Book Review
Policies, Processes & Technologies
Authors:Bhattacharya, Jaijit
Publisher:Tata McGraw Hill Education Private Limited, New Delhi
THIS LATEST BOOK on e-Governance is written by an IT practitioner and academician Mr. Jaijit Bhattacharya currently an Adjunct Professor with lIT Delhi and Director, South Asia, Global Government Affairs with Hewlett Packard. There are several books available from different publishers but this publication makes this area enlightened on issues of policies, processes and technologies. The book discusses e- Governance architectural framework as well as people-related issues in detail and from an on-the-ground perspective.
E-Government or e-gov or digital government or online government or connected government describes the use of technologies to facilitate the operation of government and the disbursement of government information and services. It utilizes the principles and practices of several disciplines like computer science, organizational behaviour, political science, process re-engineering and law.
This book defines the unique requirements and specialized considerations of IT adoption in governance that leads to a nation-wide improvement in the efficiency and effectiveness of governance and increased security and improved quality of citizen’s lives.
Gartner defines e-Government 2.0 as “Term widely used today in government and the IT industry to describe the use of Web 2.0 technologies, both internally and externally, to increase collaboration and transparency and potentially transforms the way government agencies relate to citizens and operate. A synonym that is also gaining popularity is "open government," which stresses data openness and citizen engagement.” Several definitions associate Government 2.0 with the use of social media, both inside and outside government. This book defines e-Gov 2.0 as an evolutionary step towards a more efficient, inclusive and participative government through the adoption of a set of new trends in business, operational, financial and technological models. This means that use of latest tools and technologies in Government activities will usher in greater participation and will have tremendous impact on the economy, whereas e-Gov 1.0 was characterized by a very limited use of Internet technology.
This book comes with latest concepts in e-Government at right time as nations across the world are at a point of inflexion with respect to adoption of e-Governance. Governments across world are in pressure to deliver more with less funds, leading to greater adoption of IT. This book delves into not just how to change traditional governance but also to leverage the power of IT to come out with new governance solutions that would not have been possible.
Although it is very difficult to capture and confine the scope and extent of ICT development unlike other technologies, this book tries to cover in present context on processes of key departments and some of the common solutions that such Government departments can implement. It provides insights into the working of e- Government. For example, worldwide police departments have been switching to various computerized applications covering their functions, rural development of emerging economy, education, health, agriculture, town planning, woman and child development, so on so forth are the areas whose functioning has direct impact on the population of a country. These areas are being strengthened by Governments world over using Information and communication technologies. These issues are well laid in this book. There are sufficient references at end of each chapter for further reading including URLs. There are 26 chapters in total spread over 604 pages including chapters on Roadmap to e-Government, PPP for e-Government, Multiple Standards in ICTs, Government Data Centres, Utility Based Computing, Secured Government Information Systems Architecture, GIS, Land Records, e-Agriculture, e- Procurement, e-Police, etc.
P.K. UPADHYAY, Technical Director, NIC HQ
pku[at]nic[dot]in