in the country, the President remarked: "I have always in my life been an advocate for using technology for the betterment of our society. E-governance is one such opportunity. I want all of you to remember that technology is a double-edged sword. If we don't have an implementation plan from concept to completion in less than one or two years, technology will become expensive and we will not be able to reap the benefits."

However, it was important to keep a "quantitative measure" on the impact that e-governance would have on society, he said. "Every year, you must be able to produce a number, which states the number of people who have been touched by the benefits of e-governance."

With India having core competence in Information Technology and communication, the possibility of success to bring in transparency in administration and management through e-commerce and e-business leading to e-governance was a definite possibility, he pointed out. "Actions have to be initiated in a mission mode. Appropriate legal instrument to provide government power to such mode of interactions should also be done simultaneously."

Claiming that the primary data requirement for effective e-governance was a national citizen ID card, the President said that there was an urgent need to prepare the card and issue it online.

"This challenge must be taken up by the consortium of public and private industries, academic institutions with the government. Presently the Government is considering the discussion of a Bill for introducing multipurpose citizen ID card," he said.

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