E - Governance ?

Can e-Governance help eliminate corruption  ?

Most certainly

Look at the following , partial list of Central and State Agencies set up to fight fraud , money-laundering , corruption , tax-evasion , economic crimes etc :

>  Public Accounts Committee           (  PAC  )

>  Central Vigilance Commission        (  CVC  )

>  Central Information Commission     (  CIC  )

>  Research and Analysis Wing           (  RAW  )

>  Serious Fraud Investigation Office   (  SFIO  )

>  Information Bureau                        (  IB   )

>  Economic Offence Wing                   (  EOW  )

>  Central Bureau of Investigation        (  CBI  )

>  Department of Revenue Intelligence (  DIR  )

>  Comptroller and Auditor General       (  CAG  )

>  Anti Corruption Bureaus ( States ).... (  ACB  )

>  Enforcement Directorate                    (  ED   )

>  Lok  Ayukts    (  States   )

>  Lok Pal           ( Central  )

 

Despite such an army of Agencies , how do corrupt manage to get away  ?

Or , in case caught , manage to delay delivery of punishment for years  ?

No doubt , there must be several reasons , including , inter - agency rivalry to get credit - something difficult to eliminate altogether

But , I believe , the most important reason is :

Lack of a COMMON  / COMPUTERIZED database of all offences / cases / persons being investigated

And , which is readily " Accessible " to all of these Agencies , all over the country ( 24 * 365 )

Already , every Agency compiles huge dossiers on " Suspects " in its own 

" Departmental Database " , which is never shared with other Agencies ,

leading to ,

>   Huge amount of duplication of efforts / information

>   Fractured / scattered profiles of " Suspects "

>   Enormous waste of time / resources

What will help  ?

>  Dismantling of individual departmental databases

>  Merging of all Agency-wise databases into a SINGLE / UNIQUE database

>  All Agencies to enter their findings / data / info into this COMMON

     database , with nothing preserved on local computers

>  All data-entry FORMS to be ONLINE . No paper forms at all

>  All local computers connected to ultra-secure Network ( Encrypted )

>  " Access Rights " to individuals , based on Biometric Identification

Will BJP want to make this , a prominent promise in their Poll-Manifesto , likely to be released on 7th April  ?  ( Congress /  AAP missed this boat  ! )

It is high time political parties stop talking of motherhood in vague terms and start telling the voters ,

" If you vote us to power , this is precisely what we will do , to bring about E-GOVERNANCE  - and do it within 6 months of assuming power "

*  hemen  parekh  (  04  April  2014  /  Mumbai )