e-Governance means the use of ICT to promote more efficient and effective government
e-Gov 2.0Author: Jaijit Bhattacharya
Publisher: McGraw Hill
Pages: 604
Reviewed by: Anoop Verma
Arevolutionary restructuring of the
government is underway through e-Governance, which has now become the
fashionable mantra in all developing countries. We already have a
growing body of literature in the media and in the policy making circles
on e-Governance, yet this field seems somewhat under theorised, its
boundaries are not clearly defined, and are often open to controversial
interpretations regarding the main processes, technologies and the
actors involved.
This welcome volume by Jaijit
Bhattacharya contributes to the discussion by attempting to examine the
technological, infrastructure related, economic, socio-cultural,
political and regulatory issues that are influencing the development of
e-Governance models in contemporary society. The book starts by looking
at the emerging roadmap of e-Government, and goes on to examine the
basic structure of government as it exists today, from there it moves on
to deliberate upon the various micro and macro aspects of e-Governance.
The leitmotif of the book is to draw on socio-cultural theories and
explore the ways by which e-Governance can bring transparency in the
interactions between government, citizens, consumers and private
businesses.
e-Governance is defined narrowly by
Jaijit Bhattacharya in these words, “e-government means the use of ICT
to promote more efficient and effective government, facilitate better
access to government services, allow greater public access to
information, and make government more accountable to citizens.
Electronic government might involve delivering services via the
Internet, telephone, community centres (self-service or facilitated by
others), wireless devices or other communications systems.”
There are 26 chapters, all of which
follow a similar format, as they begin with a short and crisp
introductory note, which provide an overview of all the concepts that
will be discussed in detail in the chapter. After that rest of the
well-researched content follows. Covering such essential ideas like
importance of public-private partnership in e-Government, Government
Data Centres, National Citizen Identity Systems, Open Source Software in
e-Government, Government Call Centres, Land Records, Urban Development
Management Systems, e-Agriculture, Disaster Management System,
e-Procurement and Human Resource Management System, this book enthuses a
student of e-Governance by its analytical narrative from heterodox
perspectives.
Incorporation of quite a few of charts,
graphs and tables in most chapters makes it easier for the reader to get
a grip on the concepts that are being discussed. There is a direct and
conversational style in Jaijit Bhattacharya’s style of writing. For
instance, in the chapter titled Urban Development Management System, he
writes, “The objective of any urban development strategy is to create
conditions which will make urban settlements economically vibrant.
Resource constraint has to be overcome by adopting judicious
investments. As resources are limited, instead of apportioning the
available resources to all the cities and towns, the investments can be
made in a set of select centres keeping in view the objectives of
efficiency and balanced development of the region and the state as a
whole.”
This is Jaijit Bhattacharya’s second
book on e-Governance. His first co-authored book on e-Governance,
“Government Online, Opportunities and Challenges,” had been released in
the presence of the former President, Shri APJ Abdul Kalam. e-Gov 2.0
can also be seen as a book that picks of up from the point where
Bhattacharya’s first book had left. This book is also about the
evolution in the technological and political framework of e-Governance
that is now taking place. Academics, policymakers, political leadership,
industrialists and even private citizens can benefit from the book’s
rigorous examination of e-Governance systems.
