If there is one thing to cheer about in a year blighted by the Covid-19 crisis it is the new style of governance that it has brought about. The conventional style of governance, where the physical presence of all those concerned was integral, has made way to virtual decision making in just the last eight months.
After the uncertainty that prevailed in the initial days of lockdown over how to go about with governance, the government machinery, that otherwise has resisted change, set in motion e-way -- where almost all activities including file movement, meetings, including even cabinet meetings, and decision making were made on virtual platforms.
“Essential public services and institutions have gained experience in overcoming the time-space constraints imposed by the pandemic through remote collaborative work, e-governance, streamlining of judicial process, etc,” says senior IAS officer and road safety commissioner B Ashok.
With its offices closed, government directed officials to use virtual platforms to discharge their official duty. Initially, such meetings were held out of compulsion and many were uncomfortable with the idea, but within a few months officials got accustomed to the process and started to vouch for virtual meetings over physical ones.
The government holds hundreds of meetings every day involving several officials, and these run from morning till evening, leaving them with no time for their specific duties. “More often, subordinate officials were asked to attend meetings on behalf of department heads in case of overlapping meetings. But now we can handle two meetings simultaneously while also attending to our assigned work,” said an officer in the secretariat in the rank of deputy secretary.
Almost all departments have now purchased either Google Meet or Zoom software, as the government has indicated that the virtual system of governance is here to stay.