On to e-governance
The most important challenge is to attract and retain talent to run the IT systems
The tremendous improvement that IT can bring about in governance is well known. The computerisation of the Railway reservation system in the last two decades has brought immense benefits to millions of the travelling public. Especially after the nineties, the government of India and many state governments are trying to increasingly use IT in different aspects of governance.
One outstanding problem is the scaling up and sustenance of successful application of IT, particularly in government functions which have direct interface with the public. Another problem is that of organisational culture. IT is designed for speed and transparency. Over the years, government departments have developed a culture of lack of transparency and slow funct i o n i n g . The next set of problems relate to actual operations. They cannot be brushed under the carpet. It is necessary to find pragmatic solutions if e-governance in this country has to become a reality.
The next critical demand is of proper technical professionals who can operate IT system. The IT industry itself is feeling the shortage of skilled manpower.
One positive benefit of the IT revolution has been the rediscovery of the importance of people. The supreme importance of people in operating IT is well recognised.
This shortage of talent and the high market price professionals in IT command pose a special problem to governments. Governments can never afford to pay at a level comparable to the private sector. Even in the United States, there are disparities between the remuneration in the private sector and in the government. The problem of attracting talent to government is overcome there by a highly flexible system. Cross fertilisation of talent takes place, thanks to the political system that has evolved in the United States. We in India face a real problem because of the vast disparities in the remuneration between the government and private sectors. The most important challenge is to attract and retain talent to run the IT systems. This is particularly challenging in sensitive and security-related departments like the police. There was a news item recently that with the information technology companies luring computer engineers by offering high pay packages, attrition rates in Tamil Nadus technical departments are also on the rise. For example, the Tamil Nadu police has a shortage of 300 IT personnel. What is the way out?
The best solution is to make a virtue out of necessity and use the crisis itself as an opportunity for innovation. The increasing penetration of IT and awareness among the citizens about rights has led to an increased demand for greater transparency in government. IT helps in greater access and transparency in governance. So it is necessary to rethink the functioning of every department including those connected with security to see to what extent many of the functions of governance can be outsourced.
This will also call for a change in the culture of secrecy represented by the Official Secrets Act. We will have to move towards the culture of the Right to Information Act. Once this is realised, it should be relatively easy for at least 80-90 per cent of the government functions to be redefined in such a way that a substantial part of the IT maintenance functions in governance can be contracted out to the private sector. The government will also not have the problem of disparities in wages among its employees. The pension problem when staff retire will also not arise.
Even when it comes to highly sensitive security-related functions like defence and internal security, there is a need for such thinking. Innovative approaches and HR practices will have to be introduced to tackle this issue. Unless this is done, the movement towards e-governance will remain perpetually crippled. We will never be able to make the transition from paper-based governance to egovernance. E-governance may ultimately become the unattainable holy grail of governance.
In the last decade, N Vittal, the former CVC, emerged as the voice of our collective conscience. This is his weekly take on public life in India
We need more professionals who can operate IT systems