E- government, also known as Electronic Government or Digital Government, is a process of providing services to government customers, employees and other governmental agencies electronically. E-government uses a wide range of networks and mobile computing to transform the government’s operations for better efficiency, in order to better facilitate its customers. Word “E-Government” was first introduced when the use of computer started in governance around the world.
E-Governance includes the following modes:
(G2C): Government to Citizens E.g. Passports, Billings.
(G2B): Government to Business E.g. Paperless Trade.
(G2E): Government to Employees E.g. Payroll, E-Learning, Taxes Information.
(G2G): Government to Government E.g. Information sharing.
E-governance in Pakistan was introduced in 2002. In Pakistan, where you have to visit many government offices for a single paperwork to be accomplished all the while facing government officials, many of whom indulge in corruption, we need a system that can do all our legal tasks without any interference of corrupt authorities. It shall benefit Pakistan’s Telecommunication Authority as well.
Following are some objectives of the E-Government in Pakistan.
- Online Paying Taxes, Utility Bills.
- Online Shopping, Online banking, Booking of Tickets.
- Online Admission for Hajj Applications.
- Online Business.
- Online Salary Disbursement for government employees using ATM.
- Network and Community Creation.
- Increase the capacity of Government.
- Information sharing among government institutes.
- Keeping all records of the country online.
Prospects:
The key advantage of E-governance is to increase people’s interest in the policies of the government which latter is trying to implement. Moreover, the online presence of government enabled citizens to keep themselves updated on new projects and plans.
It will also increase the participation of citizens in government policies and decision making through voting, emails and discussions in different chatrooms.
A user can get all the facilities anywhere and at anytime with the help of internet, that saves citizens from the trouble of queuing at government offices.
Through computerization, record keeping and accounting, efficiency will be improved and information and forms shall be easily accessed, updated and modified.
Challenges:
The Main challenge for E-Governance in Pakistan is the low literary rate of people, and the top management that supports resistance to change to electronic ways, and the unstable governmental policies. As well as the issue of management and deployment of huge ICT in infrastructure, the possible invasion of privacy, and the insecurity of private data from intruders, less collaboration between different organizations, and trainings for employees are also a challenge.
Highly qualified professionals monetary cost need to be provided for implementation and management of this system, the lack of both also creates an obstacle in the way of achieving the goal.
We should do everything to make our country successful regardless of all the excuses.
“If you really want to do something you will find a way, otherwise you will find an excuse.” – Jim Rohn
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