Background
In India , a number of e-governance projects have been implemented such as e-Seva, Bhoomi, Nemmadi, Bangalore One, etc. These projects are aimed at bettering service delivery in rural and urban areas through improved citizen-state interface. It is believed that technology enhances efficiency and quickens delivery of services. Technology is also viewed as a tool that helps to monitor performance and thereby aids in instituting transparency and accountability. A good deal of literature on e-governance projects focuses on the role of technology in improving transparency and accountability in governance. However, technology is only one facet of e-governance. What is overlooked is the role of the agencies, institutions and individuals who are involved in realizing and implementing these e-governance projects. An examination of these dynamics will help to work on a stronger theorization of e-governance and the relationship between technology and politics. The current research proposal is an attempt towards this end.
Our entry point for analyzing the dynamics between bureaucrats, the local state and agencies implementing e-governance projects is through a detailed case history of the Online Complaint Monitoring System (OCMS). OCMS was launched in April 2003 by a NGO based in Mumbai named Praja, in collaboration with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). The OCMS is a centralized complaint management system, which aids in registering complaints concerning infrastructure and services provided by the BMC. The idea of developing a centralized complaint management system was first thought of in 1999. It then took Praja four years to develop the technology and most importantly, to convince the BMC of the need for such a system. Even after the OCMS was implemented, Praja had to deal with problems in the functioning of the software as well as in resolving the resistance the system was facing from different quarters within the BMC.
The Online Complaint Monitoring System was initially known as the Online Complaint Management System. Later, Praja realized that the system was not only managing complaints but was monitoring complaints and in turn, monitoring the performance of the municipal corporation of Mumbai in providing services to citizens.
Objectives
Some of the questions which emerge, given this context, are:
- Why did the local state need an external agency to implement a system for registering and tracking complaints?
- Did the local state lack the technological expertise or the financial resources to establish such a system?
- How did the local state react to an external agency not only implementing the technology but also auditing its performance in resolving complaints that were registered by the citizens?
- Was the local state legible to Praja? Was the process of Praja entering (metaphorically) the BMC a simple and straightforward one or did it involve negotiations and compromises on the part of both parties, which then complicates the discourse on transparency and accountability?
By examining these questions in greater detail, I will not only present an account of the relationships between the NGO, BMC and the bureaucracy in BMC, but as mentioned above, these dynamics will assist in working on a larger framework on e-governance, one that goes beyond the usual accounts of technology fostering transparency and accountability.
Methodology
Detailed interviews will be conducted with key persons from Praja and key authorities, bureaucrats and operations' staff from the BMC (both, acting and those who were involved with the OCMS and who are no longer in the BMC) who were involved and continue to be involved with the OCMS. Interviews will also be conducted with persons who were indirectly associated with the launch and implementation of the OCMS such as individuals from agencies who had funded and continue to fund the OCMS and individuals from other NGOs who use the OCMS.
Documentation about the OCMS available with Praja, the BMC and other agencies as well as press coverage of the OCMS will be collected and used as secondary material to analyze the interviews.
The research questions and findings will be analyzed in the light of available literature and theory on e-governance, technology and politics.
One of the risks that may be involved in the research is no access to persons or material about the OCMS and thereby the possibility that the research questions may not be addressed adequately.
Researchers
Zainab Bawa - Independent Researcher, India
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