Failures Of E-Governance in India

Very few words are more fanciful than the words electronic governance (e-governance). These words have a tendency to portray an image of all advanced Nation or capable manpower. But the bigger question is what is more important; the image or reality? We have to analyse this question in the light of e-governance in India and the efforts of Government of India to achieve the Herculean task of being an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enabled and capable Nation.

Let us peep into the mind of those who have a deeper insight of this “India Shining Syndrome” of Indian Government and Bureaucrats. According to Mr. Praveen Dalal, the Leading Techno-Legal ICT, Cyber Law, Cyber Security and Cyber Forensics Specialist of India, “The Government and Indian Bureaucrats need to change their mindset and stress more upon outcomes and services rather than mere ICT procurement. India needs a services-based approach that is not only transparent but also backed by a more efficient and willing Government. Presently the Bureaucrats and Government of India are in a “resistance mode” towards novel and effective e-governance policies and strategies and they are merely computerising traditional official functions only. This is benefiting neither the Government nor the citizens and is resulting in wastage of thousands of crores of public money and UNDP/World Bank grants amount”.

The truth becomes more obscure in the maze of various reports and surveys, most of which are Government or its agencies/partners “sponsored”. The Bureaucratic incompetencies and lack of Governmental will only find support in high profile workshops and seminars where common man has neither an access nor a say. At the International level, however, India’s ranking is falling when it comes to basic prerequisites of e-governance, i.e. e-readiness, public-governmental interaction, public services, etc.

“The Governmental will and leadership is missing in India. To worsen the situation the Government of India is concentrating more upon the image rather than upon the end results. The grassroot level action is missing and the benefits of ICT are not reaching to the under privileged and deserving masses due to defective ICT strategies and policies of Indian Government. India is suffering from the “vicious circle” of defective e-governance, as the basic input .i.e. governance itself is poor. India needs a “virtuous circle” of e-governance through good governance that would have multiplication and amplification effect upon e-governance efforts of Indian Government. We neither have a right nor would be we honest and true if we call ourselves an e-governance oriented Nation as even the basic “e-mail communications” with the Government of India, including Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), President, Ministry of Information Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, etc are “NEVER” replied back” says Mr. Praveen Dalal.

It is astonishing to know that the so called “e-governance experts” in the Bureaucratic and Governmental circles of India do not even know when and how to respond back to urgent and pressing public communications (e-mails). What is the benefit of attending and participating in high profile conferences and workshops in a cool and comfortable hotel room environment when the Citizen to Government (C2G) and Government to Citizen (G2C) wings of Indian e-governance are “missing”? The C2G and G2C are the core pillars of not only e-governance but electronic commerce (e-commerce) as well. The problem seems to “lack of accountability” among the Government Departments in India.

It is surprising that despite these “serious problems” the India Shining image is often portrayed when it come to e-governance in India. All these factors have resulted in the failures of e-governance in India.

AUTHOR: KUNAL

SOURCE: ITVOIR

SQL Attack Resulted In Data Loss Of More Than 100,000 Websites

A popular UK ISP has reportedly fallen victim to a large-scale cyber attack that led to data loss from as many as 100,000 websites through a virtualisation manager solution called HyperVM.

Back on Sunday, hackers broke into the security of Vaserv.com by exploiting a zero-day vulnerability in its virtualisation software, the prominently used HyperVM from LXLabs, thereby allowing hackers to gain system access with root permissions.

SOURCE: ITPROPORTAL

Digital Rights Protection And Management Is Urgently Required In India

Counterfeiting and piracy have always remained a cause of concern for intellectual property rights (IPRs) holders. There are many solutions suggested for curbing the menace of counterfeiting and piracy in India. One of it is “digital rights protection” in India. However, the concept of digital rights has never been understood properly in India.

Experts believe that digital rights must not only be protected but they must also be managed properly. The same must be done in a techno-legal manner. Instead of imposing foreign models, India must formulate its own “techno-legal model” of digital rights protection and management, says Mr. Praveen Dalal, the leading Techno-Legal Expert of India.

Entertainment Industry has always complained about the issues of piracy in India. In the absence of a law pertaining to entertainment industry in India, these concerns would always remain unresolved.

The problem has now starting taking its natural shape. Incidents of stealing signals from satellite have been reported in India. The entertainment industry is wary about these issues as presently there is neither a law nor technology in India to deal with these issues.

SOURCE: ITVOIR

Techno-Legal Policies Cannot Be Achieved Within 100 Days Workplan of Indian Government

The Techno-Legal Policies of Indian government may not be achievable within the 100 Days Workplan. Mr. Praveen Dalal, Managing Partner of Perry4Law and leading techno-Legal Expert of India, opined that within a week of time span (100 days starting from 5th June, 2009) some of the “Promises” of the Indian government seems to be just “political jargon” alone.

The position is worst on the front of “Policies Formulation” especially on the front of Techno-Legal Policies and National ICT Policies of India. The cyber law of India is worst affected with the imposition of Information Technology Amendment Act, 2008 upon Indian citizens despite their protests. Fortunately, the same is ineffective and not applicable till now as the same is not yet “notified” by the government.

SOURCE: ITVOIR

Phishing Attacks On Rise In India

According to a recent research by India’s leading Techno-Legal ICT Firm Perry4Law, Malware attacks are increasing in India. The problem is bound to further increase in India as we have neither a National ICT Policy nor “political will” to fight against the same. India does not lack the resources to fight the same but we do not have good experts who can execute various promises made by the government. The end result is that cyber law in India is very weak and ineffective. The Information Technology Act, 2000 needs an immediate amendment to make it effective to fight the contemporary cyber crimes.

Hacking is in fashion in India, it seems. After Delhi-based designer Rina Dhaka had her account hacked, mails went out to all her contacts saying that she was stuck in London without her wallet and asked the recipient to send her $2000 to get back home. After that case came to light, it appears that a couple of Rajasthan-based designers, Aruna Singh and Rahul Jain, have also faced a similar problem.

This seems to be a classical case of Nigerian scam and phishing attack.

Indian Government 100 Days Workplan May Fail To Materialise

President of India has recently revealed the “Priorities” of Indian Government in the next five years/100 days. However, there should be a political will and bureaucratic competencies to achieve these promises. The Indian Government must shift from promises to real achievements if it really wishes to achieve the 100 Days Promised Agenda.

Within a weak of time span (100 days starting from 5th June, 2009) some of the “Promises” of the Indian government seems to be just “political jargon” alone.

AUTHOR: PRAVEEN DALAL

SOURCE: LEGAL ENABLEMENT OF ICT SYSTEMS IN INDIA

E-Governance In India: A Success Or A Failure?

Electronic Governance or E-governance, a fancy terminology that portrays an image of advanced Nation or capable workforce. The word is so magical and has the tendency to overpower everything else. But the question that has some more important aspect is: What matters most: Reality or an Image? The article is a sincere effort to make our readers aware of e-governance in India, its aspects and what all are the security norms for it? Which phase it is still in India?

Present Scenario:

India is flourishing, undoubtedly. It is on the track to be renowned as world leader and has the best IT work power globally. Still, India has to go distance to achieve the Herculean task of being an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) enabled and capable Nation. It is high time that Indians should peep outside the “Indian Shining Syndrome”. The call of the hour is to understand the real meaning of e-governance and its implications. The deep insight in ICT regulations will unveil the hard facts that how we are in resistive modes till now. It is the time when the Government and Indian Bureaucrats need to change their opinions and lay pressure more upon outcomes and services rather than mere ICT procurement.

Required Strategic Developments:

Presently, country needs a service oriented approach that is transparent and supportive in terms of ICT applications and its outcomes. We need to be at receptive end rather than at resistive note. The Government should lend their ears to the novel ideas and should be pro active in implementing effective e-governance policies rather than just computerizing traditional official functions only.

Merely computerizing the functions is of no help to anyone. Rather, it is just the wastage of thousands of crores of public money and UNDP/World Bank grants amount. The truth becomes more vague in the maze of various reports and surveys, most of which are Government or its agencies/partners “sponsored”. At the International level, India lacks the basic prerequisites of e-governance, i.e. e-readiness, public-governmental interaction, public services, etc and hence mirrors the incompetency of bureaucrat and Government.

Adding to the misery is situation of Indian Government and its Bureaucrats who are more focused upon the image rather than upon the end results. The grassroot level action is missing and hence the benefits of ICT are not reaching to the under privileged and deserving masses due to defective ICT strategies and policies of Indian Government.

What Next?

To imply the e-governance initiatives rightfully, India needs a “virtuous circle” rather than “vicious circle” of defective e-governance. The deeper dive in this mess will show some more horrible results. Reports support the facts that the so called “e-governance experts” in the Bureaucratic and Governmental circles of India do not even know when and how to respond back to urgent and pressing public communications (e-mails).

Loopholes in Implementations:

India is lacking at the basic level of e-governance implications. It lacks the Citizen to Government (C2G) and Government to Citizen (G2C) wings that are the core pillars of not only e-governance but e-commerce as well. The problem is due to “lack of accountability” among the Government Departments. The National E-Governance Plan (NEGP) and E-governance in India have failed to achieve their motives. In short, there is a complete “ICT Failure in India”.

It is surprising that despite these “serious problems” the India Shining image is often portrayed when it come to e-governance in India.

Ading to the misery is reports by Symantec, security research firm that confirms India may emerge as the leader in Malware activities if the cyber security norms are not established for future e-governance initiatives of India. But, this can be a blessing in disguise as failure in implementation of e-governance in India have prevented security holes from being catastrophic.

AUTHOR: KUNAL

PRIMARY SOURCE: APC

SECONDARY SOURCE: ITVOIR

Can India Wash The Blackspot Of Being Asia’s Most Corrupt Administration

Indian politicians and civil servants are rated to be the most corrupt persons according to the 2009 Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) released by Transparency International, (TI) the global body monitoring corruption in governance. Although the political and bureaucratic circles in India may not feel happy with this finding yet there is no doubt about the correctness of this finding. The question arises "can India wash the blackspot of being Asia’s most corrupt administration"? Also does the proposed statutory protection to the bureaucrats would make any difference in the absence of well defined responsibilities and accountabilities?

A well reported news item has also raised a very pertinent question regarding guaranteeing public service. It claims that while the idea of protecting bureaucrats seem to be worthwhile, it seem designed more to protect civil servants than to make sure that they do their job properly. Accountability to the public has to be ensured, in a measurable manner, with proper feedback systems do that bureaucratic incompetencies can be minimised.

Congress Previous Bad Policies Haunting It Now

Samajwadi Party and BSP, which are extending outside support to UPA government, on Monday attacked Congress and said its policies and programmes since independence had failed because of which India could not become a developed nation.

Participating in a debate on Motion of Thanks to the President's Address, SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav specified agriculture, education, employment, healthcare, naxalism and foreign policy as the areas of failure under Congress rule.

He said even if 20 per cent of the programmes announced by the Congress governments during the last five decades had been implemented, the country would have become developed.

SOURCE: ZEENEWS

Government Plans To Scrap UGC, AICTE

The government plans to scrap the top two regulators of higher education in line with the recommendations of the National Knowledge Commission (NKC), the advisory body to the Prime Minister that has repeatedly called for the abolition of the regulatory regime in the education sector. A senior official of the ministry of human resource development said on condition of anonymity that the government will soon scrap the University Grants Commission, or UGC, and the All India Council for Technical Education, or AICTE. The two regulators, which oversee the functioning of universities and engineering and business schools in India, have often received flak for restrictive policies and sometimes opaque functioning.

SOURCE: LIVEMINT

Educational Reforms In India Unlikely

The government of India has announced major educational reforms in India. However, in a “corruption ailed environment” this seems to be a dream alone. Before bringing any educational reforms the government must curb the increasing corruption levels at the school, university and UGC level. Without that it is like beating wind with a stick. If the HRD Ministry is really serious it must start taking stringent actions at all the level that is presently missing. This means educational reforms in India are unlikely to happen.

India's education sector is heating up -- to scalding point. But the cash-strapped Indian government, which far overshot its budget in the last fiscal year to March, is more likely to spend on basic infrastructure such as school buildings and not on advanced facilities like e-learning and computer services in schools.

As for reforms, they remain a distant possibility. Current rules bar private investment in primary and secondary schools, whether government-owned or private, because education is designated as a not-for-profit sector. In this context, betting on education isn't such a good thing.

SOURCE: ONLINE WSJ

BJP Would Also Keep A Track Of Promises Made By Indian Government

It seems after Perry4Law, it is now BJP turn to keep a “track” of the recent promises made by President of India. Perry4Law has been providing its analysis of the policies and strategies of Government of India from time to time. Describing the Presidential address as a "charter of promises", main Opposition party BJP on Thursday said it would keep a close watch on whether these were being implemented by the government or remained mere assurances.

Although details from Perry4Law are not available yet the hints already provided clearly show that the “critical analysis” would be made by Perry4Law of the Governmental Polices in general and their “Techno-Legal” aspects in particular. Significant analyses have already been made by Perry4Law regarding the following:

(a) Legal Enablement of ICT Systems in India,

(b) National ICT Policy of India,

(c) Open Government Policy In India,

(d) Bifurcation of Composite Government Departments,

(e) Political Will and Bureaucratic Incompetencies, etc.

A special emphasis would be given by Perry4Law to analyse the “performance” of Government of India (GOI) regarding e-governance in India in general and projects like e-courts in India, mission mode projects under the NEGP, etc in particular.

As far as the “starting of performance period of 100 days” is concerned, Perry4Law has excluded 4th June, 2009 from the number of days to be calculated. Keep a track of the techno-legal analysis of Perry4Law of these 100 days.

AUTHOR: V.K.SINGH

SOURCE: MYNEWS

Securing India

ON his first day in office after returning to the North Block, Home Minister P. Chidambaram announced that there would a second 100-day plan, beginning June 1, aimed at protecting the nation from terrorism. The announcement was at the instance of the Prime Minister, and would be analogous to the one that Chidambaram had implemented on moving to the Ministry of Home Affairs from the Ministry of Finance prior to the Lok Sabha elections and in the aftermath of the November 26 terror strike in Mumbai.

Chidambaram has said that there would now be a monthly report on tasks completed so as to facilitate public evaluation of his Ministry’s performance. This is unmistakably a Harvard-educated Home Minister’s management approach to looking at the nation’s woes on the criminal justice front. This is an unexceptionable workplan, except that it is likely to be assailed by cynics as too academic a view of a complex problem that hardly rendered itself to a classroom exercise.

AUTHOR: R.K. RAGHAVAN

SOURCE: HINDUONNET

Can The Congress Led Government Curb Corruption In India?

Indian politicians and civil servants are rated to be the most corrupt persons according to the 2009 Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) released by Transparency International, (TI) the global body monitoring corruption in governance. Although the political and bureaucratic circles in India may not feel happy with this finding yet there is no doubt about the correctness of this finding.

Some ray of hope has been shown by the President of India through her speech yet the Congress led Government is still not “absolutely free” to implement the laudable objectives mentioned in this speech.

Concerns have been raised in the recent past regarding “consolidated departments” of the Government of India yet Congress led Government is helpless to “accommodate” the members of its “allies” to crucial posts.

The best option seems to be the one suggested by Mr. Praveen Dalal that the government departments must be given full autonomy with a “check” by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) or similar body. This way Congress led Government can keep both the citizens of India and their allies happy.

While the inability and dependency of the Government can be well understood due to the very nature of a collation Government, the position can be improved to a great extent if the Government makes bureaucracy more competent, efficient, honest, fair and people friendly. India seems to be the only place in the World that pays bureaucrats for “non-working”. Interestingly, even the Government is aware about this sardonic situation but it is not willing do much except giving moral advice.

With a new and strong Congress led Government at the Center, it is high time to start cleaning Congress’s “own home first” before talking about economic and social reforms in India.

SOURCE: MYNEWS

Indian Government May Review Appointment Process In Indian Judiciary

The foul smell of corruption is increasingly enveloping the temples of justice, popularly referred to as courts. Almost everyone is aware of the level of corruption in the lower stream of justice. But, the screamers about instances of corruption in the higher judiciary appear to have forced the government and the CJI to look afresh for an effective antidote. The common refrain is that there is something virulently wrong with the present process of selection of judges for the higher judiciary -- the high courts and the Supreme Court. For long, the Executive had this grouse that India was the only country where judges appoint their peers through a secretive method called consultation among the judges forming part of the Collegium headed by the Chief Justice of India.

SOURCE: TOI

Government Websites In India Are Down

National Informatics Center (NIC) of India is down and out once again. NIC India is managing the websites of almost all the government departments in India. Techno-Legal Experts have been suggesting for a “decentralisation” of this function of NIC because if the NIC is down all governmental works are stopped. Presently, all the government sites like department of information technology (DIT), department of telecommunications (DOT), etc are down. Mr. Praveen Dalal has suggested to the GOI to start inducting good skilled people for meeting its promises. The GOI must also reminisce the “causes” for the “First Casualty” of its 100 Days Workplan.

SOURCE: ITVOIR

Environmentalists Supports Perry4Law For E-Waste Legislation In India

The need for National ICT Policy in India has becoming urgent day by day. Mr. Praveen Dalal, Managing Partner of Perry4Law, has been suggesting for the same from a long period of time. There is a dire need to formulate National ICT Policy in India that must address the issues like legal enablement of ICT systems in India, cyber security in India, developing cyber forensics capabilities in India, ICT training of lawyers, judges and police personnel in India, managing the environmental issues of e-waste in India, establishment of e-courts in India, formulating strong cyber laws in India, etc.

Recently, Greenpeace India, Toxics Link and the Manufacturers' Association of Information Technology (MAIT) have also supported the demand for separate legislation for e-waste management in India.

Even the recent 100 days agenda of the Government of India (GOI) includes “environmental protection” as one of the priority areas. It would be interesting to observe how the GOI would meet the menace of e-waste in India.

SOURCE: ITVOIR

Will Indian Government Act Upon Its Promises?

Recently the BJP has announced that it would keep a close watch on the promises made by the Congress led Government. This is really a very good step to not only maintain “Democracy” but also to keep “Checks and Balances” upon the ruling Government so that it may not pass Legislations in a “Casual Manner” as it did during the December, 2008 session of the Parliament.

Perry4Law would also “Systematically Analyse” the Policies and Strategies of GOI for its five year tenure in general and 100 days promised period in particular.

AUTHOR: PRAVEEN DALAL

SOURCE: LEGAL ENABLEMENT OF ICT SYSTEMS IN INDIA

DHS Advisory Council Roped In Jeff Moss For Strengthening Cyber Security

Forget the new cyber security czar position that President Barack Obama announced last week. The real sign that the White House might be finally taking cyber security seriously came in an announcement on Friday that Jeff Moss, aka “Dark Tangent” and the former hacker behind the annual DefCon hacker confab in Las Vegas, has been appointed to the Department of Homeland Security’s Advisory Council (HSAC).

SOURCE: WIRED.COM

CVC Registers Complaint Against UGC Chairman

Facing flak in the last few days, more trouble seems to be in store for UGC chairman S K Thorat with the Central Vigilance Commission registering a complaint against him on a series of allegations ranging from his involvement in pushing through Rs 224 crore e-governance project, corruption in grant of deemed university status and misusing UGC's resources to run his own institute Indian Institute of Dalit Studies.

SOURCE: TOI

Indian Government’s 100 Days Workplan Under Scanner

Perry4Law has been providing the “Critical Analysis” of the Governmental Policies from time to time. It has also decided to “Systematically Analyse” the Policies and Strategies of GOI for its five year tenure in general and 100 days promised period in particular. A special attention would be given to techno-legal issues including e-governance in India, legal enablement of ICT systems in India, cyber law in India, cyber security in India, cyber forensics in India, e-courts in India, etc. Similarly, special attention would be given to policy issues pertaining to information and communication technology (ICT).

Fortunately, BJP has announced that it would also keep a close watch on the promises made by the Congress led Government. A good strategy for BJP would be to keep ready its own ideas and policies that are not only sensible but also good alternatives for the proposed policies by the government. With this we can hope for better laws and effective and transparent governance in India.

Wrong Cyber Crime Prosecutions Is becoming a Trend in India

This article analyzes the disturbing trend in India of launching prosecution against cyber crimes on the basis of laws that do not exist. A clarification from the Department of Information Technology (DIT) of the Government of India was sought in this regard but there was no reply. The net result is that we are witnessing prosecutions that are not justified by any law in India. This situation shows that there is a dire need of training of police personnel that is presently missing all over India. Cyber crimes require good techno-legal knowledge that is presently missing. We have to do much more than mere “declarations of sufficiency” and claim of opening of cyber crimes police stations and cells.

The Mumbai police registered a case of “cyber terrorism” when a threat email was sent to the BSE and NSE. It can proudly claim to be the first in the State since an amendment to the Information Technology Act has been proposed. The bigger question is how can police consider, much less utlilze, the provisions of a law that has “not come into force yet”? Till the Information Technology Amendment Act, 2008 is “notified” by the Central Government under section 1(2) of the proposed amendments, the amendments cannot come into force. And till the amendments cannot come into force, we cannot apply the provisions contained in it. Then how come the Mumbai police is booking the accused under the amended law?

AUTHOR: EDITOR LNAV

SOURCE: OPEDNEWS

Tech Savvy Police Station In Mumbai: The Reality

Cyber law awareness is missing not only among the general public but also among the police force and media personnel. The biggest challenge before the police is to get itself acquainted with the basic cyber law of India. It is senseless to claim themselves trained in cyber law when they are not even aware what the India cyber law is all about. Even the Department of Information Technology (DIT) and Government of India (GOI) are “responsible” for “deliberately misleading” the people, media and police force.

Perhaps law enforcement in India is “too much trained” for cyber law and cyber crimes and hence applying their own laws and notions to cases that does not attract these stringent provisions at all. It seems the Mumbai police and its partner NASSCOM needs at, least 5 more years to acquaint themselves with the basics of cyber law of India. As far as techno-legal expertise is concerned, that may remain a dream forever.

SOURCE: WEBNEWSWIRE

Open Government Policy In India Is Required

The need of “public initiatives” to fill the policy vacuum in India was long felt. Policies making and their implementation is a governmental task. There is always a big gap between the desired policies and actual policies that are in existence. This, naturally, affects the Nation at large but its consequences are mostly borne by the citizens of that Nation. Although there are many policy lapses in India but the most glaring among them are those pertaining to Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

Last week, the White House launched an unprecedented online process for public engagement in policymaking. It began with a week of brainstorming in which the public shared almost 900 submissions and 33,000 votes on various ideas ranging from strategies for making government data more accessible to legal and policy impediments to transparency.

While this is the first of its kind in America, India has been benefited by “public policy making” for long. This is more so regarding the “techno-legal ICT regulations” in India where Mr. Praveen Dalal, Managing partner of Perry4Law, has contributed significantly. The latest policy suggested by him is “National ICT Policy of India” that mentions some of the parameters that should be included in the national policy of India.

It seems America has taken a cue from the activities happening in India but Indian government is not interested in taking the external help. There is no doubt that India lack critical policies in the sphere of ICT and it is high time that the “Public Initiatives Model” of Perry4Law must be adopted by it in the larger interest of India.

AUTHOR: PRITESH N MUNJAL

SOURCE: TLNAV

National ICT Policy Of India Suggested By Perry4Law

There is a dire need to formulate National ICT Policy in India that must address the issues like legal enablement of ICT systems in India, cyber security in India, developing cyber forensics capabilities in India, ICT training of lawyers, judges and police personnel in India, managing the environmental issues of e-waste in India, establishment of e-courts in India, formulating strong cyber laws in India, etc. After all India belongs to the “Common Man” and not to the “Men with Long Purses”.

AUTHOR: PRAVEEN DALAL

SOURCE: LEGAL ENABLEMENT OF ICT SYSTEMS IN INDIA