e-Governance or ‘electronic governance’ is basically the application of Information and Communications Technology to the processes of Government functioning in order to bring about ‘Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive and Transparent’ (SMART) governance. This would generally involve the use of ICTs by government agencies for any or all of the following reasons: (a) Exchange of information with citizens, businesses or other government departments (b) Speedier and more efficient delivery of public services (c) Improving internal efficiency (d) Reducing costs / increasing revenue (e) Re-structuring of administrative processes and (f) Improving quality of services. Stages of e-Governance:- The Indian experience demonstrates that the onset of e-Governance proceeded through the following phases:- a) Computerisation :- The use of computers in the government offices began with word processing, quickly followed by data processing. b) Networking :- In this phase, some un...
The Constituent Assembly – The Debates The elections to the Constituent Assembly were held in July, 1946. Its first meeting took place on December 9, 1946. The long debate on the Objectives Resolution highlighted the fact that a large section of the Constituent Assembly felt the need for a centralized republic with a strong Centre. Nevertheless, it was willing to accept the scheme of a limited Centre and autonomous units with residuary powers, envisaged in the Objectives Resolution, in order to secure the co-operation of the Muslim League in the task of framing the Constitution for a united India. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was cheered by the House when he declared that so far as he was personally concerned, he would like to have a strong Centre as envisaged in Government of India Act of 1935. He recognized, however, that “these wishes have no bearing on the situation at all.” Federal Structure of the Constitution The Constitution seeks and defines India to be ‘Union of S...
