E-Governance Models

E-governance is the application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools in governance functioning. This is far beyond than mere computerisation and implies fundamental change in the way government operates. According to the World bank “E-Government is to the use by government  agencies of  information technologies (such as Wide Area Networks, the Internet, and mobile computing) that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government. These technologies can serve a variety of different ends: better delivery of government services to citizens, improved interactions with business and industry, citizen empowerment through access to information, or more efficient government management.The  resulting benefits can be less corruption, increased transparency, greater convenience, revenue growth, and/or cost reductions.”

There are five models of e-governance as given by Prof Dr. Arie Halachimi which can be used as a guide in designing e-government initiative depending on local situation and governance activities that are expected to be delivered.

Fig: E-Governance Models

1. Broadcasting Model: In this as name implies information is  broadcast to wider public domain through use of ICT and convergent media. This models strength is its focus on spreading information to wider mass and through this citizen will be able to judge functioning of existing government mechanism and able to take informed decision. This empowers them and they are in a better position to exercise their rights and responsibilities.

Public Domain -> Wider Public Domain

Applications :

• Displaying  governmental laws and legislations online.
• Making available details of local/ regional/ national government officials online.
  
• Making available information such as governmental plans, budgets, expenditures, and performance reports online.
  
• Putting key judicial decisions which are of value to general citizens and create precedence for future actions online. viz. key environmental decisions, state vs. citizen decisions etc.  
  

2. The Critical flow Model: In this information of critical value (which by its very nature will not be disclosed by those involved with bad governance ) is channelized to targeted section into the public domain through use of ICT. Targeted audience may include media, affected parties, opposition parties, judicial bench, independent investigators or the general public. This model is more focused in terms of its information content and intended users. Due to critical aspect of information this model exposes weakest aspects of governance and decision making process inform people about failure in specific cases and  bad governance and build up momentum for concerted action. At the same time it builds pressure on concerned government organizations / institutions and individuals to take  into cognizance the opinions and interest of masses in decision making mechanism. Examples: Wikileaks, Global Transparency International, India Central Vigilance Committee etc.

Critical Domain -> Teargeted Domain

The use of  Critical Flow Model requires a foresight of:

Understanding the "critical and use value" of a particular information set.
How or from where this information could be obtained.
How could the information be used strategically.
Who are the best target group for such information- the users for whom the availability of this information will make a huge difference.

Applications :

• Making available corruption related data about a particular Ministry / Division/ Officials online to its electoral constituency or to the concerned regulatory body.
• To make available Research studies, Enquiry reports, Impact studies commissioned by the Government or Independent commissions to the affected parties.
  
• To Make Human Rights Violations cases freely available to Judiciary, NGOs and concerned citizens.
  
• Making available information that is usually suppressed, for instance, Environmental Information on radioactivity spills, effluents discharge information on green ratings of the company to concerned community.
  

3. Comparative Analysis Model: This model continuously incorporates best practices in the area of governance and uses them as benchmark to evaluate other governance practices.  It uses the result to advocate positive changes or influence public opinion on these governance practices. Comparison could be made over a time scale to get a snapshot of the past and present situation or could be used to compare the effectiveness of an intervention by comparing two similar situations.



The model is based on using immense capacity of ICT and social media tools to explore given information sets with comparable information available in the public or private domain. Example: Human Development Indicators.

Applications:

• To learn from past policies and actions and derive lessons for future policy-making.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of the current policies and identify key learnings in terms of strengths and weaknesses in the policies.
  
• To effectively establish conditions of precedence, especially in the case of Judicial or legal decision-making (example for resolving patent-related disputes, public goods ownership rights), and use it to influence/ advocate future decision-making.
  
• To enable informed decision-making at all levels by enhancing the background knowledge and also providing a rationale for action.
  
• To evaluate the performance and track-record of a particular decision-maker/ decision-making body.
  

4. E-Advocacy Model: It is based on setting up a planned, directed flow of information to build strong virtual allies to complement action in the real situation. It builds the momentum of real world processes by adding the opinions and concerns expressed by virtual communities. Virtual communities come together because they share similar view points or idea or concerns or issues and these communities in turn join together to support real life group activities for concerted action.

The strength of this is in its diversity of the virtual community, and the ideas, expertise and resources accumulated through this virtual form of networking. The model is able to mobilize and leverage human resources and information beyond geographical, institutional and bureaucratic barriers, and use it for concerted action.  Ex. PRS legislative, Green Peace, etc.


Applications : 

• Fostering public debates on global issues, namely on the themes of upcoming conferences, treaties etc.
• Formation of pressure groups on key issues to force decision-makers to take their concerns into cognizance.
  
• Making available opinions of a suppressed groups who are not involved in the decision-making process into wider public domain.
  
• Catalyzing wider participation in decision-making processes.
  
• Building up global expertise on a particular theme in absence of a localised information to aid decision-making.
  
• Amplifying  the voices of marginalized who are traditionally marginalized from decision making processes.
  

5. The Interactive Service Model: This model opens government door for direct participation of citizens in governance and thus brings greter objectivity and transparency in decision-making processes through use of ICT tools. Government services are directly available to it’s citizen in an interactive manner and is done by opening interactive Government to consumer to government (G2C2G) channels in various aspect of governance. Some examples are : Grievance Redressal Portal, online passport etc.

Applications :

• Establishing interactive communication channels with key policy-makers and members of Planning Commissions. 
• Conducting electronic ballots for the election of government officials and other office bearers.
  
• To conduct public debates / opinion polls on issues of wider concern before formulation of policies and legislative frameworks.
  
• Filing of grievances, feedback and reports by citizens with the concerned governmental body.
  
• To establish decentralised forms of governance.
  
• Performing governance functions online such as revenue collection, procurement etc.