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"The biggest challenge in India is leadership. This could be a stumbling block. The tiers are too many", says Mr. Abdullah.

COIMBATORE, Feb. 26

EVEN as various government departments are striving to automate their processes, the President of the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA), Mr Abdul Hamid Bin Abdullah of Singapore, has observed that mere computerisation of government operations is not eGovernance.

Stressing the need for integrating various services, he said it was not enough if some applications were automated as even these worked in isolation.

Explaining the system in his home country - Singapore, Mr. Abdullah asked "how would you communicate a change of address? Write a separate letter to each and every department... from postal, to telephone, to the passport office, vehicle registration authority, gas agency etc? Mind boggling", he said and pointed out that in Singapore, the person had to notify only one department and the records in the rest would automatically be updated. "The system will have to be integrated for communication to be effective," he said.

He said that the national computerisation plan was started in the early 80s in Singapore. There were 6 strategic thrust areas, namely, knowledge-based workplace, electronic service delivery, technology experimentation, operational efficiency improvement, adaptive and robust infrastructure and public education, apart from the three components of eServices like G2C (government to Companies), G2B and G2E (employees) and many agencies. When asked if a similar model could be implemented in India, pat came his reply - `the biggest challenge in India is leadership. This could be a stumbling block. To make eGovernance successful, the leader should give up certain powers, share information, work in unison with all the governmental agencies, have a vision (say beyond 20 years), build confidence and trust among the members. The tiers are too many', he added.

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