Abstract
While Information Technology (IT) is being embraced by various wings of the government, the police in India have however, been slow to adopt IT. The age-old colonial image of police, lack of transparency in its operations, a general sense of ‘awe’ surrounding police, and so forth, all contributed to its remaining ‘distant’ from the main civil administration. The broad objective of this chapter is to discuss about E-Governance initiative in a Provincial Police administration in India with particular reference to local police in order to gain an insight into what it takes to deal with the most complex, socially sensitive and demanding administrative work at local level.
TopIntroduction
E-government in India is not new but it has been evolving in different forms. Way back in 1975, National Informatics Centre (NIC) was set up by the Government of India with an avowed objective to promote Information Technology (IT) in managing the internal processes of government department. Government has since created a separate ministry of IT and approved the IT Bill in the year 2000, which has given legal recognition to electronic documents. The Government has also approved the policy of allocation of 2 to 3 percent of budget for IT. Adoption of a 13 point agenda on e-governance for government departments, conception of India Portal (a portal of all government websites to provide information and delivery of services) etc. are other hallmark steps of the Government of India towards e-governance as stipulated in the India’s Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-2007) (Gupta et al. 2004). It culminated into the announcement of a National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) was announced in May 2006 by the Minister with an outlay INR 33000 crores with aim to create the right governance and institutional mechanisms, set up the core infrastructure and policies and implement a number of Mission Mode Projects (Table 1) at the center, state and integrated service levels to create a citizen-centric and business-centric environment for governance. Apart from mission mode projects, other three major components of NeGP include creation of State Wide Area Network; State Data Centre (SDC) and 100000 Community Service Centers (CSC) to serve among a cluster of 6 villages in the country and provide a range (more than eighty) of services. Now every state (province) of India has an IT Policy in place and involved into the development and implementation of new projects across the various departments of the government viz. land record, agriculture, finance, insurance, banking, education etc. Recently in September 2007, the Indian Government has approved city specific an ambitious programme covering 323 cities in the country to provide e-Governance services. These e-Governance service will enable citizens to get birth and death certificates, pay property tax, water and power-bills and submit building plans online, anywhere anytime. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the programme for INR 787 crores project in the 11th five-year plan (2007-2012).
Table 1. E-government mission mode projects of India (Source: mit.gov.in)
| SN | MISSION MODE PROJECTS | LINE MINISTRIES/ DEPARTMENTS RESPONSIBLE |
| CENTRAL GOVERNMENT |
| 01 | Income Tax | Ministry of Finance/Central Board of Direct Tax |
| 02 | Passport Visa & Immigration Project | Ministry of External Affairs/Ministry of Home Affairs |
| 03 | DCA21 | Department of Company Affairs |
| 04 | Insurance | Deptt. Of Banking |
| 05 | National Citizen Database | Ministry of Home Affairs/Registrar General of India (RGI) |
| 06 | Central Excise | Department of Revenue/Central Board of Excise & Custom |
| 07 | Pensions | Deptt. Of Pensions & Pensioners welfare & Deptt. Of Expenditure |
| 08 | Banking | Deptt. of Banking |
| State Government (tentative, to be finalized in consultation with the States) |
| 01 | Land Records | Ministry of Rural Development |
| 02 | Road Transport | Ministry of Road Transport & Highway |
| 03 | Property Registration | Department of Land Resources |
| 04 | Agriculture | Department of Agriculture & Cooperation |
| 05 | Treasuries | Ministry of Finance |
| 06 | Municipalities | Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation |
| 07 | Gram Panchayats | Ministry of Rural Development |
| 08 | Commercial Taxes | Ministry of Finance |
| 09 | Police (UTs initially) | Ministry of Home affairs |
| Integrated Services |
| 01 | EDI (E-Commerce) | Ministry of Commerce and Industry |
| 02 | E-Biz | Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion / Department of Information Technology |
| 03 | Common Service Centres | Department of Information Technology |
| 04 | India Portal | Department of Information Technology and Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances |
| 05 | EG Gateway | Department of Information Technology |
Key Terms in this Chapter
Police Reform: Police Reform is an important component of Indian Government’s agenda on administrative reforms. After making a comprehensive review of police system at the national level change and revision is being made to modernize the Police Administration.
Directorate of Coordination Police Wireless: Directorate of Coordination Police Wireless (DCPW) is an agency connected with e-government in police. It is the nodal coordinating agency for Police communication both at State and National level in India. It has the responsibilities to provide inter-State communication, training of police radio personnel, providing cryptography cover in police communication networks, coordinating radio frequency and modernization of police communication and acting as a nodal agency to design and implement the National Police Communication Network.
National E-Governance Plan: National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) was announced in May 2006 by the Government of India with aim to create the right governance and institutional mechanisms, set up the core infrastructure and policies and implement a number of Mission Mode Projects in the country to create a citizen-centric and business-centric environment for governance.
E-Government: E-government refers to the use of internet technology as a platform for exchanging information, providing services and transacting with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government.
Motor Vehicle Information Counters: A system primarily for the recovery of stolen vehicles through extensive use of information technology. This is an initiative taken by the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) in various cities of India.
Crime Criminal Information System: Crime Criminal Information System (CCIS) is a computerized system for storage, analysis and retrieval of crime criminal records. The CCIS today is in operation in all the Provinces of India.
National Informatics Centre: National Informatics Centre (NIC) is a premier Science and Technology Organisation under the Government of India actively working in the area of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Applications in the Government Sector.