Mobile Governance And E-Authentication In India

Recently World Bank granted a huge loan to India to ensure suitable policies for ensuring electronic delivery of services in India. The loan has been given under the title electronic delivery of public services development policy loan (DPL) project of India. Naturally, India has to start working in this direction to justify the loan.

For the time being we have no implementable electronic delivery of services policy of India though it may be in pipeline. Indian government is working in the direction of ensuring electronic delivery of services in India. In fact a legal framework titled electronic delivery of services bill 2011 (EDS Bill 2011) has also been proposed by Indian government.

While this is a good step taken by Indian government however the Bill has failed to achieve what was most importantly required from it. We have no legal framework for mandatory e-governance services in India and even the proposed EDS Bill 2011 failed to address this issue. As on date neither the information technology act 2000 (IT Act 2000) nor the EDS Bill 2011 provides a right in the hands of Indian citizens to claim e-governance as a matter of right. Thus, both IT Act 2000 and EDS Bill 2011 have little significance in the field of mandatory e-governance services in India.

As far as mobile governance policy in India the same is missing. We cannot rely much upon m-governance in India till we have a suitable m-governance policy of India. Further, authentication in an online environment plays a crucial role in fixing rights and liabilities through mobile transactions. There is no e-authentication policy of India that is operational at national level.

A good example of use of m-governance in India can be mobile banking. Recently Reserve Bank of India (RBI) removed the ceiling for mobile banking transactions in India. This is a good step but its efficacy is still debatable. When banks in India are not interested in maintaining mobile banking cyber security use of mobile banking may create many problems. Banks in India are not providing positive confirmations of NEFT transactions and expecting cyber security from them is unrealistic. Indian banks are also not following the guidelines of RBI prescribing mandatory cyber security requirements for banks of India.

Now the department of information technology (DIT) is formulating a policy that will enable citizens to authenticate their identities online to access various government services electronically, including through mobile phones. I hope DIT would keep all the abovementioned aspects in mind while formulating the proposed policy.

Indian Electronic Delivery of Services Bill (EDS) 2011

Electronic delivery of services is an efficient method of services delivery to public at large. Use of information and communication technology (ICT) eliminates many evils like lack of transparency, corruption, non accountability and brings order in public dealings.

Recently an agreement was signed between the World Bank and Indian government that granted a loan of $150 million to India for the e-delivery of public services in India. As a condition precedent to get the benefits of such loan, electronic services delivery in India has been proposed in the past. However, e-delivery of public services in India would still take few years as we have no legal framework for mandatory e-governance in India.

The proposed e-delivery of public services development policy loan of India has to be utilised through a policy and legislative framework that Indian government must establish very soon. The e-delivery of public services development policy loan (DPL) project of India would fail to take effect if either the electronic services delivery policy of India is not formulated or it is not implemented in a manner that confers mandatory e-governance services in India upon Indian citizens. In short, there should be a legal framework for e-governance in India that provides e-governance services to Indian citizens as a matter of right.

In fact, policy changes in this regard are already visible in India. For instance, the financial limits of mobile banking transactions in India have been removed to give better options of banking in India. Similarly, SEBI is contemplating electronic initial public offer (EIPO) in India. Even Indian judiciary is exploring the possibility of using an electronic bail communication system in India. Through the proposed Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Second Amendment Bill 2011 of India, digital television services would be offered to consumers at affordable prices and with superior quality.

To ensure e-delivery services in India, Indian government has proposed a draft electronic service delivery Bill, 2011 of India. This is a good step in the right direction. However, the proposed Draft Electronic Services Delivery Bill 2011 “failed” to provide mandatory e-governance services in India. The real problem with Indian e-governance initiatives in general and proposed ESD Bill 2011 in particular is that legal framework for mandatory electronic services delivery in India is still missing from it.

The parliament of India must amend the proposed ESD Bill 2011 so that better form of the same can be provided.

Is Electronic Service Delivery Bill Worth Considering?

The Electronic Service Delivery Bill 2011(ESDB 2011) started at a very positive note but just like other laws of India, it ended up miserably. Electronic services cannot be effective till it is claimed as a matter of right against the government and its departments. If citizens cannot have mandatory e-services delivery there is no sense in doing the entire exercise.

Take the example of the cyber law of India incorporated in the information technology act 2000. Even after more than 10 years of its enactment till now citizens do not have a mandatory right to e-governance in India.

This happened because of a disabling provisions incorporated as section 9 of the IT Act 2000 that make providing of e-governance services in India discretionary. This has failed the entire purpose of e-governance in India.

Now a similar approach has been adopted regarding the ESDB 2011. If States are not bound to provide “compulsory” e-services delivery, there is no sense in making it a law. Even if it is enacted as a law, not much purpose would be served. Instead, it is better if we streamline public services through administrative reforms in India.

Further, ESDB 2011 would also face problems on the fronts of data protection, data security, privacy rights, cyber security, etc. India has not done enough on any of these fronts and legal framework for all above mentioned areas is still a big problem.

Finally, on the front of digital preservation and pubic records management as well India has to cover a long gap. Let us hope that the proposed ESDB 2011 would cover all these aspects.

Legal Framework For E-Governance In India

Electronic governance in India (e-governance in India) is still at its infancy stage. Most of the e-governance projects of India under the national e-governance plan (NEGP) are still in the pipeline despite the deadline being passed long before. This is despite the fact that thousand of crores of public money has already been utilised for e-governance projects of India but without any constructive and practical results.

Meanwhile, the World Bank has once again issued $ 150 million loan to India. It has been issued under the category of e-delivery of public services development policy loan of India. The purpose of the loan is to ensure e-services delivery policy in India that is presently missing.

However, what is more alarming is the fact that in India we have no legal framework for e-governance that can ensure mandatory e-governance services in India. Although the information technology act 2000 carries provisions pertaining to e-governance services in India yet they are “non mandatory” in nature. This has resulted in a poor e-governance services delivery in India. Till now we have no legal framework that mandates that citizens and organisations can claim e-governance as a matter of right.

Further, the scope of NEGP is very wide covering almost all aspects of governance - right from delivery of services and provision of information to business process re-engineering within the different levels of government and its institutions. It is essential that NGP is implemented, monitored and regulated through a legal framework so that it is no more just a plan but reality.

In fact, while implementing the NEGP, various structural and institutional issues have already arisen which clearly call for a statutory mandate for their resolution. The purpose would be to give statutory mandate to the institutional entities, setting up of a separate fund, defining responsibilities and providing for time frames and oversight mechanisms. Thus, this legislation may, inter alia, contain provisions regarding the following:

(a) Definition of e-governance in the Indian context, its objectives and role,

(b) Coordination and oversight mechanisms, support structures at various levels, their functions and responsibilities,

(c) Role, functions and responsibilities of government organisations at various levels,

(d) Mechanism for financial arrangements including public-private partnership,

(e) Specifying the requirements of a strategic control framework for e-government projects dealing with statutory and sovereign functions of the government,

(f) Responsibility for selection and adoption of standards and inter-operability framework,

(g) Framework for cyber security, privacy protection, data security and data protection etc,

(h) Parliamentary oversight mechanism, and

(i) Mechanism for co-ordination between government organisations at Union and State levels.