UPSC 2018 GS-II · 10 marks · 150 words

E-governance is not only about utilization of the power of new technology, but also much about the critical importance of the ‘use value’ of information. Explain.

What “Explain” demands

set out how or why something works, with the mechanism made explicit.

The characteristic failure: stating that it works without showing how.

What a top answer must contain

These are the checkable specifics from the marking standard for this question — the actual case, committee, datum or thinker, not an instruction to “give examples”.

Use value: information matters only when it is actionable, timely, accessible in the citizen's language, and trusted
SMART governance and the four pillars — people, process, technology, resources (2nd ARC's 11th Report on e-Governance)
Working examples: e-NAM price discovery, DBT and JAM plumbing, Bhoomi land records, CPGRAMS grievance loop
Failure mode: digitised but unusable data — portals with no vernacular support, dashboards no one acts on, exclusion by authentication failure
Frame: technology as means, citizen outcome as end; Digital India and NeGP as the policy scaffolding

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E-governance is not only about utilization of the power of new technology, but also much about the critical importance of the ‘use value’ of information. Explain.

What a top answer must contain

Now write it, and find out what you actually scored

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