With the launch of the Digital India programme in July 2015, a lot of expectations have been created in the country with regard to faster and more efficient delivery of electronic government services. Indeed, e-governance is one of the key pillars under the programme with the objective to ensure that all possible government services are delivered electronically in a seamless and end-to-end manner with comprehensive government process reengineering to make delivery simpler, paperless and more efficient.

How can this objective be achieved? In the current model of e-governance, almost all the services are being delivered by various government departments and agencies in silos through standalone applications with lot of duplication and little process reengineering, though there are some notable exceptions. The government websites and applications are also mostly not mobile compliant which makes it very difficult for mobile device (phones, tablets) users to access them.  Online authentication of users and online payment of fees are also often missing. Payments to beneficiaries under various government schemes are also not made directly to their bank accounts except for some schemes. In short, most of the electronic services currently are not end-to-end.

To address this issue and make the e-government services really smart, the JAM trinity comprising the Jan Dhan Yojana bank account, Aadhaar platform and mobile phone can be used as the foundation for all e-government applications. JAM will help in making electronic services completely end-to-end by allowing a user to avail a service fully electronically without any need for physically visiting the concerned government office for submitting any identity proofs or supporting documents. How can this be accomplished?

First, all e-governance applications must integrate the Aadhaar platform for online authentication within their applications. This will eliminate the need for people to submit any physical identity and address proofs. With the recent approval of the Aadhaar bill, this platform has been provided a legal footing to allow it to be used for delivering a wide range of services. With over 100 crore Aadhaar numbers already issued, this step will go a long way in eliminating a lot of paperwork and hardship to the people.

Secondly, all e-governance applications must also incorporate the mobile platform for delivery of their services through mobile phones and tablets. With mobile penetration at a much higher level in the country than access to computers and internet, it is imperative that all electronic services are also delivered through mobile devices for greater accessibility. Already, the national Mobile Seva platform of Government of India has shown its utility by integrating the applications of over 2000 government departments and agencies across the country with its mobile based services. This must be extended to cover all e-government services in the country.

Thirdly, all the schemes where payments are made to the beneficiaries must incorporate bank account information in their applications so that money is transferred directly to their accounts. The bank accounts should also be linked to the Aadhaar platform for ease in authentication and payment as has been done for the LPG scheme. Various subsidy and pension schemes can all be transformed in this manner so that the benefits can reach the eligible beneficiaries directly without any hindrance or delay. This transformation will also yield substantial savings to the government as all the duplicate and ghost beneficiaries can be easily eliminated. This will also help in making all the financial transactions cashless and electronic.

In addition to the incorporation of the JAM trinity, some other measures are also required to make the services really smart. These include undertaking comprehensive process reengineering before introducing IT in governance, delivery of services through a cloud platform to avoid duplication in creating ICT infrastructure and applications and ensure that the ICT resources are efficiently utilized, incorporation of an online payment gateway, use of a digital locker to store and share government issued documents in electronic form and use of Aadhaar linked digital signatures to provide legal validity to the documents as per the IT Act. Already platforms for online payment, digital locker and Aadhaar linked e-sign have been created and made available for use by the departments. A national cloud platform is also readily available to be used. The main task now is to get all the government departments and agencies across the country on board these platforms. The recently approved e-Kranti or the National e-Governance Plan 2.0 framework of Government of India under Digital India incorporates all the above elements and holds great promise in ushering in a new era of smart services in the country. All the concerned stakeholders must utilize this opportunity to make the lives of citizens and businesses easier by making their services truly ‘smart’.