allotted to the most pressing issue.
The proposal for the new system was put by Upendra in the Gram Sabha in order to seek the opinion of the people on the project. Before doing this, he had briefed all regarding the likely benefits the project would bring into the village. The proposal was then put to vote by the show of hands. However, contradictory to his belief, the proposal was rejected by a margin of 30 to 91 in the Gram Sabha. Upendra was quite concerned as the Sarpanch and Gramsevak voted against it.
On occasions, Upendra overheard people saying,“ What use is e-Government when our own local government can ' t function properly?“ Or“ Who benefits from it and what do I get from it? These are just the tantrums of the rich”. There were some more rational queries like“ why do we need IT systems when labour is so cheap? Where do we get all the funds to set it up?” He had begun to sense the skepticism in people ' s voices. The volunteers who had failed at their task due to language barriers and education were also not much in favour of the new system. It was not easy for them, but no overhauling is ever easy, thought Upendra when he heard them. His only concern was how to prove it.
These were not Upendra ' s only concerns. Chandrapur area was quite rich in minerals and had few big industries located around it. There was a sort of clout that the owners of these industries exercised over the public servants. The area was full of corporate lobbyists who, he was quite certain would create hindrances in the project. They had several popular techniques for the same which included strike, roadblock agitations and the like. This system was supposed to bring in transparency, which would make them lose their position of power, since they usurp a lot of benefits through the chaos in the system. In fact when the news of Upendra ' s pilot project reached few of them, Upendra received few threatening calls demanding him to stop the so called“ wasteful work” he was going to do, or be prepared for dire consequences. But having worked in social sector for about 3 years and having faced such downs, Upendra was strong enough to turn a blind ear to such threats.
Apart from this, the Right to Information( RTI) privilege was being used in stalling the constructive work of the government.
As described by Forest officer Mr. Pathan,“ Normally the RTI activists approach the government officers, make cordial relations with them and then extract some information from them about their work. If some minor anomaly is found, they file a RTI petition and a large chunk of the officer ' s energy and resources would be spent in dealing with it, further delaying his work.”
Many of the government servants in the area were now unsure whether or not to cooperate with the people, lest they themselves be trapped.
The people in the villages had little or no knowledge of the computers and were quite reluctant to learn. When Upendra approached the Gramsevak in Jivti village, he told Upendra that he was too old now to gain any computer knowledge and would rather prefer the paper pencil method. A huge amount of training would be needed in order to transform to the new system and it would involve cost as well as efforts.
Upendra was looking outside the office window thinking of how to overcome the structural challenges and the people issues. On one hand, the idea of the system looked extremely promising, while on the other, people were so very reluctant to bring in any change in their ways of work and their mind sets.
! What are the issues pertaining to the implementation of E-governance in the rural setting?
! How exactly can accountability and vigilance over authentic data generation be increased on the ground level?
! What should the approach be toward change management in this case?
! How could the issues identified before be addressed in a scalable and sustainable manner?
! Mention the steps to be taken to make the solution sustainable.
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EXHIBITS
Exhibit 1: Overview of the UNICEF programs in Chandrapur
UNICEF runs several operations in the Chandrapur district of Maharashtra. These programs include
! Deepshikha program- a program for adolescent girls ' empowerment through the medium of Prerikas( inspirers) – women and adolescent girls trained by UNICEF and who spread awareness about the health related practices and also enable them through help and consulting in setting up small scale businesses of their own.
! Micro-planning program- Program analyses the various needs of the people and then needs are prioritized. The request for government funds is done according to these priorities so that the money is used for addressing the real issues and not just being used for unnecessary or low priority agendas.
! School sanitation program-Program aims at providing the school children a good environment to study and play. It has the purpose of improving the quality of
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