Delhi, the capital of India, is a daunting city. With a population of more than 14 million, it spreads out uncontrollably over a vast tract of the Yamuna plain. Its strategic location at the heart of India has been an alluring destination for men of enterprises for centuries.

But, if India’s capital is its great hope, Delhi also embodies many of the nation’s problems, typical of a developing country. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) can play a crucial role for governments and public-sector organizations to face the modern challenges of development and contribute towards enhancing financial growth and improve quality of life. In order to realize this, it is essential to drive good governance through effective e-government initiatives with proper change management strategies, modern technology and sustainable public–private partnership models. In short, in the present globalized economy, one can ill-afford to ignore the information communication technologies.

The fast advancements in the fields of Information, Communication and Entertainment technologies and the resultant explosive growth of the information-intensive services sector have radically changed the world economic landscape. These changes have paved the way to a new society based on knowledge. This has further resulted in the new avenues of development, employment, productivity, efficiency, and enhanced factors of economic growth.

Governance and transparency in government policies and processes are the main objectives within the e-Delhi initiative. The e-governance initiative of the Government of Delhi aims at ensuring transparency at all levels of government.

The Government of Delhi has recognized the huge potential of the IT and has decided to embark upon an ambitious journey to herald the benefits of IT to the people of the state. Delhi has realized this huge potential and, as a result, is on its way to emerging as a premier cyber state in the country with its citizens qualifying to be e-citizens. In fact, Delhi is one of the best e-governed states in India.

The IT policy in the NCR of Delhi is characterized by Electronic Governance, Equality, Education, Employment, Entrepreneurship and Economy. The Government proposes to use e-governance as a tool and deliver a government that is more proactive and responsive to its citizens.

Recently, e-Governance Roadmap (EGRM) for Delhi was launched by the Chief Minister, Smt. Sheila Dikshit, Government of NCT of Delhi, who said, “The foundation of good governance was adopting tools and methods that bring transparency in the government’s functioning.”

The official web site of the Delhi Government provides a repository for all the citizen’s information needs and queries regarding various public services of the Delhi Government, ranging from obtaining a driving licence to getting a marriage registration certificate made. The site provides all the relevant application forms for downloading and printing.

The various e-Governance projects running in different departments of the Government of Delhi have made an impact on improving the service delivery system for the citizens as reflected in the recent Bhagidari workshops. These departments include transport, education, revenue, PWD, excise and MCD.

The e-Governance initiatives taken in Delhi Police include the Personnel Information System for all the Delhi Police employees, computerization of 128 police stations, computerized data with fingerprint, photographs, etc. Data on the stolen mobiles and cars are made available in the public domain, and are being implemented at the level of Police Stations for providing updated information to the citizens.

99 per cent of the data entry work has been completed with regard to the land records. The Department of Employment has already computerized the data of 4.9 lakh unemployed persons.

The state proposes to harness the power of the IT to achieve the objectives of eradicating poverty, improving healthcare, empowering women and economically weaker sections of the society. The Right to Information Act that the government of Delhi proposes to enact will empower the people and ultimately help to empower the people and ultimately help to bring about social and economic justice.

The use of IT in schools, colleges and educational institutions in the state of Delhi has been encouraged so as to enable the students to improve their skills, knowledge and job prospects and enable them to obtain employment in this sunrise industry.

IT has been recognized as a powerful tool for generating additional employment for the new digital economy. Taking a step in the direction, the Government of NCR has facilitated localization of software, so that benefits of IT could percolate not only in the English language, but also in Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi.

The Government of NCT of Delhi had taken various steps to bring transparency and openness in providing citizen-friendly services. As a part of this endeavour, the Government of NCT of Delhi has initiated the following actions with emphasis on “preventive vigilance”. It is expected that adoption of such measures would, in the long run, help Governments in curbing the menace of corruption and minimizing it to a large extent.

Governance for the Citizens of Delhi

To achieve the objective of providing good governance for the citizens of Delhi it was decided:

® To set up a dynamic web site leading to e-governance for departments/agencies
® To provide online services, including services on e-applications
® To reduce citizen’s visit to offices and provide information electronically rather than over the counter
® And, making Delhi a cyber city Action has already been initiated to achieve the above objectives by various departments/organisztions under the Government of NCTD.

B) “Bhagidari” –Citizen–Government partnership Bhagidari, the citizen’s partnership in governance – is a means for facilitating citywide changes in Delhi. Utilizes processes and principles of multi-stakeholders (citizen groups, NGOs, the Government…) collaboration. Applies the method of Large Group Interactive Events.

Aims to develop “joint ownership” by the citizens and government of the change process. Bhagidari facilitates people’s participation in governance.

The above initiatives which were launched in January 2000 have become a movement and more than 1,100 citizen groups have become Bhagidars after having participated in various Bhagidari workshops. It has not only been successful in solving day-to-day problems of citizens but have also been providing help to public utility departments in maintenance and updation of services.

Major initiatives taken under the Bhagidari Scheme during the year 2002 were –

® Water conservation and water harvesting by the Delhi Jal Board and Urban Development Department
® Anti-plastic and anti-littering campaign by the Department of Environment and Forests
® Preferential treatment to senior citizens
® Reforms in hospital management and quality control by Health and Family Welfare Department
® Student Welfare Committee for government schools
® Development of industries

“Bhagidari” as a good governance initiative has attracted the attention of the Government of India, which has been documenting the movement right from its inception. The programme has also been circulated to other states for replication by the Government of India. The programme finds mention in the Annual Confidential Reports of all officers.

“Bhagidari” has received the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management International Award, 2002 for “Innovations in Governance”. It was also selected for entry to URBIS 2003 International Congress of Cities, Brazil as entry for”“Innovative Public Policy”. It was short-listed among the top forty Best Practices for UN-HABITAT Dubai International Award for Best Practices”– 2004. “Bhagidari” has evolved as a platform available to the citizens to interact continuously with field-level officers and even with the Chief Minister directly. It has attempted to address issues arising from multiplicity of institutions and their overlapping functions. The programme has influenced decision-making process and increased the accountability of Government.

Transparency (Right to Information, Citizen’s Charters, Administrative Reforms) has been introduced. Direct interface with citizen groups has helped to reduce corruption. In short,’“Bhagidari” has redefined government functioning to make it more citizen-centric.

Right to Information

The Delhi Government has enacted the Delhi Right to Information Act, 2001. It makes a provision for securing information as a matter of right, barring some exemptions. The citizens can file an application with the competent authority of the concerned Department along with a fee and get information within 30 days. In case the information cannot be given, then a rejection letter with cogent reasons has to be issued.

Another citizen-centric initiative taken by the Government of Delhi has been an increase in the freedom of information. The Government of NCT of Delhi has a law in place, enabling people to seek information from government. Many people are using the provisions of the Delhi Right to Information Act for getting information from government agencies.

If Government officers do not provide correct information, they run the risk of being penalized.

Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has started e-tendering from April 2005 with a vendor where MCD pays for each tender processed.

In order to improve the standard of primary education in the MCD-run schools, MCD has started Sharda Project through which students are given Computer Aided Learning. The project has been established in 1,000 primary schools by January 2005. Under it, each school has been provided five computers and a faculty by MCD-selected vendors. Computer Aided Learning material for class 3 to 5 has been prepared on a set of 22 CDs.

Basic computer awareness training has been provided to 1,000 MCD employees. Training centres have been set up in 16 places, including in each of 6 hospitals. These centres are also providing application- specific trainings. MCD assets like roads, buildings, schools, hospitals, etc. are being digitised. Efforts are also on to give Delhi properties being given Unique property identification code. Arrangements are being made to provide a computer each to engineer and inspector. The Delhi Government has also computerized the collection of property taxes.

People can get birth and death certificates across the counter from any of the Citizen Service Centres run by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi as long as the birth or death occurred in hospital. These all bear testimony to the fact that the efforts of the Government of Delhi have borne fruit in terms of making the government more citizen-centric.

Collaborative efforts are must for quick and effective service delivery. Taking a step in the direction, the Government of NCT of Delhi is working to improve the level of coordination within the administration, and these few examples demonstrate that IT has brought fundamental change in the way information is kept and shared amongst departments, and in the way the public can interact with government.

The Government of National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi is making use of IT for two purposes. It seeks to improve the internal efficiency of the departments and agencies, and at the same time improves the Government-to-Citizen (G2C) interface. The endeavour of the Government of National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi is to have a system where the citizens can get most of their services without visiting government offices. The Government is striving towards this aim.