E-governance is the electronic delivery of information and services to citizens, businesses, and government agencies. It is the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) by the government to provide and facilitate government services to its citizens 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The four main stages of e-governance are presence, interaction, transaction, and transformation. The primary goal of e-governance is to reduce corruption and ensure the timely administration of services and information within the government.

This topic of the “Stages of e-Governance” is important from the perspective of the UPSC IAS Examination. It falls under General Studies Paper 2 Mains, particularly in the Governance section. It is also a part of General Studies Paper 1 (Preliminary). In this article, we shall discuss the ‘Stages of e-Governance’ in detail!

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About e-Governance

E-governance or electronic governance is the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) at different levels of government and the public sector. This enhances governance for citizens in a convenient, effective, and transparent way.

• Four key pillars of e-Governance are:
  • Process
  • People
  • Technology
  • Resources

Image Source: Puducherry Govt.

• It is the use of information and communication technology to deliver government services and exchange information between:

• Government-to-Citizens (G2C)
• Government-to-Government (G2G)
• Government-to-Business (G2B)
• Government-to-Agencies (G2A)
• Government to Employees (G2E)

• E-governance allows citizens to choose how they want to interact with their governments. It allows governments to decide how ICT will be deployed to support citizen choices.
• E-governance includes digital democracy, online citizen participation, transparency, online public debate, and quick delivery of public services.

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Hiller, Belanger’s, Moon’s Five Stage E-Governance Model

Hiller, Belanger, and Moon developed a Framework for Electronic Government in 2001 and 2002, respectively, and their model of e-Governance stages consists of five stages:

• Information – Governments disseminate information via their websites.
• Two-way communication – Governments permit two-way communication, most commonly via email.
• Transaction – Governments permit online transactions to be completed.
• Integration – Governments should integrate their services, which are usually done through a single portal regardless of which agencies provide them.
• Political participation – This stage includes online voting, online public forums, online registration or posting or comments, and opinion polls for more direct and broad interaction with the government.

Note: Moon’s e-Governance Model- 2002 is an extension of Hiller and Belanger’s E-Governance Model.

About UN’s Five Stage Model

The United Nations, with its Five Stages Model, is yet another institution developing a model for e-governance maturity (Ronaghan – 2002, Jayashree & Marthandan – 2010).

The UN’s Five Stages Model suggests five stages of e-governance development:

• Emerging presence – This stage is identified by a small number of static web pages with very little published information.
• Enhanced presence – This stage is distinguished by an enhanced presence in which government agency websites are dynamic, and information is up to date. It allows users to access a wealth of information at specialised websites.
• Interactive presence – This stage is distinguished by interactive portals that allow information to flow in both directions, allowing users to send feedback or “read and write” data.
• Transactional presence – At this stage, users can perform tasks and transactions such as document renewal, personal document applications, and updating their personal records.

• Additionally, the government does provide online services to its citizens.

• Seamless or fully integrated presence – In the highest Stage of e-governance, governments create a so-called “one-stop shop,” which is a single universal website where users can view and perform all of the government’s services.

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About World Bank’s Three stage model

The World Bank’s three-stage model is similar to the stages of e-commerce development, and it appears that the World Bank sees e-government as G2C e-commerce with this model. In 2006, Andersen and Henriksen supported this model.

• Publish – At this stage of e-governance, governments are publishing information online through websites, which is one-way communication.
  • Customers can obtain rules, regulations, documents, and forms.
  • This stage of e governance is comparable to web 1.0, where websites are “read-only” rather than “read/write” in terms of web evolution.
• Interact – At this stage, governments provide citizens with the opportunity to interact with government officials at all levels.
  • Citizens’ participation at this stage helps to build public trust in government.
• Transact – This third stage of e-governance includes the ability to transact or make online purchases.
  • At this stage of e-governance, users of government services can access services and carry out tasks via web-based e-government interfaces.

About Gartner’s Four Stage Model

Gartner’s 4-Stage Model is as follows:

• Presence – Agencies maintain a website where the public can access basic information.
• Interaction – Users can contact agencies via websites (e.g., e-mail) or self-service (e.g., download documents).
• Transaction – Complete transactions (such as licence application and procurement) can be completed online by users (including customers and businesses).
• Transformation – Governments should prioritise the transformation of existing operational processes in order to provide more efficient, integrated, unified, and personalised service.

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About Jefrey’s Four Stage Model

E-governance technologies are improving the management and efficacy of government information technology resources. It assists policymakers in determining the role of e-government projects in various challenges.

E-government efforts can be categorized not only by sector but also by degree or stage of development. However, due to the combination of scientific, economic, and political considerations, many initiatives will take time to attain their full potential.

As a result, some analysts employ a standard taxonomy for categorizing the stages of development of e-governance initiatives. Thus, the initiatives are based on the extent to which information technology features have been used to enable electronic service delivery.

According to this model, there are four stages of evolution:

• Presence
• Interaction
• Transaction
• Transformation

It is crucial to highlight that an e-governance effort does not have to begin at the first level and go through all stages. Instead, a project has the option of skipping tiers as it progresses or as it begins.

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e-Governance Initiatives in India

In India, e-Governance is a relatively new concept. 

• The National Informatics Centre (NIC) started the District Information System programme in 1977 to computerize district offices nationwide.
• In 1987, the National Satellite-Based Computer Network (NICENET) was launched.
• The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) aims to integrate e-Government initiatives across the country.
• National infrastructure is being developed to reach isolated villages. Records are being digitized to ensure easy internet access.
• NeGP's main objective is to bring public services closer to citizens' homes.

The NeGP has enabled numerous e-governance initiatives:

Digital India

Digital India was launched in 2015 to empower the country digitally in the field of technology. Its primary objectives are as follows:

• To create a secure and stable digital infrastructure.
• To digitally deliver government services.
• To achieve universal digital literacy.

Aadhaar

• Aadhaar is a UIDAI-issued unique identification number. It serves as proof of identity and address based on biometric data. The Aadhaar system serves as a single point for offline and online identity verification.

Mygov.in

• The Indian government introduced the MyGov platform for citizen engagement in July 2014. This encourages Indian citizens to actively participate in the governance and development of their nation.

Image Source: NIC(National Informatics Centre)

Umang

• The UMANG platform was launched in November 2017. It provides a single platform for all Indian citizens to access pan-India e-Gov services.

Digital Locker

• DigiLocker was launched in July 2015. It aimed to transform India into a digitally empowered society. It allows citizens to digitally store important documents.

Digitisation of Land Records

Land record digitisation ensures that landowners receive digital and up-to-date copies of documents relating to their property.

E-governance initiatives at the state level for digitising land records are as follows:

e-Seva

• The Andhra Pradesh E-seva initiative offers both “Government to Citizen” and “e-Business to Citizen” services.
• Allows for the payment of utility bills as well as the issuance of certificates, licences, and permits.

Khajane

• Khajane is a major e-Governance initiative of the Karnataka government to digitalize the state’s treasury system.
• It is a Government-to-Government (G2G) initiative aimed at improving state financial management.

Bhoomi

• Bhoomi is an e-Government portal for the computerised delivery of 20 million rural land records to Karnataka’s 6.7 million farmers.

e-Office

• The eOffice facilitates efficient and transparent inter- and intra-governmental processes.
• The goal of e-Office is to make all government offices more efficient, responsive, effective, and transparent.
• The product integrates independent systems into a single framework.

e-Courts

• The Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice, has launched e-courts.
• The eCourts Mission Mode Project is a national eGovernance project. It aims to improve the information and communication technology (ICT) capabilities of the district and subordinate courts.

e-District

• The e-District is one of the State’s Mission Mode Projects and Government-to-Consumer initiatives under the National eGovernance Plan. It aims to deliver identified high volumes of citizen-centric services electronically via Common Service Centers (CSCs).
• National eDistrict Service Tracker is a mobile App. It will allow citizens to interact with the e-District Application via hand-held devices.

MCA21

• The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has launched the MCA21 project. It enables corporate entities and the general public to gain easy and secure access to MCA services.
• All processes related to the enforcement and compliance of the legal requirements under the Companies Act of 1956 will be completely automated as part of the MCA21 project.

DARPAN

• DARPAN stands for Dashboard for the Analytical Review of Projects Across the Nation. 
• It transforms complex government data into visually appealing visuals.
• It provides the technical administration with the tool required to provide real-time, dynamic project monitoring.
• It consolidates multiple data sources into a centralized, user-friendly platform.
• It identifies trends and drills down into data to gain a better understanding of district-level projects.

Image Source: National Information Center

PRAGATI

• The multi-modal platform “Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation” (PRAGATI) was launched in 2015.
• This initiative has proven effective in addressing issues by reducing the inter-departmental communication gap. It reduces the time required for project and scheme implementation.

e-Kranti

• The e-Kranti is directly linked to pillars 4 and 5 of the Digital India programme.
  • ‘e-Governance: Reforming Government through Technology’ and 
  • ‘e-Kranti: Electronic Delivery of Services’.
• National e-Government Plan 2.0. “Transforming e-Governance for Transforming Governance” is the vision of e-Kranti.

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Significance of eGovernance

• The ultimate objective of e-government is to provide enhanced public services to citizens in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
• E-governance ensures information flow transparency, which aids in the enhancement and redefinition of social, environmental, and economic values.
• E-governance improves government transparency by making it easier for the public to learn about what the government is working on and what policies are in place.
• E-governance contributes to the development of trust between governments and citizens, which is a necessary component of good governance, by utilising internet-based strategies to engage citizens in the policy process, demonstrating government transparency and accountability.
• E-government improves the delivery and efficiency of government services, as well as improves access to those services for citizens.
• E-governance ensures the availability and accessibility of government e-services in disadvantageous and difficult geographical areas of the country.
• It replaces and optimises the paper-based system when implementing an electronic government system.

• Implementing e-governance not only saves resources, effort, and money, but it can also significantly improve service quality and decrease time spent in government departments.

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Conclusion

Implementing e-governance is critical for India to spread the many benefits of economic growth brought about by digitization to all segments of society. In order to achieve a safer, more efficient, and sustainable society, government activities could be boosted by combining technology and citizen-centricity. Furthermore, e-governance contributes to the development of trust between governments and citizens, which is a necessary component of good governance.