Digital governance refers to carrying out governance process in a digital way to deliver digital services. Digital governance is also known as electronic governance, internet governance, online governance, transformational governance, and connected governance.
E-governance refers to the use of information and communication technologies by government or public agencies for public governance.
The ultimate objective of e-governance is to improve the performance of government agencies by fulfilling the aspirations, expectations and needs of citizens. E-government is not about computers and websites but services to citizens and businesses.
E-government transforming process, modernization of government processes and functions and better public service delivery mechanisms through technology so that government put on an auto-pilot mode.
The four pillars of e-governance are,
- Process: efficiency, citizen–centricity, sustainability, cost-effectiveness;
- People: thought, leadership, responsibility, competency, development;
- Technology: design, open standards, security, scalability, safety;
- Resources: active, service-oriented, maintained, sufficient.
Digital governance is a framework for building responsibility, tasks, and decision-making power for an organization in digital presence which means accessing its websites, mobile sites, social channels, and other Internet and web-enabled products and services.
The Organization for effective Cooperation and Development includes four stages of e-government.
- Information: Placing data on websites.
- Interaction: Allowing citizens to inquire about services, procedures, etc.
- Transaction: Allowing payments online.
- Transformation: a mix of all the above and allowing the citizen to participate in governance through information and communications technology.
Core Principles of E-governance:
Promoting e-Governance, the following as core policies of e-governance:
1. Clarity of Purpose: There needs to be clarity in knowing and recognizing the purposes and goals of governance.
2: Environment Building: There is a need to replace all the stakeholders involved, that is, politicians, government officials and civil society at large.
3. Integral Part in Governance: E-governance has to be an integral part of the governance structure and methods.
4. E-preparedness and Step-wise Approach: There must be a step-wise approach to e-governance to maximize results, and citizens realize immediate benefits from e-governance.
Need for Digital Governance and its Significance:
- E-governance promotes effective storage and retrieval of data, immediate and quick delivery and processing of information, expeditious and prudent decision-making, transparency, and responsibility.
- It helps the strengthening of structures and service delivery mechanisms.
- It helps in increasing the range of government, both geographically and demographically.
- It enables providing tangible records; and implementing individual performance, accountability, efficiency, effectiveness, productivity, and transparency of policies and processes.
- The tools, techniques and instruments of e-governance, thus, contribute to the attainment of good governance.
- E-governance is visualized as a model for implementing a new paradigm of governance in the country.