E-Government to Help Fight Against Corruption
E-Government to Help Fight Against Corruption
According to the statistics have been released recently, Iran does not enjoy a good position in terms of developing the e-government despite hypes by the ITC ministry and as per reports, the country has slumped three places in the new ranking of the UN E-Government Development Index (EGDI) and now it ranks 89th.

TEHRAN (Iran News) – According to the statistics have been released recently, Iran does not enjoy a good position in terms of developing the e-government despite hypes by the ITC ministry and as per reports, the country has slumped three places in the new ranking of the UN E-Government Development Index (EGDI) and now it ranks 89th.

The EGDI assesses  e-government development at a national level and is based on three components: online service index, telecommunication infrastructure index and the human capital index. According to the UN, e-government is a key factor in order to advance the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Human Capital Index (HCI) based on data provided by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and one-third from the Online Service Index (OSI) based on data collected from an independent survey questionnaire, conducted by UNDESA, which assesses the national online presence of all 193 United Nations Member States.

E-government (short for electronic government) is the use of technological communications devices, such as computers and the Internet, to provide public services to citizens and other persons in a country or region.

The e-government is one of the most important events in the lives of the people which is formed through using the information technology and telecommunication and its implementation has had huge impact in running and leading the countries as well as the personal lifestyles. So the process for developing and implementing the e-government is a comprehensive and dynamic process.

The importance of developing the e-government and its implementation in the recent two decades in the country has always been one of the national policy-making and legislative issues and claiming the second place in the region in terms of the e-government is understandable in this context.

According to the Fifth Development Plan, the indexes for developing the e-government should be devised in a way that Iran moves to the second place in this field in the region by the end of the plan.

Despite the significance of the e-government, statistics released by the ITC ministry of the Islamic Republic of Iran show that e-government in the country is not in the good and favorable condition despite some claims and works, and Iran’s place in the EGDI ranking has improved from 106th in 2016 to 89th in 2020 but the last ranking shows it has slumped three places comparing to 2019. Despite this improvement in recent years, the average index of development of the e-government is higher in the world and Iran needs to work harder to improve it.

The outbreak of coronavirus has been a good opportunity for the country to improve the infrastructures and facilities for the e-government. The e-government is the best way to combat financial corruption, evading tax payments, transparency and rent-seeking and if the government improves it, then the number of is financial offences and irregularities in the country will drop or will be easily traced.

Despite the slogan of the government for improving the virtual life, combatting the corruption and improving the e-services, it has failed to improve the condition in the world ranking while the pandemic has been the best opportunity for it.

According to the EDGI ranking, South Korea is the top country in the Asia in terms of its e-government and the second one in the world after Denmark. The EGDI assesses e-government development at a national level and is based on three components: online service index, telecommunication infrastructure index and the human capital index. So revenues of the countries are the key factor in achieving the higher places in the e-government rankings.

So the governments have to take practical actions to boost Iran’s place in the rankings and currently the country is not in a good position in terms of information and telecommunication field and its position is totally in contradiction with what has been stipulated in its developmental outlook plans.

Since the world is moving towards smartization, focusing and investing in the information and technology sector for connecting the smart cities is a must and lack of attention or indifference to it will lead to irreparable damages in the long term and it will help the financial irregularities and other financial offences to increase and it will harm the Islamic Republic of Iran and its people’s image  which are model country for progress and fight against injustice.