A Study of E-Governance
Service in Haryana Municipal Corporation
Kanhaiya Jee Gond1*, Dr. Ritesh Mishra2
1 Research Scholar, Department of Public
Admin, Sunrise University. Alwar, Rajasthan, India
Email: kanhaiya@gmail.com
2 Associate Professor,
Dept.of Public Admin, Sunrise University, Alwar, Rajasthan, India
Keywords: E-governance,
government services, Municipal Corporations.
An
overarching concept held by governments is that they can impose order and
control via the specific mechanisms of lawmaking, law enforcement, and judicial
review. While this view excludes markets and their hierarchies and networks,
the activity belief of governance includes them. The broader sense and
application of the word "governance" suggests a blurring of the line between
the state and civil society, which in turn leads to the belief that it is civil
society, and not the government alone, which sets the ground rules for how
citizens should interact with one another and with institutions like databases
and their associated links. The contemporary proposal proposes government as an
incentive for individuals to take a more active role in shaping their own
futures.[1]
When
applied to a nation, "governance" involves providing its citizens
with a stable and prosperous society that can provide their basic requirements
while also protecting them. And because a representative government is one in
which all releases are carried out by citizens in some way, shape, or form, the
government's ability and control must be conclusive as well. Control and
authority are also part of governance. When exercising power and authority, it
is important to do so with the interests of the public in mind. Sustainable,
lucrative, and social growth that relies on a strong infrastructure is the
hallmark of good governance.[2-3]
Simply
put, e-government is the delivery of government services and information of
public importance through electronic means, whereas e-government support refers
to the actual carrying out of this duty by the government. In other words, e-governance
refers to the use of more minimal electronic systems in government operations,
with the goal of storing, gathering, recognizing, and disseminating bandwidth
and data affecting daily operations to the civilian population on demand.
E-Government, or electronic government, refers to the use of the Internet and
other forms of electronic communication to make government operations more
accessible to the general public and more accountable to its constituents.[4-5]
E-governance
theory may be broken down in still another way. Simple, Moral, Accountable,
Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) Governance is the employment of information
technology in government procedures that are suitable to bring about these
goals.[6-7]
There
are two ways to look at e-governance: internally and outside. The perspective
from the inside is focused on streamlining and modernizing government
operations. Internal Observation, Regulation, and The capacity to make
decisions and be cured from the outside are of paramount significance. Data
from the government, interface design, and other uses. [8]
Governance
is the method or means to achieve development. This means it's important to
figure out what kinds of resources would be most useful for advancing the
country as a whole. Transparent reasons prevent partial or incomplete from
achieving the goal of governance. As government machinery and private efforts,
the prerequisite is that the machinery and the procedures be excellent,
adaptable, reliable, effective, and objective in timeframe. The government of a
country is pivotal in determining the prosperity of its citizens. The
International Monetary Fund (IMF) made the observation that poor governance and
boring, lucrative industries go hand in hand.The IMF has noted that within
India, only a small number of nearly prosperous areas have established norms of
good governance.[9]
The
goal of the current era of e-governance is to make government more accessible
to the people by explaining how it works, streamlining the services it
provides, increasing transparency, and ensuring that all citizens have easy
access to the information they need to make informed decisions. Citizens are
able to take part in governmental processes via e-governance. With
e-governance, citizens, government officials, and policymakers will all need to
be in constant contact with one another. E-governance will let citizens have a
voice in policy decisions and share information about local events. With the
use of ICTs, e-governance will bring more accountability and citizen
participation to all levels of government by making its operations faster, more
transparent, and more easily accessible. With the help of e-governance, the
government's ability to conduct transactions with its citizens, with
businesses, and among itself might be modernized.[10]
Municipal Corporations Gurgaon, Karnal, Panchkula, and Rohtak will all
play host to this research. The selections made by the Municipal Corporations
was completely random. With a focus on bringing in users and recipients mostly
from metropolitan areas,The study's population was consist of
Users/beneficiaries, Elected Representatives, and officials from the sampled
Municipal Corporation. A self-prepared interview schedule for Users
beneficiaries and another for officials (obviously prepared with the study's
objectives and hypothesis in mind) was used to elicit information on various
aspects of the study from a total of 500 users and 200 officials (50 from four
selected Municipal Corporations) or 120 Elected Representatives of selected
Municipal Corporations. Data was used in conjunction with primary data to
address the study's research objectives. Secondary sources include articles
from academic journals, the report of the Second Administrative Reform
Commission, and the files of some cities.

According to the data table, four different cities (Gurgaon, Karnal,
Panchkula, and Rohtak) each contributed 125 study participants. Officials from
four different municipalities have been chosen to participate in the research,
for a total sample size of 200. The same procedure was used to choose the 120
elected members for the research, with 30 being chosen from each of the four
participating Municipal Corporations.

The chart
shows that 57.0% of the sample of 500 benefactors hails from metropolitan
areas, while the remaining 43.0% lives in rural areas throughout the four
chosen Municipal Corporations. People in metropolitan regions are more likely
to use E-Government services than those in rural areas, since the sample
reflects the fact that rural residents are less inclined to make use of these
services.

It can be seen from the table that 32.8% of the respondents are under
the age of 25 and 36.4% are in the age bracket of 26–35, out of a total sample
size of 500 beneficiaries chosen from the four selected Municipal Corporations.
Thus, 69.2 percent of respondents are under the age of 35, however a
significant proportion, 21.0 percent, are between the ages of 36 and 45. The
majority of recipients are adults older than 45. The reason for this is clear:
adults over the age of 45 are statistically less likely to utilize the internet
and electronic media than their technologically competent and well-versed
younger counterparts.

Based on the
data shown in table 5.6, we may conclude that 1.6% of the sample of 500 beneficiaries
from the four chosen Municipal Corporations are illiterate, while 40.2% have
completed just primary school. There were 19.4 percent of respondents with
bachelor's degrees or above, and 3.2 percent with master's degrees or higher.
There is a 3.8% uptick in the proportion of responders with advanced degrees
and/or certifications. This means that more than 70% of responses are high
school students or younger.

Table
shows that, out of a total sample size of 500, 64.4% of respondents are
aware of the E-Government services of the four selected Municipal Corporations.
The remaining respondents were not found to be aware of the E-Government
facilities. Thirty-six percent of those polled had heard about E-Government
services via electronic media, whereas only thirty percent had heard of them
through print media. Eighteen percent of respondents learned about E-Government
via close friends and family members, while sixteen percent learned about it on
their own. They were already familiar with E-Government services due to their
use of the internet and other electronic media.

Based on the
data presented in table 5.11, we can see that 37.9 percent of respondents used
E-Government services for birth and death registration among the 322
beneficiaries who accessed municipal services via E-Government . With respect
to the approval of building plans, 12.1% of respondents used E-Government of
Municipal Corporation, while 8.7% used it for the approval and renewal of
business licenses. Ten percent of respondents utilized it for obtaining
occupational certifications, and almost twenty percent used it to become connected
to municipal water and sewer systems. In terms of Property Tax, 2.2 percent of
respondents made use of it. Only 1.2% of respondents used E-Government to get
or renew a license to carry a concealed weapon. Finally, 8.4 percent of
respondents used the Municipal Corporation's electronic grievance and complaint
system (known as the "E-Government facility") to voice
dissatisfaction with the quality of municipal services.

Table 5.12 shows that more
than half (56.9%) of respondents from the sample of 500 beneficiaries drawn
from the four selected Municipal Corporations feel the preliminary process
while submitting an application for obtaining E-Government services under
Municipal Corporation is very time consuming and complicated. The remaining
respondents do not share your perception that it is difficult and
time-consuming.

Table shows
that 84.2 percent of the sample of 500 beneficiaries drawn from the four
selected Municipal Corporations who used E-Governance to obtain municipal
services agreed that the number of visits required to obtain municipal services
is much lower under E-Governance than under the traditional process of
obtaining municipal services. The majority of respondents believe that the
E-Government model does not result in fewer trips to city hall for access to
municipal services, compared to the conventional approach.

Table
presents the results of a random sample of 500 beneficiaries from the four
chosen Municipal Corporations, showing that 322 of them used the E-Government
services offered by the municipalities. Eighty-one percent of those who have
benefited from E-Government say that using it is easier and faster than it was
in the pre-E-Government era. While 8.1% of respondents were unsure, 11.8% were
of the opinion that using the E-Government mode to access municipal services
did not minimize time and effort compared to using the old approach.

Out of a
total sample size of 500 users in the four selected Municipal Corporations,
53.0 percent of respondents strongly agree that E-Government will bring
qualitative improvements in the delivery system of the municipal services. This
is shown in table 5.17. The majority of respondents (37.6%) believe that
E-Government would increase the quality of service delivery to residents in the
digital realm. About a quarter of those polled (2.4%) are skeptical that
E-Government would result in better service delivery. A sizeable percentage of
respondents (7%), however, expressed no opinion on the matter because they were
unsure about it.

According to
the data in Table 5.26, a total of 66.0% of the 200 officials polled across the
four selected Municipal Corporations reported that users come to them with all
the necessary paperwork completed before they can receive municipal services,
while the remaining 33.0% said the opposite. Municipal service delivery and
processing times are impacted because authorities have to assist citizens in
completing necessary paperwork, which requires them to spend more time than
necessary at the front counter.

Table shows
that, among the 200 officials surveyed from the four selected Municipal
Corporations, 73% agree that all necessary procedures are included in the list
of those that must be followed before receiving any municipal services. The
remaining authorities estimate that 27% of the time spent on procedures and
deliveries may be cut down by simplifying the process. Both the service
provider and the people who utilize the service stand to gain from these time
and energy savings.

Table 5.32
reveals that out of a total sample size of 200 officials from the four chosen
Municipal Corporations, 22.0% believe that hiring permanent workers would lead
to better E-Government in municipal service delivery. In terms of enhancing E-Government
of municipal services, 31.5% of officials believe that a centralized online
appointment system is the most important factor. Sixteen percent of government
employees think that E-Government will improve as a result of the token system
being implemented. Ten percent of the authorities believe that ensuring
constant access to electricity and the internet is the most important factor in
ensuring the efficient operation of E-Government for municipal services. In
order to strengthen the e-governance process, 14% of officials believe that
suitable equipments and their accessories are required.

Out of a
total sample size of 120 Elected Representatives
drawn from the four chosen Municipal Corporations, 37.5% believe the quality of
the material utilized is above average, as shown in Table. 41.66% say the
content quality of Municipal Corporation's E-Services is high. Twenty-five percent
of the unofficial responders make the claim that the quality of the content is
low. That the quality material utilized in Municipal Corporation's E-Services
is excellent has been affirmed by a large majority of Elected Representatives.
If the system
supporting the idea of E-Government is flawed, it will be impossible to put
into practice and will not provide the expected outcomes. Municipal Corporation
officials and Elected Representatives are the backbone of the process that
brings E-Government to those who need it. Since municipal corporation officials
constitute the backbone of the local administration, it would not be
inappropriate to seek and examine their perspectives. Despite the importance of
the resources at their disposal, what really counts is the effectiveness of the
government and its employees.
CONCLUSION
The
goal of this research was to identify the most pressing problems with
e-governance in a sample of Haryana's municipal corporations. This evaluation
was based on a study of significant features of urban local governments,
including their constitution and governance, tasks, composition, management and
financial practices, and State/Local initiatives and difficulties. This
research shows that urban municipal governments in Haryana have several
challenges that prevent them from performing their tasks effectively. These
issues with Haryana's municipal government center on citizens' ability to have
a voice in policymaking, the availability of information about how
infrastructure projects are planned and funded, and the effectiveness of
different approaches to municipal administration and accounting. We need to
know what further can be done to make sure the suggestions made by the SFC are
really put into action.
REFERENCES
1.
Singh,
N., & Singh, P. (2020). E-Governance Initiatives in Haryana: A Case Study
of Municipal Corporation Gurgaon. International Journal of Research in
Management, Science & Technology, 8(2), 137-144.
2.
Dhingra,
S., & Saini, A. (2019). E-Governance in Urban Local Bodies: A Study of
E-Governance Initiatives in Haryana Municipal Corporations. International
Journal of Innovative Research and Advanced Studies, 6(9), 83-88.
3.
Sharma,
N., & Singh, M. (2018). E-Governance in Municipal Corporations: A Case
Study of Haryana Municipal Corporation. Journal of Emerging Technologies and
Innovative Research, 5(12), 517-522.
4.
Yadav,
S., & Batra, N. (2018). E-Governance Implementation in Municipal
Corporations: A Study of Haryana. International Journal of Scientific Research
and Management, 6(5), 473-478.
5.
Verma,
P., & Nain, N. (2017). E-Governance in Urban Local Bodies: A Study of
Haryana Municipal Corporations. International Journal of Engineering and
Computer Science, 6(2), 20234-20239.
6.
Yadav,
S., & Yadav, S. (2017). E-Governance in Urban Local Bodies: A Case Study of
Haryana Municipal Corporation. International Journal of Applied Research, 3(2),
290-295.
7.
Goyal,
N., & Goyal, A. (2016). E-Governance Initiatives in Haryana Municipal
Corporations: A Study of Gurgaon Municipal Corporation. Journal of Emerging
Technologies and Innovative Research, 3(9), 206-210.
8.
Verma,
S., & Bansal, S. (2016). E-Governance Initiatives in Municipal
Corporations: A Study of Haryana. International Journal of Scientific Research
and Management, 4(6), 521-525.
9.
Sharma,
R., & Bhatia, S. (2022). A Study on E-Governance in Urban Local Bodies: A
Case of Haryana Municipal Corporations. International Journal of Advanced
Research in Computer Science and Software Engineering, 6(2), 21-27.
10.
Yadav,
M., & Yadav, V. (2015). E-Governance Initiatives in Haryana Municipal
Corporations: A Study of Rohtak Municipal Corporation. International Journal of
Research in Management & Social Science, 3(7), 40-46.