Date:10/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/10/stories/2008121060240500.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

State the best in e-governance

Anand Parthasarathy

Citizen satisfaction at its highest, says survey

BANGALORE: Tamil Nadu is the best State in terms of e-governance practices and the satisfaction of its citizens, according to a survey conducted across India for the current year.

The report card, emerging from the study by IDC and Dataquest magazine, places Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh in the next four positions, taking into account each State’s e-governance vision, allocation and implementation and feedback from citizens as well as businesses. The full report will form part of the December 15 issue of Dataquest. Interestingly, the top five States are also the ones where citizen satisfaction is at its highest: lay Indians can appreciate the difference if they are e-governed well.

The highlight of the survey is that Karnataka, a leader in the information technology industry, is a laggard while passing on the benefits of such a high-tech environment to its citizens. It is ranked 15, down from 9 last year. The report suggests that changing political dynamics swiftly might have affected the performance of States such as Karnataka and Goa.

Kerala ranks low (18) in citizen satisfaction across multiple parameters this year, a sharp fall from last year. The bottom three States among the 21 rated are West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar.

“There is too much duplication of good work in government departments,” says Dataquest Chief Editor Prasanto K. Roy, “ Census, voter ID, PAN cards, ration cards — crores of rupees are spent on duplicating citizen databases... and the States guard their own turfs and are distrustful of sharing information with the centre. e-governance has a long way to go in India.”