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Government Sector Reforms and E-Governance In Tamilnadu
This document clearly explains the Government sector reforms (Legislature,
Executive and Judiciary and Fourth Estate (Print Media)) and why Information and
Communication Technologies should be given Importance for e-governance andGovernment Sector Reforms.
The following link provides the information about the meaning for e-governance.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-Governance
Several dimension and related factors influence the definition of e-Governance.
The word electronic in the term e-Governance implies technology driven
governance. E-Governance is the application of Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) for delivering government services, exchange of information
communication transactions, integration various stand-one systems and services
between Government-to-Citizens (G2C),
Government-to-Business (G2B), Government-to-Government (G2G) as well as back
office processes and interactions within the entire government frame work.
Through the e-Governance, the government services will be made available to the
citizens in a convenient, efficient and transparent manner. The three main target
groups that can be distinguished in governance concepts are Government, citizensand businesses/interest groups. In E-Governance there are no distinct boundaries.
Generally four basic models are available-Government to Customer (Citizen),
Government to Employees, Government to Government and Government to Business.
Difference between e-governance and e-government both the terms are treated to
be the same, however, there is some difference between the two. "E-government"
is the use of the ICTs in public administrations- combined with organizational
change and new skills- to improve public services and democratic processes and to
strengthen support to public policies". The problem in this definition to be
congruent with the definition of e-governance is that there is no provision for
governance of ICTs. As a matter of fact, the governance of ICTs requires most
probably a substantial increase in regulation and policy- making capabilities, with all
the expertise and opinion-shaping processes among the various social stakeholders
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of these concerns. So, the perspective of the e-governance is "the use of the
technologies that both help governing and have to be governed".
Here is a sample e-governance solution which will modernize the government
functions and simplify the process.
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The above pictures shares the information about the use of Information and
Communication Technologies in Public Administration. E-Governance can be used
effectively in all the departments of Legislature, Executive and Judicaiary. Evenlocal government agencies like Village Panchayats, Municipal Corporation and City
Corporation offices can be modernized.
The following link shares the use of Information and Communication Technologies
and the Service Oriented Architecture in the modernizing the Government
Machinery (Legislature, Executive and Judiciary) especially Integrated Grievance
Redressal Mechanism.
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Information Kiosks will help the common citizen to get the information about their
application or other details from the Kiosks without the interference from the
human intervention or bribe. It can help to establish the RTI (Right to Information
Act) effectively. Common Citizen will be enabled to communicate to all the
Departments and Local Government Bodies to get the details like Birth Certificate,
Death Certificate, Property Tax, Water Tax, Road Tax, and License renewal etc.
These Kiosks will act as a single point of contact instead of the citizens visit to
the respective departments. This solve the red tape and the un necessary wait tothe people.
This will even help in sending the messages like Climate, Weather and warning
during the natural calamities like Cyclone, Flood and Disasters like Earthquake and
Tsunamis and the precious lives of people will be protected.
http://www.mindlogicx.com/egovernance.html
The Role of ICT in Judicial Reform- An Exploration
A seminar held earlier by the Communications and Manufacturing Association of
India (CMAI) explored the role that information and communication technology can
assume in the process of India's judicial reform efforts. The broad consensus
among panelists was that law is not keeping pace with technology. However,
whether technology will be harnessed to actually facilitate much needed
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transparency and access to the justice system, or be simply used to improve
efficiency within the judicial branch still remains unclear.
Justice Delayed is Justice Denied-Please think
The Indian judiciary is facing mounting pressures to reform its apparatus. Even the
judiciary itself has come to recognize, on the books, that change is long overdue.
Some estimates have it that it would require almost three years to clear the
current backlog of cases in High Courts. While technocrats herald that the
enormous backlog of cases may eventually be the death knell for India's judicial
branch, reform efforts must go beyond achieving the speedier delivery of justice
and work towards tackling other inadequacies of the system if access to justice
for all(1) is to become a reality.
The rural penetration of courts in India is extremely low, which significantly limits
access to justice for the many citizens living far beyond the district courts of city
centers. An extremely low judge to population ratio in India only contributes
further to the already high incidence of pending cases, making delays in justice a
regular occurrence. Mr. P.K. Malhotra from the Department of Legal Affairs has
noted that increased litigation within the government has also caused a stark
increase in the number of pending cases. While the need for reform can be
demonstrated quite clearly on a practical level, the right to information (RTI)movement has also provided further impetus for reform on a more fundamental
level. Well organized citizens are now demanding the right to a more transparent
and accountable judiciary.
As e-government initiatives continue to transform the nature of India's
bureaucracy and enhance the quality of government services, there is a mood of
great optimism that ICT will also come to play a central role in judicial reform
efforts. Speakers at the seminar enthusiastically cited innovative practices such
as Singapore's paperless court which makes a compelling case for automation.
Notable success in implementing ICT in the judiciary have also been achieved in
Canada, Australia, and in several countries across Latin America. This is not to say,
however, that the appropriation of ICT is uniform in every case. Variables such as
political will and context, institutional capacity and reform goals all play a role in
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shaping the outcome. Plans could, for example, take more of an operational
approach by prioritizing the improved efficiency and the rationalization of
resources by implementing electronic case management systems. Other strategies
may be designed and implemented from an access perspective, seeking to restore
faith in the justice system by increasing transparency and accountability. This
could be done, for example, by installing Video Conferencing technology in court
rooms, or publishing legal information online.
At the seminar, India's consortium of well-organized and highly ambitious
technocrats were not shy in suggesting the many ways ICT may be used to
transform the judicial system, and, additionally, the many ways such an endeavor
provides the IT sector with new opportunities. Dr M. Veerappa Moily, Union
Minister for Law and Justice, has proposed for India a centrally funded andadministered National Judicial Technology Program. Such a program aims to use
ICT in the courtrooms to free the legal system of historical inefficiencies". It is
of no doubt that ICT can reduce the duplicity of the paper world and make courts
greener through electronic case filing and video conferencing. Online case filing
systems can increase speed in which citizens can have their cases heard, and real
time access to online repositories of legal information drastically expedites the
case cycle.
Mr. C P Gurnani, CEO of Tech Mahindra made the bold assertion that with ICT,
India's 300 year case backlog can be reduced to three years, in a span of only
three years (2). Features of this newly envisioned e-justice system include the use
of video hearings to reduce transportation costs, case filing operation systems,
RFID based file tracking, and the creation of a publicly accessible and easily
searchable e-library. While others were much less optimistic than Mr. Gurani and
recognize that the use of ICT in the reform process is no instant coffee, the
question of whether or not ICT can be a strategically appropriated in the Indian
context still remains.
Optimistic accounts of how ICT will increase access to justice incorporate the
marginalized into the law-making process, and increase judicial transparency and
accountability all sounds uncomfortably techno-utopian. While ICT should facilitate
the reform process, past experiences have shown that the overzealous use of
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technology has too-often resulted in less than impressive results (3). To ensure
that the reform process in India is not driven mainly by the IT sector, it is
important that the use of technology remains complimentary to a sound national
judicial reform strategy. An abundant supply of technical support with little
demand for the reform process from within the judicial branch may spell
disappointing results for all stakeholders. Seeing that India's first seminar
discussing the role of IT in the judiciary has been organized by the IT industry, it
is safe to assume that reform strategies are being crystallized through the gaze
of technocrats rather than the judiciary itself. Technology has an important role
to play, but India's technocrats may be jumping the gun.
Many deep-seated challenges must be overcome before the use of ICT can be truly
transformative. Often cited is the level of resistance judicial cultures expresstowards externally imposed change. Quite logically, those required to make change
are also those who may have the most to lose in the short-term by doing so.
Similarly, it is also difficult garnering the levels of political support judicial
reforms require being effective. Because the judiciary is such a highly politicized
apparatus, efforts to fundamentally transform the system will require the support
of a vast number of stakeholders. The low level of technological literacy which
exists among India's judges is also problematic. Not only will members of the
judiciary be open to new ways of doing business, they will also have to be diligent inadopting a new skill-set in which they may be more than a decade behind in
acquiring.
Other deep-rooted limitations of India's judicial system are becoming increasingly
apparent today. Questions surrounding access to justice remain deeply embedded
in the asymmetries of class power, which are often reinforced by the political
nature of the judiciary. Constitutional law in India also remains unstable; as the
principles informing judicial action have become increasingly less clear (5).
Furthermore, the courts have come to maintain a disproportionate share of power
and influence in the Indian political sphere (6). It is questionable if ICT can work
to ameliorate some of these malignancies, or if its use will only come to reinforce
them. If technology is appropriated in a way which serves to make the judicial
process more transparent and accountable, protect the rights of citizens, and
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provide greater and more equitable access to justice, it may be safe to assume
that a more tech-savvy judiciary is a positive development for citizens. Publishing
legal information online, for example, currently allows for greater transparency in
the law making process and allows dialogue on important issues of governance and
citizenship.
However, it is almost unnecessary to reiterate that such outcomes are not
guaranteed. Technology is often seen as neutral the evaluative outcome of its
application remains dependent on numerous variable factors. Most important is
whether or not the government provides a legal framework conducive to the
appropriation of ICT in ways which are considered to further the public interest.
It may be useful to view the successful appropriation of ICT to judicial reform as
a cumulative process, each step being a precondition to the other. It is clear to seehow basic infrastructure such as civil courts in rural areas must be in place before
the use of ICT can facilitate access to justice for individuals who remain
peripheral to the legal system. Similarly, one would assume that laws would have to
first be to be nondiscriminatory to all members of society before it could it can be
widely accepted that more technology will better safeguard our rights and
freedoms.
Without a legal framework which is considered to be socially just, greater speed of
the judicial process, aided by technology, may become a tool which enables the
judiciary to act more arbitrarily, more efficiency. This could be troubling for
individuals who are already marginalized by certain policies or legal practices.
Technology can also make it possible for judges to insulate themselves from the
necessary checks and balances required in the law-making process. While Mr
Gurani stated that ICT can help preserve judicial independence, it is questionable
if the use of technology is an appropriate strategy to mitigate politicization of the
judicial branch. Any frivolous efforts to spearhead the reform process through
the introduction of ICT without the required commitment of judges and policy
makers may be nave at best. At worst, it could serve to reinforce what judicial
bodies believe they do well without critically re-examining the fundamental roles,
norms and principles of the Indian judicial system itself.
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Online case-filing services may unintentionally, due to cost or lack of awareness,
erect further barriers to justice for individuals who traditionally remained outside
of the sphere of access. In the same vein, if ICT is favored for use in criminal
rather than civil courts, technology may simply become a tool used to sentence
people, more quickly. This scenario sits quite polemic to visions of technology
serving as a tool to empower individuals to better assert their rights and seek
justice. Foreshadowing the role ICT may play in the future of India's judicial
reform process; SPANCO Technologies is currently piloting the use of video
technology in criminal courts. Furthermore, India's judiciary has made several
attempts to insulate itself from the provisions of the RTI act, indicating that new
laws, and even new technologies, may not be able to change practice. There are
also strong doubts looming that the Gramin Nyayalayas Act will be successful in
leveraging the required financial support needed to construct civil courts in rural
areas. Without the basic building blocks, it is difficult to envision how a National
Judicial Technology Program will be successful in bringing "justice" to all who are
awaiting it. Such instances serve as a light warning that technology, even within a
favorable legal framework, may not necessarily spell a more accessible, transparent
and accountable justice system.
A well-functioning judicial system is required to keep up with the demands of
modern democratic society. It is unquestionable that technology can play aninfluential role in ensuring that the relationship between citizens and the
government is strong and communicative. However, it is important to ask under
what conditions it may be beneficial to implement technologys use. Inferring from
last weeks seminar, proposals and rationale behind potential reforms were made
from an economic perspective; how ICT can be used to see that cases are filed and
judgments are delivered more quickly to improve efficiency and rationalize
resources. Whether technology will be appropriated to facilitate a more equitable
justice system is unknown, but it is certain that such will require a coherentnational reform strategy with long-term political backing. Short-shorted
technological fixes may improve India's judicial efficiency in the short term, but
may, however, overshadow opportunities to bring about a more transparent and
accountable system in the long-term.
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The following article shares some information about the importance of e-courts in
Indian Judiciary System.
http://legalenablementofictinindia.blogspot.com/2009/11/e-courts-in-india-essenti
al-judicial.html
The following link provides the information about Tamilandu Government.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_Tamil_Nadu
The following document shares the best practices of e-governance in India.
http://www.india.gov.in/govt/studies/annex/6.3.1.pdf
So the conclusion is the Reforms in the Government Machinery (Legislature,
Executive and Judiciary) are need of the hour. Our Jayalalitha Amma Should take
serious steps to make reforms like what she has done for the modernization of
MLAs work.
http://legalenablementofictinindia.blogspot.com/2009/11/e-courts-in-india-essential-judicial.htmlhttp://legalenablementofictinindia.blogspot.com/2009/11/e-courts-in-india-essential-judicial.htmlhttp://legalenablementofictinindia.blogspot.com/2009/11/e-courts-in-india-essential-judicial.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_Tamil_Naduhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_Tamil_Naduhttp://www.india.gov.in/govt/studies/annex/6.3.1.pdfhttp://www.india.gov.in/govt/studies/annex/6.3.1.pdfhttp://www.india.gov.in/govt/studies/annex/6.3.1.pdfhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_Tamil_Naduhttp://legalenablementofictinindia.blogspot.com/2009/11/e-courts-in-india-essential-judicial.htmlhttp://legalenablementofictinindia.blogspot.com/2009/11/e-courts-in-india-essential-judicial.html -
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http://www.tn.gov.in/pressrelease/archives/pr2003/pr200303/pr200303.htm
http://news59.tv/chief-minister-reopened-tamil-nadu-co-operative-textile-proces
sing-mills-video-conferencing/
http://www.thehindubusinessline.in/2002/08/16/stories/2002081600080700.htm
Rural Development with the help of ICT using Cloud Computing:
http://brajeshwar.com/2011/cloud-computing-will-develop-rural-anddeveloping-are
as/
http://www.informationweek.in/Cloud_Computing/11-09-09/Why_rural_India_nee
ds_a_national_cloud_computing_plan.aspx
http://www.tn.gov.in/pressrelease/archives/pr2003/pr200303/pr200303.htmhttp://www.tn.gov.in/pressrelease/archives/pr2003/pr200303/pr200303.htmhttp://news59.tv/chief-minister-reopened-tamil-nadu-co-operative-textile-processing-mills-video-conferencing/http://news59.tv/chief-minister-reopened-tamil-nadu-co-operative-textile-processing-mills-video-conferencing/http://news59.tv/chief-minister-reopened-tamil-nadu-co-operative-textile-processing-mills-video-conferencing/http://www.thehindubusinessline.in/2002/08/16/stories/2002081600080700.htmhttp://www.thehindubusinessline.in/2002/08/16/stories/2002081600080700.htmhttp://brajeshwar.com/2011/cloud-computing-will-develop-rural-anddeveloping-areas/http://brajeshwar.com/2011/cloud-computing-will-develop-rural-anddeveloping-areas/http://brajeshwar.com/2011/cloud-computing-will-develop-rural-anddeveloping-areas/http://www.informationweek.in/Cloud_Computing/11-09-09/Why_rural_India_needs_a_national_cloud_computing_plan.aspxhttp://www.informationweek.in/Cloud_Computing/11-09-09/Why_rural_India_needs_a_national_cloud_computing_plan.aspxhttp://www.informationweek.in/Cloud_Computing/11-09-09/Why_rural_India_needs_a_national_cloud_computing_plan.aspxhttp://www.informationweek.in/Cloud_Computing/11-09-09/Why_rural_India_needs_a_national_cloud_computing_plan.aspxhttp://www.informationweek.in/Cloud_Computing/11-09-09/Why_rural_India_needs_a_national_cloud_computing_plan.aspxhttp://brajeshwar.com/2011/cloud-computing-will-develop-rural-anddeveloping-areas/http://brajeshwar.com/2011/cloud-computing-will-develop-rural-anddeveloping-areas/http://www.thehindubusinessline.in/2002/08/16/stories/2002081600080700.htmhttp://news59.tv/chief-minister-reopened-tamil-nadu-co-operative-textile-processing-mills-video-conferencing/http://news59.tv/chief-minister-reopened-tamil-nadu-co-operative-textile-processing-mills-video-conferencing/http://www.tn.gov.in/pressrelease/archives/pr2003/pr200303/pr200303.htm -
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