MP Govt sets up School for Good Governance

It is good to see that the government of Madhya Pradesh has taken this initiative of setting up a School for Good Governance and Policy Analysis.* Some time back the government of Andhra Pradesh had also set up such a school which is functioning. This initiative by the government of Madhya Pradesh, however, raises three important issues.

First, where set up, what is the performance of such school in actual policy formulation and implementation (as distinct from publications, seminars, etc.)? Secondly, when practically every state has a state institute of public administration (SIPA) (by whatever name called), what is the need for setting up another institute with similar if not identical mandate? Will they not work at cross purposes or duplicate efforts? Would it not have been better to revamp SIPA instead rather than set up another institute?

Lastly, would it not have been much better, and still not late for it, if the state government had set up a school for e-governance, for which there is a crying need to-day in every state, indeed even in districts too, with a mandate for policy formulation (can you imagine any policy formulation in year 2007, in the first decade of 21st century, without the help of information and communication technology(ICT)?) and training legislators, civil servants and citizens in ICT?.

Dr D.C.Misra
September 21, 2007

*MP Govt sets up School for Good Governance

Bhopal, Sept. 20 (PTI): Madhya Pradesh government has set up a School for Good Governance and Policy Analysis here to review state policies and its effect on a target group.

"The school will function as an autonomous institution and will be run by the governing body headed by Chief Minister," an official release said on Wednesday.
An executive body will be formed for execution of routine works of the school.
The decision to establish the school was taken by the state Cabinet in June this year, which had fixed Rs five crore as the non-plan limit for 2007-08 for its establishment.

The state government has appointed H P Dixit as the Director General of the school, the release said.

The school will function as a `think tank' in the field of good governance in international and domestic context and will analyse problems regarding governance. It will also prepare an action plan and assist in implementation of the same.
Its works also include compilation and expansion of outstanding activities and skills and `e-governance' programmes, apart from suggestions on reforms in the existing administrative arrangements.

A high-power committee headed by the Chief Secretary will be constituted to finalise the outline and structure, besides sanction of necessary staff for the school. The committee shall be authorised to take final decision in this regard, the release added.

(Source: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/004200709200325.htm, accessed : September 21, 2007)

Misra,D.C.(2007): Can we standardise spelling of e-government terms?

There appears to be a free-for-all environment for spelling the frequently used terms in e-government according to one's fancy including spelling acronyms and abbreviations (eGov: Isn't it cute? Yes, it is. But what does it mean? E-governance or e-government or, much worse, both). This does not befit a fast developing practice and a discipline too. Moreover, a spelling may have profound meaning and a term spelt in two different ways may have two entirely different meanings as is the case, say, with "World Wide Web" and "WorldWideWeb" (one word) or may have governance implications as is the case with "Internet" and "internet."
Three rules could be proposed here: Rule 1. Spell these words the way you like and stick to them. (The down side of this rule is present confusion in spelling e-government terms. The up side is that it has preferred consistency in usage).Rule 2: Never, ever, spell a term differently in the same text or in the same organization, community of practice (COP), etc. (This requires issue of a note of practice, if not standardization of terminology). Rule 3: Develop a reason-based, unambiguous spelling of e-government terms and actively promote their usage.
Illustration to Rule 3: Electronic government are two words. If we wish to contract them, a hyphen is required to be placed between them making electronic-government one word. However, since this one word is also long, defeating the very purpose of the exercise, it requires further contraction. Since "e" as a substitute for "electronic" is widely understood, the word can be contracted to e-government. But this word cannot be further contracted satisfactorily. For example, if it is contracted to e-gov, it makes the meaning ambiguous- does it stand for e-governance, e-government, e-govern or indeed some thing else? As such the proposed spelling is e-government (or E-government at the beginning of a sentence), which requires to be consistently promoted.
"Internet" or "internet"?
"Internet" (with upper case "I") is a network of networks which hosts the World Wide Web which is surfed by us day in, day out. Internet is unique. While "internet" is non-existent entity so far except that some writers have started using the term "internet" for "Internet" (perhaps under the (mistaken) impression that it should be so spelt because it has become commonplace like telephony or electricity). There is however a deeper significance in the difference in spellings. Shannon in International Herald Tribune reports that with "internet" (with lower case "i") International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a United Nations agency, wants to lower-case the word Internet as a matter of official policy so that it could take over the governance of Internet (Shannon, Victoria (2006): What's in an 'i'? Internet governance: UN agency reconsiders its role as countries jockey for influence in industry, International Herald Tribune, December 3, http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/03/technology/btitu.php?page=1)].She reports that some of the 2,100 participants at the union's highest-level strategy meeting, which convened for three weeks in November 2006 in Antalya, Turkey, "saw the move as the latest in a long-running effort by the organization to control the Internet, this time through a subtle yet symbolic imprint on the most powerful communications and commercial tool of the 21st century." Yoshio Utsumi, who turns over his office as secretary general of the agency to Touré in January, had called the Internet a "utility" to be managed for the public good.
"World Wide Web," "world wide web" or "WorldWideWeb"?
Since the "World Wide Web," the universe of information over the Internet, like the Internet, is unique, it should be spelled as "World Wide Web" and not as "world wide web." More importantly, the three words "World Wide Web" should not be combined to make word "WorldWideWeb" as this (one word) was the first Web client, a browser-editor written in 1990 that ran on a Next machine. According to Tim-Berners Lee, the inventor of World Wide Web, "Much later it was renamed Nexus in order to save confusion between the program and the abstract information space (which is now spelled World Wide Web with spaces)." (The WorldWideWeb Browser, http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/WorldWideWeb.html)
Other E-words
Other e-words could be added. A beginning has to be made some where. Any view on the issue?

Dr D.C.Misra
May 21, 2007

Misra, D.C.(2007): Defining e-government: a citizen-centric criteria-based approach

This is a paper I contributed to E-governance Compendium 2007, brought out by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) on the occasion of 10th National Conference on e-Governance, February 2-3, 2007, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, under the theme: avant-garde issues in e-governance. I did not attend the conference. The paper can be downloaded from the Files section of the group: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cyber_quiz/.


The paper examines the concept of e-government, highlights a levels-of-perspective definition of e-government and advocates a citizen-centric criteria-based approach to e-government operationalised by a comprehensive e-business plan as distinct from current piecemeal approaches to e-government characterised by free-standing e-government projects.

Dr D.C.Misra
February 4, 2007

Varney Report on Service Transformation in United Kingdom

This is a report* by Sir David Varney, who has extensive experience in private sector, on service transformation in United Kingdom. Since 1997 the Government in United Kingdom has undertaken a comprehensive programme of public service reform. Compared to 1997, notes the report, “the government is now providing more services online or through comprehensive telephone contact centres—allowing citizens and businesses improved ways to access government. Access to NHS Direct Online has grown by 74 per cent comparing this year to the last. In transport, citizens can now apply via the Internet for provisional driving licences and vehicle registration at any time. By the end of September 2006, 3.7 million motorists had renewed their car tax online.” This report “focuses on the opportunities for change in the channels through which services are delivered to citizens and businesses. Over the next ten years, there is an opportunity to provide better public services for citizens and businesses and to do so at a lower cost to the taxpayer.”

Dr D.C.Misra
January 26, 2007
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*Varney, Sir David (2006): Service transformation: A better service for citizens and businesses ,a better deal for the taxpayer, London, The Stationery Office (TSO), December, available: http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/53D/F2/pbr06_varney_review.pdf

Misra, D.C. (2007): Ten Guiding Principles for Knowledge Management in E-government

This is a paper I presented on January 12, 2007 in First International Conference on Knowledge Management for Productivity and Competitiveness organised by National Productivity Council on January 11-12, 2007, New Delhi. It advocates preparation of a knowledge management (KM) sub-plan in e-government plan. It will be of interest to those who wish to introduce KnowledgeManagement (KM) in E-government. The paper is available at the link.

Dr D.C.Misra
January 15, 2007