Goa tops e-government state listing

This year, the Dataquest-IDC e-governance Satisfaction Study focuses on the
respondent's satisfaction with e-governance, further measured by satisfaction
with the ease of use, availability and quality of e-governance services meted
out by the state governments.

Among the 20 states that this study covers, as already mentioned Goa,
Karnataka, Delhi, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh ranked as the top 5.

Known more as a popular holiday destination and often chided for its easy
laidback lifestyle, not many would associate Goa with being a strong votary of
e-gov. However, the fact is Goa has several e-governance initiatives both in the
implementation and planning phase covering a wide range of services and in the
overall rankings, it has even surprisingly topped the study amongst 20 states.

Goa, in fact, has a clear and comprehensive IT vision in place. The strategy
is based in using IT to improve productivity in the government and to provide
efficient services to the citizens of Goa, while making the state a leading
exporter of IT software in the country. Specifically, the state's IT
initiatives are designed at improving tax collections, speeding tax assessment,
increasing employment opportunities in IT, increasing export earnings from IT
and related products and services, and reduce the cost of IT and consequently
the cost of doing business in Goa and reduce the cost of governance by better
utilization of assets.

To achieve these, the state is also encouraging IT in schools, colleges and
educational institutions, creating state-of-the-art infrastructure for IT
generation, encouraging industries to expand business in Goa, developing the
capabilities of the government as a catalyst and strategic manager.

The results have also started coming in. Business organizations are more
satisfied than citizens by the e-initiatives in the delivery of government
services. Overall, the state fares exceptionally well in terms of user
satisfaction. The state also tops the list in terms of the government's
e-readiness.

The states were measured for satisfaction of the beneficiaries as well as
e-readiness of the governments, and quite often, the results were disparate. Goa,
which topped the study, has high scores in both (highest score in e-readiness
and second highest in satisfaction).

The top 5 states in overall satisfaction levels for e-Governance services for
citizens are Karnataka, Goa, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Assam.

In terms of overall satisfaction levels for e-governance services for
businesses, the top five states are Karnataka, Goa, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, and
Assam

In the citizen services, the maximum score that any state achieved in any
parameter for overall satisfaction is for income tax department, and the state
is Gujarat. The second highest score has been bagged by Gujarat for power
utility.

However, in terms of overall secondary scores, which include the above
qualitative factors as well as a number of factors that evaluated the
availability and usage of ICT and social/educational infrastructure, the state
that scored the most is Goa.

The IT spends of the state governments are going up, as is their plan for per
capita spend. There are several e-governance projects under way or in service.
But the disparities between the states are immense, whether it is in the
intentions or in the actions.

RAJNEESH DE

rajneeshd@cybermedia.co.in