Emphasis is on good governance. It is the essential pre-requisite of strong democracy. Is good governance possible in a country which has a democratic arrangement but is economically in a long process of development? This is the question before social scientists. The theme of good governance generally gets juxtaposed to corruption rampant in the administrative structure. Some observers believe that good governance means governance where there is no corruption. At the same time others believe that corruption should not be the unrelenting obstacle in the way to good governance. This debate is raging among social and political scientists of our country just because we are a developing country. Good governance, which sometimes in the past also used to be called welfare state, is a continuing process.
The new Government in our State is also talking about good governance. In fact every Government would like to talk about it because it gives legitimacy to the system. Nevertheless, the scope for improving good governance and finding new methods of supporting good governance do not elude us. The State Government will begin experimenting e-governance in the State with the purpose of making administration efficient and expeditious. The Chief Minister has strongly recommended that the Information Technology Department to become servicing agency for offering services to a number of departments, Housing, Power, Revenue, PHE and Transport. e-governance means on line service to reduce hassles and delay in disposing off applications and cases within shortest possible time. Obviously when the services are provided on line, these will be transparent and time bound.
We think that this is an innovative step and also a much needed one to pull the entire administration out of inertia and lethargy. In the changing times, administration has to take up with the speed and efficacy with which administration is run. J&K cannot escape the tide of the time which favours electronic governance. This means that entire secretarial staff will have to be educated and trained in handling e-governance that ensures quickest delivery. It appears that the Chief Minister has a clear vision of the role and importance of e-Governance and is trying to pursue the same. The Khidmat Centers, meaning the centers that are in a position to offer IT services will be deployed for the purpose and departments will be able to benefit from it.
The Government envisions training its staff in different departments of handling e-governance or feeding relevant material to the net for the use of people interested in getting their cases decided. Perhaps the Government means to give technical training to the functionaries of handling IT. That is all right and there are no two opinions on this subject. But the crux of the matter is the efficiency, sense of duty and aptitude of the functionaries in responding to the e-governance demands. Had the functionaries at all level demonstrated their efficiency, dedication and aptitude for rendering service for which they are paid, we would not need to go for IT intervention. What has the administration thought about improving delivery system as far as the attitude of the functionaries is concerned? Entire matter rotates round the sense of duty among the state functionaries. If it is lacking, no e-Governance can become a substitute. To hold a sharp weapon one should have a strong arm.
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