E-currency system: an instrument of efficient governance

It has been said that this is an age of information technology. Introduction of computers and networks in the information technology have revolutionized not only the Information technology but it also made a huge impact on business world and scientific research.
But if we imagine the power of technology, we will realize that it is still underutilized. When the information will reach to fingertips of the common man and the poorest of the poor can benefit from it, then only we can say that it is an age of information technology.
Despite of the revolution in IT, we witness widespread illiteracy, inefficient public distribution systems, corrupt public administrations and growing corporate malpractices.
The IT in real terms has the power to curb all these things. There is only a need to harness its power in proper direction. For that, bold steps must be taken by our leaderships in all arenas.
E-currency system is an attempt to fully utilize the power of IT in reviving information and control system of the state. It can then be extended as a system of empowering poorest of the poor.

Problems with the current information systems
There is a time dimension to the information. The information must be available at the right time then only it is utilized efficiently. The problems with the information systems of today are that they are far from being real time systems. Governments have to manually collect the data and then manually process it. This is not only a time consuming process but also a very erroneous process. With the huge growth in population and also in the sizes of the governments and their roles as welfare states, these systems are generating the evils like corruption and unequal and imbalanced growth. The governments are far from being efficient. And this is a global phenomenon. This inefficient governance is a main culprit of depriving many people in the third world countries from right kind of knowledge and hence the technological advances in these countries are also poor which only helps them in lagging behind the world.
What is e-Governance?
In simple terms Electronic Governance can be defined as giving citizens the choice of when and where they access government information and services. While e-Governance entails the processes used to provide services to the public, e-government is the tool to accomplish e-Governance.
Putting the citizen at the center of government means taking a delivery channel view. This would mean using more and more of Electronics & Information Technology in many of the government functions.
There are three aspects to the e-Governance - a) IT enabling the government functions -something similar to back-office automation; b) Web-enabling the government functions so that the citizens will have a direct access; and c) improving Government processes so that openness, accountability, effectiveness and efficiency may be achieved.
Typically, this would mean web-enabled applications, but e-Governance would also cater to automated applications for the government sector, which helps in achieving SMART governance which some define as -
Simple
Moral
Accountable
Responsive and
Transparent Governance
According to one school of thought, e-Governance is not just about government web site and e-mail. It is not just about service delivery over the Internet. It is not just about digital access to government information or electronic payments. It will change how citizens relate to governments as much as it changes how citizens relate to each other. It will bring forth, new concepts of citizenship, both in terms of needs and responsibilities.

Is the e-governance a solution?
The solution definitely lies in e-governance. Government cannot exist or function in isolation. For a government to operate effectively, a government-community-citizen infrastructure should be in place. This would result in a sturdy and meaningful information flow between the government and citizens of a nation.
A close-knit infrastructure would yield two fold benefits, which would save time and money for
all concerned:
First, citizens can enjoy faster, effective and timely government services. This would also evolve a culture of self-service wherein citizens can help themselves wherever and whenever required.
Secondly, government can become more integrated into the community itself. Also government can focus its resources where they are needed the most. Governments across developing nations worldwide have more challenges and responsibilities to bring their nations at par with the developed nations. To face such challenges, government can bring in e-Governance reforms. E-Governance offers a new way forward, helping improve government processes, connect citizens, and build interactions with and within civil society.
What reform has e-Governance has in store? According to one school of thought, at root it provides three basic change potentials for good governance for development:
• Automation: replacing current human-executed processes, which involve accepting, storing, processing, outputting or transmitting information. For example, the automation of existing clerical functions.
• Informatisation: supporting current human-executed information processes. For example, supporting current processes of decision-making, communication, and decision implementation.
• Transformation: supporting new human-executed information processes. For example, creating new methods of public service delivery.
These change potentials, in turn, can bring – singly or in combination – five main benefits to
governance for development:
Efficiency gains:
• Governance that is cheaper: producing the same outputs at lower total cost.
• Governance that does more: producing more outputs at the same total cost.
• Governance that is quicker: producing the same outputs at the same total cost in less time.
Effectiveness gains:
• Governance that works better: producing the same outputs at the same total cost in the same time, but to a higher quality standard.
• Governance that is innovative: producing new outputs.
Hence, with e-Governance, a reinvigorated, digital-era government is at hand. When governments, citizens, and private sector partners redefine and reengage their roles, better government—better governance—will be the result.

E-Currency system
E-currency system means electronic currency system. It enables real time recording of all the monetary transactions. It also stores data of all resources including human resources and also stores the changes in their value, location etc.
It consists of centralized server (or group of servers) which stores following type of data
1. human data and data of their wealth, education and etc.
2. data of various organisations and their products ,services, human resources and raw materials used etc.
3. geographical data of all the resources.
The other component of e-currency system is pocket-size instrument (similar to mobile phone) which will be owned by every person living in the territory of the country and by every entity which gets involved in monetary transaction (like various organisations). These pocket size instruments are such that one can make monetary transactions with them and will be able to communicate these transactions to central server. It will also store the data of its owner. It will act as most necessary document which is required for the survival within the country. Thus every birth will be recorded and no illegal migrant will be able to survive in the country.
E-currency system thus is efficient accounting system. One can query the system (with the help of computers) to extract the whatever kind of information. One can send this information to anyone’s pocket size instrument . And thus it also becomes the most efficient and effective information system. Government can also use these facilities and can control the welfare activities.
It thus promises maximum transparency in the public life and ensures corruption free state.
Lets call pocket size instruments as e-currencies and the whole system as E-Currency System.

Feasibility of E-Currency System
Implementation of e-currency system is the most challenging task. But with the help of extensive requirement analysis , system analysis and system design it will be certainly a simplified effort. But before that, one must be sure about feasibility of the system. Though feasibility analysis is out of the scope of this project, it is pertinent here to discuss it in brief.
The feasibility has to be checked from two point of views:
1.Technological Feasibility
2. Socio-Economic Feasibility
Though the aim of this project is not to establish the feasibility of the e-currency system, it is pertinent to discuss it briefly.
Technological Feasiblity
The current development in the computer hardware, networking , database management technologies and wireless communication is mind boggling. We can see the growth in cell phone users. Ultimately the aim of cell phone companies is to sell their cell phones to each and every person in this country. If that is possible then the e-currency system is also possible. Current object oriented database management systems can ensure storage of vast amount of data and also its evolution in the process of time. Countries like India have extensive network setup. They also have the command over satellite communication. India is a upcoming superpower in Information technology. Considering these factors, the country like India should not face a technological problem.
Socio-Economic Feasibility
In the third world country like india, there is a huge illiterate population. One can say that this population will not be able to use e-currency. But we must remember that these illiterate people can operate TVs, Radios, Cell Phones and many other kinds of machines. These illiterate people can do their monetary transactions despite of not been able to read anything. This is an ample justification for imposing e-currency system on them. Because ultimately good governance will be the most helpful thing that can happen to them.
As per as the cost of e-currency system one must consider that india does not have a good technology to manufacture processor chips which are used in pocket-size instruments. Importing these chips and then manufacturing the pocket-size instruments is certainly an costly proposition. One must keep in mind that on current prices a cell-phone instrument costs around Rs 3000. Considering the population of around 1 billion , the project cost will become unmanageable. Therefore it is necessary to acquire microprocessor-chip technology. Once india has that technology, we can definitely be able to make such instruments by 100-300 Rs. (Considering the mass-production of billions). This definitely makes the project more viable. One can expect india acquiring such technology shortly considering the rapid research growing on this field.
India has the enough public administration setup to distribute these instruments. But the most difficult task is data-entry. Whole historical data is needed to be entered in the centralized database system. This is the task which may take years. But if managed correctly, it can open the door for large-scale employment.
Thus the e-currency system remains a very difficult system to implement. But considering the huge amount of benefits which it can bring it is desirable to implement such kind of system. Only leadership with great vision and self-belief can take such bold step to implement this system.