E-Govt News - India Together

SAANSAD ADARSH GRAM YOJANA
Why good governance may need more than adoption of villages

A new scheme launched by PM Narendra Modi envisages development through a model in which every MP chooses a village to develop, with people’s participation. Vikas Jha looks at the numbers and realities to explore the real needs of rural development at the panchayat level.

Panchayats Government

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SMART PDS

Chhattisgarh’s food ATMs: Portable benefits minus biometrics

The functioning of the smart-card driven CORE-PDS system demonstrates the feasibility of introducing portability in social security systems without the use of biometrics. A student team from IIT Delhi surveys Fair Price Shops in Raipur district following the new system to assess how it has been faring.

Food Security Public Funds Government

LPG SUBSIDY AND AADHAAR

A 'pilot' that lost direction

While the government claims that an Aadhaar-linked system for direct transfer of social security benefits and receivables will soon be a reality across India, a local experiment devised around reimbursement of LPG subsidy in Mysore fails to raise hope. Bharat Bhatti reports.

Public Funds Economy KARNATAKA

EDS BILL, 2011

At your service, electronically

A legislative brief from PRS Legislative Research about the Electronic Delivery of Services Bill, which proposes to introduce a new regime for public service delivery.

Laws

AADHAAR

UID and the not-so-civil society

The UIDAI has repeatedly emphasized its pro-poor mission, but it is unlikely to succeed without help from NGOs who work with the poor. For this, senior civil society leaders must endorse the project, writes Raju Rajagopal.

Government Poverty

CHANGE AND GOVERNMENT

e-Governance impact beginning to show

e-Governance initiatives are paying off in states considered as difficult as Bihar, bringing to commoners easier access to public services. Some have been empowered by it to stop their exploitation. Ramesh Menon reports.

Government BIHAR

NATIONAL ID SCHEME

Your identification, please

The proposed National ID should be a backbone upon which governance and economic development rest comfortably, rather than merely a tool for auditing schemes, writes Ashwin Mahesh.

OP-ED Ashwin Mahesh India Central

ICTs

Lessons from good telecentres

While successful efforts are sadly rare, a few telecentre initiatives have done good work in bridging the digital divide and have positively impacted disadvantaged communities, writes Vivek Vaidyanathan.

Government

GOVERNMENT

Assam's poorest district moves forward

Conflict-ridden and marked as 'backward', Karbi Anglong is the first district in the North-East and the fourth in the country to have implemented a quality management system in compliance with the ISO 9001:2000 standard. Ratna Bharali Talukdar has more.

Government ASSAM

ICTs

Telecentre musings

Although telecentres have caught the imagination of government, their adoption is caught in a false pedagogy that treats entitlements as services and citizens as customers who pay service charges. The focus on putting a price on governance must be stemmed, writes Vivek Vaidyanathan.

Government

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Traditional knowledge receives a boost

The government's recent traditional knowledge digital library will send data to patent offices abroad, so that indigenous knowledge that India abundantly has is not patented overseas. Following India's example, other nations too are showing interest in similarly protecting their interests. Ramesh Menon reports.

Trade Economy Biodiversity

E isn't everything

E-governance is governance first and electronics next. Though administrative improvements brought about through the use of technology are welcome, the real goal should be enhanced governance. We cannot also ignore the great risk that mere technocratic e-government may sharpen the stark inequalities of our society. The India Together editorial.

Editorials

TN's e-Gov experiences spotty, but ongoing

Tamilnadu's foray into e-governance has not yet lived upto potential because policy makers may be implementing top-driven projects with little public participation. Still, the state does have its own examples of how things could work. Krithika Ramalingam reports.

Government Tamil Nadu