Key
words: governance, e-governance, ICTs, implementation, challenges, Nepal
Background
The
terms of e-government and e-governance are often used interchangeably. E-government
is the use of information and communications technologies (ICT) to transform
the traditional government by making it accessible, transparent, effective and
accountable. Four words government, governance, e-government and e-governance
are common uses in administrative literatures. The growing
application of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and their
subsequent use on strengthening interaction among public entities, civil societies,
communities and citizens has given rise to a new governance paradigm known as
e-governance. E-governance is ‘the application of information Technology to the
processes of government functioning to bring about simple, moral, accountable, responsive
and transparent government. It came as a quest of making the public
institutions more transparent, accountable, and efficient for the better
delivery of public services. Using the ICT as a tool it helps to improve
governance to be more effective, transparent, professional and cost-effective.
Therefore both the developed and developing countries today are found adopting
ICTs for making their government efficient, transparent and customer friendly.
In Nepal, the public, private and the nonprofit entities have been in the
process of introducing ICTs for their performance. The e-policy in Nepal
focuses on using e-government especially for the delivery of programs and
services and the usage of information infrastructures for improved internal
administrative procedures. To augment the e-governance initiatives a number of
legal instruments have been introduced and necessary institutional mechanism
has been created. However incidence of digital divide both at individual and
institutional level is common in Nepal.
Governance
started to attract policy attention and get into development discourses around
the period of late 1980s. Governance as a concept came in recent times to the
increasing interaction of three actors – state, market and the civil society. It
is taken as a process rather than immediate decision. It is a set of continuous
process that usually evolves slowly with use rather than change dramatically.
Good governance started to drive policy debates as a means of securing
development and growth, thereby requiring governments to be open and
predicable. This openness and predictability of government functioning is
further echoed at e- governance. Following UN’s five guiding principles shows
the key note of e-government
-
Building servicers around citizens choices
-
Making government and its services more accessible
-
Social inclusion
-
Providing information responsibly, and
-
Using IT and human resources effectively and efficiently
E-government
does not mean putting more computers on the desks of government officials and
is more than just a government website on the Internet. In a simple way
‘e-governance’ is viewed in the perspective of two major shifts in
socio-economic arena – governance and information revolution. It uses
electronic means to support and stimulate good governance. The emergence of
ICTs along with a strong wave of globalization, and has a profound impact in
the development of e-governance nation. E-governance is not only the usage of
ICTs but is determined by political, social, economic and technological
aspects. It establishes a relationship between government officials and
citizens, providing greater access to government information and services by
making the government accessible online; promoting citizen participation
enabling
citizens to interact more conveniently with government officials, such as by
requesting government service and filing required documents through website; increasing
government accountability by making its operations more transparent, thereby
reducing the opportunities for corruption; and supporting development goals by
providing business, rural and traditionally underserved communities with information,
opportunities and communications capabilities. Thus it increases the flow
of information accelerating the process of decision making by optimizing resources,
and making the mechanism for decision making self-regulating. The
objective of e governance is to support and simplify governance for all parties
- government, citizens, businesses and its employees. Two major objectives of e-governance
are ‘service to the public sector’ and ‘efficient government’. The ‘service to
the public’ fulfills the public’s needs and expectations satisfactorily on the
front office side, by simplifying their interaction with various online
services. The other objective ‘efficient government’ helps for government
operations to facilitate a speedy, transparent, accountable, efficient and
effective process for performing government administration activities.
Significant cost savings (per transaction) in government operations can be the
result.
Implementation
of E-governance in Nepal The introduction of e-governance in Nepal has not a long history.
E-governance is expected for supporting good governance initiatives of the
government by enhancing efficiency and effectiveness; improving information
dissemination and service delivery mechanisms through use of ICTs; and
stimulating the development and growth of ICT sector within the country. To
implement the e-governance initiative there is a need for infrastructure
development, improvement of law and public policy, building e-literacy, enhance
accessibility, ensure privacy and security, and development of workforce. In
addition there is a strong commitment from the leadership for the development
and give attention for strategic investment, collaboration and citizen
participation. Once government makes strategies to transform the governance
process, it must prepare to meet the significant challenges and opportunities
that will arise during implementation. One of the key functions of developing
the e-governance is introducing IT Policy in 2000 in Nepal. The IT Policy specifies
its broader objectives as:
· To
make information technology accessible to the general public and increase
employment through this means,
· To
build a knowledge-based society, and
· To
establish knowledge-based industries.
In
addition a number of legal instruments created to develop IT sector for
augmenting e-governance in Nepal. Some of them are among:
· IT
Policy, 2000
·
Electronic Transaction and Digital Signature Act (ETADSA), 2057 (2000)
·
Copyright Act, 2059 (2000)
·
Telecommunications Policy, 1999
·
Telecommunication Act, 1997 Telecommunication Regulations 1997
·
National Communication Policy, 1992
·
National Strategy Paper on ICT (National Planning Commission)
The
numbers of internet users has increased by fifteen times in 2014. These trend
shows that there is a growing trend for the application of ICTs in Nepal. It is
estimated that business organizations use 30 percent of internet services
followed by international organizations based in Nepal and private home users
by 20 percent each. The NGOs occupy 15 percent share, educational institutions
10 percent, and government entities just limited to only 5 percent. Challenges
of implementation of e-governance in Nepal Despite the government of Nepal has
positively giving attention towards the development of ICTs and subsequent
implementing e-governance, a number of issues has yet addressed. Some of the
challenges for successful implementation of e-governance are presented as
- Information
transparency
- Legal
issues
- Resources
availability
- Infrastructure
including connectivity in rural areas
- Capacity
and awareness
- Political
will and government action
- Assessment
of local needs and customizing e-governance solutions to meet those needs, and
- Content
(local content based on local language).
To
underscore the major challenges for implementing e-governance three major
reasons can be given as follows:
-
lack of regulatory/legal framework for public key infrastructures, digital
signature, digital certificate and cyber laws;
- Physical
infrastructure in terms of availability and quality of communications networks
and bandwidth feature prominently while contemplating full-fledge e-governance;
- Paucity
of resources such as human resources financial resources; and
- Political
will and government action.
Conclusion
The
government of Nepal views e-governance in terms of its potential for bringing
about a major paradigm shift in the way public administration functions and
also as a potential means of augmenting basic tenets of good governance.
E-Governance has been taken to break the barrier of geographical diversity by using
ICTs which can help its effective and efficient transformation. In
Nepal, Even development of necessary infrastructures it has
challenges exist with regards to making full-fledged e governance a reality due
to various reasons. Besides providing service to citizens, it’s important to
empower and motivate government employees to expect better service from them. There
is still considerable lack of awareness and knowledge on e-governance related
issues among policy and decision makers. In addition the success of
e-governance will depend on attitudes, knowledge and skills especially within
the public sector that are required to initiate, implement and sustain
e-governance initiatives.
