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January 2015 Vol.- 01 Issue - 04

REINVENTING THE GOVERNANCE

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The United Nations defines E-Government as the use and application of information technologies in public administration to streamline and integrate workflows and processes, to effectively manage data and information, enhance public service delivery, as well as expand communication channels for engagement and empowerment of people.

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| Vinit Goenka

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DIGITAL INDIA INITIATIVE OFFERS MULTIPLE OPPORTUNITIES

Dr Jitendar Verma Executive Director, MGRM

GROWTH OF E-COMMERCE IS DUE TO PROLIFERATION OF SMARTPHONES Japnit Singh, Senior Director, Singapore and India, Spire Research and Consulting

WANT TO DEVELOP DELHI AS WIMAX CITY

Jagdish Mukhi Senior BJP leader

ART NEEDS MORE PROMOTION

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PLATFORM TO CREATE FUTURISTIC SMART CITIES Talleen Kumar Chairman DMIC

DIGITAL INDIA: TAKING GOVERNANCE ONLINE AADHAR CARD CAN BE THE DELIVERY BACKBONE CLOUD COMPUTING NEED OF THE HOUR FOR E-GOVERNANCE DELIVERING FINANCIAL SERVICES THROUGH E-GOVERNANCE ICT PUSH FOR SMART CITIES BUILDING CAPACITY KEY TO E-GOVERNANCE REVOLUTIONIZING PROCUREMENT THROUGH E-TENDERING IMPROVING ACCESS BETWEEN CENTRE AND STATE GOVERNMENT THROUGH E-GOVERNANCE RURAL HEALTH DELIVERY THROUGH EGOV PLATFORM A STEP TOWARDS EFFECTIVE FINANCIAL INCLUSION CASE FOR A RATE CUT

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IT’S NOT EASY TO ‘MAKE IN INDIA’ January 2015

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Editorial

A MIXED YEAR IN HINDSIGHT

s the year 2014 bids adieu, it leaves mixed feelings about the year that was. On one hand, there were some very positive developments. For the first time, an Indian and a Pakistani won Nobel together, ironically for peace. India successfully probed Mars, Sensex peaked out in unchartered territory and a new government came to power. But on the other hand, there were heart rending images that would not leave our minds for long. The images of children killed in Peshawar, violence in the Middle East, Ebola killing thousands of people in Africa and only recently, Air Asia crashing in Java Sea reminded us of worst that humanity has to offer. They also taught us what not to do in the coming year. After the 67 year of independence, India has witnessed the busiest Christmas holiday. The government came out with the plan that from this year, December 25th would be observed as the ‘Good Governance Day’. Ministers and bureaucrats observed the Christmas day as Good Governance Day.

The Minister of Communication and IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad launched many projects at function. Some of the key projects launched at the Good Governance Day were Time Stamping of Digital Signature, Integrated Indian Languages Virtual Keyboard for Android, PARAM Shavak (Super computer in box solution), .bharat domain in Gujarati and Bangla, e-launch of Support International Patent Protection in Electronics & IT scheme (SIP-EIT), Disbursements under Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme(M-SIPS), Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC) disbursement, Gyansetu – an internet based real time ICT system to provide e-Services to the rural population of India, MTNL Apps for Android smart phones and e-Governance Competency Framework (e-GCF). Not to be left behind, other ministries also launched many programs on the day. The Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan expanded the 5kg LPG cylinders initiative, Coal Minister Piyush Goel launched a portal for e-auction of coal mines, Health Minister JP Nadda launched Mission Indradhanush for vaccination and Science & Technology Minister Harshvardhan launched SMS based weather information. These are all great initiatives and Governance Today welcomes the Good Governance Day, but we also believe that there should be some initiatives taken to mark some other day to assess the success of these announced initiatives. How about marking Labor Day as the day on which we can access and measure the success of good governance and update the same to the citizens of the country. The Good Governance Day was also connected with the birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who has been honored with the prestigious Bharat Ratna. Also, the government of India finally decided to confer the award on founder of Banaras Hindu University, Madan Mohan Malviya as well. We extend our heartiest congratulations to the winners and their families. Governance was a big issue this year as the new government tried to launch various e-governance initiatives to streamline the governance system and make government more accountable. These are noble initiatives indeed. There is hardly an area of governance which does not need radical improvement today, and as such, there is interest in what would be the shape of things post implementation of various e-governance projects. In our present issue, we take a critical look at various aspects of e-governance in India. We would await your response on what you feel about the subject. Wishing all of you and your families a happy and prosperous year ahead.

Ajit Sinha Editor in chief

January 2015

Governance Today

Governance Watch

‘Government Keen to Partner with Industry’

inister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said that Government is keen and open to work with industry and make suitable amendments in policies to enhance manufacturing activity. At the 12th National Pharmaceutical Conclave organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) he further said that there is a need for industry to focus more on research and ensure a fuller utilization of the country’s technically trained manpower. Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA), the Indian Drugs Manufacturers’ Association (IDMA), the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI) and the Bulk Drug Manufacturers’ Association (BDMA) joined the conclave. The Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, Dr. V K Subburaj, said it was time for action and not for preparing another set of recommendations. He emphasized that both Government and Industry to sit together and decide what needed to be done to bring the sector out of the low growth phase that it had entered into in the past few years. The secretary also complimented the pharma industry for bringing laurels to the country and for being the second highest foreign exchange earner after IT.

Kisan Vikas Patras Reintroduced

o address decline in small savings and improve returns to small savers, Government has proposed to revitalize small savings. Kisan Vikas Patras have been reintroduced and notified. A scheme for Girl Child to cater to requirements of education and marriage has been notified. The Government has also enhanced annual investment ceiling on Public Provident Fund Scheme from Rs. 1.00 lakh to Rs. 1.50 lakh. Government is running ‘Senior Citizens Savings Scheme’. The rate of interest on small savings schemes has been aligned with the G-Sec rates of similar maturity, with a spread of 25 basis points (bps) with exception of Senior Citizens Savings Scheme. The spread on Senior Citizens Savings Scheme is 100 bps.

DRDO Wins Innovation Excellence Award

efence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO), has been once again awarded the prestigious Thomson Reuters India Innovation Award- 2014 in category of “Research Institutions”. Avinash Kumar, Additional Director (IPR), DRDO HQ received the award on behalf of DRDO at a function held in Mumbai. The award was adjudged on the basis of patents filed, efficiency and effectiveness of research, the impact of innovations as measured by patent citations and international competitiveness. DRDO had also won the Thomson Reuters India Innovation Award- 2011 in the category of “Hi-Tech Academic & Government”.

Governance Today

January 2015

Governance Watch

Mega Food Park inaugurated

arsimrat Kaur Badal, Union Minister for Food Processing Industries inaugurated the first of its kind Rs 136 Crore Mega International Food Park at Dabwala Kalan, in Fazilka District Punjab in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab Sukhbir Singh Badal. Inaugurating the food park, which is among the fourth such parks in the country, the Union Minister gave a clarion call for establishment of more food processing units to reduce the huge food wastage worth Rs 45,000 crores in the country. She said that “This is just the beginning. The Ministry has succeeded in promoting International Food Park by extending a subsidy of Rs 50 crore. In the near future you will see many more parks and food processing units coming up in the State”, while addressing public gathering on the occasion. The 55 acre food park has come up at a cost of Rs 136 crore having facilities for processing milk and milk products besides packaging vegetables and fruits.

Ten Crore Aadhaars Linked to Bank Accounts

major milestone has been crossed with ten (10) crore Aadhaar numbers having been linked to bank accounts of Aadhaar holders so far a part of Government’s Digital India mission. This would enable these individuals to digitally receive government welfare subsidies and other payments directly into their bank accounts, in a hassle-free manner. Establishing a link between an Aadhaar number and a bank account makes easy for the government to identify genuine beneficiaries and route welfare payments and subsidies directly into their bank accounts. The individual can benefit from this system as it is portable across any bank in the country and he/she can access these subsidies even if the person moves to another part of the country, making the whole process hassle-free. Till date,

333 banks are live on this platform. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has received national and international acclaim for the Aadhaar project. Recently, the Data Security Council of India declared UIDAI as the best agency for “Security in E-governance”

E-Education Through Broadband Facility

he Ministry of HRD is presently implementing the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT) to leverage the potential of ICT, in teaching and learning process for the benefit of all the learners in Higher Education Institutions in any time any where mode. Under the Mission, more than 700 courses in various disciplines in engineering and science are available on-line under National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL). E-content for 8 undergraduate subjects has also been generated by the Consortium of Educational Communication (CEC) in collaboration with its Media Centers. Over 100 Virtual Labs in 9 Engineering & Science disciplines, comprising about 770 experiments are currently ready for use and available. 1500 Spoken Tutorials are available on line. More than 200 courses for design have been created. The details about NMEICT Mission are available at www.nmeict.ac.in. Using computer infrastructure and connectivity, the reach of these facilities is ensured to the learners. The broadband infrastructure facility is the medium to access the internet. Anybody connected to internet using this infrastructure can have access to all the e-content relating to education available on the World Wide Web. January 2015

Governance Today

Governance Watch

Good Governance Days Witnesses Important Announcements

n the birthday of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee the Good Governance Day was observed on 25th December. To mark this day, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad announced 21 schemes including one-month rental free MTNL broadband and landline combo plans on new bookings. The 21 schemes he announced also included support for international patent protection in electronics and an Internet based real time system to provide eServices in rural India. “Good Governance can be effectively achieved through the vision of Digital India of digital infrastructure as a utility to every citizen, governance and services on demand and digital empowerment of citizens,” Prasad said in his address. “In the last six months, the government has taken a number of landmark initiatives. Digital India programme is committed to taking the cause of good governance forward in letter and spirit,” he added. Key projects include time stamping of digital signature, Integrated Indian Languages Virtual Keyboard for Android, PARAM Shavak (Super computer in box solution), .bharat domain in Gujarati and Bangla, e-launch of Support International Patent Protection in Electronics & IT scheme (SIP-EIT). Prasad also handed over disbursements under the Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme(M-SIPS) and Electronics Manufacturing Clusters (EMC) disbursement. Department of Electronics and IT (DeitY) also launched Gyansetu, which is an Internet based real time ICT system to provide eServices to the rural population and E-governance Competency Framework (e-GCF). Another launch was that of C-DOT’s solution MAX-NG, a cost effective and smooth migration path to Internet

Governance Today

January 2015

Protocol Multimedia Systems (IMS). It will ensure a smooth transition from old telephone system to voice over Internet protocol and will enable consumers to enjoy voice, data and video services on existing landlines at affordable cost. DeitY Secretary R S Sharma said his department has taken various initiatives like MyGov, Aadhaar-enabled Biometric

attendance system, Jeevan Pramaan, eGreetings, eSampark, National Digital Literacy Mission, eGovernance Competency Framework to promote good governance. Prasad also announced that the limit of postal life insurance has been raised from Rs.20 lakh to Rs.50 lakh. Few other announcements which were made on the same day are listed below: The petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan have a programmed of expansion of 5kg LPG cylinders. Rural development minister Birender Singh released a book on the occasion of the pradhan mantri gram sadak yogna divas Ashok Gajapathi Pusapati released a publication at the inauguration of the implementation of e-office in the ministry of civil aviation. Coal minister Piyush Goel also launched a portal for e-auction of coal mines. Health Minister JP Nadda launched Mission indradhanush regarding a massive vaccination Science technology minister harshvardhan launched SMS based weather information. Tourism minister Mahesh Sharma accompanied PM Modi to Varanasi for promoting tourism plan.

Governance Watch

China to Test New Ebola Vaccine

hina has developed a vaccine to combat Ebola virus that has killed more than 7,000 people in three West African countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. The vaccine has been developed by a research team at the Academy of Military Medical Sciences, one of the top research units of China’s People’s Liberation Army and the test of the drug on humans would begin shortly. The vaccine is the third in the world to have been put into clinical tests. It is also the world’s first 2014-genetic mutation Ebola vaccine. Scientists around the world are racing to develop Ebola vaccines after the world’s worst outbreak of the virus.

China Tries to Outbid India in Nepal

iffed by a more assertive India who is trying to regain its influence in Napal, China has sharply increased its official aid to Nepal, by more than five times. It has increased the aid to the Himalayan nation will rise from the present level of $24 million to $128 million in 201516. Additionally, China has been offering assistance in crucial infrastructure projects in the Himalayan kingdom, ostensibly to counter Indian soft loan offers. Over last decade, a general feeling of resentment has seeped in the psyche of many Nepalese that India has taken its relation with Nepal for granted because of which China has been able to increase its foothold. Besides, Beijing is building a police academy for Nepal as a special gift. This is probably because Nepalese police help control the flow of Tibetan refugees trying to enter India through Nepal.

Russian Economy Contracts

or the first time since October 2009, Russia’s economy contracted sharply in November, clearly showing that Western sanctions and a slump in oil prices are impacting the economy. November GDP was reported to have contracted by 0.5 percent year-on-year because of lower contributions from the construction, services and agriculture sectors. The contraction could worsen as the decline in oil prices has gathered pace in December after the oil group OPEC refused to cut output to prop up prices, which are down almost 50 percent since this year’s peak that was seen in June. Crude and gas are the backbone of Russian economy and high crude and gas prices have held Russian economy in good health over last half a decade or so. Further, Western sanctions over Russia’s annexation of Crimea and role in a separatist uprising in east Ukraine have hit badly the ability of Russian companies to borrow abroad, triggering the worst currency crisis since Russian defaulted on its debt in 1998.

January 2015

Governance Today

Lead Story

REINVENTING THE GOVERNANCE The United Nations defines E-Government as “the use and application of information technologies in public administration to streamline and integrate workflows and processes, to effectively manage data and information, enhance public service delivery, as well as expand communication channels for engagement and empowerment of people.”

| ANAND MISHRA & PUNEET DUGGAL

t is therefore about using ICT strategically and tactically to make government more efficient, transparent and engaging; and for that, there needs to be deep-rooted cultural shifts and good IT acumen across a public service machinery so that the benefits from IT and allied technologies could be availed.

Governance Today

January 2015

E-governance can be termed as the transformation of governance process resulting from a continual and exponential introduction into society of more advance digital technologies. It focuses on how these new technologies can be used to strengthen the public’s voices, reshape the democratic processes and refocus the management structure and oversight of government to

better serve the public interest. E-everything is a new concept where everything is desirable to be accessible online. As Michael R. Nelson describes, “Applications of the Internet will be part of everyday life. Everything will have a little intelligence, and everything will be able to communicate.” It is in this framework that e-governance paradigm needs to be visualized.

Lead Story

E-governance is widely accepted to bring about multiple operational benefits. According to the national Knowledge Commission, the benefits of e-governance consists of reducing the cost and improving the reach and quality of public services, reducing transaction costs and transaction times, empowering citizens, increasing transparency of government functioning and re-engineering of processes that result in greater efficiency and productivity. A critical element of e-governance is acceptance of the principal that the new forms of governance rely on better information, consultation and public participation as key elements of engaging citizens in policy making. As such, intelligent information and opinion assimilation is as much a part of successful e-governance as is the automation of public service delivery. This is often forgotten in the myriad of processes and policies. A successful implementation of an e-governance initiatives can be broadly seen on three aspects of governance. First, how efficiently and innovatively the altered structure allows citizens to communicate with the government. This would also involve mechanisms of participating in the government’s policy and decision making processes. Second, how effectively the government is able to derive required information from inputs it gets. This in turn would define how well the government would be able to formulate policies. Finally, it is about how much is an e-government able to meet the true needs of the citizens to ensure their maximum welfare. What the government needs to ask itself before planning and implementing an e-governance

program is why is it pursuing e-government and what are the priorities for the e-governance program? Further, it needs to find out what is the level of awareness and preparedness of people and whether the citizenry can absorb the technological advancement in their interaction with the government? Finally, it has to test its own preparedness in terms of intent and capability. Does the government have the political will to push through the e-government effort, can it select best possible e-government projects, can it plan and manage the projects and can it measure and communicate the progress and the lacunas to make course corrections if required? The government of India, like any other government, has to answer these questions for planning and implementing a successful e-governance program.

The Indian experiment That India has embarked on an ambitious project to introduce e-governance is only logical considering Indian prowess in computing and software development. As for demand side of the e-governance, there is dire need for improvement in governance structure which is currently completely broken. The massive support that government has gotten on its various e-governance initiatives, is indicative of the fact that people are desperately waiting for government to deliver. The National e-Governance Framework (NeGP) is the nodal framework for rolling out e-governance in India and envisions to make all government services accessible to the common man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency and reliability of such services at affordable costs to realise

the basic needs of the Common man. NeGP comprises of 31 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs) encompassing 11 Central MMPs, 13 State MMPs and 7 Integrated MMPs spanning multiple Ministries/ Departments. Mission Mode implies that the objective and the scope of the project are clearly defined, that the project has measurable outcomes and service-levels, and that the project has welldefined milestones and timelines for implementation. MMPs are owned and spearheaded by

Aspects of E-governance Political: Formulation of policies, laws and legislation, installation of decision making process, ensuring political stability Economic: Devising innovative ways of funding, cost reduction and savings, promotion of e-commerce Social : Empowerment of society through effective ICT usage, enhancing education and literacy, generating employment, enhancing IT skills of citizens Technological: Incorporation of high end computing and communication technology, training of personnel, maintenance, safety and security

various Line Ministries concerned for Central, State, and Integrated MMPs. What is significant here is that the government seems to have learnt the criticality of project scope and measurability. If it could observe the milestones and ensure timely completion of projects, it may perhaps have done the biggest bit. Two more elements are worth noting here. First, the government has given lot of focus on capacity building for which State e-Governance Mission Teams, Project e-Governance

January 2015

Governance Today

Lead Story

Mission Teams and Specialized Training Programs (STeP) have been envisioned. Secondly, interoperability has been kept in mind by defining standards and guidelines right from the beginning. Clearly, Indian government is looking at the experience of developed world which had lost much time and resources as its services could not transcend different protocols and platforms.

Key social interventions envisioned Agriculture E-governance’s main aim here would be to streamline and coordinate various ICT initiatives in agriculture projects implemented in preNeGP period at national and state levels. Services provided could be information to farmers on seeds, fertilizers, pesticides. On government schemes, information on crop management and information on weather and marketing of agriculture produce etc. could be provided. E-governance in agriculture has adopted twin strategy to spearhead implementation of MMPs (Mission Mode Projects) in Agriculture through AGRISNET and two portals AGMARKNET & DACNET.

Education Higher education is currently wrestling with the “e-everything revolution.” Internet access and the Web allow colleges and universities to do much of their business, administrative and academic activities online. The formal education systems through schools, colleges and universities have not been able to fulfill the educational need of the large population in India. To cater to the need of education, the concept of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) 14

Governance Today

January 2015

Areas under different jurisdictions for implementing e-governance CENTRAL (11)

STATE (13)

INTEGRATED (7)

Banking

Agriculture

CSC [Common Service Centre]

Central Excise and Customs

Commercial Taxes

e-Biz

Income Tax

E-District

e-Courts

Insurance

Employment Exchanges Mission Mode Project (EEMMP)

e-Government Procurement

MCA- Ministry of Corporate Affairs

Land Records

EDI [Electronic Data Interchange] For eTrade

National Citizens Database [UID]

Municipalities

National e-governance Service Delivery Gateway (NSDG)

Passport

Gram Panchayats

India Portal

www.india.gov.in Immigration, Visa Police and Foreigners Registration& Tracking Pension

Road Transport

E-Office

Treasuries

Department of Post

PDS Health Education

education has become popular in India. As in the ODL system of education there is less contact between the students and the institution, wide application of e-Governance will be helpful for the students in this regard. So far, it has not been able to provide students with cheap basic tablets loaded with coursework, but the project is an example of the direction in which the government is thinking.

Women empowerment The Common Services Centers of the National e-Governance Plan can be an effective platform for helping women acquire digital literacy skills that enable them to further their education, gain employment, help start and build their own business, secure

their livelihood and become socially and politically active. Projects such as the Scheme for Empowering Women in Rural India through Digital Literacy which envisages training of 2,500 women on Computer Concepts can go a long way in defining the success of e-governance at rural level. Further, introduction of online education can make women more employable in mainstream sectors such as nursing and teaching.

Challenges in implementation There is a general opinion in developed world that all early e-Government initiatives cost too much and delivered too little. In a paper titled “common

Lead Story

Causes of Project failure” in 2005, the British government zeroed on seven crucial issues which it felt were behind failed e-governance initiatives. These were lack of strategic clarity, lack of sustained leadership at political and senior management level, poor understanding and segmentation of user needs, lack of effective engagement with stakeholders, lack of skills, poor supplier management and “Big Bang” implementation philosophy. A closer look at these reasons reveals that these fall in three broad categories. First, the project was not planned well in terms of objectives, priorities and clarity. Second, implementation failed on account of poor capacity building at government level because of which the project could not be rolled out in appropriate manner. Third and perhaps most crucial was the fact that the government could not engage stakeholders enough. This led to poor requirement analysis, lack of suitable training and poor public private partnership. Along with these generic challenges that dog any e-governance projects, rolling out a successful e-governance program in India is going to face a few challenges that are unique to the Indian demography and society. Prominent among these are as follows:

High cost of bandwidth Internet access is very expensive in India, and is prohibitively costly for the poor; it generally costs about Rs. 30 per hour in cities and as much as Rs.150 per hour in rural areas. Installing the telephone lines is costly, unreliable for good internet connectivity and takes very long time to install. On top of it, lack of electricity makes any meaningful dependence on

technology meaningless.

Linguistic and Technical illiteracy Internet is English dominated with over 85 per cent pages in English. More than 80 per cent of Indians on the other hand, are non-literate in English and as such computers and the internet have very limited usage in Indian villages. The language problem is compounded by lack of technical literacy which is reflected by low correlation between education level and use of digital equipment and software.

Lack of participative processes Designing of applications for e-governance requires a very close interaction between the govt. department, agency developing the solutions and target users, i.e. society. At present, social and departmental contribution are not enough to design the solution architecture, leading to poor product design. Further, social input is very hard to get in India because of broken state machinery and general lack of awareness regarding benefits of e-governance as well as the process involved in implementing successful G-C, G-G and G-B projects.

Ill equipped bureaucracy There is extreme apathy among government servants who want no change in the operational procedure. This is because or rigidity to earn and also because an efficient process would hit corruption.

E-Governance: Global Trends Developed world has introduced the various elements of e-governance in it various services over last couple of decades. United Kingdom launched UK online in September

2000. In Pacific region, Australia and Singapore are the early adapters of e-governance. C a n a d a ’s e-governance approach is somewhat different from that of the U.S. For online services, U.S. focuses more on the business client at the federal level whereas Canada focuses on key services for both citizens and individuals in a more decentralized way. As for rolling out processes for e-governance, the US led the way initially,

New Initiatives in National e-Governance Framework Electronic Delivery of Services (EDS) Bill E-District approved for National Rollout E-Pramaan: Framework for e-Authentication Mobile Seva(MSDG): Mobile Based Delivery of Govt. Services National Optic Fiber Network (NoFN) Open Government Platform inaugurated Citizen Engagement Framework & Social Media Framework and Guidelines GI Cloud (MeghRaj)

but later trends shows that Asia Pacific leads the way in implementing e-governance projects initiatives. The US started very strong in the e-Government development index - holding the top position from 2001 to 2005. However, their position started to decline as other nations started lifting their governments’ IT capacity. This trend has continued, with the US achieving its lowest ever rank (7th) in 2014 in UNCAP’s E-Government Survey 2014. Now while the US has been consistently in the top 10, it is exhibiting signs of weakness due to a combination of budget cuts and the expense of maintaining a large and ageing January 2015

Governance Today

Lead Story

Increasing value to Citizen / Business Phase 4 Interaction Phase 3 Interaction Phase 1 Information

Phase 2 Interaction

Increasing complexity

E-governance Maturity Model (Gartner, 2000) Phase 1: Information Being present on the web: Providing citizens with relevant information making processes more transparent, improving democracy and service. Phase 2: Interaction Stimulating interaction between government and the public through G2C and G2B through various applications, allowing people to ask questions via e-mail, use search engines for information and are able to download all sorts of forms and documents. Phase 3: Transaction Increasing complexity of the technology to increase customer (G2C and G2B) value. Internal (G2G) processes to be redesigned to provide good service. Complete transactions can be done without going to an office. Phase 4: Transformation All information systems are integrated and the public can get G2C and G2B services at one (virtual) counter. One single point of contact for all services is the ultimate goal.

IT infrastructure. Unfortunately the country has become the victim of its own success - much of the technology implemented at the end of the 20th century

and start of the 21st, needs to be completely replaced and the US government lacks the money and will to commit to all of the capital redevelopment required.

Increasing number of people are using internet to interact with government in developed world Source (United Nations E-Government Survey 2014, UNCAP)

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This is despite the enormous efforts the current President has put into Government 2.0 and open data. While these steps are important, they tend to happen on the edges of the system, rather than in the core. Many US agencies are still reliant on software originally designed in the 1980s and 1990s and the process of moving away from these is a slow and expensive one. At the end of the day, years down the line, the efficacy of the e-governance project of India would be measured not in terms of how many institutions were created or closed, how many projects were rolled out and how many billions were spent on the projects. It would be measured in terms of how many lives were touched by the changed system. It would be measured by how much the processes and policies were reengineered and migrated online, eliminating human intervention and discretion. World has moved beyond simple application of technology to simplify processes. Paradigm has moved to revolutionize ways in which services are delivered on tech platforms. Indian government has its task clearly cut out. It has very high obstacles that emerge out of wretched and poverty ridden population on one hand and because of extremely corrupt and broken bureaucracy on the other hand, which would resist any attempt to improve. But these would test the resolve of the present and future governments in terms of whether they can be innovative enough to design solutions suited to Indian realities and strong enough to push them through the great Indian bureaucracy. Stakes are very high and losing is not an option. (Puneet Duggal is a research scholar specializing in Big Data)

Lead Story

Good Governance through E-Governance | VINIT GOENKA

he world has changed a lot over centuries and all these changes were mainly triggered by scientific and technological innovations and inventions. But over last fifty years, the world has been craving for more innovations in the field of governance. The opening of the economy in India in 1991 ended of license raj and freed the market forces. But later on, various scams underscored the lack of transparency in the governance mechanism in India. The inability of the bureaucracy to change with time only hampered the credibility of the governments that came in. Therefore there is a need

for â&#x20AC;&#x153;A Government which is responsive to the needs of the people, whose transactions have clearly defined time bound accountability and whose decisions are readily available for public scrutiny.â&#x20AC;? Indian government has announced 25th December as Good Governance Day. I believe that good governance, along with E-governance will lead the future of India in creating an efficient and effective governance system. In order to ensure good governance for the country, the E-governance system will have to come good on four basic principles.

Accountability The biggest challenge of governance is the lack of

accountability. Problems that a government faces are complex because the needs of the people are complex and rapidly changing. To manage such complex tasks, clear accountability is required. Currently, there is no clearly defined personnel who are responsible for handling any specific task and is solely responsible for the same. There is always a game of passing the buck from one department to the other when a common man tries to access the government services. To avoid this problem, the governance system must define the personnel and the stakeholders who are accountable for the provision of services. Further there is need for classifying the January 2015

Governance Today

requests from the people into daily administration problems, interdepartmental problems and policy level problems so that targeting of problems is more precise.

Daily Administration Problems Most of the problems that common man faces in the society are regular administration problems. For these, it is easier to define the time frame by when the issue would be resolved by the government and who are accountable for the resolution of the issue. This ensures that the citizen is empowered to know whom to question for the resolution of his issue and also when to expect the service from the government.

Interdepartmental Problems Some of the problems that a common man faces would require the intervention of multiple departments of the governments for the resolution. These problems would require greater amount of time, but E-governance systems can still fix the accountability if departmental jurisdictions are clearly defined.

Policy level issues These are the most complex issues which arise with the changes coming up in the society and require thorough analysis as these issues have to be addressed keeping the future in view. The solutions are of long term and therefore require thorough analysis from multiple stakeholdersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; point of view. E-governance systems can help in such cases by providing accurate impact analysis of possible decisions.

Transparency The second major requirement from an effective E-governance 18

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system is transparency. The last government suffered majorly because of multiple scams that were unearthed by the media. People are now demanding far more transparency in the government transactions than they ever did in past. Therefore there is a necessity for not only working in a transparent manner but also communicate to the people that every transaction is

The major problems of the people are more of administrative nature, the citizen should be given the opportunity to participate in the governance system.

happening as per the mandate without any violation. Therefore E-governance systems should be intelligent enough to automate the decision making process so that the transactions are highly transparent and are perceived to be transparent by society at large. It would also ensure that transactions of the government are as per the mandated criteria and that there is no scope for a biased decision making, which is the root cause for lack of trust in the governance systems in India.

Responsive Thirdly, government as an entity has to be responsive to the need of the people. India is the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest democracy and accounts for almost 17 per cent of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population. With such a large population which is divided by diverse cultures and life styles, there is bound to be difference in the expectations from the government by citizens across the length and breadth of the country. Therefore there is a need for a governance system which is responsive to the needs of the people. Since major problems of the people are more of administrative nature, the citizen should be given the opportunity to participate in the governance system. The true nature of democracy is to ensure that voices of the people are heard. Therefore E-governance systems must ensure that the systems created by them are responsive to the requirement of the different sections of population.

Speed and Seamless service Finally, governance has to be time relevant and easy to be obtained. Today in the multinational organizations, a loss of information systems for even few minutes can cause a loss of revenue for the organization.

In a country like India, which is full of complex issues, cultures and expectations, utmost importance is to be given to ensure there is a seamless service delivery at every nook and corner of the country at that too, at the right time. National Telecom Policy of India, 2012 envisages providing high speed and high quality broadband access to every habitation in India before 2020. This could be the backbone of speedy E-governance delivery for the country. More governance and less Government has been one of the most important promises of PM Narendra Modi. In pursuit of making his promise a reality, he has initiated Digital India campaign which envisages improving governance in the country by centering around three core pillars, namely Digital Infrastructure as a utility to every citizen, governance and services on Demand and Digital

Empowerment of citizens. Full scope of these steps would be felt increasingly in years to come. Going ahead, good governance will depend on the effective utilization of the E-governance systems of the government. The use of IT tools like Data Analytics and Business Intelligence will ensure that the government provides responsive, high speed and reliable service to its citizens. The empowerment of the citizen with the E-governance will ensure that his right to obtain services from the government will be fulfilled in a time bound manner. The use if IT tools to automate the decision making can play a vital role in bringing down the corruption and misappropriation of funds of the government so that it can offer more Governance. The writer is the National CoConvener of BJP IT Cell January 2015

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E-Governance

Digital India: Taking Governance Online | RAMESH KUMAR RAJA

s a rapidly modernising India kicks off a campaign to move governance online, Digital India project declared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Speech

last year has come as a booster for the National eGovernance Plan, which could now have a fresh lease of life. The government feels that such a gigantic IT project will alsoattract large private sector investments in electronics manufacturing, 20

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According to Prasad, the overall possibility of this programis “to prepare India for a knowledge future”, “to make technology crucial to enabling change” and “to become an umbrella programme covering many departments”. “The focus of this project is on being transformative – to realise IT+ IT = IT, i.e., India Today + Information Technology = India Tomorrow,” the minister recently opined. As per Nilesh Goradia, HeadPreSales, India Subcontinent, Citrix, “ The Digital India project is a step in the right direction; it promises several new possibilities for India. The announcement of an IT project of this scale from the government is by itself a proof of the fact that now India is prepared to start investing in technology to improve its economic outlook.” If implemented correctly, this project will bring out a new layer of engagement between the government, businesses and

which in turn will create millions of new jobs and support trade.The Digital Indiaproject subsumes a mix of services and plans that are just right for reviving the state of governance in the country- from education to public services to bureaucracy. Interestingly, it comes at a time when awareness among citizens is rising about their rights with anensuingupsurge in expectations from the government to perform and deliver. According to experts, the project – carrying a price tag of nearly Rs 1.13 lakh crore and built on the strength of broadband highways and mobile telephony – hasthe potential of empowering every citizen in the country. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Communication and Information Technology, believes the Digital India project will provide people with a “cradle to grave digital identity” that is “unique, lifelong and online”.

E-Governance

citizens, Goradia feels. Joining Goradia’s chorus, Vineet Kshirsagar, Senior Director & Group Head, Government Business at Oracle India, feelsgoing digital is a need of the hour. “A digital interface can enable the government to engage and interact with the public in a manner that is convenient to them both. This initiative will go a long way in bridging the digital divide and empowering the citizens of the country,” Kshirsagar lauds the

network, rapid strides in mobile telephony, spread of internet and strengthening of the related communications infrastructure will facilitate delivery of a large number of services provided by the government. Such an enhancement of the reach of government should enable a deeper and better participation of the citizens in the process of governance. Given that the aim of Digital Indiaprogramme is to provide services in real time from online

billion industry can be part of the government’s ambitious programme. Nasscom, looks forward to the prospect to partner with the government in achieving this proud vision.According to Nasscom president R. Chandrashekhar, theyhave also been working with the government to build a facilitative investment climate, and improve ease of doing business in India by way of necessary policy changes and pertinent policy

initiative. Likewise, most people and private firms believe that process efficiency will grow immensely once the project is unleashed in its full potential. The accomplishment of this project will empower the government to engage with the citizens in a more effectual way.The fast acceptance of technology in governance will bring government machinery to the doorsteps of the citizens. Broadening of telephone

and mobile platforms, the private sector sees a lot of opportunities in the e-governance segment. It opens doors for a large number of IT industry players to develop platforms, which can help in providing government services and information to people acrossdifferent parts of the country.National Association of Software and Services Companies, (Nasscom), the IT industry body, has been making clamour about how the $100

implementation measures for higher competitiveness of the country. Microsoft India’s national technology officer (NTO) Prakash Kumar finds it encouraging to see the Indian government prioritising technology as a facilitator for the transformation and development of India. “We see integrating technology into everyone’s everyday life, as a huge opportunity to achieve better citizen services,

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E-Governance

inclusive growth and a digitally empowered economy,” says Kumar. As per Goradia of Citrix, “The government will issue certificates that store data – education, residential, medical history, birth certificates etc., in individual ‘digital lockers’ and establish a protocol that enables departments to access them physically without any need for seeing the hard copy. To enable this, the security and data accessibility solutions will have to be accounted for in the deployment plan.” However, there a re challenges in the project implementation. It may be noted that the IT sector in the country employsnearlythree million professionals directly and aroundnine million indirectly. Contrarily, the number of IT employees is very small in the government.Hence,it goes without saying that the realisation of Digital India project can be ensured only when the private sector come on the board in a big way for project development, implementation and management.To make the project productive, the private and public sector need to join forces in terms of resources from financial to technology support, human resources and infrastructure. The private sector needs to support the project with its resources, expertise and technology, while the government takes up the task of taking the programmeahead. Another issue with the Digital India project is that there are multiple bureaucratic structures

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to negotiate for private sector. Traditionally, the experience of private sector firms for working in e-governance projects has not been satisfactory.A crucialissue of concern is thateven the smallest e-governance project can need the approval of many ministries and departments for effective execution.Much of time can get wasted in getting the necessary permissions and regulatory consents from various departments involved. Besides, it is a technological

challenge to ensure process efficiency, especially in a country like India where majority ofcitizens are digitally illiterate. Some of the more difficult challenges are cultural: one-fifth of Indians who have smartphones don’t think it is a reliable way to transact.Without knowing about its technicalities, people from all sections of society cannot avail advantages of a new service. Hence, the systems that are developed must be convenient for the end-user. It is of little use, if a given e-governance system is

complex to adopt. Capacity building amongst government employees is another important aspect that must be looked into for effective performance of e-governance initiatives.Developing new academic programs and facultieswill be required not just at school and college levels, but also for the use of serving government employees in various departments at centre and in states.Also, there should be a plan for improving process efficiency with a stress on reaching out to the targeted individuals, in order to avoid erroneous implementation and outreach of government projects. Last but not the least, securing data at all time is going to be a serioustask that the government needs to address before getting on Digital India, the ambitious program in which lots of data will have to be put online. According to Sanjay Rohatgi of Symantec, an anti-virus software maker; “The security of critical infrastructure needs to be ensured through strict compliance of the security policy and the use of modern techniques, tools and processes.” After all, it’s the protection of citizen’s information which is of utmost importance to all. In short, while the idea of Digital India is really novel and has the potential to transform the way governance is delivered in the country, there are challenges in form of capacity and procedures which need to be addressed if the program has to make any real and lasting impact.

E-Governance

The Delivery Backbone | EKTA SRIVASTAVA

magine a country where when the child is born and the first thing he/she is issued is an Aadhar number. The

information which can be used everywhere, by the government, corporates, hospitals, schools, colleges. It could be especially useful for the government which spends in crores to keep track of population, with no proof of validation. Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s say after finishing college, if that individual applies for job and is called for an interview. The interviewer can check his whole academic record with just a single number.When he starts

earning his salary gets into his Aadhar linked account. Now tax gets automatically debited and his spending/ transaction (cylinders, shopping) can be tracked. If he is engaged in any land possession, either ancestral or his own, the information will

But conceptually the Aadhar is supposed to benefit social inclusion on all development parameters (education, health, employment) and hence pitched as more than an identity card. Aadhaar is actually a 12-digit number and not a card which is

directly get updated and finally when he dies, his information gets updated; no need of death certificate. In a sentence, the Aadhar card (UID) is an attempt to uniquely & digitally identify people for the primary purpose of tracking the social security of an individual. It is inspired by the Social Security Number issued in the USA. Note that a lot of countries including China have identification cards which the Aadhar is.

unique for every individual who enroll or apply to get his/her Aadhaar number. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is the regulatory body for this purpose.

Start-up India has become the first country in the world to issue a unique identity number for each of its residents from February 2011 which will allow an on-line verification. January 2015

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E-Governance

During the NDA rule, the UID was planned as a smart card based system. This would decentralize things, reduce cost, provide more security and work just like the way Publickey Cryptography works on the internet or more recently,

kept pro-poor and inclusive. “I think it is a very powerful and inclusive idea. It will help the poor have better access to public services and will be a great enabler for their financial inclusion. The flagship welfare schemes of the government

like Bitcoins. However the UPA revoked this to establish a centralized bio-metric system which has a single point of failure. During a conference in 2010, the father of the UIDAI, NandanNilekani terming the project a “massively complex project,” said the authority will use state governments, banks, insurance companies and other such institutions as partners in enrolment. He even added that the verification process will be

can be made more efficient,” he said, adding that it will help strengthen national security, reduce fraud and increase tax collection.

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Positive Move With the technology in place, various pilots were initiated in districts of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh. As things stand, 78 more districts have been added to the programme with 84 per cent of the population

having Aadhaar numbers. Yet, just 24 per cent of the population is found to be fully compliant in 34 of these districts. At the same time, some state governments, too, have succeeded in creating some sort of DBT without the Aadhaar. This raises the issue of whether the massive exercise of Aadhaar could have been avoided since the option of National Population Registry (NPR) was already available. NPR currently uses Aadhaar as its backbone. Though after four long years the statement that it is a good initiative is debatable. It would have been a good initiative if India had its social security figured out, which it has not.

Drawbacks For the urban middle class Indian with a PAN card, perhaps

a passport and a driving license, the UID provides not much benefit. But then again less than 5 per cent of India pays income tax and getting the other 95 per cent under some kind of financial system can have significant benefits. Then there is this whole issue about data privacy and fake UID cards being issue due to technical lapses or unscrupulous elements. About one UID number gets deleted every 10 seconds by the de-duplication

E-Governance

Ground level benefits of UID Public Distribution System (PDS) is one such social security measure. People below a certain income are guaranteed access to subsidized food, kerosene and other regular supplies. Major issue in PDS is pilferage and quality of service neither of which are related to the unique identification of a person. Moreover UID claims to help identify a person when they migrate from a village to another village or city which is a genuine problem but again the PDS system is too corrupted & cartelized to make good use of the UID. Financial Inclusion is another good reason often cited with the UID. The problem here is that banks do not really have any incentive to create & manage accounts for people with insignificant income. In many areas cooperatives have solved the problem by building a good local network and in some areas PSUs have helped make banking accessible. A UID might help open bank account in this case, especially in the case of a migrant. Direct Cash Transfers, Food Security and Guaranteed Employment are some of the large scale public schemes that could be better managed with the UID but the ‘ifs’ will always remain.

system of the UID. One can only imagine the possible issues that can arise due to the authenticity of the biometric based system. The Aadhar card can be put to good use if the holes in the systems it is supposed to help are plugged. Currently mobile phones have a better reach than the Aadhar cards and provide similar functional benefits and a mobile number serves a good purpose of the part of identifying people for pushing benefits. To justify the expense of the Aadhar card a lot more effort needs to be put in to streamline and make good use of the data and individual identity. The biggest challenge though would be reach of banking system in India. Sixty percent of the 1.2 billion population in India remains outside the formal banking system. The success of the DBT depends entirely on the speed with which financial inclusion can be achieved. The argument made by advocates of Aadhar is that moving to cash transfer of subsidies would act as an incentive for millions of Indians in rural pockets to open Bank accounts and facilitate financial inclusion. This argument is

valid if we assume that rural Indians have access to formal banking. And after that RBI to issue information to all banks to accept UID as sole identity card document for the account opening. It can be a misery only to the country like India, where having Aadhar is important to apply for passport but banks do not consider it as the sufficient document. Aadhaar’s benefit for an individual lies in the fact that it gives an identity without seeking residence proof, unlike other identity systems. It is a portable number that can be used anywhere. All that is needed is an introducer who confirms the identity and address of the person he/she is introducing. These are some of the crucial issues of Aadhaar’s reach and the complex web of processes required before people can avail of benefits. However, as the project goes digging through the narrow gallies of India, it seems to be a start in the right direction. The only hope is that this project doesn’t turn into a series of empty promises for India’s poor as other projects.

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E-Governance

Cloud Computing Need of the hour for E-governance | RAMESH KUMAR RAJA

-governance, as we know, is a process of reform in the way governments or companies work, share information, engage citizens and deliver services to external and internal clients for the benefit of both government and the clients that they serve. The cloud computing – which essentiallyis a network of remote servers that enables one to store, manage and process data and use programs through a webbased interface – thus comes as a major component of the e-governance.The amalgamation of e-governance with cloud computing, henceforth,offers integration management with automated problem resolution, manages security end to end, and helps budget based on actual usage of data. Although cloud computing has been around for a quite some time, and goes as far back as the birth of email, it’s only in recent past that the governments and companies have started renting servers and storage

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instead of purchasing hardware and running it at huge costs. And with more institutions – especiallythose that rely on India’s outsourcing infrastructure – transferringsome of their IT work onto the cloud, companies such as Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Wipro etc. have stepped up to facilitate that shift. They have positioned themselves as enablers between owners and renters. At a global level, cloud architectures can help government to cut duplicate endeavours and increase effective utilization ofresources. This in turn helps the government going green, reducing pollution and enforcing effective waste management. Enterprises and Small and Medium businesses are already reaping the benefits of cloud by using the pay-asyou-use service model, its massive scalability and ready availability. Since governments require a massive infrastructure it is important for government to use cloud computing on long term basis. According to a report

published by IT research and advisory firm Gartner, it is estimated that in India alone, the market for cloud-based services will rise by more than triple by 2018. India’s IT giants are becoming experts at going in early, at the planning stage, and defining what their government and corporate customers ought to be doing to take advantage of emerging technologies. “They are playing to their strengths, which is services. Even in the cloud, they are in the services, specifically focussed on services brokerage,” feels Arup Roy, research director at Gartner. They have the advantage of being experts at managing IT back-end for global customers, which will play a crucial role in the shift to the cloud. IT giant Infosys, for instance, over the past two years has been actively growing its cloudbased services business, using its Cloud Ecosystem Hub. This could well be the heart of its future. In its June-quarter results this year, Infosys announced that its cloud and big data business has executed more than 260

E-Governance

engagements, and has won 20 contracts in the last quarter itself. It is building what will eventually be a full-fledged ‘app store’ for a European bank, and has already shifted a business management system onto a cloud network for an American manufacturer. A leading video game developer too has partnered with the IT giant to design, build and maintain a platform for mobile gaming. Even as the arrival of cloud computing has changed the way IT demands are met, there are some factors which make cloud computing a must for SMEs that contribute to 1/3rd of IT investment. According to Neeraj Athalye, Head, Cloud Business, SAP India Pvt. Ltd., “Cloud adaptation not only brings down total cost of ownership, lowers risk and promotes innovation, but also offers a protected IT set up with high business continuity and IT talent retention which is most crucial for SMEs today.” As per a recent study by Zinnov, the cloud computing market in India is estimated at around $400 million and is expected to reach $4.5 billion by 2015 and SMEs being the backbone of Indian economy are likely to drive the growth. Experts, however, do believe that cloud computing providers need to make it more cost effective and try to increase awareness on the same. Because there is a perception among SMEs that cloud computing is very expensive and beyond their reach as many of them are not based in metropolis. They still believe that they cannot afford cloud services as it is way beyond their budget, whereas to reap the benefits of cloud computing just a couple of hundred dollars are needed, experts feel. Meanwhile, adapting to the next-generation technology, the Government of India is now

leveraging cloud computing in a big way with huge multi-billion dollar mission-mode projects. Some of these projects were kicked off only recently that will also help the government in evaluating what changes technology enhancement can bring for the improvisation of services for citizens. With this, the government is aiming at e-governance system that will combine services like banking, pensions, insurance and judiciary. Additionally, it will include Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & System – CCTNS scheme, e-court, treasuries, commercial taxes and road transport. These projects are classified into central, state and integrated projects. And, each state can identify up to five mission-mode projects for itself. Interestingly, it comes in tune with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s slogan of “minimum government, maximum governance.”

E-governance challenges and Cloud benefits We have brought to you some e-governance challenges and cloud benefits as listed in a white paper- “Cloud Computing for E-Governance” published in 2010 by International Institute of Information Technology (IIT), Hyderabad.

Data Scaling The databases should be scalable, to deal with large data over the years for e-governance applications.Where relational databases ensure the integrity of data at the lowest level, cloud databases could bescaled and can be used for such type of applications. Cloud databases available fo r deployment o f fe r unprecedented level of scaling without compromising

on the performance. Cloud databases must be considered if the foremost concern is ondemand, high-end scalability – that is, large scale, distributed scalability, the kind that can’t be achieved simply by scaling up.

Auditing and logging Traceability to any changes to information content in e-governance services is required. Corruption ingovernment organizations can be controlled by using Information Technology services, by keeping theproviders of the services accountable. Process audits, security audits must be done periodically toensure the security of the system. Cloud can help in analysing huge volumes of data and detecting any fraud. It can help in building and placing defence mechanisms to enhance the security, thereby making the applications reliable and available.

Rolling out new Instances, Replication and Migration Traditionally, applications in e-governance work for department states and municipalities and hencetake more time, effort, resources and budget. This happens for all the instances of these applications.Capabilities must exist to replicate these to include another municipality or e-court as part of e-governance. Cloud architectures offer

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E-Governance

excellent features to create an instance of application for rolling out a new municipality. Cloud can reduce the time to deploy new application instances.

Disaster Recovery Natural disasters like floods, earthquakes, wars and internal disturbances could cause the e-governanceapplications not only loose data, but also make services unavailable.Multiple installations in geographically separated locations withcomplete backup and recovery solutions must exist. This couldcreate huge problems. Disaster recovery procedures must be inplace and practiced from time to time. Applications and data mustbe redundant and should be available on a short notice to switch from one data centre to centre. Cloud virtualisation technologies allow backups and restoring. It offers application migration seamlessly compared to traditional data centre.

Performance and Scalability The architecture and technology adopted for the e-governance initiatives should be scalable and common across delivery channels.It is required to meet growing numbers and demands of citizens. If implemented, the e-governance portals could become the biggest users and beneficiaries of information technology. With cloud architectures, scalability is inbuilt. Typically, e-governance applications can be scaled vertically by moving to a more powerful machine that can offer more memory, CPU, storage. A simpler solution is to cluster the applications and scale horizontally by adding resources.

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Data centre usage (CPU, storage, network etc), peak loads, consumption levels, power usage along withtime are some of the factors that needs to be monitored and reported for better utilisation of resources. It minimises costs and plan well. Profiling data enables better visibility into various services provided bythe government. Cloud offers better Business Intelligence infrastructure compared to traditional ones because of its sheer size and capabilities. Cloud computing offers seamless integration with frameworks like Map Reduce (Apache Hadoop) that fit well in cloud architectures. Applications can mine huge volumes of real time and historic data to make better decisions to offer better services.

Policy management E-governance applications have to adhere and implementpolicies of the governments in terms of dealing with citizens.Along with the infrastructure and data centre policies have tobe enforced for day to day operations. Cloud architectures help a great deal in implementing policies in data centre. Policies with respect to security, application deployment etc. can be formalised and enforced in the data centre.

Systems Integration and Legacy Software Not only the applications that are already deployed and providing services are to be moved to the cloud,but also integrate with applications deployed in the cloud. The power of information technology comesin co-relating the data across applications and pass messages across different systems to provide fasterservices to the end users. Cloud is built on SOA principles and can offer excellent solutions

for integration of various applications. Also, applications can be seamlessly easily moved into cloud. Obsolete Technologies and Migration to New Technologies Technology migration is the biggest challenge. Moving to different versions of software, applyingapplication and security patches is the key to maintaining a secure data centre for e-governance. Cloud architecture efficiently enables these kinds of requirements, by co-existing and co-locating different versions and releases of the software at the same time. Once these applications are tested, they can be migrated into production with ease.

At a global level, cloud architectures can help government to cut duplicate endeavours and increase effective utilization ofresources. This in turn helps the government going green, reducing pollution and enforcing effective waste management. Going green More emphasis is laid out today in terms of the amount of pollution the data centres can create. The power usage, air-conditioning and electronic waste could create bio-hazard. This could be one of the reasons for moving to cloud architecture for governance. Instead of duplicating these facilities, with cloud, one can offer centralised infrastructure that can be efficiently used to minimise pollution.

E-Governance

Delivering

Financial Services

Innovatively

Earlier this year, PM NarendraModi launched the Jan Dhan Yojna, which is the largest financial inclusion initiative that India has undertaken. The program has been reasonably successful in bringing huge number of unbanked people under banking umbrella. Delivering financial services and products to people residing in remotest parts of the country is a daunting task and is a crucial aspect of governance. According to a World Bank Findex Survey, conducted a couple of years ago, almost 65 per cent of the adult Indian population did not have access to a formal bank account. Traditionally, banks and other financial institutions have been unsuccessful in reaching out to remote areas. Basic reason behind this failure is the financial unviability of remote, rural branches | ANAND MISHRA

ecause of the failure of formal banking system, it becomes important that the government takes upon itself the primary role of delivering financial products and services to unbanked population, which means not just bank accounts, but also other financial services such as credit, insurance and pensions. Basically, all forms of financial activities and requirements of largest section of population needs to be made available at the least possible distance from the final customer.

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E-Governance

This is where the role of new age computing, networking and communication technology comes in. With proper planning and application of these technologies, government can bypass the traditional model of putting a large number of people and infrastructure on ground to deliver multiple products and services. This makes financial product delivery a classic test case for e-governance.

Bringing basic services under CSC The government of Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s National E-Governance Plan has developed the Common Service Centres (CSC) network as nodal points for delivering basic financial services at a location nearest to the customer. The CSCs have been designed as web enabled centres,

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January 2015

located in remote and rural areas which can offer basic banking, insurance and credit functions at one point, thus obviating the need for having traditional brick and mortar centres for each of these functions. There are more than 200,000 CSCs operating in the country of which over 6,000 are operating as Banking Correspondent for public sector banks. Government is supporting CSC/BC network as preferred route for delivering financial services compared to traditional brick and mortar banking network because of CSC/BC networkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s flexibility and ability to roll out multiple services under one roof. A CSC offers delivery of financial products and services including banking, insurance and pension. In banking, a CSC generally undertakes elementary services such as customer enrolment,

issuance of ID Cards, Debit Card and PIN numbers etc. Further, a CSC is a point where transaction facilities are also available. So, customers can deposits money into and withdrawal money from a bank account, transfer money and get information about their account in form ofstatement of accounts. Furthermore, CSCs are designated to do loan related information and document collection as well as information dissemination on behalf of banks. SBI Kiosk banking is an example of this facility in which CSCs are appointed as Business Correspondents to the SBI and carry out banking transactions on behalf of the bank. This allows them to let customers use their facilities to do banking transactions for which they get pre mandated fee. As for customer identification, SBI uses biometric based online user authentication in real time via SBIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s portal. This model is being used by other agencies too, such as AISECT and NICT in Madhya Pradesh. This is where the role of UIDAI system comes into play as fast and reliable expansion of the program would allow creation of an ID databank which various types of service providers can tap into. Besides acting as banking correspondents, CSCs are also allowed to act as brokers for selling of insurance product and services of both life and non-life types, thus allowing easier access of insurance for farmers who cannot go to far off towns and cities for buying insurance. CSCs are also mandated to act as nodal point for delivery for various other

E-Governance

services and products such as pension products and money remittances.

Rolling out DBT on Aadhaar platform In order to prevent the pilferage in the subsidy system which benefited black marketers instead of poor and severely

distorted the market structure, the Indian government has moved to a more scientific direct money transfer paradigm in which the financial benefits are to be directly sent to the targeted persons. Under this direct transfer of benefit (DBT) scheme, the money is credited to the bank accounts of the

beneficiary. From service delivery point of view, what is natural is that the DBT scheme would have to rely upon Aadhaar platform for adequate targeting the beneficiary. So, as a starting point, the Aadhaar numbers of beneficiaries would have to be accurately mapped with the respective social benefits entitlements and to beneficiariesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; respective bank accounts. Only then can benefits be accurately transferred to the deserving person. In this regard, the experiments such as Project Dilasa can be replicated at multiple locations. This project, undertaken in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra, was an experiment to disburse payments under social benefit programs by using Aadhaar number to ensure effective and accurate targeting of beneficiaries. In this experiment, national informatics centre (NIC) deployed an application

January 2015

Governance Today

E-Governance

ICT Push for Smart Cities | ANAND MISHRA

ecently, the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) announced that it was entering in a partnership with Microsoft India to transform Surat into a smart city. SMC said it had selected Microsoft as its preferred partner for process automation and citizen services. Surat has been an early adopter of technology in delivering services to its citizens. It hopes to keep its record intact. Going by the plans of Narendra Modiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s government, India would create 100 smart cities which would mean lot many cities trying to adopt newer technologies in computing, networking and data management in analysing various service requirements and plan delivery accordingly. India is under a massive wave of urbanization and it is expected that by 2030, Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s urban population will be nearly double

Governance Today

January 2015

of the entire current population of the United States. It is also expected that Indian cities will generate close to 70 per cent of the GDP. Needless to say, such a huge human settlement coupled with commensurate economic activity would present unique challenges for city administrators. It is imperative therefore that governments put in place systems, processes and people who forecast, plan and administer cities in efficient and sustainable manner. But what do we mean when we think of a smart city? Is it smart traffic management, with sensors imbedded in roads and CCTVs installed at critical locations telling citizens which roads to avoid? Or it is smart energy systems that forecasts energy demand and pulls power from grid? Does a smart city ask its administration to accept all requests and revenues online

and granting approvals or levying penalties online? All of these are elements of smart city governance and if you can see the common thread that runs through all of these, it is the intelligent data assimilation, processing and information dissemination targeted towards specific population segment, which makes city services and operations more efficient. Quite obviously, it would require bringing together various elements of IT, telecom and networking. And the overall management system which would rest in hands of administrators would be the basis of e-governance of smart cities. Traditionally, we have thought of smart cities as cities that use information and communications technologies to develop physical and institutional infrastructure and develops smart, faceless methods to interact with citizens.

E-Governance

However, smartness is a concept that goes beyond processes. It works at a deeper conceptual level at which people and economy of a city are also aligned intelligently with institutions and processes. Modern cities are a complex interplay of people, processes and infrastructure. Reengineering the processes and putting in place alternative institutional infrastructure is a tough task for existing cities. From operational perspective, broadly, smart cities would work on a couple of crucial areas. First, how efficiently is the city administration able to leverage information about economy, housing, education, public health, transportation etc. to make better decisions. This is where data analysis capability of the government comes in. Secondly, as resources of bigger cities get stretched, how efficiently is the government able to reengineer processes that eliminate work duplication, create shared information and interact with citizens online? In this regard, eliciting public opinion and effectively capturing them is a crucial aspect of e-governance as has been done by many European cities. A smart city needs to bring together technology, information, and policy to create

a coherent program of urban and service improvement. With emergence of cheap connectivity, hand held devices and cloud computing, it has become easier for governments to increase the reach, scale and complexity of programs that can be migrated to online framework. In this environment, the application of ICT in governance needs to be framed within a longer process of technology-driven public sector reform, in which transparent information sharing and collaborative approaches usher in governance reforms. The experience of developed countries in e-governance tells us that the involvement of ICT in city governance has also changed over years. Initially, technology was introduced with the understanding that the technical capabilities would to be able to solve complex economic and administrative problems, which was actually achieved. However, the paradigm later shifted to a stage where social requirements started to determine the way technology was to be used. This called for customization in technology as per social requirements and conditions. But now, a unique situation has emerged in which technological solutions and the society are in a reflexive relationship in

which each influences and is influenced by the other. Simply put, technological solutions are now being designed to meet the needs and wants of the targeted group of population and in process, bringing about a change in population itself. From data management point of view, e-governance for city management would involve process engineering and automation in all segments of governance, namely, data assimilation from citizens, managing and processing data and finally allowing citizens to fetch and use relevant data that is owned by the government. So, on one hand, the government would be putting systems in place which would fetch information about all citizens, their medical history, crime records, tax details etc. from various places and on other it could be making available information such as traffic condition at certain stress points or medical camps being organized etc. For e-governance policy planners, this requirement throws up the challenge of integrating data, applying tools to process the data, and making information available in required format. It is a cyclical process in which policy decisions are made, they are informed to citizens,

January 2015

Governance Today

E-Governance

their feedback is generated and responses are analysed. This entire process requires tools such as performance management systems, decision support tools, master data management, business and data analytics, ERP tools and risk analysis tools.

citizens discuss online proposals about participatory budget topics and politicians take decisions based on citizensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; inputs. In Norfolk, England, young people frequently use social networking media to steer discussion and lobbying on topics they are

Innovation is the keyword in applying ICT in city governance as experiences of the various countries show. For example, in the city of Cologne, Germany,

interested in. Through such activity, they were able to get bus travel price for 17 year olds attending college. What is crucial here to know that technology alone is not enough and that exploitation of other infrastructure is needed to exploit ICTâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s potential in creating smart cities. These include investment in human capital, process reengineering and policy realignment. Another important factor in managing cities through application of ICT is to realize that technology, at best, has instrumental value. This means to say that through intelligent use of technology, it is possible to create better cities. Thus, technologies are valuable only to the extent they enable citizens to do certain things or attain certain objectives. As such, it is a mean and not an end to itself. This is the basic philosophy on which city planners need to create technological infrastructure.

Smart City House The bottom level consists of the elements that are required to leverage ICT potential Mid level shows ways in which ICT can assist cities to become smart Top level lists the values that should be driving force behind any smart city drive

Governance Today

January 2015

Possible contributions of ICT in crucial city functions Budgeting A participatory budgeting initiative could employ social media, visualization and simulation tools to attract citizen response and inform citizens about the impact of various proposals. This could result in more representative, priority based and intelligent resource allocation. Transportation Instead of estimated throughput, real-life data collected from the citizenry and CCTVs coupled with traffic data could be used to plan public transportation routes and time tables in order to minimize the commuting time for citizens and introduce graded pay per use systems to discourage heavy routes or rush times.

Making a city smart is a complex, multi-technology undertaking, requiring a wide range of tools to bring it all together. A sound e-governance paradigm requires data integration, data capture and analytics, and better tools to enable city leaders to better serve their citizens. But the most important part of making a city smart lies outside the realms of ICT. It is in effective planning of societal infrastructure that delivers value based service and inculcates civic sense to its citizens. It makes more sense to create schools that imparts value based education and civic bodies that clean up garbage rather than installing state of the art ICT network. Indian planners need to get their priorities right.

E-Governance

Building Capacity Key to E-Governance | RAMESH KUMAR RAJA

n the course of executing e-governance projects one of the key challenges that is noticed is the scarcity of personnel with fitting skills within the government. Furthermore, there is dearth of institutional framework to handle these projects. It is often experienced that the central and state governments are trusting heavily on outside consultants to handle this capacity gap. To successfully implement e-governance projects, what is required is comprehensive capacity building across key areas relating to policy making, institutional arrangements,

access to professional expertise and outcome monitoring. Although capacity may be defined as an organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ability to achieve its mission and to sustain itself in the long term, from a national prospective, it refers to the

For an inclusive capacity building in the area of e-governance, it is essential that capacities of all stakeholders are enhanced. Institutional capacity building is one which refers to development of new institutions like National e-Governance Agency

building as it is the central to all functions in e-governance. And therefore, the internal capacity building of departments where e-governance is getting implemented, including that of Department of Information Technology (DIT) and Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DAR & PG), is very important. When these departments are talking about the capacity building of the whole government, they too need to adopt the capacity building endeavours. Here, the project management capacity building is of utmos t importance. The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) is split into 27 Mission Mode Projects (MMPs). Therefore, it is very

(NeGA), State e-Governance Mission Team (SeMT), Project e-Governance Mission Team (PeMT) etc. The institutions being created have to be developed from a national perspective. Then comes the stage of government capacity

important that these projects are managed with the professional competency. The MCA21 of Ministry of Company Affairs and Passports of Ministry of External Affairs are the two MMPs which have seen establishment of the Project Management Units

structures, systems, policies and organizations which are helping it to achieve its defined vision. Accordingly, capacity building is a long-term, continuing process, in which all stakeholders participate. It is much more than training and includes human resource development, organizational development and institutional and legal framework development.

Enablers

January 2015

Governance Today

E-Governance

(PMU). National Institute for Smart Government (NISG) has played a crucial role in the project management capacity building and is currently associated with all key MMPs. Then, it comes consultant capacity building, as the role of consulting organizations has become very crucial in the e-governance capacity building. These consulting organizations include corporates like Wipro Consulting, IBM Consulting, PWC, KPMG, Delloite, Ernst & Young, Capgemini, 3i, IL&FS etc. which are helping the central and state government departments in

is very crucial that the subject of Government is taught in academic institutions. It is observed in many cases that the hired consultants do not even understand the simple hierarchy in Government like the Secretary, Additional Secretary, Joint Secretary, Director or Under Secretary. Institutions have to build their focus on teaching Government as a subject as the same will help their students in their businesses later. With regards to e-governance, there are very limited institutions like IIM-Ahmedabad, IITMGwalior, TAPMI-NISG that

Likewise, legal capacity building is another requirement for e-governance in India. There are key legal changes that have been introduced in the Companies Act while implementing the MCA21 project. These legal changes can be specific to a particular project or can be general in nature like the e-Government Act or Amendments to the IT Act. There are few individuals whose work on cyber-law in India is available in public domain. Another important need is to build the requirement of Systems Integration (SI) organizations like TCS, Wipro Infotech, HCL

IIM-Ahmedabad and TAPMI are among fe institutions with specialized courses in governance

areas of preparation of Request for Proposals (RFPs) and process mapping. PWC, as consultants, have played a very crucial role in the study of existing processes and advising Business Process Reengineering (BPR) to the government in the two MMPsâ&#x20AC;&#x201C; MCA21 and Passports.

Academia With the rising need for professionals in the area of e-governance, it is very important that academic institutions must give emphasis on the crucial areas of governance and e-governance. Most of the management professionals have to interact with government departments and therefore, it 36

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January 2015

are offering courses in the area of e-governance. Re s e a rc h is another field where the capacity building is required in area of e-governance. There are very limited organizations like Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC), Media Lab Asia (MLA), Microsoft Research Lab (with NISG), IBM Research Lab, Oracleâ&#x20AC;&#x201C;HP e-Governance Center etc. in India which are exploring e-governance research. With the exception of Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu there is very limited material available on the e-governance research capacity building at the state level.

Infosystems, 3i Infotech etc. The government must also look into areas as to why organizations like Infosys, which have contributed heavily in banking financial services and institutions (BFSI) sectors, are still not prepared to get into government space in India. The system integrators have to ensure that their professionals are not only technologically sound but also sound on government processes.

Fund and Support Funding agency capacity building is an area that requires utmost attention. The key task at the funding agency level like the World Bank, UNDP, USAID, DFID etc. is to ensure that there are

E-Governance

R Chandrasekhar, Former Telecom Secretary

professionals who can do an appraisal of the project proposal for funding and visualize the impact of the project in years to come. It has been felt in many cases that the projects funded by many multilateral agencies are non-existent at ground level. The funding agencies must ensure that the projects funded by them have a sustainable business model and do not meet their death once the grant is stopped. Management support organisations too, have a role to play here. The MCA21 project and Passports projects have clearly indicated the need for a management support organization to look into the needs of managing the citizen service centre. Besides, it has been observed in many cases that technology organizations drive the whole e-governance initiative. Organizations like IBM, Oracle, HP etc. have to look into their internal capacity building wherein their professionals can suggest solution to various requirement of governments from their existing stacks and international experience. Meanwhile, citizen awareness is the key to success of any e-governance MMPs. In MCA21,

project training was imparted to chartered accountants. In passports, it is visualized that training of travel agents may be necessitated. Besides, the citizens who are directly interacting with government have to be made aware on the changes that may be required in the changed environment. The government should also ensure that the NGOs which have demonstrated delivery at the village level are further strengthened. Amid all these capacity building measures, the government must ensure that media is educated on the various e-governance initiative in the right spirit, as a single biased article in a newspaper or magazine can lead to lot of problems for the champion of change. Last but not the least, there are certain people in the country whose names have become synonymous with e-governance, such as former Telecom Secretary R Chandrasekhar who is known to have initiated the National e-Governance Program. Similarly J Satyanarayana former Telecom Secretary who is currently advisor to Andhra Pradesh government on IT

and e-governance, and Prof. Subash Bhatnagar- advisor to IIM Ahmedabadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Center for e-governance, have carved a niche for themselves in the given area. The government must ensure that services of such individuals who are committed for e-governance are taken in right direction. The success of e-governance initiatives will largely depend on the kind of individuals selected to implement the initiatives. The government also needs to strengthen its existing institutions especially the Electronics and IT development corporations in various states. It also needs to come up with HR policies that are catalyst in retaining the best talent within the government. Also,

there is a need to establish an institution of excellence which may teach e-governance. Bottom-line of all this is that mere development of e-governance strategies and induction of technology will not help deliver the quality of services envisaged unless human resources are aligned to provide the right services to the right consumers from the right sources with the right tools at the right time.

January 2015

Governance Today

E-Governance

Revolutionizing Procurement Through E-Tendering Corruption has strengthened its root into system of the country. This was the main reason why UPA Government was uprooted after two consecutive terms. One of the reasons for all pervasive corruption is less usage of electronic medium in the government sector. Lot of hue and cry is made when any government tender is passed. Complaints are made after the results of tenders are disclosed. Such discrepancies and loss of trust warrant a move towards e-tendering process. 38

Governance Today

January 2015

E-Governance

| RAHUL TRIVEDI

s Digital India, the dream project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is gaining momentum it seems that usage of electronic medium in the government sector would increase. This increase also gives a hope that e-tendering process would also gain pace. E-tendering is a process of carrying out entire tendering cycle online, including submission of price bid to harness efficiency, economy and speed of Internet. In other words, the E-tendering process means transformation from a traditional tendering system to an online process making huge advances in efficiency, transparency, data storage and retrieval systems. This process comes under the wide range of e-procurement. This is the business-to-business or business-to-consumer or business-to-government purchase and sale of supplies, work, and services through the Internet as well as other information and networking systems, such as electronic data interchange and enterprise resource planning. The e-procurement value chain consists of indent management, e-tendering, e-auctioning, vendor management, catalogue management, purchase order integration, order status, ship notice, e-invoicing, e-payment, and contract management. Indent management is the workflow involved in the preparation of tenders. This part of the value chain is optional, with individual procuring departments defining their indenting process. In works procurement, administrative approval and technical sanction are obtained in electronic

Comparison of Manual and E-Tendering Manual Tendering

E-Tendering

Longer procurement period Shorter procurement period Expensive

Economical-fixed cost

Paper based

Environment friendly

Restricted mobility

Anytime and anywhere

No work on holidays and after office hours

Bidding possible on holidays and after office hours

Prone to human errors

Automated and accurate

Content not shareable

Shareable content

Physical security

Foolproof security

Wastage of space to store

Lifelong storage on CD or server

Difficult to retrieve

One click access to bids

format. In goods procurement, indent generation activity is done online. The end result of the stage is taken as inputs for issuing the NIT. Elements of e-procurement include request for information, request for proposal, request for quotation, RFx (the previous three together), and eRFx (software for managing RFx projects). The usage of e-tendering

gives additional benefits such as increased efficiency, cost savings (faster and cheaper) and improved transparency (to reduce corruption). Revolutionizing procurement through E-tendering The best part of the e-tendering system is that late and delayed offers after due date and time are not permitted. In case of manual tendering

January 2015

Governance Today

E-Governance

Benefits • Completely Automated Process • Shortens Procurement Cycle • Economical and Environment Friendly • Greater Transparency • Work Culture Improvement in the Departments • System aided Evaluation process • Minimize Human errors • Minimal Storage Space • Organizational groth by Change in Perception • Ensure highest level of security • The information regarding purchase order or acceptance letter and other post contract correspondence etc. is conveyed to the concerned contractors through e-Mail. • The e-Procurement system is governed by digital security features as provided under Indian IT Act 2000. • No vendor can interact with the e-Procurement portal unless they possess a legally valid digital certificate from a licensed Certifying Authority. • Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) for data Encryption/Decryption • Time stamp by Certifying Agency

system, especially in India, last minute hustle is 100 per cent sure. Not only last minute hustle but there are people who use their influence to get their tenders submitted even after deadline. Submission of manual offers along with electronic offers shall not be permitted. In the process of e-tendering there are various facilities provided to the contractors too. They get a free online login registration ID for online participation in E-Tenders. They can search e-tenders for free and download tender documents and tender corrigendum. Further, they can directly participate in the e-tender and submit the electronic offers online directly. There is also a provision for submission of offers in standard commercial rate page in fully

using website links directly and they can also receive the intimations and post-contract amendments directly. With so many benefits e-tendering few things should be always kept in mind. There should be an effective inbuilt grievance redressal system for any problem encountered in the use of the software. A disaster recovery mechanism must also be in place as a backup for all the databases and electronic records. System needs protection from virus attacks. Indian Railways were the pioneer in developing a dedicated communication network, as a basic requirement for its reservation system and other applications. It reflects the earnestness and dynamism of Indian Railways to keep pace with the latest technologies and reap the benefits of e-tendering. E-Tendering system has been very successfully implemented by stores

secured manner directly. Apart from submitting the offers contractors can directly view tender opening and view of tender tabulation from website after tender opening. There is also a direct access to view details of acceptance letter or purchase order from website through Vender Home Page and the can also submit the requests for amendments by contractors

department of Indian Railways. Engineering Department is yet to adopt in full fledged manner. This system definitely has an edge over the existing tendering system. Therefore, Engineering Dept. should not be left behind. It is an initiative in the direction of increasing transparency, saving time and costs.

Benefits to contractors • Anytime & Anywhere Bidding. Contractors can participate and submit online offers in e-Tenders directly from the website. • Fair, Free, Fearless and Transparent participation for vendors. • No dependence on Newspapers, Couriers, Banks etc. All tender notices published can be downloaded by the Contractors directly. • No Administrative hassles • All activities can be carried out from any computer. The offers are submitted electronically with Digital Signatures. • Economical due to saving on Traveling cost • Reduces efforts & cost of bidding • No tenders can be missed because of distance and multiple tenders at different places • Can submit bid on last minute • The tenderers can see the tabulation statement of all offers after opening of advertised tenders and also the status of their tenders. • The security money can be deposited electronically through a payment gateway

Governance Today

January 2015

E-Governance

Managing the E-Governance Drive | EKTA SRIVASTAVA

ndiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s poor position in all the meaningful world rankings clearly indicate a need to take some serious measures to improve the governance scenario in India. With advancements in ICT (Information and Communication Technology), the concept of e-governance has assumed great significance and it has been shown to improve the overall governance. As such, the central and state governments need to take

e-governance seriously and ensure that the e-governance initiatives taken are in tune with the global best practices. Most of the countries ahead of India in the world rankings tend to have a few common strategies in place that have helped them deliver effective e-governance at national or central level, in which India is still lagging behind. The dominant technology of our age affects the heart of government. The impact of ICT on government and public administration therefore is

revolutionary. Over the years, a large number of initiatives have been undertaken by various State Governments and Central Ministries to usher in an era of e-Government in the country. Sustained efforts have been made at multiple levels to improve the delivery of public services and simplify the process of accessing them.

Structural Issues Governments have been striving since the late 1990â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s to find better ways to connect with their constituents via the January 2015

Governance Today

E-Governance

Web. By putting government information online, and making it easily findable, readily available, accessible, understandable, and usable, people can now interact with their government in ways never before imagined. Unfortunately, effective e-government has not been easy to accomplish, given the unique challenges that governments face in collecting, managing, and making information and services available electronically. These challenges include outdated policies, budgetary and personnel constraints, and a slow-moving, bureaucratic culture. Web and social media have only added to these challenges, as governments have been slow to adjust to these new paradigms of openness, interaction, and influence. A further challenge is the proliferation of mobile devices, where and when they are the only access point to government services available to constituents given the lack of adequate physical infrastructure. Lastly, the issue of accessibility, where data, web pages and services are available or otherwise to those with disabilities, further compounds the challenges of e-government. We are facing many questions now, such as how can governments leverage Web 2.0 tools without violating existing laws, regulations, and policies? How can governments ensure the authenticity of their information when it is opened for public use? What is the best way to include electronic communications into the “official record”? How can new technologies be integrated into legacy systems? How do we effectively reach all citizens, including those who access the Web via mobile devices, those with disabilities, or those without

Governance Today

January 2015

any access to the Web? What is required in India’s government sector is a strategic shift from the commodity based IT approach to a mature solution/ services based approach. The central and state governments need to start procuring IT services rather than procuring hardware, software and services. Secondly, it is vital to ensure stability of tenure of the key personnel championing an e-governance initiative. Many government projects have faced problems when the administrative officer responsible for a specific programme leaves or gets transferred and some of the more successful e-governance initiatives have faded into oblivion because of this ‘brain drain’.

Expectations From a layman’s perspective, e-governance is generally understood as a concept capable of transforming the quality of administration and hence

changing people’s lives. Its successful implementation is expected to ensure better governmental performance by reducing corruption, increasing efficiency and creating a responsive and transparent administrative environment. Many state governments have responded to the possibilities of improving administrative functions by introducing e-governance at different levels of the administration. Specialized agencies have backed the government to initiate innovative experiments. It is sometimes argued that given the low level of development of communication infrastructure in most Indian states the prospects of e-governance are overtly bleak. Nevertheless, the experience

E-Governance

of various state governments have clearly shown that barriers to the implementation of e-governance can be overcome through a focused and strategic approach aiming specified targets and allowing reasonable time frame for attaining them. Even in situations where the initial conditions for trying out e-governance appear to be nonexistent in terms of inadequate skilled personnel or weak infrastructure, a gradual, flexible and reflective approach can bring about drastic positive changes. E-governance has the potential to benefit India’s citizens exponentially and maximise the return on the government’s investment in it.

Contradictions The contradiction in India is that the country is rightly recognised as a global leader in the delivery of IT services, but it suffers from very little internal IT development in the country. Whereas technology leads, it tends to be in the private sector, with companies, corporations and non-governmental groups.

Where it is the weakest – and where it can have the greatest impact - is in the public sector. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual e-readiness ranks India at 58 out of the World’s 70 largest economies along with the Philippines. India has moved down by six ranks since 2006. The NASSCOM report on Information Technology on the Economy of India highlights that, despite India’s global IT dominance, internally, the country has a low level of IT investment - only 3.5 per cent of total capital – and minimal dispersal of IT capital of 30 countries evaluated. But e-governance is not just

about improving delivery of services to citizens, businesses and government employees. It is also about blending Information and Communications Technology (ICT) with administrative reforms to make government more efficient, drive down costs and increase transparency in how government departments work. If implemented properly, it can be an asset for the un-served and under-served areas in India and help drive new levels of efficiency to government services in India. Information and communication technologies have a valuable potential to help Indian central and state governments

Based on these global experiences, a five-point plan to implement effective e-governance in India. A nationwide mandate to allocate a fixed percentage of annual budget to e-governance The need to adopt a mature, integrated and holistic solution/ services based approach National level governance of the e-governance programme Key Personnel appointed for the entire term of an e-governance initiative Standing committee in government

deliver good governance to their constituents. Yet that potential remains largely untapped to date and there are various gaps hindering effective implementation of e-governance in India. Globally India has been known to be a leader in the IT arena but the government itself has had a very fragmented approach, where every department did its projects separately. This approach has not allowed government, employees, citizens and businesses reap optimum benefits from a majority of e-governance initiatives taken so far.

January 2015

Governance Today

Interview

Digital India-Initiative Offers

Multiple Opportunities MGRM is a diversified multi-sector Group that creates proprietary technologies in multiple domains. It’s products include Educational E-governance Systems, Country E-governance Applications, Insurance E-governance System and Physical Rehabilitation Splints and Aids. Ekta Srivastava, Sr. Correspondent, Governance Today spoke to Dr Jitendar Verma, the E.D. of the company on the services of the company and other related issues. Edited excerpts:

ould you share the details of your solutions targeted towards education? We firmly believe that there is a critical need to address the global challenges faced by today’s education system and it is towards this that MGRM has developed the ‘M-Star Educational E-governance Platform’, a product of more than twenty years of research across global education systems. The platform supports educational requirements from the ‘delivery to development’ phase of the human life cycle. It encompasses areas concerning pre-primary, elementary, secondary and tertiary education, early childhood development, woman and child development, adult literacy, vocational training, skills development, as well as 44

Governance Today

January 2015

Dr Jitendar Verma Executive Director, MGRM

social programs targeted towards the girl child among others. This integrated, proprietary platform comprises Public, Administration and Institutional layers that meet both vertical and horizontal growth requirements of global educational systems. The platform includes integrated systems offered on “build, own, and operate” basis, ensuring minimum upfront investments and underwriting technology obsolescence. It also operates in an online environment as required and is highly customizable, thus enhancing overall scale, speed, and scope of the program. What kind of competition do you face? Whilst most educational institutions are aware about E-governance, their current initiatives towards this are January 2015

limited in scope and typically range from developing websites / portals to the much hyped ERP solutions and fragmented information systems. Such systems and initiatives fall short when compared to MGRM’s M-Star Educational E-governance Platform, which is an ‘end to end education product’. We say this because, where ERP solutions focus typically on automating an activity, M-Star’s clear focus is on a student, teacher and administration, with the objective to make an individual a complete personality. Stakeholders in the education domain have specific needs to cater to different stages of the educational life cycle, which clearly spells out the need for an education specific product to address each of these

Interview

effectively. Small time vendors with questionable credentials who often implement domain agnostic solutions that are not scalable or as one would say just ‘fit’ the current requirements often lure many an institution. Then of course, there are high-end solution providers who lack domain research and expertise. Mass proliferation of such solutions is proving counterproductive and actually regressing the pace of education reforms. Can you tell us a little about level of your work in Education and how it has been received in educational set up? MGRM’s focus is on the education domain towards which it has undertaken exhaustive research in the Indian sub-continent. Since the launch of the M-Star Educational E-governance Platform in 2001, we have conducted and completed several successful pilots across primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions, in both public and private establishments. Our work has received endorsements from leading academicians and administrators, some pilot projects have also been evaluated by State level committees and duly acknowledged for their expertise as integrated systems. In addition, we have also actively engaged as consultants with key statutory bodies. For example, MGRM was part of preparing CBSE’s accreditation manual and is now an empanelled vendor for accrediting CBSE schools. Can you sketch out the main opportunities that lie ahead for your company over the next few years? Our Prime Minister has set up an ambitious initiative with ‘Digital India’ and as part of the plan the government is expected to roll out broadband connectivity to over 2.5 lakh villages and ensuring as many Wi-Fi enabled schools by 2019. This basic infrastructure would facilitate the government to use cloud technology based master E-governance systems and deliver effective services in an inclusive, accessible and affordable manner to all stakeholders. The technology stack of MGRM’s Educational E-governance Platform

utilizes a combination of cloud, microprocessor based smart cards, analytics and integrated master E-governance systems. Accordingly, some of the opportunities we look forward to include implementing state-wide E-governance technology solutions, learning support platforms and online services such as admissions, recruitments and examinations. We are already empanelled with a few government organizations for implementing E-governance systems in educational institutions. Additionally, we look forward to more opportunities in consulting and advisory roles. With your company and many other companies doing so much good work regarding E-governance, what do you think of the prospects of the developing world? Satisfied, happy citizens lead to a physically, psychologically and socially progressive nation. The benefit of

MGRM’s focus is on the education domain towards which it has undertaken exhaustive research in the Indian sub-continent. Since the launch of the M-Star Educational E-governance Platform in 2001, we have conducted and completed several successful pilots across primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions, in both public and private establishments. implementing E-governance solutions is that it brings in a culture of good governance that boosts citizen confidence. International bodies, governments and citizens unequivocally want more accountability, greater

transparency and increased responsiveness. Countries are beginning to experience a wave of innovative, domain specific, master E-governance solutions that would help them re-think and re-engineer their existing processes to achieve success in policy implementations and reforms at grassroots level. What about challenges? What would your company worry about over the next few years? As MGRM’s focus is on education, in this context we believe that the following challenges would affect educational reforms, market penetration and user adoption: Proliferation of amateur solution providers Providers that lack domain expertise, have no vision to address unique domain specific expectations and requirements. The solutions offered are unable to handle complex multidimensional issues operating within the educational environment. This results in complications, opening opportunities for corruption and malpractice. Lack of management trust Educational institutes are increasingly getting discouraged and flustered with the high cost of procurement, inefficient implementation practices and long cycle of implementation and customization. Significant time is spent on regaining management confidence, leading to sharp rise in acquisition costs. User mindset In a top-down approach, users at the end of the ladder have a deep resistance to change, especially towards systems that demand process accountability and transparency. The involvement of senior leadership becomes extremely crucial in making the users ‘use’ the system. And more often, the task force committees prove to be insufficient and ineffective. These issues invariably lead to delays in project closure, thereby escalating project implementation cost, time and effort.

January January 2015 2015 Governance Today

Health

Rural Health Delivery Through E-gov Platform While majority of population in India is living in rural areas and are still fighting for basic amenities like ‘roti, kapda aur makaan’, getting access to health facilities is at the bottom of their priority list. With many Government initiatives, it can be assumed that telemedicine can fetch miracles to the people living in such remote places | EKTA SRIVASTAVA

ealthcare is the right of every individual but lack of quality infrastructure, dearth of qualified medical functionaries, and non- access to basic medicines and medical facilities thwarts its reach to 60% of population in India. A majority of 700 million people lives in rural areas where the condition of medical facilities is deplorable. Considering the picture of grim facts there is a dire need of new practices and procedures to ensure that quality and timely healthcare reaches the deprived corners of the Indian villages. Healthcare service in the rural areas where more than 70 percent of Indians live, is abhorrently inadequate. It is a dichotomy to see an overwhelming of highly technology based hospitals and dispensaries in urban areas while the rural villages do not even have basic minimum public health facilities. Even within cities the poor do not have access to high tech healthcare facilities because of various reasons, mainly financial limitations.

Governance Today

January 2015

Many of the public healthcare services like Public Health Centres (PHCs) and sub-centres in rural areas are not even equipped and staffed to provide quality healthcare to the rural poor. The new developments in healthcare have not percolated to the rural areas and this is a matter of great concern. Rural healthcare in current scenario Though, India is talking about getting digital and boosting about its technology efficiency, still rural population of the country are fighting with the basic needs of ‘roti, kapda aur makaan’, with health brewing up as the major challenge. The public healthcare in rural areas has the challenges like little access to healthcare. When people become ill, low-income households in rural areas continue to use home remedies, consult traditional

healers and local providers who are often outside the formal healthcare system. Most of the PHC and Sub Centres mostly understaffed and short of drugs and essential supplies and that they sometimes suffer from low staff morale and motivation. Providing healthcare services to the poor at a reasonable cost requires a significant amount of subsidy, either through govern-ment or non-government source. Moreover, access needs to look into other viable and cost effective alternatives. While public healthcare system in India has the best professionals and one of the best systems there is a need to explore the ways and means to bring equity in access to health professionals and institutions. And among many IC T in

Health

healthcare has come up with the aim of developing healthy and economically productive rural citizenship through facilitating affordable, reliable and high quality health information to the rural poor.

ICT in public health Information and communication technology has a very important role to play in facilitating quality healthcare to the rural poor in a cost effective manner. With telemedicine we can have access to quality healthcare not only to the rural population living in far flung areas, but also to the people of urban and semi-urban areas. Telemedicine has a tremendous role, a large and very big role in a health care delivery system. This bridges the gap of demand supply mismatch doctor wise – facility wise so that medical relief will be beyond the means of the people. It is the only way to fulfill the constitutional obligation which will not be possible otherwise even within 100 years. It provides vital health statistics and disease indicators which are required for planning and implementing national level health not programmes. Telemedicine network comprising of trained skilled manpower, even at a remote place, gives the opportunity to the patient to access specialists and super specialists in the network. Because of the use of technology

and availability of easy-to-use and highly reliable biomedical devices in the network, telemedicine is able to bridge the gap of demand and supply mismatch, doctor- wise and facility-wise as it readily provides vital parameters and investigation reports so that the doctor can give advice through tele-consultation to distantly located patients. The advantages of telemedicine are multifold. It virtually takes doctors to

ICT in healthcare can be used: • To provi de emergency healthcare to the rural poor • To ensure safe delivery and motherhood in rural areas • To provide access to health information and making healthcare accessible to the poor. • To facilitate quality medical care to the poor in remote rural villages. • To provide public health safety net to the rural poor.

before. Tele pathology, teleradiology, teleophthalmology are some ways of accurately diagnosing diseases from a distance.

Conclusion In spite of the progress, there is much to be done on the policy front. Even as Government of India has made attempts to set guidelines and standards for telemedicine, the country doesn’t have a proper policy in place. India deserves kudos for setting up the Pan Africa Network and South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) telemedicine network, but the public expenditure on health which is counted as one of the lowest globally cannot be ignored. While the Indian medical community and private hospital networks may take pride in country’s medical tourism and rare surgeries that save precious lives, but the fact remains that rural India is prodigiously deprived of this very advantage.

regions where there are no doctors. It has made medical help a reality in areas where no help existed

January 2015

Governance Today

Education

Spreading Class | RAMESH KUMAR RAJA

ndia has one of the largest education systems in the world with a network of more than one million schools and 18,000 higher education institutions. More than half of the country’s 1.2 billion population falls in the target market for education and related services. Online education, thus, brings unique advantages, the prominent being the ability to provide personalised attention to all students, which is not possible in a conventional setup except only when a highly 48

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January 2015

skilled tutor offers one-to-one tutorials. Another advantage is that people living in smaller towns and cities can get access to the best possible learning resources from across the globe, at a very reasonable price. This helps create a level-playing field. Although the foundation of education is still reading, writing and arithmetic, today’s students need broader education. Contemporary classroom, hence, needs to deliver live instruction, video content delivery, studentto-student interactions via video-conferencing, remote test administration, up-todate materials, self-learning etc. Digital India campaign is likely to benefit education by bringing many of these and other

important elements together. Even as the previous government tried to bridge the digital divide, Modi’s masterstroke offers a lot of positivity for the Indian education market which is estimated to be worth Rs 5.9 trillion in 2014-15 against Rs. 3.33 trillion in 2011-12. With nearly half the population of India below the age of 25 and increasing penetration of Internet and mobile devices in this demography which is expected to reach 250 million soon, rivalling the US and second only to China, India’s potential as a huge market for e-learning is enormous. Thankfully, big names in the tech world such as Intel, Qualcomm and Tata have made

room via E-Learning some strides in this direction. Intel recently launched ‘Digital Skills for India’ initiative under which it introduced Digital Skills Training Application that is comprised of modules on Digital Literacy, Financial Inclusion, Healthcare and Cleanliness in five Indian languages. Qualcomm has launched Play ‘n’ Learn program for school children ages 5-8. It is providing 3G tablets under the Qualcomm wireless Reach initiative. Similarly, Samsung recently started on a Smart Learning initiative to provide interactive study materials to students. Likewise, Tata, Reliance and BSNL are among the prominent Indian names that are going big on this sector. While Tata is

expanding its school education solution, ‘Classedg’, Reliance has picked up over 38.5 per cent stake in digital education company, Extramarks Education Private Limited, through its subsidiary, Infotel Broadband Services Limited. Governmentowned enterprise BSNL has tied up with Greycell 18 Media Private Limited, to launch its online education service ‘Topper Education’. Other noteworthy names in this segment include the likes of DataWind, Meritnation, and Classteacher. Even some of the e-commerce players have expressed their willingness in this segment. Needless to say, if the e-learning/education market takes root in the country, it will definitely improve the education

scenario which desperately needs a shakeup. While the government’s aggressive National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) is all set to be spine of the Digital India drive, spreading out of broadband connectivity is going to aid growth of e-learning. According to Ritesh Raushan, Co-Founder and Director, The Gate Academy: “There are three components of technology-enabled modern education; Digital Content, Technology platform and delivery infrastructure, or say the Internet. But there is a scarcity of internet infrastructure. Availability of high quality wireless internet speed is still a challenge. Penetration is also an issue. A correct ecosystem can be January 2015

Governance Today

Education

created when we will be able to empower better quality mobilebased Internet. Increasing internet footprint will also help to create the right ecosystem.” Lately, the gamification too is gaining a lot of attention. A lot of interactive online and offline tools are being developed to modernise the segment. Robotic education has also taken off well in the country. Next Education India Pvt. Ltd is one of the companies targeting this segment for quite some time. According to Sameer Bora, EVP of Research & Development in the company, “Robotic education is growing globally as well as in India. It has all the potential to help education gets modern and make learning easy for students.” Robotics, he foresees, will play a major role in the future, so it is very important that we prepare the present generation of students for this transition. The use of robotics in the current Indian education system is interestingly an intriguing mix of theory and practical, he feels. “When used properly in schools, it forms the basis of cross-curriculum activities and becomes an ideal resource to teach Mathematics, Scientific principles, Design and Technology and Computer programming,” Bora enumerates. As per Rohit Aggarwal, CEO & Founder, Koenig Solutions Ltd: “Online learning or Live Virtual Classrooms (LVC) has paved the way for modern education in India. With the evolution of technologies such as the Cloud, Data Centres and Virtualization, there is a huge potential for new technology to be integrated into education industry. However, this segment is largely untapped. Low adoption rate is one of the reasons because technology enablers in rural India are still scarce. The requisite Infrastructure and

Governance Today

January 2015

Security must be in place in order to set the ball rolling for digital education. Availability of internet in remote areas that allows two-way interaction and performance feedback are some of the fundamentals needed to launch a more extensive platform for LVC market in India.” Kudos to Digital India and other government initiatives, the ecosystem we seek is not far from reality. Indian youth are technology-driven and find online learning to be especially beneficial as it saves them significant amount of cost, time and effort. “For young working professionals who are determined to imbibe new skills to excel in their careers faster, LVC is the perfect choice as they can pursue knowledge at their own pace and time,” feels Aggarwal. Even as the government is a strong supporter of e-learning and the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) has been actively developing tools and technologies to promote it, what we need is more devices and an ecosystem. There is a need for a greater participation from the industry and stakeholders. For this to happen, the tech companies have to take the lead and help enable a strong ecosystem. We also need more applications and services to strengthen the ecosystem. The developers and content providers are going to be encouraged only when there is a plenty of devices, more importantly interest of tech companies. Apparently, there is a huge opportunity yet to be tapped, even as infrastructure and regulation issues might be slowing down the otherwise accelerating education space in India.

Two Indian institutes make it to Times’ top 40 In a great news for India’s universities, for the first time two new entrants have jumped straight into the top 40 of second annual Times Higher Education BRICS and Emerging Economies rankings. With this, the country has increased its representation with 11 of the top-100 places, up from 10 last year and it has a new national leader - Indian Institute of Science in 25th place and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay in 37th place. While around 18 countries are featured in 2015 rankings, nearly 15 universities - from Chile, China, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Russia and Turkey - have entered the tables for the first time. On the other hand, India’s arch-rival, China, has cemented its dominance among the emerging economies, retaining the top two places and increasing its representation among the top-100 institutions to 27, up from 23 last year. The rankings have been given after accessing all aspects of the modern university’s core missions (teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook). Talking about the ranking analysis, Phil Baty, editor of the Times Higher Education Rankings, stated, “India is starting to show its potential in these rankings, increasing its overall representation in this new top-100 list to 11, from 10 last year. Only China and Taiwan have more top100 institutions than India, which remains ahead of Russia and Brazil among the giant developing economies. But this improved showing is partly due to the fact that more Indian institutions have recognized the benefits of being part of the rankings process, and more are sharing their data with Times Higher Education.”

Finance

A Step Towards Effective Financial Inclusion As per a recent report of KPMG-CII, India’s banking and financial sector is expanding rapidly. It has potential to become the fifth largest banking industry in the world by 2020 and the third largest by 2025. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious project Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna has added spark to it. | RAHUL TRIVEDI

anking in the rural areas was once a dream, but in last couple of decades this dream has come true. The growth of banking sector gained more pace following the passing of the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill by the Indian Parliament in 2012. The bill allows the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to make final guidelines on issuing new licenses, which could lead to more banks operating in the country. Currently, the Indian Banking industry, which is worth Rs. 81 trillion, comprises of 26 public sector bank, 20 private sector banks and 43 foreign banks along with 61 regional rural banks (RRBs) and more than 90,000 credit cooperatives. With

the usage of latest technologies like internet and mobile devices to carry out transactions and communicate with the masses, the industry will surely grow leaps and bound.

Government Initiatives Financial Inclusion is one of the top most priorities of the government. Exclusion of a large number of people from any access to financial services inhibits the economic growth of the country. There is also evidence that financial inclusion is crucial to poverty reduction. The earlier campaign on financial inclusion started in 2011 had a limited objective. Christened ‘Swabhimaan’, was one of the initiatives taken by the UPA Government but it couldn’t gain the momentum needed. The focus was on the coverage of villages with population of

2,000 or more with banking services. Coverage of individual households with bank accounts was not the focus. Out of the 5.92 lakh villages in the country, only 74,000 villages could be covered then. With the formation of new government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his first Republic Day speech announced the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna. With the focus to provide banking to all, this initiative gained momentum and as a result, over 1 crore accounts were opened as on 28/08/2014 for which preparatory work was started from 16/08/2014 and stepped up from 25/08/2014. Banks were asked to organize mega account opening camps on the day of the launch and thereafter at each rural and urban branch in the district in coordination with District January 2015

Governance Today

Finance

Authorities for opening of bank accounts. There are some difference in operational level as well. The major shift in this program is that households are being targeted instead of only villages as targeted earlier. Moreover, both rural and urban areas are being covered this time as against only rural areas targeted earlier. The present plan pursues digital financial inclusion with special emphasis on monitoring by a mission headed by the Finance Minister. In order to increase the ease of access, a platform has been built by National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) that connects all the banks and all the telephone network operators in the country. The platform helps a customer or any bank to access his/ her account with any type of mobile handset. And for this, a costly smart phone is not necessary. Even with an ordinary handset, services like balance enquiry and money transfer is possible. The business correspondent of banks can also use the services to support cash deposit and cash withdrawal. As many as 26 Public Sector Banks and 3 Private Sector Banks have joined this platform. Other would also join soon. Full range of banking services would now be possible thorough ordinary mobile phones.

Benefits Prime Minister Narendra Modi started this ambitious project to help the poor become more financially confident and allow every citizen the right to have their own bank account and insurance coverage which was previously impossible for most of the population under poverty. Some of the benefits which this scheme would provide to the new account holders are listed below. 52

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January 2015

Life insurance Benefit: Under the PMJDY scheme the account holders will be given worth Rs.30,000 insurance coverage if they comply with certain specification of the scheme which includes opening an account by January 26, 2015 and having an accidental insurance coverage of over Rs. 100,000.

Loan benefits: The account holder can take loan benefit of up to Rs. 5,000 from the bank after six months from opening the account. Though the amount might seem insignificant for many but we have to realize the scheme is directed mostly towards people below

the poverty line and who are struggling desperately to sustain their everyday living. The loan benefit can be useful for those who want to use it for farming or other agricultural purpose.

Mobile banking facilities: Though the technology of using smart phones to conduct our bank transactions is not novel anymore but the PMJDY scheme will allow its account holders to avail the same

facilities of checking balance and transferring funds through a normal cell phone which is more affordable to the general economy.

However, questions remain The program is quite ambitious in its scale and as such, would require enormous effort to pull through. For example, each of the new bank accounts is to come with a RuPay debit card, Rs. 5,000 overdraft facility, Rs. 1 lakh accident insurance and Rs. 30,000 life insurance. Keeping these accounts running, the insurance-claim system functional, funneling money through cash transfer

mechanisms and making the overdraft facilities financially viable will imply costs for different financial sector actors. Another challenge is to meet the deadline which has been pegged at January 26, 2015 as against August 2015. According to the bank and insurance executives, it is a herculean task. With an ambitious target of opening 75 million bank accounts, banks face a daunting task on three counts; scaling up operations, financial literacy

Finance

Under the scheme Account holders will be provided zerobalance bank account with RuPay debit card, in addition to accidental insurance cover of Rs. 1 lakh (to be given by ‘HDFC Egro’). Those who open accounts by January 26, 2015 over and above the Rs 1 lakh accident, they will be given life insurance cover of Rs 30,000(to be given by LIC). After Six months of opening of the bank account, holders can avail Rs 5,000 overdraft from the bank. With the introduction of new technology introduced by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), a person can transfer funds, check balance through a normal phone which was earlier limited only to smart phones so far. Mobile banking for the poor would be available through National Unified USSD Platform (NUUP) for which all banks and mobile companies have come together and managing the business correspondents (BCs) ecosystem, a senior banker lamented. He also added that the dependence on BCs is going to be higher with use of micro automated teller machines (ATMs). The last-mile connectivity and delivery of services are crucial factors to work on. To begin with, HDFC ERGO will be the insurance company providing the cover for the RuPay card offered under the Jan Dhan Yojana. This plan will cover accidental deaths if the card is swiped within 45 days of its issue and is in an active state. But going forward, a life cover of Rs 30,000 will be provided by

Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India. This life insurance cover will be given to all customers who open a bank account before January 26, 2015. Accidental insurance would be provided by state-owned general insurance companies, subject to some conditions. Some technology issues such as offline transactions and lockin to a particular vendor had hampered further scalability of the previous campaign. Even in online accounts, the server was kept separately, preventing the account holder from operating the account from locations other than with a BC. On the other hand, insurance sources said there were challenges of managing duplication of accounts. Banks are integrating their systems to ensure that one person does not open multiple accounts, which could have problems related to claims processing. Despite progress on the opening of bank accounts, access to credit still lags. Credit is highly skewed towards big cities. Personal loan accounts (55 million), the single largest category of credit accounts, outnumber agricultural loan accounts and the vast majority of these accounts are in metropolitan cities as per the data. Delhi alone accounts for 13 per cent of all of India’s outstanding credit. A 2008 report of the C. Rangarajan Committee on Financial Inclusion showed that in 256 districts of India, over 95 per cent of adults did not have bank loans. “There are two aspects to financial inclusion: one is bank accounts and the second is access to credit. The scheme announced by the Prime Minister addresses the first problem. The issue of making credit available to

small borrowers remains,” said Mr. Rangarajan, the former Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. It was not concerns over the creditworthiness of the poor which were holding banks back from extending credit, Mr. Rangarajan said. “Currently, our banks are meant to be equipped to disburse loans of millions of rupees and also a few thousand rupees. What is needed is a reorganization of the structure of banks,” he said. The Yojana is being monitored

Gender gap There is also a significant gender gap in banking; by 2012, for every 1,000 deposit accounts opened in the name of men, just 394 were opened in the name of women. Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat were even worse than the national banking sex ratio, while Delhi and the four southern States were better.

in a Mission Mode with the Finance Minister being the Head of the Mission. It is estimated to cover 7.50 crore households with at least one account under the Yojana and also a large number of dormant accounts would be activated. Electronic Transfer of subsidies under various schemes of Government would be enabled. All such initiatives seems to have given the much needed momentum to the Yojna and the countrymen can hope to get the banking facilities in the remote areas with much ease.

January 2015

Governance Today

Finance

Great Investment

Oppurtunities

| GOKUL RAJ

he Indian equity market has been on a rollercoaster ride. But more recently, over the past year in fact, Indian shares have rocketed, returning 27pc. In 2014 alone the average share is up 18pc. Now, the year 2015 is coming up with new hopes. The current correction in Indian markets is healthy and provides Investors opportunities to accumulate good quality stocks at attractive valuations. Our structural bullishness on Indian markets outlook for the next 5 years continues to strengthen from the recent Macro & Micro Economic events. For any investor with a 3-5 year time frame, Markets are providing great bargains. Let’s understand reasons as to why we are Bullish and are excited to accumulate on every meaningful correction. Every Bull Market has several corrections during the course of its large up move just as how every Bear market has several strong rallies during the broader down move. During the last Bull Market (2003-07), we have had four 10%+ market corrections. In fact two of those corrections were 15%+ and one

Governance Today

January 2015

was a massive 30% correction from highs. These corrections strengthen the Bull Market by clearing the froth and keeps Market healthy as irrational expectations get tested regularly. We certainly believe that India is going through one of its biggest Bull Markets and the structural thesis of the up move is getting strengthened consistently. Let’s see five prime reasons for our Bullishness. Cyclical Recovery aided by lowering Inflation & Weak Commodity Prices Indian economy is going through a cyclical recovery on the back of improving economic sentiment, , restarting of stalled CAPEX, narrowing CAD, pent up demand etc. While it might be difficult to time the interest rate cuts, there are enough indications for us to believe that Interest rates have peaked and are expected to slide down going forward. There has been a marked improvement in Inflation drivers. A lower inflationary expectation will ideally lead to better Financial savings and this creates a virtuous cycle that will boost growth to our trend line growth of around 7-8%. The recent correction in Commodity prices also aides India’s economic recovery by boosting Fiscal as well as Current accounts through higher subsidy savings and lower imports. Even though exports will be affected to

some degree due to subdued global demand, majority of our exports have low price elasticity and are stable in nature. While Capital account might get affected with lower flows in the short term, India will be able to attract flows overtime with strong performance. Since commodities follow a mega cycle of more than 10 years, we could live with subdued prices for a long time and that will boost the inherent demand in the Indian economy. We are in a cyclical recovery that will not just boost top line of companies but also bottom line with expanding Margins from lower input costs. New Normal (or) Secular Stagnation in Global Growth, leading to glut of Capital Few eminent western economists have written about the risk of secular stagnation in Global growth, primarily driven by softened Demand across developed markets. There are several structural factors at play from Demographics, Economic inequality to Indebtedness that will lead to subpar global growth. As we are seeing already, Central bankers across the Globe will try to fight deflation by using both levers (lower Interest Rate & higher Monetary easing). This will certainly lead to a glut of capital in the Global markets that will continue to chase markets with decent returns. Bond Yields from Germany to Japan have fallen to the lowest in History with short term rates in a few markets in negative zone. This creates an

Finance

environment for higher capital flows to countries such as India that is in want of capital and that can absorb huge amounts of capital while delivering healthy returns for Investors. India will also structurally be favored for Capital flows with its domestic economy oriented growth model compared with most emerging countries export based model. India’s decisive turn towards embracing Capitalism will aid flows While we can debate about the pace of change of India’s orientation towards a Market based economy, the direction of change towards capitalism is clear. There has been several initiatives taken in the last 2 years that improves the structural growth story of the country such as Subsidy reforms, Governance reforms, Increasing FDI limits, Opening up more sectors etc. Country is clearing moving towards a liberal Economic regime that will allow it to attract more flows and improve its per capita income from the current low levels to around 1.5 Lakh Rs in the next 6-7 years. This will create a vibrant domestic Market that can full fill the aspirations of our huge population. For the first time in India’s history, we are having an environment in which all the 3 most important people in the Political system (Narendra Modi, Amit Shah & Arun Jaitley) as well the top bureaucratic team including CEA are pushing on a Pro-Business policy framework with lower government interference. Pressures on politicians to deliver on Development, Growth and Jobs would ensure that this is a irreversible change and India will improve its sustainable Growth rate. This along with structural factors such as Demographics, Social attitudes, Aspirations etc will ensure that India stays focused on developing its Economy. Inflation Targeting and Monetary Framework to drive down cost of capital In addition to the good things happening in the Fiscal policy, the country is making decisive changes to its Monetary policy by moving

towards Inflation Targeting. With the targets to be set around 4% +/- 2%, we believe that deeply entrenched Inflationary expectations among the economic agents in the system will decline consistently. This along with the improving transparency in Taxation will have huge impact on Indian public’s Financial Savings Vs Physical savings debate. These changes along with an environment of low interest rates globally would drive cost of capital lower for Indian businesses. All these set the stage well for higher growth rates going forward. RBI governor, Mr. Rajan, has also been focused on improving the Financial system from broadening Financial Inclusion to creating a Healthy lending ecosystem. With a good regulatory framework and healthy FOREX resources, India can withstand the volatilities of Global financial

Every Bull Market has several corrections during the course of its large up move just as how every Bear market has several strong rallies during the broader down move. markets which will see increased frequency of Boom and Bust cycles with increased asset bubbles being the side-effects on the Monetary easing worldwide. With a strong man at the forefront of Government and the Central Bank, India does have a higher ability to withstand external shocks and this decreases the tail risk premium to Indian stocks substantially. Seven Long Years of Market Consolidation sets a strong Base Indian Equity Markets have been through a long phase of underperformance. Equities have delivered a meager 3.5% CAGR returns over the last 7 years. The return on broader markets including Small Caps

and Mid Caps is even more pathetic. This has ensured that Indian retail investors have moved away completely from stock Markets. Over this phase, there has been a significant shift in shareholding from weak hands to strong hands in the market. Markets have rewarded quality well and bad businesses, bad Managements have taken a severe beating. Indian markets are quoting at reasonable valuations all round. Even with this year’s rise, we are still near historical average valuations for Indian equities. The cyclically adjusted valuations are actually lower than historical averages as we are currently at very low Margins for Corporate India. As Indian growth picks up, we will see operating leverage kicking in and several companies exhibiting strong earnings growth. Indian markets have all the ingredients for a Bull Market - Valuations, Sentiment, Policies, Earnings, and Flows etc. Hence we will expect investors to BUY good businesses at attractive valuations. It is easy to get lost in the noise that comes from financial markets each day and ignore these huge positive changes that are happening. While these are our Macro views, our stock selection and portfolio strategies are purely based on Bottom-Up process. There are only a handful of businesses that can benefit sustainably from the Macroeconomic positives without passing every benefit to customers or getting hurt by competition. Thus it’s very important that Investors stick with quality businesses and invest with a long time frame. Investors should look for businesses that can amplify the economic positives while the risk of downside is minimal. These stocks when held for long term can continue to compound at higher rates, enabling investors to grow their wealth multifold. We are currently bullish on stocks such as City Union Bank and Heritage Foods. These are great Investment opportunities. (The writer is Head of Investments HBJ Capital)

January 2015

Governance Today

Finance

Case for a Rate Cut | ANAND MISHRA

he downward movement of price rise continues in India. The Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation which captures inflation at wholesale level, has continued to come down in November and dropped to an unprecedented zero level for the month. The figure during the previous month stood at 1.8 per cent, the data released by commerce and industry ministry showed. The WPI inflation stood at a high 7.5 per cent during the corresponding month of the previous year. The WPIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s declining trend was accompanied by a significant decline in the retail inflation, measured by CPI, which dropped to a multiyear low of 4.4 per cent during the month. The decline has emboldened the industry lobby which has been demanding an interest rate cut from the RBI. What they have been saying is that since inflation has gone down to very low level, interest rates, which had been kept at a high level just to fight off inflation, should come down. They also say that with inflation hitting a very low level, the real interest rate has become inordinately high. Nominal interest rate is essentially a combination of both inflation and real interest rate. High interest rate has been hitting India Inc. hard as the financing cost has been impacting its balance sheet adversely. A leading exporter from Pune commented that the higher cost of financing has made his exports uncompetitive. The story is same for all manufacturers who are 56

Governance Today

January 2015

reeling under sluggish demand and high cost. This, according to industrialists, is hurting employment generation and economic growth.

A rate cut in offing? Reserve Bank of India (RBI), under the stewardship of Raghuram Rajan, has fought the interest rate cut lobby hard for an entire year now. The basic argument of RBI has been that monetary policy can and should be used to tame inflation, even if it hurts industry momentarily. In its fifth bi monthly policy statement, it had mentioned that the recent

will dissipate and inflation for December could show an upward trend. This was the reason why it did not cut the interest rate then. However, if the inflation for the month of December could also come out to be much below RBIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own target of 8 per cent, Raghuram Rajan would find it very hard to resist a cut in interest rates. Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has been reported to support a cut in interest rates and had argued in October 2014 that currently prevailing interest rates were a disincentive and that the time may have have come

While WPI and CPI have come down significantly, CPI for Industrial workers has proved sticky Source: RBI

decline in inflation has been because of a few factors such as softening crude prices and easing in vegetable prices. In nonfood category, lower crude had resulted in lower than expected transport and communication prices, driving down inflation. RBI had also noted in its statement that the November inflation which has just come out, could ease further, but the favourable base effect that is driving inflation down,

to moderate the interest rates in wake of stabilizing inflation. Inflation sustaining at lower levels could give RBI some elbow room to play with interest rates which would be most welcome by the industry. That would also allow real interest rates to come down which are at a very high level currently.

Bringing respite to economy Last year, record number of

Finance

Indian enterprises went for debt restructuring. A major reason for such a request was the massive cost of servicing debt. A significant number of businesses were reported to have closed shop simply because they could not cope with the finance costs. All of these enterprises would be major beneficiaries of a decline in interest rates. Secondly, because financing cost would come down, many projects which are currently unviable, would become viable, encouraging enterprises to invest more and generate jobs. For common folks, an interest rate decline could bring some tangible benefits. First of all, the EMIs or the monthly instalments on existing loans would come down if they are flexible in nature. Sometimes, loan providers allow customers to reset interest rates once or twice during tenure of loan and that facility could be availed with a decline in interest rates. Secondly, it would be easier to finance new loans at lower rate, increasing sales of consumer durables and automobile sectors.

RBI has maintained rates to fight off inflation Source: RBI

many funds have generated over 19 per cent returns which is a great performance for funds which invest overwhelmingly in government papers. A financial advisor based in Delhi commented that over last six months, attractiveness of debt based funds has increased and it was now much easier to sell such mutual funds. The ball is now in RBIâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s court to take a call on whether to decrease interest rates and by how much. Government has been indicating that it is in favour of lower interest rates. Industry

Fund

1-Year Return %

ICICI Prudential Gilt Fund Investment Plan - PF Option - Regular Plan

20.09

Franklin India Government Securities Fund - Long Term Plan

19.95

Birla Sun Life Gilt Plus - PF Plan

19.47

UTI Gilt Advantage Long Term Plan

19.44

Franklin India Government Securities Fund - Composite Plan

19.43

Financial markets factor in lower rates While debate has been raging on about whether it is the right time to decrease benchmark rates and what would be the stance of RBI in its forthcoming policy review in Feb 2015, financial markets have started to factor in the decline in interest rates. The yield on benchmark 10 year government paper has shown a declining trend over last few months and has reached sub 8 per cent levels in last month or so. This has resulted in increase in prices of debt papers, which run opposite to the yields. Resultantly, most debt based funds have generated good returns. A look at the gild based mutual funds shows that on a yearly basis,

is vociferous in demanding a rate cut and some brokerage houses are also of the view that with inflation declining to low level, it makes sense to cut rates. But RBI which has been looking at all elements of prices, could be looking at the consumer price

inflation for industrial workers which has inched up even as other indicators of inflation have come down. Either way, next couple of months would be worth watching for economists and investors alike.

January 2015

Governance Today

Interview

Growth of e-commerce is due to Proliferation of Smartphones As e-commerce is gaining momentum in the Indian market, research on several components of e-commerce are also benefiting the players. In an interaction with Rahul Trivedi, Sr. Correspondent, Governance Today, Japnit Singh, Senior Director, Singapore & India, Spire Research and Consulting (India) Pvt. Ltd., a leading strategic market research consultancy in global emerging markets spoke on various aspects of e-commerce. Edited excerpts:

ow do you define e-tailing? How has it managed to become so big of late? E-tailing or Electronic Retailing is defined as online sale of products wherein all steps involved in the purchase process like browsing products, placing orders and payments have been shifted to the online platform. The ease of access factor also propels traditional retailers to create an online presence. With the high penetration of mobiles phones and improving internet connectivity, e-commerce firms are expected to reach millions of new users in the coming years. The other factors contributing to the robust development of this sector in India is the rise of the aspirational middle class with disposable income and increasing investment in e-commerce ventures. What is the market size in India? At what rate it has been growing? The size of the Indian e-tailing market at present is USD2 billion and is expected to reach USD30 billion by 2020. Online retail and market place have become the fastest-growing segment, increasing its share from 10% in 2009 to an estimated 18% in 2013. The proliferation of smartphones has further contributed to the growth of e-commerce with access to internet â&#x20AC;&#x201C; which constitutes to 200 million internet users as of 2014 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; with the figure set to reach over 500 million by 2018. What are the critical factors that define success in this business? How much has the proliferation of smartphones contributed to this growth? There are a few crucial factors that need to be kept in mind. Foremost among these is capital strength. There is buffer time to see success in this industry relying highly upon investment and patience. Secondly, customer focus needs to be kept in mind. Third, effective website design and content management helps to gain traction which in turn increases online sales revenue. As for products in stable, quality of product line should be

Governance Today

January 2015

Japnit Singh Senior Director, Singapore and India, Spire Research and Consulting

Interview

maintained so that it generates repeat orders. Then there are peripheral issues such as logistics infrastructure, i.e., the ability to reach customers and deliver products quickly, which is a crucial factor contributing to the growth of the companies in this sector. What are the most sold products online? The most sold products are Travel related products and services, apparel, accessories and footwear, computer hardware, software and peripherals, auto and automotive parts, consumer electronics and home furnishings. Who are the top players in this category? Do you think Indian players would be able to sustain against biggies such as Amazon and Ebay? As far as global players are concerned, the top players include: • USA – Amazon, Staples and Apple • China – 360 buy, Dangdang and Amazon China Indian players in this category also include: • Flipkart, Jabong, Snapdeal and Amazon are amongst the leading brands in India. • Myntra, part of Flipkart, and Jabong are the leaders in the “Apparel” category. They compete fiercely with discounts and for exclusive brand partnerships. • In the “Electronics” category, Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon are amongst the leading brands. • Zomato is the leading player in the “Food” category. It faces competition from companies like Burrp, a Network18 Group company; indirectly it also competes with food ordering websites like London-based Just Eat,

Foodpanda and search portal, JustDial. Indian players should be able to stay strong in the industry especially because many investors are eyeing this segment. The recent USD627 million investment from Japanese telecom giant, SoftBank indicates that investors are lining up to further explore India’s e-commerce sector. Experience of other countries in e-tailing business? A quick analysis on Asian countries presents a spectrum of operational and marketing strategies: China In 2013, China’s E-tailing industry was valued over USD200 billion where the industry is dominated by a few domestic giants, including Taobao, Vancl, M18 and JingDong. In fact, Alibaba’s Taobao alone — which consists of Taobao Marketplace, a consumer-toconsumer marketplace, and Tmall, a B2C retail site on which brands can open and operate their own e-commerce stores — accounts for over 50 percent of all online retail spending. In 2012, transactions on Alibaba sites accounted for almost 2% of China’s GDP in the same year. Singapore Singapore’s E-tailing industry was valued at USD1.9 billion in 2012. It is expected to reach USD4.4 billion by 2015. The industry is dominated by players such as Zalora (Fashion), Reebonz (luxury products and services, e.g. high-end handbags, and luxury travel packages), and Luxola (cosmetics). Malaysia The industry is dominated by players such as Zalora (Fashion), Reebonz (luxury products and service such as

high-end handbags). Moreover, Qoo10 (fashion) and Youbeli (electronics, fashion and books) are amongst the popular players in Malaysia’s e-tailing industry. The Philippines The leaders of B2C E-Commerce market in the Philippines are local online merchants Lazada (electronics, fashion) and Zalora (fashion) and global online merchant Amazon. Thailand Thailand is one of Asia’s largest online retail market valued at USD1.05 billion in 2014. Online marketplaces such as

The size of the Indian e-tailing market at present is USD2 billion and is expected to reach USD30 billion by 2020. Online retail and market place have become the fastest-growing segment, increasing its share from 10% in 2009 to an estimated 18% in 2013. Tarad (electronics and fashion), Lazada (electronics and fashion) and Zalora (fashion) are popular online shopping destinations. Vietnam Vietnam’s e-commerce sector is still very fragmented, and has no clear market leaders in both the C2C and B2C e-commerce markets yet. No e-commerce company has reached a market share of more than 5 percent, which has left Vietnam’s e-commerce market up for grabs to new entrants to the sector. Indonesia Japan based Rakuten (electronics) and Ebay (general) are amongst the popular shopping websites in the country.

January 2015

Governance Today

Real Estate

Black Realty Just before the cold waves made the country shiver, the realty sector was already shivering. The Operation Black Ninja of Cobrapost exposed the involvement of black money in the realty sector. Though this is not new but the involvement of some big and reputed players has once again raised the questions on the transparency in the sector. | RAHUL TRIVEDI

he sector which is the second largest employer after agriculture and ranks fourth in terms of the multiplier effect on the economy, has exposed its dark underbelly yet again. With most big players shown to be involved in the sting operation of the investigative website cobrapost.com, one can clearly understand that the builders are not only ready to do bulk property transactions ranging from 10 to 90 percent but they are also not bothered about the violation of Income Tax laws, Foreign Exchange Management Act and Prevention of Money Laundering Act, among others. Though the black money is not new to the sector but this time it was from horse’s mouth that came in front of everyone. Senior officials said that accepting payments in black was nothing new for them and that it was an accepted norm of the real estate industry. Some of these real estate officials were caught on camera ready to accept black money abroad via hawala. As many as 35 companies were caught on camera admitting helping their clients convert

Governance Today

January 2015

black money into white by letting them pay in cash a substantial part of the sale price of the properties.

How the black money is pumped in Black money has been one of the most sensitive issues in last few months. But even though Arvind Kejriwal had several times raised the question on black money and BJP fought the elections saying that it will bring back the black money, the use of black money in the domestic realty market is an open secret but on no one’s radar. The inflow of the black money starts right at the time land is purchased. With so many projects being launched, it is difficult to get virgin land. Developers therefore buy land in outskirts where the circle rates are low. Often, the people who own the land ask for a significant part of the payment in black, sometimes as much as 25-30 per cent, so they could avoid tax. The next step is getting approvals from local civic bodies which are controlled by politicians and bureaucrats. No approval comes without greasing many palms, developers say. All these under the table payments mean that a developer

has to have a significant kitty of black money. So, the developer starts putting price tags on things he isn’t legally allowed to sell, parking spaces for instance. It is this chain of black money transactions that has raised the launch prices of apartments, resulting in the fact that most genuine buyers can’t afford a home. The only ones who can afford a home are, unfortunately, not the salaried class but traders and other dubious buyers who have a steady flow of black money. Given that Indian tax norms favor people who are buying a second or third house more than a first-time buyer, most people who can indulge in inflated real estate transactions are investors who have black money. This forms a vicious cycle of illicit money and higher realty prices.

How to curb? Weeding out black money from real estate is a herculean task. India has a shortfall of 18.7 million homes — over 95% of this is in the economically weaker section. Only 1.4% of that demand is being met. If India’s real estate sector has to grow, the menace of black money needs to be weeded out. Pankaj Kapoor, Managing Director

Real Estate

of Liases Foras, a real estate research company said that it needs slew of reforms to reduce the inflow of black money. Some are being attempted but are not enough. Some state governments have reduced ready reckoner rates to almost the same level as market value but that alone hasn’t been enough. More steps are required. First of all, incentivization of firsttime buyers is needed. Two, the process of getting approvals needs to be made transparent, perhaps by Making the process automated. Cutting off all political discretions in granting approvals or buying land would be a great booster. The Real Estate Regulation Bill is a first step towards that. But in its current form, there are some loosely defined terms in the draft and oversights which can be misused. For instance, approval authorities are not brought under the purview of the Bill. Most delays of housing projects happen because of delayed approvals. According to Kapoor, the escalation of prices itself has happened because of the large inflows of black money into realty. Even though no official figures are available, it is safe to assume that anywhere between 30 to 40 per cent of real estate transactions, be it the purchase of land or an apartment in a metro, involves black money. Higher the price tag of an apartment, bigger is the black money component. For instance, there is hardly any black money involved in an apartment priced between Rs 15 lakh and Rs 20 lakh but in a luxury apartment priced above Rs. 3 crore, the black money component could go up to 60%.

Impact Between 2001 and 2005, real

estate in India boomed. Interest rates were low, housing was affordable and first-time buyers were entering the market. One could understand a bump-up in prices then. But between 2009 and 2013, something strange happened. Even though firsttime buyers were absent, prices went upwards sharply. Most of this was fuelled by investors who invested in the premium and luxury segments and most of them involved black money transactions. The real estate market which was already sluggish has become almost stagnant because most genuine buyers can’t afford to buy their dream home as the market is overpriced. The investors who were pumping in black money have also paused as prices have stagnated. There is no space for the real buyers, people are not able to buy the property due to price escalation. This price has been escalated by the investors who have infused the black money in the market.

Bridging the trust deficit The real estate sector has always been a trust deficit sector. There are self-claimed apex associations of developers and builders such as CREDAI, NARDECO etc., who claim to provide transparency in the sector. But now, with such a big sting operation, the credibility of such organizations is also questionable. It is hard to imagine that these organizations were not in know of massive prevalence of black money in realty sector. Why did they chose to remain mum and would they me cancelling the memberships of such tainted members? Or would they impose penalty for which they don’t have legal sanctions? Real estate regulatory bill is pending since long time. It is totally agreeable that the

government is to be questioned on this but is the government only entity to be questioned? Developers opine that the real estate bill should be passed but there has been no single serious effort taken from the developer’s side to get this bill passed and enforced. These organizations only raise the issues such as reduce the interest rates, but they never take up the issues such as single window clearances, seriously. The CBDT has already ordered an Income Tax department investigation against a number of real estate developers tainted by the sting operation. The apex authority of the I-T department has asked its investigation units across the country to furnish reports of any action or probe

The escalation of prices itself has happened because of the large inflows of black money into realty. Even though no official figures are available, it is safe to assume that anywhere between 30 to 40 per cent of real estate transactions, be it the purchase of land or an apartment in a metro, involves black money. conducted against the groups named by the portal in the past. The progress would be closely watched. The scourge of black money is essentially cheating commoners out of realty market. Government needs to create organizations such as TRAI and SEBI to regulate the sector. But ridding realty sector of black money would require deeper cleansing of political system which is easier said than done. But somewhere a start is sorely needed.

January 2015

Governance Today

Interview

Want to develop Delhi as WiMax city

Jagdish Mukhi

Governance Today

January 2015

When ‘good governance’ is talk of the town, very few of us know that he is a man of action and delivered what many had not dared to, over a decade and half ago. Meet Jagdish Mukhi, the senior BJP leader who was pivotal in mending Delhi’s economy and banning the sad culture of lottery across the nation besides discouraging the liquor consumption and daring to erect an institution parallel to Delhi University in the national capital. Mukhi, who is said to be BJP’s chief ministerial candidate for Delhi assembly polls and also targeted by Aam Aadmi Party, has some more plans in store for Delhi, such as to ease traffic hassles, clean Yamuna and make the capital a WiMax city. In a freewheeling chat with Ramesh Kumar Raja, the BJP veteran walked down the memory lane and came out with even stronger vision for the future. Edited excerpts:

Interview

Since you are in the public life for nearly 35 years – first an educationist and then an MLA, minister and prominent politician of Delhi – what is your opinion about the good governance? Good governance for me is a mission which I have, in fact, delivered and shown through my work in my capacity as the finance, planning, excise and taxation and higher education minister of Delhi in the past. This is the reason that I have been awarded as the best planning minister of the nation by Pranab Mukherjee, the then Union Planning Minister, and twice as the best MLA award in Delhi Vidhan Sabha. I must appreciate Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiatives for good governance in the country and setting up a Gujarat model of development. You are said to be instrumental in reforming the economy of Delhi as a finance, planning, excise and taxation minister. How do you look back? When I took charge as the minister, there was the highest evasion of tax in Delhi, roughly 80-85 per cent. As I was a professor of the Commerce department in Delhi University where I used to teach Taxation, I found it an opportunity to implement my thought of the subject. I had set a target of curbing the illegal business. After much deliberations with traders, I went on to cut the rate of tax for better compliance and implementation. And that resulted in the revenue collection that Delhi hadn’t seen before. However, it was not an easy job. I faced a lot of hurdles as the Delhi government was not empowered to alter (reduce, hike or exempt) tax. My proposal was even turned down by the then Union finance minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, but finally after much

argument and reasoning I was able to convince him with some proof I had gathered. I showed him how people enthusiastically contributed bank drafts in advance. He was baffled and allowed us to implement the same. Interestingly, the revenue in the next year increased manifold, whopping 300 per cent on some items. From the next year, I exempted tax on 36 items and heavily reduced tax on 63 items. And I increased Delhi’s revenue with the ever highest rate in the country i.e. 27 per cent the very next year. Subsequently, I prepared the 9th Five Year Plan for Delhi which was 250 per cent more than the previous plan. It is a record in the country. Besides, I also encouraged the small savings to a record level. I had also prepared a scheme, Kalpvriksh Bachat Yojana, which is still popular today. The credit of banning lottery in the country goes to you. How did it come? The given issue is very close to my heart as it was a sort of social evil during those days. The bad culture of lottery was spoiling life of youth and people were committing suicides out of debt. Businessmen used to keep their shutters down and everyone wanted to become rich overnight. The situation was so pathetic and chaotic that mothers were wary of their children going wrong way. I started a campaign against the menace and also took help of six neighbouring states. Taking the lead, I totally banned all sorts of lotteries in Delhi, although I had to face some resistance in the beginning. Taking the movement forward, I met Lal Krishna Advani, the then Union Home Minister, to bring a central legislation to ban the ‘single-digit’ lottery across the country. Thankfully, he obliged me. I must call it the

biggest achievement of my life. How did the idea of increasing ‘dry days’ in Delhi come to you? As I also had the department of excise, I know how the liquor lobby and mafia works. Taking support of an article in our constitution that states “Every state government shall endure to curb the consumption of liquor in its area”, I decided within myself to discourage its consumption by increasing the number of dry days. Instead of caring about the huge revenue that comes from liquor sale, I decided not to issue any fresh shop licence in my tenure. Setting a target of curbing the drinking culture in order to save the next generation, I put some restrictions that liquor shop cannot be opened in industrial and resettlement areas, where there is major consumption of alcohol. Going ahead, I increased the dry days from 27 to 43 that chiefly included 18 days of religious importance i.e. festivals across religions. I also put a ban on any form of liquor publicity. Delhi’s Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University happens to be your brainchild. What was its need? When I was given the additional charge of higher education during the last one year of my tenure, I was pained to see that there was no self-funded college in Delhi which forced local students from moving to other states for education. The idea was targeted at catering vocational courses like BCA, BBA, Law, Hotel Management, Paramedical, B.Ed. etc. rather than the regular one. I had deliberations with the then CM of Delhi, Delhi University Vice-Chancellor, and the then HRD minister, and many other concerned people before constituting a panel and arriving on a concrete decision to bring a bill in the House in a

January 2015

Governance Today

Interview

time-bound manner. Although the things could not happen as I had planned due to change in regime, it’s a matter of pride that today we are running 112 colleges affiliated to IP University. Some of your works were exemplary and set benchmarks of good governance, what is next on your target if the BJP comes to power and you become a part of it… who knows even chief minister? Traffic jam happens to be a colossal challenge for Delhi. I have a plan for it. And the things on my mind are to start Mono Rail, extend Metro service, construct the third ring road and give a fresh lease of life to the ring railway, and connect all these with feeder bus service. I hope these modes of public transport will be of great help in boosting the hassle-free internal and external traffic. Most importantly, our aim is to encourage public transport and discourage private vehicles. Please throw some light on your ring railway plan. There is a plan for constructing five ring rounds touching Rewari, Rohtak, Palwal, Sonepat and Meerut, the NCR towns. While the Rewari route will touch Naraina in Delhi, there will be a connectivity between Palwal and Okhla and so on. What way out you suggest to rout corruption in public distribution system? I feel issuing coupons to poor people to get goods will play a pivotal role in eliminating corruption in PDS. How do you look at the issue of full statehood status for Delhi? The pace of development will increase once Delhi is granted full statehood, as it will bring to an end the issue of multilateral authority that causes chaos

Governance Today

January 2015

sometime halting developmental prerogatives. In some cases, even the MLAs in Delhi don’t know which authority is responsible for a given job. What is your vision about the IT sector? My dream is to develop Delhi as the WiMax city. I would also like to develop Delhi as the hub of the hardware industry, akin to Bangalore which happens to be the software hub of India, so that we’ll be in a position to beat or compete with China. What is your/party’s vision about Clean Yamuna project? The Congress government spent Rs. 1,800 crore for the cleaning of Yamuna but it became even dirtier. We have a three-phase plan for Clean Yamuna. In the first phase, we would prevent flow of polluted water into Yamuna by setting up a sewerage treatment plant. In second, we would set up a drain parallel to Yamuna (which will go to Okhla) in order to store all the sewerage for treatment that will also yield fertilizer that could be sold further. And third stage is of channelization of Yamuna i.e. to build a 45km long reservoir after channelizing the river for navigation and clean drinking water. The fund for this will come from economic use of the land on the river bank. We’ll definitely work on it if came to power. What is your take on the issue of drinking water? Nearly 30 per cent of potable water goes waste in Delhi. So, our priority will be to save them and increase the efficiency of the Delhi Jal Board. This will definitely pave the way for water for all. As you were also the in-charge of BJP’s good governance cell, what is its nature of work? This (good governance cell)

was created when Nitin Gadkari became the national president of BJP. Manohar Parrikar was made the convenor of the cell and I was its co-convenor. Later, when Parrikar shifted to Goa, I was given the charge of the cell, which also has senior retired bureaucrats on the board. The main objective of this department is to study and discuss initiatives related to good governance which we used to share with the chief ministers of BJP-ruled states for further deliberations and implementation. Chhattisgarh’s PDS system has set an example in itself. How do you look at the image of police? Our police should set an ideal for better policing. Simultaneously, there should be a fear of police in the mind of criminals and a sense of confidence among honest citizens. There is a need to change the image of police. The increasing crime against women is a matter of grave concern. What is your take on the issue? I do agree with you that crime against women is increasing and I must thank media for playing a vital role in exposing and highlighting this issue. There is a need to change the mind-set of people. The social and a religious organisations will have to play a role for the cause. What is your opinion about e-governance? It’s a welcome trend which will lead to end of corruption. Modiji has implemented it successfully in Gujarat which should be replicated in other states as well for a transparent and speedy public service. It’ll be of great use in making and issuing the caste, death and income tax certificates. We’ll build a better structure for e-governance in Delhi.

It’s not Easy to ‘Make in India’ As Narendra Modi took charge as the Prime Minister of the country, he was on the announcing spree. One after the other he announced various number of schemes. One of his ambitious schemes is ‘Make in India’. Though, this scheme seems to be beneficial for the manufacturing sector but this it is not a cakewalk. | RAHUL TRIVEDI

rime Minister launched the ambitious ‘Make in India’ campaign with an objective to make the country a global manufacturing hub. With this regards, the government is pulling out all the stops for ensuring a smooth sailing for investors, by setting

up a dedicated cell to answer queries of business entities within 72 hours. It will also closely monitor all regulatory processes to make them simple and reduce the burden of compliance. The initiative aims to increase the share of manufacturing to 25 percent of GDP by 2022 from the current 12 percent, which is a quantum jump. Additionally, it is expected to create 100 million jobs. If the industry experts are to be believed, this campaign is extremely progressive. Despite this they also see a few hurdles such as infrastructure bottlenecks, environmental clearances and unfriendly tax regime which could come in the effective implementation of this campaign. They say that these should be removed to create a level-playing field for manufacturing in the country

vis-a-vis imports. Confederation of Indian Industry President Ajay Shriram said, “It (the campaign) is the only way to generate employment for the large pool of young people joining the labor force every year. As mentioned by the Prime Minister, the purchasing power of the people can be enhanced and demand created only if they have employment opportunities.” Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt. Ltd. Managing Director Naomi Isshi said, “The campaign will mutually benefit many countries, from employment generation to the global exchange of talent and expertise. The campaign highlights global vision through both ‘Look East’ and ‘Link West’ policy, which will further ensure stronger bilateral ties between countries and continents.” However, it is not going to be easy as ‘make versus buy’ is a

January 2015

Governance Today

Make in India

financial decision that companies made based on a number of factors. To boost manufacturing, the supply base of component and materials needed to be improved, demand accelerated, besides overcoming challenges like developing adequate infrastructure, providing skilled manpower and removing procedural and regulatory formalities. Commenting on the challenges for the program, Krupa Venkatesh, Senior Director, Deloitte in India, has opined that for long, it has been believed that India neglected manufacturing and relied more on the service sector for growth. In this context, the ‘Make in India’ has come as a welcome move. However, felt that businesses still continue to be wary of the uncertainty and complexity in our taxation system. Therefore, a fair tax environment is the need of the hour if the campaign is to succeed. Early implementation of the GST will certainly send out positive signals to such skeptics. Prime Minister ’s ‘Make in India’ campaign to revive manufacturing will become a

Governance Today

January 2015

success only if the government manages to convince companies to manufacture in India. The key decision factors for manufacturers are (a) size of market and access to market (b) good infrastructure (c) availability of skills (d) stable and competitive fiscal regime and (e) ease of doing business. Attaining a near double-digit growth rate without a significant increase in manufacturing may prove to be challenging. Labor requirements in the primary sectors are falling quickly due to increasing mechanization and productivity spurts. The manufacturing sector can absorb semi-skilled workers who are challenged by the fast-growing services sector as well as the primary economy of agriculture and mining. The economic impact of manufacturing in India will go beyond direct employment. It will create jobs in the services sector and allied services like logistics, transportation, retail etc. Needless to say, since manufacturing would require free flow of raw materials and finished goods, improving

logistics infrastructure such as port-to-inland connectivity, cargo airports, etc. would be necessary and these developments promise to transform India into a global manufacturing hub. However, with little fiscal stability and no clarity on when GST will be implemented, one cannot expect large manufacturing investments to flow into India. There are still too many hindrances to conduct business in India. While the “inspector raj” is slowly being dismantled, the process must be accelerated. With a virtual stagnation from 2010 to 2014, manufacturing in India continues to be crippled by issues such as shortage of coal, inability to acquire land and tax disputes. While the provisions under the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill, 2013 are expected to drastically decrease time and cost to acquire land, it is necessary to rationalize the act and set up land banks that would assist ventures involving acquisition of large land parcels. KPMG and CII recently

Make in India

completed a report which identified nine key action items to make India conducive for large-scale manufacturing. These include streamlining investment approval, facilitating land acquisition processes, creating an appropriate labor development ecosystem, efficient and effective enforcement of laws, facilitating greater cross-border transactions, creating clear exit guidelines, rationalizing taxation regimes and technology enablement of the government. Implementing these would require a detailed roadmap, including the development of uniform standards and procedures, introduction of common application forms for seeking approval from central and state governments, and building a model for a single window mechanism. When developed economies

Challenges facing ‘Make in India’ A healthy business environment is possible only with an efficient administrative machinery. India has been very stringent when it comes to procedural and regulatory clearances. A business-friendly environment will only be created if India can signal easier approval of projects and set up hasstle-free clearance mechanism. India should also be ready to tackle elements that adversely affect competitiveness of manufacturing. To make the country a manufacturing hub the unfavorable factors must be removed. Providing reliable power and tax concessions are required to improve project viability. Small and medium-sized industries can play a big role in making the country take the next big leap in manufacturing. India should be more focused towards development for this segment. The government has to chart out plans to give special sops and privileges to these sectors. India’s make in India campaign will be constantly compared with China’s ‘Made in China’ campaign. The dragon launched the campaign at the same day as India seeking to retain its manufacturing prowess. India should constantly keep up its strength so as to outpace China’s supremacy in the manufacturing sector. India must also encourage high-tech imports and research and development (R&D) to upgrade ‘Make in India’ give edge-to-edge competition to the Chinese counterpart’s campaign. To do so, India has to be better prepared and motivated to do world class R&D. The government must ensure that it provides platform for such research and development.

Cyrus Mistry, Chairman, Tata Sons Our aspirations in global

Kenichi Ayukawa, MD and CEO, Maruti Suzuki India

KM Birla, Chairman, Aditya Birla Group

manufacturing arena will be fulfilled if we meet certain challenges. The depth and breadth of India’s talent pool is unparalleled. Manufacturing employment has a multiplier effect on the services sector. ….The program will help India deal with long-term CAD

We are fully confident that, under the Make in India program of the Prime Minister, factors that adversely affect the competitiveness of manufacturing will now be removed quickly

Nations bring to mind different notions. India has come to be known as an IT hub. It is time the world saw us as a manufacturing hub

like the United States are renewing focus on reviving manufacturing, “Make in India” is not just an option but a national imperative that is needed to keep pace with global growth. Transforming the vision to reality

requires a concrete roadmap that will support not just the manufacturing of today, but also of the future, which may involve technologies such as 3D printing with its own set of challenges. To ensure the country’s place

as a global manufacturing powerhouse, the government, industry and civil society must work in tandem to restore investor and public confidence in “Make in India”.

January 2015

Governance Today

Interview

Platform to Create Futuristic Smart Cities Last month, the government announced that it would be developing industrial agglomerations along the five proposed corridors to boost manufacturing. Twenty two of these would be coming up on the high profile Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC). Seven of these 22 agglomerations would be taken up in first phase, of which Dholera in Gujarat Talleen Kumar and Shendra-Bidkin near Aurangabad in Chairman DMIC Maharashtra could start this fiscal itself. The concept of PM Narendra Modi to create 100 smart cities looks very much aligned with the development of DMIC. Tipped as the biggest infrastructure project India has ever attempted, the 1,483 Km corridor has the potential to radically alter the landscape of Western and NorthWestern part of the country. Designed to promote new age infrastructure development along sides of the corridor, the project envisages setting up greenfield industrial and residential clusters besides expanding the existing ones. The corridor passes through the States of U.P, NCR of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra, with end terminals at Dadri in UP and Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Mumbai. The corridor addresses the crucial lacunae of Indian infrastructure, which is lack of proper transport, by offering high-speed connectivity through road and double stacked container trains. The unique feature of the project is the development of Influence Areas on both sides of the corridor which aims to catalyze the economic development of areas falling under 150km to 200kms on both sides of the corridor. This would encompass a huge area, roughly 13.8 per cent of geographical area and 17 per cent of total population of the country. Additionally, DMIC would be passing through states that contribute 50 per cent of agricultural production and 60 per cent of total exports of the country. Needless to say, the stakes are very high for the project which, if successful, could be a model for such projects in other parts of the country, which have got potential and can contribute to the economic upliftment of a large number of people. Rahul Trivedi, Sr. Correspondent, Governance Today spoke to Talleen Kumar Chairman, DMIC to know some of the crucial aspects of DMICâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s concept and status. Edited excerpts: 68

Governance Today

January 2015

Interview

What is the present site condition of DMIC project? Creating Greenfield Futuristic Smart Industrial cities involves a lot of project development, planning and engineering before actual implementation begins. As of now, for various projects, DMICDC has gone ahead with the incorporation of Project/ Node level SPVs and these SPVs are expected to come out with tenders soon for creation of Trunk Infrastructure. The first meeting of DMIC was held in December 2006 and first task force meeting on 25th May 2007. In 2008 project was launched and the first phase completion on to 2012 but now it is proposed to complete on 2019. Are you sure to complete the project of this deadline? According to the approval accorded to the institutional and financial

structure by the Government of India, the first phase of the industrial cities will be completed by the end of 2019. The project is on schedule. DMICDC has gone ahead with the incorporation of Project/ Node level SPVs and these SPVs are expected to soon come out with tenders for implementation of Trunk Infrastructure. What is impact of Make in India Plan, because Modi is emphasizing a lot on this philosophy? Make in India is a program that invites and encourages manufacturing in India. DMIC Project is one such project that provides the platform to realize this vision by creating Futuristic Smart Sustainable Industrial cities where manufacturing is the key economic driver. L a n d acquisition is big issue to complete the project. How DMIC would address it? Land has always been a State subject. State Governments are taking the necessary steps for making land available for the DMIC Project. What is your strategy of 150 Km development of each side of DMIC? DMICDC has identified 24 nodes for development across the region and in the first phase 7 nodes are being planned. Subsequently other nodes will also be taken up based on the availability of land. The DMIC project is expected to affect 14 percent area and 17 percent population. How will it impact the lifestyle and employment generation in coming future?

This is the first time that India is moving forward towards such large scale urbanization in a planned manner through industrial cities where manufacturing is the key economic driver. This impacts the overall quality of life in a number of ways such as through sustainability, transportation, solid waste management, integration of utilities like drainage, waste water, recycling, security etc. The physical master plan has been developed with ICT and can be monitored from a command room/ centre. Further, all these would lead to generation of large numbers of direct and indirect jobs. What is the basic difference between Investment region and Industrial Areas? An Investment Region (IR) would be a specifically delineated industrial region with a minimum area of over 200 square kilometers (20,000 hectares), while an Industrial Area (IA) would be developed with a minimum area of over 100 square kilometers (10,000 hectares). How will DMIC manage the funding? Are FIIs keen to invest in this project? DMIC project is being funded by the Government of India for development of Trunk Infrastructure and the land is being brought in by the respective State Governments as their equity to the project SPVs. The project aspires to double employment potential, triple industrial output and quadruple exports from the region in the next seven to nine years. How? It is through the establishment of industrial cities in the DMIC where manufacturing is the key economic driver.

January 2015

Governance Today

Art & Culture

Art Needs More Promotion 70

Governance Today

January 2015

Art & Culture

Although India is a land of arts, very few people understand its significance. And that is due to lack of adequate government support and poor promotion of art beyond big cities. People come to know about the same only when there is some controversy. Taking cue of these issues, Governance Today talked to Mahesh Prajapati, an Assistant Professor at the Department of Graphics in Government College of Arts, Chandigarh, who delves into issues that relate to arts and artists both quite often. Edited excerpts:

here do you see India in modern art? In the present scenario, I see Indian art and artists on a parallel platform and not very different, as the opportunities are available for all. Traditionally very strong, Indian art shows a range of trends existing at the same

as there are various institutes, galleries and organizations that are taking initiatives to promote art, art exhibitions and auctions giving momentum to art in India from time to time. How do you look at governmental endorsement in promoting Indian arts? Government is doing its bit to promote art with the introduction of art as a subject in curriculum, with Lalit Kala Academy organizing events like exhibitions, workshops, seminars, and exchange

time and is manifested using all possible forms, mediums and materials. Is the environment conducive for artists in India? Definitely. I surely think the environment is favourable for art

programs taking place frequently with different countries, scholarships, fellowships etc. Though the government is helping artists, it can do more in order to make general public aware about art.

What sorts of policies you expect from the government for their betterment? There is no regulatory body in the business of art and therefore, art is developing into a business in an unorganised way. As far as policies are concerned, I expect more regional centres to come up in small cities to promote art and craft of the region. Also new technology should be included in curriculum. The village, districts, cities, all should be linked and more courses could be introduced in the art education. How do you look at freedom of expression in arts? Are artists licenced enough to hurt religious sentiments at the cost of freedom? The freedom of expression is there and artists have painted the gods and goddesses, but some protests or objections do come up. However, one must take into account the religious sentiments and sensibilities of different communities before painting anything. Any message for budding artists? The budding artists should be aware of the contemporary trends as well as traditional arts and crafts. Updating and being well versed with techniques is necessary.

January 2015

Governance Today

Event Special

Non-Conventional Energy, Need of the Hour With an aim to raise awareness about the use of renewable energy in India, Governance Today, in an association with Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), organised National Energy Summit on Non-Conventional Energy on December 11, 2014 at India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. The day-long Summit, divided into three technical sessions, was inaugurated by Mr KS Popli, CMD, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA). While the first technical session dealt with adapting policies to promote renewable and non-conventional energy, the second session focussed on attracting investment for renewable energy projects. The third technical session dealt with optimizing energy performance and meeting skills challenge. Dr Praveen Saxena, Advisor and Head, National Institute of Solar Energy, MNRE was the chief guest of the day. The event, attended by scientists, entrepreneurs, government officials and other distinguished personalities, was moderated by Mr Pratap Mohanty, Former Deputy Educational Advisor, Ministry of Human Resource Development. During the Summit, Tata Power Solar, National Institute of Solar Energy, Welspun Renewable Energy Ltd., Sulabh International, Bihar State Building Construction Ltd. and Chhattisgarh Renewable Energy Development Agency were felicitated for making exemplary contribution in non-conventional energy sector in India.

Governance Today

January 2015

Event Special

January 2015

Governance Today

Event Special

Governance Today

January 2015

Governance Today

January 2015