E-GOVERNANCE
Tool
For
Transformation
With the introduction of e-Governance, the efficiency, transparency and timeliness have improved tremendously in many areas of government delivery system showing that the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have the potential to transform subsistence-based rural society and traditional working pattern of civil service of Nepal into effective and efficient system of modernity. From rural farmers living in remote parts of Nepal to traditional government institutions like postal office, land revenue office, general administration, district administrative offices, there are waves of changes to see. What is now required are programs to replicate these models in various institutions turning Nepal into a complete model of e-Government
By KESHAB POUDEL
Kabir Shrestha, 40, had hardly imagined that he can check the letters and other mails in his post box from his home through the General Post Office Online service. Persons like Kabir had to go to general post office to check his or her post box till a few years ago but now one can do so through the clicking of some keys.
With the infrastructures built centuries ago and persons working in traditional pattern, the service of postal office used to be very cumbersome and time consuming. Even one had to spend at least an hour to post the letter to foreign countries by visiting a couple of counters. However, one can now see drastic changes in this traditional-based organization, which handles more than 6.9 million letters and parcels every year.
Gone are the days when everything was done in paper - every action from entry of letters to their exit. The letter posting and registering was done on the basis of human memory. This often resulted in the misplacing of letters and mails.
Following the introduction of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), old system has been computerized integrating the whole thing. One can track down the status of letter and its destination now.
e-Government
The term e-Government is very new to Nepalese people as overwhelming number of them have no knowledge about it. Experts define Electronic Government or e-Government refers to a situation which can improve productivity in administrative services, realize a networked government, satisfy its people's demand in administrative services, and enhance the national competitiveness through proactive services.
According to Rajesh Shakya and Dr. Shailendra Sigdel, e-government is "the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to transform the traditional government by making it accessible, transparent, effective and accountable. E-government does not mean putting more computers on the desks of government officials. And e-government is more than just a government website on the Internet. Political, social, economic and technological aspects determine e-Governance."
Although country's almost all government ministries and departments are equipped with computers and have their own websites on the internet, they are yet to fill them with updated information usable to all. As yet, they serve no other purpose than displaying the achievements of those ministries.
Drastic Change
With the introduction of communication technologies, there is a drastic change in the General Post Office. "This is a miracle for us as our whole system is now so efficient and transparent," said Chiranjibi Timilsina, section officer and coordinator of Information and Communication Technology Section. "We are planning to expand our system. From next week, there will be cyber center in the GPO and we are also making efforts to develop e-mail delivery system in rural parts of the country. "For instance, if some one wants to write letter from Ilam to his relatives in nearby villages of Dadeldhura, e-mail letter will be faster than the traditional letter."
With more than 4000 postal service centers around the country, the Postal Department has nation wide network. Following successful results in enhancing efficiency, the Postal Department is now planning to expand the e-Governance service in its Postal Deposit scheme.
"After the beginning of this system, a rural relative of Nepalese working in foreign lands can draw the money few minutes after he/she deposits the money in any post office," said Timilsina.
Like in other parts of the world, Nepalese government is also trying to establish e-Government to change their national administrative system for greater work efficiency. "To keep pace with this global trend, Nepal a developing country, would broadly utilize the ICT to solidify economic development, strengthen democratic norms and values, improve the quality of life and thus reduce poverty," writes e-Government Master Plan Consulting Report.
From delivery of letters to other postal management, the work efficiency of General Post Office has drastically increased. "Our staffs feel relaxed and customers also have similar experiences. Our system in the mailing counter is so prompt that it will take hardly five minutes to register a letter now," said Achyut Prasad Poudel, under secretary and chief of the division at General Post Office.
Every one can see this transformation at GPO, Nepal 's oldest institution, with centuries old system of letter delivery and posting following introduction of e-governance. GPO, which remained as an institution supported by human labor - has transformed as an efficient and capable institution.
Cases of Success
GPO is not the only successful case in Nepal . After the introduction of e-governance, Supreme Court, another oldest institution related with common people, also has taken big strides in this direction. The apex court has its own online system under which one can see the cause list and written decisions of the court. A petitioner does not need to go to Supreme Court to see the cause list and decisions. Every day Supreme Court's decision is put in its web site allowing people to read it. This paves the way for greater transparency in the court system.
Ministry of General Administration is now preparing to work under complete communication technologies. It has already introduced e-governance in
certain areas like in promotion, appointment and maintaining the record of more than 100,000 civil servants. Under the support from Asian Development Bank, the office of Civil Servants Record has already placed all the details from appointment to promotion and transfers in computer.
"E-governance has already transformed traditional system of keeping written papers. Every civil servant now gets his/her information within a matter of minutes," said spokesman of Ministry of General Administration. "As it is computer based, e-governance is most efficient, effective and transparent system. We are planning to issue the transfer letter and other such services through online."
Under the Ministry of Finance, Financial Control General Office also has developed its own system to access the budgets of all 75 districts. It can also monitor the status of annual expenditures of various district based organizations.
At a time when Nepal Telecommunication is planning to issue more than 3 million mobile phones and large number of CDMA lines, the country's infrastructures will improve drastically for e-governance. The increased use of solar power and access to electricity in the urban areas has added facility.
As Nepal 's half a dozen of district headquarters are yet to be linked by road, the communication network has already united Nepal . This has increased the possibility for e-governance. As e-governance increases so does the knowledge.
Although private sector has been using electronic and communication technologies to make their service efficient and effective, the government sector has been slow to adopt. Some government officials argue that the e-government will make more employees redundant and destroy the secrecy of civil service.
In a conflicting scenario about the utility of e-government, some of the government offices have already shown that this is an effective and transparent system to integrate information from one office with another.
ICT In Public Offices
Despite widespread use of Information and Communication and Technology (ICT) in private sector, the government has shown interest in it since only a decade ago. With the introduction of computers in government offices, the e-governance concept also entered.
At a time when people often complain about time consuming and inefficient system in district based land reforms office, department of transports, district administration, tax and health institutions, the use of ICT can bring relief to the people.
People have to spend a lot of time to get citizenship, passport, real estate documents, vehicle registration, tax, health, immigration as they still use traditional based system. In the process of paper writing, people have to rely on brokers to get things done. Similarly, in big public utilities like, electricity and drinking water, the process of introducing e-government is still in preliminary stage.
Prepared by Korea IT Industry Promotion Agency (KIPA) under the support of (KOICA), e-Government Master Plan Consulting Report reveals that 89 percent of Nepali people visit the government office in person to get administrative services while only 6 percent use the phone and 4 percent use the internet. From birth certificate to death certificate and citizenship certificate to land owner certificate, people have to visit by person in the government offices.
As most of the work is paper based, one has to spend a lot of time as well as energy. In many cases, it is alleged that the common people have to bribe the officials to get things done quickly.
Geography No Handicap
As Nepal's geography is said to be difficult with hilly and mountainous terrain, it was not easy to establish Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) in all 4000 villages of the country. But, in recent times some noticeable changes have occurred in urban centers or district headquarters. With the supply of electricity through various modes and introduction of satellite telephone and CDMA, the access of people to internet has drastically increased.
As Nepal Telecom has announced an ambitious plan to expand CDMA as well as mobile phone throughout the country, the e-Governance is gradually coming up as feasible alternative to change the traditional pattern of governance by making the service more effective, transparent and timely.
"e-Government is the priority sector of the government," said Purushotam Ghimire, spokesman of Ministry of Science and Technology. "It is now reality in almost all district headquarters." At the central level, many ministries have their own system of information and communication technology. "For instance, Ministry of General Administration is developing a system on which all the civil servants working in various parts of Nepal will have direct access to their own record."
Transforming Rural Life
Supreme Court, Ministries and government Departments are not alone benefiting from the use of Information Communication Technology to make their work efficient, transparent and effective. The technology is also bringing the change in the life of rural population.
In the district headquarters with access to telephone and electricity, every one is benefiting from the new technology. The more the access is given to the people, better results they generate.
"Virtually in all the countries around the world, there are increasing community expectations for improved services and for greater participation in government affairs. These transformations cannot be delivered through traditional means of service delivery. This is the case for poor country like Nepal or even for well developed western countries. You cannot deliver improved services to remote communities, to village communities by using traditional service delivery methods. Technology must be incorporated in service delivery if people, particularly in remote areas, are to truly benefit from public administration," said Dr. Paul R. Schapper, team leader Asian Development Bank Technical Team working in High Level Commission for Information Technology.
Nepal 's past experiences have shown that only efficient, capable and transparent administration can bring about tangible change in the overall living conditions of people. As Nepal is struggling to fight against poverty, the recent experiences of GPO and other offices show that ICT can be boon for the country.
