e-Governance or creation of private monopolies ?

e-Governance or creation of private monopolies ?

In quest for e-governance are we creating private monopolies in some way. In quest for better services through the private sector have we created monopolies which will be the foundation of future problems? A few perceived or real monopolies in e-governance are discussed below:
1. CSC - Regional Monopolies of Private Companies investing in infrastructure
2. Issuance of Passports - TCS
3. MCA21 - TCS
4. e-Biz - Infosys (expected media news infosys is L1)
5. ESIC - Wipro
6. Income Tax - NSDL, UTISL
7. SeMTs - The private consulting organization to be selected in each state
…and many more. Will be glad if someone can suggest some safeguards which the Government has taken to avoid the private sector monopolies.

Regards,
Sameer Sachdeva

Common Service Centers (CSCs) - an update

There are claims that the CSC scheme of current Government will create 400,000 jobs. After reading the press coverage I thought I will look into the details of the above scheme and therefore I thought I will refer to the most authentic source of information. There was very little or no information available on the MIT website (graphics of current status of implementation). Therefore I shifted to another authentic source which is the Press Information Bureau or the PIB. I could lay a number of Press releases by Department of Information Technology. A target of 110,000 CSC (100,000 rural and 10,000 urban) which was to be achieved by end of 2007 has been now shifted to March 2010 and the 10,000 urban CSC has been left out, it appears. I really have doubts when the scheme will be implemented and when the said jobs will be created. This is just the analysis of one Mission Mode Project, if time permits I will send the analysis of other projects . (and I have as yet not discussed the proposal of Panchayati Raj Ministry on Village Knowledge Centres . Here is a brief analysis of CSC project:
1. In Oct’ 2004 the then IT minister mentioned that DIT is considering a CSC scheme
2. In Dec’2004 the same consideration was mentioned in the year end review
3. In the whole year 2005 I could not lay my hands on any press release on the CSC scheme (there are things that may not meet even my eye  )
4. In Feb’2006 plan to establish 110000 CSC (one lakh rural and 10000 urban) to be implemented by year 2007
5. In Sept 2006 – Cabinet Approves the Scheme for 100000 rural CSC (urban CSC forgotten? ) ; The date for implementation shifted to March 2008 (from end of year 2007)
6. In Dec 2006 – Proposals of 11 states approved
7. In Sept’ 2007 – Broadband connectivity to 1 lac CSC proposed
8. In Dec’ 2007 – implementation under 26 states and UTs
9. In June’08 - 8000 CSC established; 60000 to be established by March’09 (rest when ?)
10. In Oct’ 08 – implementation date shifted to July’ 09
11. In Oct’08 – SDC which will support CSC to be completed by Dec’09 / March 2010
12. In Oct’08 – Total number of CSC established 17,775
13. In Nov’08 – Implementation date shifted to 2nd quarter of 2009
14. February ‘2009 – 35000 CSC by March’09; implementation target March 2010


References:

Wednesday, October 20, 2004
SWAN policy announced
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=4481
Shri Maran said that DIT is currently considering various options for facilitating establishment of Common Services Centres (CSC) across the country particularly in rural areas.

Thursday, December 30, 2004
YEAR END REVIEW 2004 - MINISTRY OF COMMUNCATIONS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
http://pib.nic.in/release/rel_print_page.asp?relid=6161
Various options for facilitating establishment of Common Services Centres (CSC) across the country particularly in rural areas being considered

Friday, February 17, 2006
Common Services Centers across India
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=15582
Highlights
1. A Scheme to build an enabling environment for establishment of 110,000+ Common Services Centres
2. Target - by the year 2007.
3. Services - Government Services, Education, Entertainment, Telemedicine, Information Exchange, Market Linkages, Vocational Training, Micro-credit,
4. 100,000 Rural CSC and 10,000 Urban CSC (for financial incentive to SCAs)
5. Model - VLE, SCA, SDA and NLSA
6. Financial Model -
a. Revenue support based on delivery of e-Government Services (first 4 years) as against a Capital Subsidy support.
b. one-time cost of setting up the infrastructure to be shared between SCA and VLE
c. NLSA to underwrite the funds which need to be leased through market borrowings
d. No Government support for Urban CSC



Sep 21 2006
Union Cabinet approves setting up of 100,000 rural Common Services Centres
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=20852
Highlights
1. Union Cabinet approval for setting up of 100,000 rural Common Services Centers (CSC)
2. Total cost - Rs. 5742 crore ; GOI - Rs. 856 crore, State Governments - Rs 793 crore ; Private Sector - Rs 4093 crore
3. The CSCs are proposed to be rolled out in 18 months i.e. by March 2008.
4. Services to be offered -
a.high quality and cost-effective video, voice and data content and services, in the areas of e-governance, education, health, telemedicine, entertainment as well as other private services.
b. Web-enabled e-governance services in rural areas, including application forms, certificates, and utility payments such as electricity, telephone and water bills
c. Remote consulting for healthcare, e-enabled vocational training, market and supply chain linkages, rural BPO, agricultural price and weather information etc.
5. 3-tier structure
CSC operator (called Village Level Entrepreneur or VLE);
the Service Centre Agency (SCA) - responsible for a block of 200-500 CSCs;
State Designated Agency (SDA) identified by the State Government
6. Jobs - one lakh direct jobs/ 2-3 lakh indirect jobs.

Friday, December 22, 2006
NeGP approved to establish 100,000 CSC
http://www.pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=23586
100,000 Rural and 10,000 Urban CSC
CSC proposals from 11 states have been approved for implementation and Rs. 109.71 crore, which is 25% of the approved outlay share of DIT, has been released to these states

Thursday, March 01, 2007
20 Million broadband connections by the Year 2010
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=25258
Broadband connectivity to one lakh Community Service Centers (CSC) covering 20000 CSCs by ADSL by September 2007

Wednesday, December 05, 2007
CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION THECHNOLOGY MEETS
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=33726
Participants - Sh. D.Raja, Dr. Shakeel Ahmad, Shri Raosaheb Patil Danve, Vanlalzawma, Sanat Kumar Mandal, Sita Ram Yadav, Kunwar Rewati Raman Singh, Datta Meghe, Prof.Ram Deo Bhandari.
Highlights on CSC
1. To establish 100,000 rural kiosks across the country
2. Actual quantum of financial support to the private entities would be determined through a competitive process.
3. Under implementation and proposals of 26 States and UTs have been sanctioned

Thursday, June 26, 2008
Swan to provide connectivity to government offices
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=39821
More than 8,000 of these kiosks have already been established through a PPP model and it is expected that more than 60,000 CSCs would be established before the end of this financial year (March 2009 )

Tuesday, October 07, 2008
18000 IT-Enabled Service Centers set up in rural areas
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=43455
1.About 18,000 Common Service Centres (CSCs) have been set up
2. over 1 lakh scheduled by July next year
3. Roll Out Completed in Jharkhand and Haryana
4. The other states where a number of CSCs have already become operational are West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Orissa, Meghalaya and Tripura. In several states, agreements have already been signed with the selected Service Centre Agencies (SCAs) for setting up of about 76,000 CSCs. A maximum of 17,909 CSCs are proposed in Uttar Pradesh followed by 9,232 in Madhya Pradesh and 8558 in Orissa. 8,463 CSCs are to come up in Bihar and 6,626 in Rajasthan.


Friday, October 17, 2008
DIT approves state data centres in 27 states
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=43825
Through State Data Centres, the Government seeks to create a common secure IT infrastructure to host state level e-Governance applications/Data to enable seamless delivery of Government to Government (G2G), Government to Citizen (G2C) and Government to Business (G2B) services. The entire exercise is expected to be completed by December 2009/March 2010.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Progress in e-Governance Projects - Lok Sabha
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=43942
CSC Scheme
Total No. of States/ UTs Sanctioned 27
Total No of CSC in these States / UTs 108363
Total Amount Sanctioned 1603.08 Cr
Total amount Released (DIT Share) 198.03 Cr
No. of CSCs Set -up 17,775

Tuesday, November 25, 2008
INITIATIVES IN THE IT SECTOR
http://pib.nic.in/release/rel_print_page1.asp?relid=45057
CSC RFPs have been issued for 25 States /UTs. Of these, 23 States / UTs have completed the Service Centre Agency (SCA) selection process covering 1,02,827 CSCs. Of these 23 States / UTs, 21 States have signed the MSA with the selected SCA uptil October, 2008 covering 1,01,682 CSCs. As of October, 2008, a total of 20,558 CSCs have been rolled out in 14 States. In the remaining States UTs, action is also progressing well. The implementation of this massive project, which is unprecedented globally, is likely to be completed by end of 2nd quarter of 2009.

Friday, February 20, 2009
35000 IT-ENABLED SERVICE CENTRES GET OPERATIONAL BY NEXT MONTH
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=47733
1. Government is planning to set up by March 2010, as many as 25195 Centres have already been set up with another 10000 in the pipeline which would become operational by the end of this March
2. By the end of 2008, RFPs (Request For Proposals) have been issued by 25 States for 1,06,275 CSCs and Master Service Agreements have been signed for 1,02,851 Centres in 23 States. Significantly, the states of Haryana, Jharkhand and Sikkim have completed 100 per cent roll out.

From Reforms to Innovation

,From Reforms to Innovation
"The first Department to Change within Government of India should be Department of Administrative Re-forms” *
--- A contributor at yahoo group India-egov
In an era when governments worldwide are focusing on Ministry of Future and Department of Innovation, India still is trying to reform the Government. The word reform itself brings a negative connotation. A Department where some change may be initiated by DAR & PG will develop a resistance because the employees will feel that there is something wrong in my Department that is why Government of India is reforming it. Whereas innovation creates positive energy and all employees will be enthusiastic that out of all Departments, Government of India has selected their Department for innovation. Even the word Process Re-engineering brings a negative connotation as the employees will start questioning as to what is wrong in our processes that Government wants to change it. If you want to change the Government, implement successful e-Governance than the right words are innovation and creativity and not reforms or re-engineering.
The Department of Administrative Reforms exists to solve yesterday’s problems, rather than capitalizing on to-day’s opportunities to effectively confronts the issues of tomorrow.
But as Gandhiji said, “Be the Change, you want to see in the world”. The Department of Administrative Reforms have to sphere-head reforms within itself in order to be-come a change agent for other Departments. A brief strat-egy to lead this change is as suggested:
• Separate Public Grievances from Reforms
• Rename the Department as Ministry of Innovation.
• Vision for Department – Innovation in Governance
• Hiring of Creativity, Program Management and Process experts
• Re-visit the Manual of Office Procedures (MOP)
• Identify officers responsible for each Ministry and State
• Constitute a high level committee of Secretaries on Innovation in Government headed by Cabinet Secretary
• Constitute Institutional Framework for Innovation in Government (like NISG for e-Governance)
• Develop a National Innovation Plan (NIP)
• Identify e-Governance Projects beyond Mission Mode Projects (MMPs)
• Do a ABC analysis of Grievance received by Citizen and based on same prioritize Departments for Inno-vation
• Restructure Department (instead of divisions like e-Governance the Department should have a process innovation division)
• Department should not foray functional areas of other Departments (like IT implementation is a func-tion of DIT) and restrict to improvements in Gov-ernment Process.
• Have a Cabinet Minister In charge of Innovation Ministry
• Bring out necessary law / amendments empowering MOI (Ministry of Innovation) to bring process im-provements
• Make a database of National and International Best Practices
• Constitute an institute for capacity building in Gov-ernment Process Improvement
• Provide Creative environment within Department for officers to foster change
• Recognize Change Agents
• Identify Change Sponsors in each Department
• Sponsor Students for Process Study in various De-partments
• To have a Department of Future (for visualizing pol-icy interventions for future scenario) within Ministry of Innovation
• To have a Department of Creativity within Ministry of Innovation
• To implement paperless office initiative in Depart-ment
• Choose experts as Advisors (like in planning Com-mission)
• The Department should also attempt to integrate / re-group certain Departments which have a common agenda. The Departments must be grouped from ser-vices to citizen prospective and not Government pro-spective
• The Department must also build on internal capaci-ties for Change.
• The Department must breakaway from the hierarchical function of DS, Director, JS, AS, Secretary but should attempt to establish a flat organization like the corporate world
• The Department must benchmark international Gov-ernments and Businesses to improve.
• The focus of Department should shift from rules to outcomes.