Transparency is a word much bandied about these days. But what does it have to do with why developing nations are most plagued by disease, corruption, poverty, crime, and various other ills? Billions of dollars are poured into addressing these issues year after year in the developing world with little impact. How can a country break out of this unending vicious cycle when poor governmental practices are standard, when citizens do not trust their government, and corruption is accepted as a daily part of life? Most countries are unable to escape the evils of bad governance. However, one Indian state, Andhra Pradesh, is in the middle of a bold experiment to fundamentally change the way it governs its citizens, by using information and communication technology (ICT). Government processes have become more transparent, government more accountable, and there is a growing belief among citizens that the future can be different and exciting for all its citizens. Highlighting the specifics of this bold initiative will give governments in both the developed and the developing world clear examples of the how and why specific programs work.

Andhra Pradesh is the fifth-largest state in India. It covers an area of 275,068 square kilometers and has a multiethnic population of 76 million, 48 percent of whom are illiterate. Seventy percent of the population earns a living through agriculture. The average annual household income is $600—20 percent of the population live below the poverty line of $49 per year. Fifty percent of the homes have no electricity, and 69 percent do not have piped water. Only eight percent of the population has completed high school. Additionally, the state has 26 districts and three distinct geographical regions: Rayalseema, Coastal, and Telangana. Five languages are spoken in Andhra Pradesh: Telugu, Urdu, Hindi, Tamil, and English.

Nara Chandrababu Naidu, President of Telugu Desam Party, became chief minister of Andhra Pradesh in 1995. His governmental reforms and popularity got him reelected in 1999. Mr. Naidu is often referred to as the CEO of Andhra Pradesh because of his atypical view of government and the state; rather than maintain the status quo and have AP languish as other Indian states, he wants the area to become India’s Silicon Valley. Political will, tenacity, and courage are needed to push E-Governance issues through to fruition, and the government of Andhra Pradesh has a leader in which all three are demonstrated.

In the late 1990s, the chief minister employed McKinsey & Co. to guide Andhra Pradesh in developing a comprehensive vision for the future. Vision 2020, a forward-looking document, was the outcome. Covering everything from agriculture, health care, education, industry, and more, Vision 2020 lays out what Andrha Pradesh will look like in 20 years and the hard challenges it must face to get there.^[1] One notable, recent outcome from Vision 2020 is the concept of a simple, moral, accountable, responsive, and transparent (SMART) government.^[2] Each component of the SMART acronym can be reached easier through the state’s E-Governance initiatives.

The principles of E-Governance (and the basic motivation—citizen centricity, at its most fundamental level) require a mind shift from an “institution-centered” (see Figure 1) view of government to a “citizen-centered” (see Figure 2) view of government.

Figure 1. Institution centered.

Figure 2. Citizen centered.

The traditional mindset of government employees can best be described as not service oriented. Anecdotally put, government workers will make your visit to their office as difficult as possible because they can. Little enthusiasm is displayed in their work and, consequently, the citizen suffers.

E-Governance simply harnesses the power of Information & Communication Technology to improve the interface with the government and provide tailored services to citizens. Four critical components must be in place for this to happen, and the government of Andhra Pradesh is intelligently pursuing all four:

Computerizing all departments in central and state governments in India is estimated at an intimidating cost of Rs. 350 billion and an effort of 130,000 person-years.^[4] The Public-Private Partnership model was created to make the task of E-Governance in Andhra Pradesh less formidable. Imperatives to provide high-quality infrastructure, a shortage of public funds, and profit motives in privately managed areas are reasons for the Public-Private Partnership concept.^[5]

E-Governance will involve implementing 1,500 applications across 160 departments at about 10,000 sites.^[6] The government uses the following unofficial rule of thumb to identify bundles for E-Governance: “Anywhere citizens are standing in line or using paper, there is opportunity for e-government.”^[7] Clearly, vast amounts of financial, managerial, and technical resources will be required. The Andhra Pradesh Infrastructure Department, which uses the Public-Private Partnership model, notes that private investment is hampered by inadequate legal framework, cumbersome procedures, delay in obtaining clearances, inadequate administrative support, threat of public interest, and inadequate grievance-handling mechanisms.^[8] Andhra Pradesh is addressing each factor to make the investment environment easy for private companies.

Andhra Pradesh is extending the Public-Private Partnership model to every facet of development in the state from biotechnology to education to international airports. Private enterprises are scurrying to lay fiber-optic cable through the entire state, and every village is scheduled to have Internet access within 12 months. Considering the initiatives that have begun, it is reasonable to assume that the Public-Private Partnership will drive the development of Andhra Pradesh in many ways.

Among the many E-Governance initiatives being implemented, one best represents the spirit of the social transformation, and that is the eSeva Centers. The routine interactions between citizens with the government are facilitated by computer hubs called eSeva Centers. The government converted old offices into eSeva Centers and outsources the day-to-day operations to private companies, in keeping with the Public-Private Partnership model. Using a self-operated token system, citizens seek different government services.

The eSeva Centers operate from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., making them convenient. The service itself operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, over the Internet through www.esevaonline.com. The centers have an average staff of 24 members, with a minimum of 16 and a maximum of 44.^[9] Citizens are not charged for using the service, but the utilities are billed Rs. 5 per transaction regardless of the transaction amount. Payment is accepted through check, cashier’s check, cash, or credit card. The transactions update the department databases in real time. To pay over the Internet, eSeva has partnered with regional banks for direct-debit transactions. The services are used by an average of 1,000 citizens per day, ranging from 400 to 2,000.^[10] Being a networked system, citizens can pay their bills in any of the locations. A citizen is not bound by the region in which he or she lives or works.

The eSeva operators are provided with a secure Web browser that prevents any tampering with the system or accounts. The operators can only enter data and take prints of receipts. The software is cleverly designed to prevent operators from altering the system and stores detailed transaction information, making every interaction completely transparent. Every single customer we spoke to testified that there was no element of corruption.

From the urban to the rural eSeva Centers, customers embrace the system because it saves an enormous amount of time. The government targets completing each transaction in 90 seconds.^[11] A citizen can pay all her bills at one counter in a center instead of traveling all over the city trying to connect with various agencies of the government. If one so wishes, she can avail all 45 services in one sitting. The time saved is more critical for the poor and the middle-class than it is for the elite; the middle class miss work and the poor are kept from their hourly wages under the traditional way of making payments.

Increased connectivity will considerably affect all of Andhra Pradesh. The eSeva timeline can be envisioned in four stages: eSeva kiosks will mushroom all over Andhra Pradesh: in banks, malls, grocery stores, and gas stations. The government of Andhra Pradesh will reach its citizens wherever they are and whenever they want. Initially, eSeva operators will be required to run the machine and help customers with transactions; down the road, these kiosks will not have attendants. At this point, customers will not want to spend the time traveling to eSeva Centers; they will be comfortable transacting over the Internet on their own. One example is citizens using bank ATMs to both withdraw cash and apply for a passport. A driver that will make an eSeva Center redundant is digital watermarking technology coupled with a suitable legal framework. The eSeva kiosk will print out legal documents such as caste certificates at the click of a button. Digital watermarking ensures the certificate is generated from an authorized government server. An upward swing in technology coupled with increased eSeva adaptability will result in mobile transactions over eSeva. All these four stages may take place simultaneously and in pockets with significant momentum in the method of eSeva usage at every stage. Ultimately, the eSeva initiative will cease to exist by realizing what it hoped to achieve: to reduce the interface between the citizen and the government.

A number of other Andhra Pradesh E-Governance initiatives also help form the collective effort to use Information and Communications Technologies to improve governance processes. All are intended to eliminate poverty, illiteracy, and corruption, to transform the state in a way consistent with the government’s vision statement:

The many other companion initiatives include Public-Private Partnerships leading to improved transportation, housing, education, agricultural services, water, and sewage—in short, almost all aspects of formerly governmental activities and services have shifted their focus to the needs of citizens.

A key aspect of E-Governance initiatives in general is the increased transparency afforded to citizens. For water board customers, one benefit has been in the area of resolving grievances. Historically, customers had to lodge a complaint at one of the water board offices in the city.^[13] The only guarantee the citizen had was that someone would write the complaint down. After that, the chances of having management track, much less worry about, an individual’s complaint was slim; no centralized databank was available for analysis.^[14] Management had no incentive or motivation to follow up. Even if management did want to systematically track a specific individual’s complaint, it was nearly impossible. In fact, the only chance he or she would have of tracking a complaint from inception would be if it were lodged at the head office.^[15] These two critical aspects of grievance resolution depended upon the interest of the government official (whose interest level often increased with the level of bribe paid).

In 1999, for instance, the board launched the Metro Customer Care program in hope of increasing customer service. Customers can call a toll-free telephone number and lodge water and sanitation complaints.^[16] This system operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.^[17] “The hotline is staffed at water board headquarters by 13 trained operators, who log each complaint in detail into a computer database and relay it directly to the section manager in whose jurisdiction the customer lives. Once the section manager resolves the complaint, he or she completes a compliance report, asks the customer to sign it, and submits it to the Metro Customer Care system.”^[18] A trend analysis is completed on which geographical zones receive the most complaints. Medium- and long-term funding decisions can be made for areas that need upgrading the most. Additionally, this performance information is available for everyone to see, so there is peer pressure for managers to perform. Customers can also lodge complaints via the board’s Web site. The water board managing director and other superior officers have immediate access to complaints and routinely monitor complaint status. If action is warranted on their part, perhaps because of the inaction of a low-level manager, it is swiftly taken. In fact, customers themselves might receive phone calls from the managing director or other officers and be asked about the level of support they received and their satisfaction.^[19]

A traditional government, through public audit, adheres to an idea of “accountability for compliance”—that is, the government ensures the public that money is being spent in ways that comply with both laws and regulations.^[20] The Andhra Pradesh government, however, wants to move beyond this mode of thinking and achieve an idea of “accountability for results.” Outcomes are now monitored as is the impact of particular policies and actions, and this monitoring still includes, as a subset, the idea of accountability for compliance.^[21]

The Online Performance Monitoring System focuses on the outcomes and impacts of specific actions, leading to a “results-based management” approach to governance.^[22] Every functionary in every department is graded on two sets of indicators: performance (weighted 70 percent) and process (weighted 30 percent).^[23] Performance indicators, generally speaking, are the deliverables and outputs of each department. Annual targets are set and agreed on in the first three months of the new calendar year with discussions between department heads and government executives. Averages from the past three years’ targets plus a certain growth percentage are used in generating performance indicators.^[24] There is no set number of performance indicators. Process indicators are specific to each functionary and are based on three items: (1) tours and inspections (2) file disposal and (3) action in important matters.^[25] File disposal refers to closing out any file that has been generated. Action in important matters is a very nebulous category that can include, but is not limited to, vigilance cases, department inquiries, and audit reports.^[26] Little negotiation, if any, takes place in these determinations. A quarterly and mid-year review is conducted for both performance and process indicators.^[27]

The chief minister holds monthly, sometimes weekly, video teleconferences with all 26 district collectors. The chief minister is located in the state’s capital, Hyderabad, and each district collector is located in his or her respective district headquarters. Each collector has a room with more than 50 support staff personnel with him or her during the videoconference. The press is given full and open access to the meetings; in fact, they record the entire five-hour meetings.

Various subjects are covered throughout the meetings, with the chief minister driving the discussions. Significant time is spent on the issue of drought-remediation actions taken by the mandals, particularly the drilling of additional bore wells. The chief minister uses data from the Online Performance Monitoring System and requires that the district collectors explain any negative trends. It is very evident when a particular district collector is not familiar with the data that has been entered. The exchange takes place in front of more than 1,000 government employees across the state, plus the press. The pressure to perform in front of peers is a huge motivational factor for the district collectors.

The chief minister also uses this forum to discuss public-opinion numbers. Each district collector is asked why things are going poorly in his or her mandal and what he or she plans to do about it. It is evident during the meetings that many figures that had been input into the system are not the “actual” numbers, but just placeholders entered by the cut-off time, four hours before the meeting. Staff scramble to present the chief minister with appropriate numbers, especially when the new numbers are better than the fictitious ones. Transparency such as this, in front of the press, is forcing government officials to embrace the Online Performance Monitoring System. Also, they must now pay attention to the citizen and only perform actions that are really important.

During these meetings, the chief minister chooses a random subject to explore in depth. At one particular meeting, commodity prices was the subject. The officer in charge of this was caught, and subsequently embarrassed, because he had just entered data to enter data. Quite often, his commodity prices were off by a factor of 10 or 100! Undoubtedly, this particular gentleman will input proper data from now on. No doubt, seeing one’s peers publicly embarrassed will have district collectors ensuring proper data is input by their staffs. According to the chief minister, “The employees know that someone is watching their performance like never before.”^[28]

Andhra Pradesh is in the midst of a great social transformation as it attempts to fundamentally alter the way it governs its citizens. Legacy systems, employee resistance, and organizational inertia in the government of Andhra Pradesh are working against new processes; however, the friction they create is diminishing every day. The government of Andhra Pradesh is not quite the uncomfortable burden it once was and is slowly beginning to build trust and credibility with the citizens it serves. The impact of E-Governance will be experienced internally by government of Andhra Pradesh employees, be increasingly evident in citizen-government and business-government interfaces, and be a dominant motivator for change in outside governments. Today, E-Governance in Andhra Pradesh is a molehill whose full impact is yet to be witnessed; this hill will quickly become a mountain that cannot be ignored. We cannot predict the future of E-Governance in Andhra Pradesh, but we can definitely imagine it.^[29] Andhra Pradesh is on its way to be the model state for regions all over the world.