Delhi, Kerala, Goa, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh top rankings in the ‘Dataquest-CMR e-Readiness Assessment of Indian States 2013’

‘Leader’ states show consistency in policy formulation, administrative reforms, project implementation, capacity building and popularisation of e-Gov programmes

Increased all-round focus on building e-Gov and m-Gov platforms and apps to improve end-user experience, impart user education and strengthen project monitoring & control; Goa and Chhattisgarh emerge highest per capita public IT spenders in ‘small’ and ‘large’ state categories

Top ranking states presented ‘Good Governance Awards’ at the Dataquest-CMR e-Gov Summit

The Dataquest-CyberMedia Research e-Readiness Assessment of Indian States 2013 revealed that Delhi, Kerala, Goa, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh had topped the rankings in the overall planning, implementation and outcomes generated from their IT policy initiatives, administrative reforms and roll-out of e-Governance programmes.

Key Lessons

“Close to 66% of India’s population is currently under the age of 35 years. This means that the aspirations and wants of the current generation of Indians are very different from those of their parents’ or grand parents’ generations. The advent and widespread adoption of Information Technology, particularly the Internet and mobile telephony have added a completely new dimension to the awareness and expectation levels of Indians from all walks of life”, stated Ibrahim Ahmad, Group Editor, Dataquest.

“Rising expectations and wants of citizens are forcing Central and state governments to devise schemes and programmes that can speedily and efficiently deliver the benefits of good governance to a large proportion of the population in a transparent manner. In this scenario, ICT comes as a ‘boon’ by enabling reliable, secure and affordable access to welfare projects for citizens living in remote corners of the country”, opined Thomas George, Senior Vice President and SBU Head, CyberMedia Research.

“Good Governance is measured in terms of access to quality education, affordable housing, modern healthcare services, employment opportunities, robust public infrastructure, ‘on-screen’ delivery of government services and timely updates about welfare and financial inclusion schemes”, said Vishaal Bhatnagar, Lead Analyst, CMR Public Sector Practice.

“Starting with the National e-Governance Plan, the Central and state governments have rapidly put in place core IT infrastructure such as SWANs, SDCs and CSCs. The focus has now shifted to providing easy, safe and affordable access to public welfare programmes through the deployment of robust ‘middleware’ gateways such as NSDG, SSDG, MSDG and ‘front-end’ delivery channels like Mee-Seva, e-Suvidha or Lok Mitra Kendras, state and national portals, and software tools to monitor the performance of CSCs and other service delivery channels”, Vishaal concluded.

Dataquest-CMR e-Governance Summit-cum-Awards

As per government estimates, the total budget for National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) is estimated to be of the order of US$ 9.7 billion. As per the Dataquest-CMR study, Goa (INR 644 per person) and Chhattisgarh (INR 367 per person) emerged as the highest per capita spenders on public IT infrastructure among small and large states, respectively for the 24-month period ended 31^st March 2013.

To recognise significant achievements in e-Governance policy formulation, project implementation and programme governance, Dataquest and CMR decided to award the leading states with ‘Good Governance’ awards. Towards this end, the Dataquest-CyberMedia Research e-Governance Summit-cum-Awards 2013 was held at the Shangri La, New Delhi today. The Summit was inaugurated by Mr. Wajahat Habibullah, former Chief Information Commissioner of  India and currently Chairperson, National Commission on Minorities.

The event witnessed attendance by senior bureaucrats and policy-makers from the Centre and states.

The winners received their awards from the country’s e-Gov pioneer, Mr. R. Chandrasekhar, former Secretary, Department of IT and Department of Telecommunications, Govt. of India and President designate, NASSCOM.
A CMR analyst delivered a brief overview of the survey findings at the Summit. Copies of the Executive Summary of the Dataquest-CMR e-Governance Assessment of Indian States 2013 Status Report were shared with attendees.