E-Governance refers to the use of information technology and communication for governance. It ensures transparency in the information flow, helping in enhancing and redefining the social, environmental, and economic values.
In the latest Union Budget, tabled on February 1, the government has given a massive push to the infrastructure sector and proposed an expenditure of more than Rs 10 lakh crore for the year 2022-23.
Sound infrastructure is not only paramount for economic growth but is also essential to uplift the quality of life in the country and boost the opportunities for both enterprises and individuals.
The Union Government has reinforced its commitment to using infrastructure as a force multiplier for sustained growth and focus on e-Governance to boost the 'ease of doing business' in the country for the development of the nation.
Being in the vision for a long term, infrastructure is a key factor for faster economic growth and alleviation of poverty in any country but India it is more important as the demand is high due to large population and the resources are scarce.
Infrastructure will improve the quality of life of the citizens by providing them better basic necessities including roads, water, drainage, electricity and transport.
And why only to settle as basics, the adequate infrastructure in the form of road and railway transport system, ports, power, airports and their efficient working is also needed for integration of the Indian economy with other economies of the world."
The government should focus on the pillars of quality, cost and time for the success of infrastructure projects and e-Governance is the prime tool to raise the bar on these parameters. Infrastructure takes a lot of time to be developed over a period and delayed approvals restrict the timely growth.
All the major and minor infrastructure projects are executed by contractor and sub-contractor companies who work for various government institutions.
The onus is on Government organizations to ensure the projects meet the quality expectations, and are completed within the estimated cost and time. e-Auction is a major upgrade in India's digital governance ecosystem.
e-Governance softwares not only allows the stake-holders to monitor the quality, cost and schedule but also control the deviations through continuous automated supervision, escalations and transparency.
Thus, it can save hard earned tax payer's money and reduce the deficit of the government. The saved money can be used for other welfare schemes, to eradicate poverty and further upscale the quality of life. It is a win-win situation and India can fetch best of both the worlds.
There is a wide range of IT software products, including Works Management and Project Management systems, which provide in-depth visibility of cost and time performance on a continuous basis.
Such instruments can improve the micro and macro management at various levels, with detailed insights to all stakeholders for corrective course of actions throughout the project, if needed.
Internet of things (IoT) and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) technologies provide accurate and continuous monitoring of real time quality and quantity parameters without any manual interventions.
They provide the stakeholders like highway authorities, development corporations, smart cities a management information system of the quality delivered by the project work on a real time basis.
Various SCADA technologies provide accurate, continuous information and insights of the quality and quantity vitals to the authorities, contractors and citizens giving real time monitoring and control.
This includes automated batch mixing, vehicle tracking system, visual analytics, intelligent compaction systems, ground penetrating radars, bridge monitoring systems, building information management, excavation, earth moving and more.
One thing is clear that technology based e-Governance solutions will drive the growth of the Indian Economy to achieve its goal of becoming a Rs 5 trillion economy and an emerging superpower of the world.
(Jitendr Joshi is Director, Probity Soft-eGovernance Solutions Provider. Views are personal.)
