Dear All
Many of us have experienced difficulty in obtaining correct/uptodate information from Government websites. This has led to a number of questions:
- Why were such portals launched
- Were the websites designed and developed 'in house' or 'outsourced', if so,
- at what cost?
- Whose responsibility is it for updating the static contents?
- Who is handling the back end operations and at what cost?
- Are there any AMCs?
- If so, what is the expenditure being incurred annually?
- Has the purpose of launching such websites been served?
Majority of the portals of government departments were launched as a 'fashion statement' during early 2000s. Due to lack of expertise in creating websites they were outsourced to some smart alec tech firms who milked these departments with a limited edition of website and made it sound bombastic in their web designing, static contents and back end operations. Some entered into long term annual maintenance contracts and some passed on the maintenance and updating job to the owner of the department concerned and washed off their hands.
- e.Governance is slowly picking up but a lot remains to be done. Even though Karnataka is a pioneer in IT, it is lagging behind in its application for reaching out to grassroots level.
If Prajas can browse some known websites of government departments and make some observations, it is possible government may resort to some surgery and control+alt+del some portals and save money in their continued maintenance through outsourcing etc.
-Vasanthkumar Mysoremath
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BMTC Website
One of the funny websites is that of BMTCinfo which asks you to go round and round the three bus stations, Majestic/ Market/ Shivajinagar whenever you try to find a route you want to travel.
K.V.Pathy
Incomplete Government Websites
I have also observed that many of the Government Portals are incomplete and not updated regularly. I had also tried to put my observations to one of the government websites through the ‘contact admin’ link but the mail bounced! This is the present status.
I feel that before launching a website the departments should have a micro plan in place with all the details on maintainance, responsibility, progress, monitoring processes and indicators. These portals should be regularly evaluated on the basis of these indicators and necessary steps to be taken to address the gaps. An appraisal of the website can be thought of during regular intervals through a joint appraisal committee consisting of members from different walks so that their expertise can be made use of. Simultaneously it is necessary that the ‘admin’ or the ‘maintenance agency’ people be aware of whether their mail server is active or not!
Regards,Poornima.