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Advantages and Disadvantages of E Governance

Many nations followed the digital approach to carry out government projects allowing citizens to
complete their paperwork through electronic media. Countries like Estonia, Denmark, and Korea entirely
depend on e governance; many nations still struggle with accessing internet services, as India seems to
catch up with it. Although experts suggest digitization is the best way to accomplish government
development projects, many opine differently. The Advantages and Disadvantages of e governance shed
some light on both aspects.

What is E-Governance?

E-governance or electronic governance is the application of electronic equipment such as computer

programs or digital services for carrying out government development activities. All types of
communication, whether between the government or with outside resources, help maintain
transparency and facilitate the proper exchange of Information.

The communication between government and its citizens, employees, businesses etc., is carried out
through Information and communication technology. The online government policies and programs to
achieve various governance objectives like e-voting, Tax returns.

Most economies are now using e-governance to facilitate access to the common public, which was
difficult previously. Moreover, with the advent of the internet and electronic communication facilities,
Information can be made available on government websites and portals. The advancement of
technology has brought intellectuals to consider several pros and cons of e governance on the economy
and society.

Nations with e-governance are the UK, USA, China, Denmark, the Republic of Korea, Estonia, Finland,
Australia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the United States of America, the Netherlands,
Singapore, Iceland, Norway and Japan.
What are the Advantages of e-governance?

E-governance allows the public to participate in the government policies and get a clear idea of different
facilities available to them. The government need not spend money to make information open to the
public through different offline ways. The sole purpose of introducing digital channels is to reduce the
complexities of any activity from both governments and the public's end. Thus the advantages of e
governance account for both the system and the society.

1. High Speed System

Now the high-speed internet facilities and various cloud computing services make it possible for the
information to be stored and transferred quickly to the endpoint. This saves a lot of time, and actions
can be taken promptly once the government has the required information from the public.

Also, the public can be made aware as soon as possible of knowing their response.

People can register online for certificates or documents such as driver's licenses, government schemes,
or even maintain their health records in hospitals. The processes which took hours or even days to
complete manually are now doable within minutes and even seconds.

2. Cost Effective

The paperless mode of communication can help save a lot of money spend on files and documents used
to store information. Also, the maintenance of these documents needs laborious effort and lots of
space. Public records kept in the storage areas were also vulnerable to physical damage such as weather
or termites. On the contrary, records kept digitally are highly secure on cloud servers which are easy to
maintain and affordable to rent.

3. Transparent Communication

When the information is available, the citizens can entertain their right to information and access it
anywhere. These days, vital information is available on the internet on specific sites controlled and
maintained by the government. People can get to know the status of their applications or registrations;
they even can challenge the authorities to audit the development process. One of the commendable
advantages of e governance is you can access your saved details on the government's websites from
mobile, laptops, or desktops.

4. Accountability

Once the government policies are transparent, it increases its responsibility towards the people as the
public is more aware of its strategies and motives. The public can show their acceptability and
dissatisfaction towards any government initiative and increase the democratic nature of governance to a
broader extent.

5. Corruption Riddance is one the known advantages of e governance

One of the major benefits of transparency between the government and businesses/citizens is low
corruption. Since the significant reason for corruption is access to only government officials, the
involvement of the public can reduce the number of corrupt practices like bribes and scams.

According to the UN, the least developed nations such as Bangladesh and Cambodia have grown to
become leaders in digital government development, taming the corruption levels significantly.

What are the Disadvantages of egovernance?

Digitization is the solution to most problems economies face these days. However, e governance cannot
be successful if the public cannot access this online information available to them. This still can lead to
corrupt practices to offer information by the people having access to the system. Other disadvantages of
e governance are also worth putting into the light.

1. Lack of Confidentiality

However, the possibility of leaking private and confidential information increases with its availability
over the internet or computer. In addition, since the data is located on hard drives instead of files and
people themselves, the information can be easily stolen and transferred into the wrong hands.

2. Cybercrimes
Even cybercrimes are on the rise, leading to possible hacking and even misuse of government identity to
fulfil selfish needs. Numerous fake news websites are currently active on the internet, and anyone can
spread misleading information to gain some monetary benefits.

Duplicate websites operated by touts try to access and store people’s data for fraudulent activities, and
people can easily fall for scams if they are unaware of the reality.

3. Technical Failures are concerning disadvantages of e governance

All the machines are subjected to the risk of technical failure and maintenance issues. A system can
crash anytime, and if the files are not backed up correctly, it can lead to the loss of all critical
information available on the machine. Even heavy loads on the website can crash it, leading to
unavailability for some time.

4. Inadequate Training

Whether related to surveys, schemes, or health and welfare, public records must be handled by trained
professionals. They must also be well-versed in a new IT technology in the system. It requires training of
staff as well as citizens for its proper use.

This can increase government expenditure on training and publishing materials to help people grab the
basics of new technology. In some countries, there are a limited number of tech-savvy professionals
who know how to manage computers or work around new technology.

5. Illiteracy

As discussed above, if the public cannot understand the technology, they will not be able to get
information and will have to rely on other traditional methods. So implementing governance can never
become helpful if the end-user cannot acquire that info from the new techniques available to them.
Illiteracy, therefore, is one of the notable disadvantages of e governance as the authorities have to face
numerous difficulty during the data gathering process.

Conclusion of Pros and Cons of e governance

The use of e-governance in the traditional political system can help it to grow and work with new
techniques. The citizens can be made more aware of the government and its policies. They can access
required information through their phones or computer anytime with ease of being at their homes.
However, as any new technology is introduced, there are loopholes to be found to misuse, and the risk
of breaches in the system are higher than previously used methods.