The impact of Indian e-government initiatives: Issues of poverty and vulnerability reduction

Abstract

This article considered six e-government projects that have been implemented in India. Each project is an attempt by various state governments to use information and communication technology for development, a goal that includes poverty reduction and improved access to government services. These particular projects were selected because they addressed the needs of a fairly large population, have been sustained for a period of time exceeding that of their roll-out, and have been used by a significant portion of the target rural population. Further, the projects were studied with a clear delineation of the issues pertaining to demand-side and supply-side stakeholders. The former are the consumers of the services of an e-government system and the latter are the main providers of the services. The framework used for the analysis of the projects is based on an assessment of first-and second-order effects. All the projects showed positive and significant first-order effects. For example, Bhoomi is used by about 800,000 people a month to access land records, and even a small project like Lokvani has registered almost 30,000 transactions in a few months. Few of the projects have shown any significant second-order effects. A deeper analysis based on participation by marginal groups and on understanding capacity gaps of vulnerable populations revealed some further insights. We conclude with a set of policy recommendations that are of relevance for the design and implementation of e-government systems in a developing country such as India. These recommendations are based on the insights obtained from the analysis presented in this article. 1 Participatory approaches to requirements determination from the target population. E-government systems design has to include inputs from the demand-side stakeholders and the best approach for this is participatory design. People have to be trained on the concepts and ideas of ICT and then encouraged to express their needs in terms that can be used for system design. 2 Explicit inclusion of marginal populations such as dalits and women via intermediaries such as civil society groups in the requirements analysis exercise. Intermediaries have experience in working with marginal groups and also carry the institutional memory of policies and practices that is important for understanding the existing conditions. 3 Deployment of multiple sample systems in various parts of the country on an experimental basis also to collect requirements. Multiple systems with different designs and localized objectives would help in the overall design of systems across large populations. This would help towards understanding diverse requirements of the people. 4 Use of existing grass-roots officials as partners in deployment, through literacy and education programmes. Most e-government projects do enact this, but often power is shifted to the central locations in the district. Power should be maintained at the grass-roots level as far as possible, as this enables the marginal populations to access this source of power. 5 Broad-based, interdepartmental approaches to design and deployment with support from the highest echelons of the government. Most projects that are deployed by a single department would benefit from inputs from, and participation with, other departments that have a stake in the results of the system.