Creating Public Services 4.0: Sustainable Digital Architecture for Public Services in India

Abstract

Public Service Delivery (PSD), a basic responsibility of any democratic nation, is understood as the equitable, transparent and efficient deliverance of various public goods and services to its citizens. Prudent application of digital technologies, particularly Emerging Technologies (ETs) and associated software applications, can serve as a valuable tool to catalyse governance towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While adhering to the principles of good governance. In view of this, the present study is an attempt to first elucidate some global best practices of ETs such as Artificial Intelligence, blockchain, robotic process automation, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality to articulate the objectives of similar technology application in inspirational terms for PSD in India. Second, it summarises the challenges about the utilisation and exploitation of such technology implementations in the context of developing countries such as India. Based on learnings emanating from these two objectives, the study establishes that a refurbished approach towards digital governance is the need of the hour. This new approach must be citizen-centric, innovative and citizen-inclusive, as the literature affirms that civic participation is a prerequisite while deploying digital technologies. This inspires the authors to propose a model that is co-created with citizens to address the contextual needs and aspirations of citizenry. The successful implementation of the proposed model insists on the presence of a flexible and responsive legal and regulatory system too. The present study may be useful for public administrators and policy makers in understanding the Indian character of using and creating a sustainable digital architecture for PSD that would go a long way in revamping Public Services 4.0 under the ambit of newer Government 4.0 to achieve SDGs by 2030.

Keywords

Public Service Delivery Digital Technologies Emerging Technologies Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Introduction

India has been using the traditional service delivery approach since the pre-Independence days. Citizens as the ultimate beneficiaries of services play a central role and have always beseeched quality and social equity from the Public Service Delivery (PSD) ecosystem. PSD as a concept also has an insistence about measuring its performance through recurring accountability (Almqvist et al., 2013). However, this has not been always easy, especially since developing and diversified countries such as India face many forms of deviations that might weaken accountability processes or even demean it to be redundant. To overcome it, digital technologies have been utilised as tools by several democratic countries to achieve accountability in PSD. In India, too, there is an urgent need to replace the traditional arrangement for newer and more appropriate digital paradigm that might ensure accountability and equitability. The present article is an academic endeavour in this direction.

Select Literature and Existing Models

Governments have started encouraging reforms and innovations by liberally adopting digital technologies in the governance realm (Magno & Serafica, 2001). Several attempts have been made to relook at the PSD ecosystem. For instance, the ETVX model (ATIWB, n.d.) provides ‘E’ntry criteria, which must be satisfied before a set of PSD tasks can be performed, insists on the set of ‘T’asks to be performed, followed by the ‘V’erification and validation process to ensure that the tasks have been performed correctly, followed by the e’X’it criteria or the outputs of the tasks. The ETVX model also maps various PSD actors as ‘prime’ and ‘supporting’ actors and clearly delineates their respective functions, viz. delegation, finance, performance, information about performance and enforceability in the PSD ecosystem. It further insists that the expectations of the prime actor (citizens/clients) should ideally set the threshold accountability values for the successful execution of the public service. Such an approach is called the ‘citizen-centric’ approach. This approach asserts that it is not the services, products, service providers or technology, but the ‘citizens’ who must be at the centre stage of the ecosystem and its strategies (Fors & Moreno, 2002). Malhotra (2015) builds on it to put forth that citizen-centricity is ideally possible only through active involvement of the citizens. The collective heading for these theories is the ‘bottom-up approach’. This increasing collaborative engagement of all its stakeholders, especially citizens, on public issues of concern has ushered in a new non-hierarchal model of governance, being generally referred to, in the literature, as ‘governance network’ (Haas, 2004). Involving citizens is the core of democratic governance, which leads to efficiency and efficacy of the governance processes with a number of other advantages (Goldsmith & Eggers, 2004). The SDGs (UNDP, 2015), too, insist on digital technologies as a means to ensure collective action among various governance stakeholders. Respecting these diverse but relevant literature ruminations, it is, therefore, not an exaggeration to reaffirm that collaborative and participatory form of governance is here to stay and that citizens must be at the nuclei, the start point and the endpoint of all public services.

Research Gaps

The literature fails to present one holistic model that threads all these diverse literature ruminations on PSD, accountability, citizen-centricity, citizen-inclusiveness, innovation and digital technologies in one integrated framework, especially in the context of developing countries such as India. Despite models such as ETVX, the rapidly changing, technology-infested, global circumstances have accelerated governance into an urgency for achieving SDGs by the year 2030. There is now a need for a more robust citizen-centric and citizen-inclusive digital framework for PSD with special reference to developing countries such as India. The present study strives to do so.

Aim

The study aims to understand PSD systems with a special reference to digital/Emerging Technologies (ETs) to co-create with citizens a sustainable digital architecture in the context of developing countries such as India. In the process, it would attempt to address the following research questions:

How digital technologies, particularly ETs, are expected to help achieve the SDGs?

What are some of the challenges that usually confront the uptake of digital technologies and ETs in the context of developing countries like India?

Methodology and Flow of the Study

The methodology adopted for this study is descriptive, exploratory and analytical in nature. The learning from the current research projects, which include (albeit without explicit references) Digital India’s existing initiatives and not excluding Rural Access to Services Through Internet (Tamil Nadu), Common Service Centres (CSCs; Haryana and Mizoram), TaraHaat (Madhya Pradesh), Nemmadi (Karnataka), Akshaya (Kerala) and e-Mitra (Rajasthan). The corresponding author had undertaken field surveys in approximately 50 villages covering seven Indian states, spread over almost five years (2004–2009). These field visits have been extended further to many more of those in the recent years to other latest digital initiatives including CSCs. Basic knowledge has also been gleaned from academic sources, related to the domain of governance, e-government, PSD, e-governance and ETs, to comprehend the existing role of ETs in governance in achieving SDGs. The authors have collated and classified the review of the related literature into a summarised capsule of learnings (second section). Special emphasis has been put to detail the latest ‘India scenario’ focusing on interesting initiatives such as the ‘IndiaStack’ and other provisions by the government of India (GoI) that are likely to have tremendous impact on PSD. The current challenges for implementing digital technologies have also been presented (third section). The unique contribution of the study is its proposed citizen-centric and citizen-inclusive digital architecture for PSD (fourth section). The study offers policy inputs that would go a long way to strengthen the application of digital and ETs in PSD so that the achievement of SDGs may be spearheaded in a more sustainable manner in the Indian context.

Application of Digital and ETs for Propelling PSD towards SDGs

It was in the early 1990s when digital technologies (popularly referred to as Information and Communication Technologies—ICTs) had been deployed for the delivery of public services and information, referred to as ‘e-government’. A close analysis of various definitions of ‘e-government’ reveals a direct relationship between service delivery, government and digital technologies. For instance, Gartner (2017) defines e-government as ‘the continuous optimization of service delivery, constituency participation, and governance by transforming internal and external relationships through technology, the internet, and new media’. E-government is more about application of digital technologies for public services, whereas the related and yet more expanded term is ‘e-governance’—that encompasses reference to a more evolved citizen–inclusive approach to governance using digital technologies. The conceptual difference in usage of the terms ‘e-government’ and ‘e-governance’ has been clearly elaborated by several authors (Soni et al., 2017) and agencies (UNPAN, 2005). This is best understood in the Indian context by using the example of digital citizen engagement platforms such as MyGov of India (mygov.in). Some authors affirm that SDGs would be more achievable if platforms such as MyGov are employed to achieve participatory decision-making approaches (Malhotra et al., 2019a). At present, newer forms and products have also emerged for almost all existing forms of digital technologies, popularly referred to as ‘Emerging Technologies’.

Emerging Technologies

ETs can be understood as ‘science-based innovations with the potential to create a new industry or transform an existing one’, which will ‘substantially alter the business and social environment’ (Srinivasan, 2008). These ETs are capable of completely displacing the ‘comfort zone’ or ‘complacence’ established by the existing formats of digital technologies and cause a ‘disruption’ in the organisational/individual ‘status quo’ (Malhotra, 2017). As per the Gartner Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies’ report (2017), ETs can be summarised in three distinctive categories (Table 1).

The first category of ETs is an umbrella category of ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI)’, which emphasises the creation of intelligent machines that work and react like humans (experts) in a particular given situation. AI systems can not only sense the environment, but also act on what they sense, adapting their actions accordingly in real time, and keep learning from experiences. AI includes machine learning, deep learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Robotic Process Automation (RPA), drones and Autonomous Vehicles (AV) and so on. The second category of ETs is represented by ‘Transparently Immersive Technologies’, connoting those technologies that bring the physical and digitally simulated world closer, creating a sense of immersion for the user. This category includes assistive technologies, wearable technologies, Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR) and so on. VR uses head-mounted systems to create a computer-generated environment that can interact with the real system. In the realm of AR, the actual machine is supplemented by computer-generated sensory output that can also be viewed and interacted with in real time, making it more ‘immersive’ and ‘real’. The third category represents ‘digital platforms’, which are all those advanced digital connectivity, storage or replication mechanisms that serve as ubiquityenabling ecosystems with tremendous abilities. These include 5G, Cloud, Internet of Things (IoT), big Data, blockchain, digital twins and so on. IoT (smart) devices boast of sensors, unique identifiers (IP address) and connectivity/IoT devices can connect with each other with negligible human-to-computer interaction. If IoT devices employ fog or edge computing, then the IoT data could also be processed at the end of devices itself, instead of first being streamed to storage data centres (called Cloud) and then being processed. Such humungous (volume), heterogeneous (variety), ever-burgeoning (velocity), customer-generated (value), real-time data (veracity) that are spun by technologies such as IoT are analysed using big-data technologies. New business models based on big data are created using the multidisciplinary science of ‘Big data analytics’. ‘Blockchain technologies’, also called ‘smart contract technologies’ or ‘digital ledger technologies’, refer to a distributed database where each transaction is chronologically added to the ‘chain’ after being verified by the consensus of its participants, making it both immutable and dependable. Digital technologies, especially these ETs, are employed by businesses to lend a competitive advantage and are now being adopted by public agencies to improve PSD and citizen engagement (Obedait et al., 2019), as elaborated subsequently.

Employing Artificial Technologies in PSD

AI with its varied manifestations (Table 1) is probably one of the most transformative and disruptive technologies. For instance, AI-based tools/machinery/RPA-based assistants, which ‘intelligently’ perform repetitive chores such as pothole repairs and scavenging or incident reporting, can be employed to improve the productivity of public workforce in repetitive or unsafe scenarios (Thomas, 2018). Iceland has employed machine learning sensors (Ossur Prosthetics Sensors) for comfort and for providing patients’ experience of prosthetics to medical practitioners (https://corporate.ossur.com/). Shaharizuan (2019) presents that drones offer quick options for aerial surveying, mapping and for real-time selective action in PSD verticals, including agriculture, mining, oil and gas exploration, railways, highways and so on. Similarly, face recognition techniques that present a biometric system to identify a person from a digital image can help in delivery of passports, driver licenses and in easier law enforcement through video surveillances and so on (Parmar & Mehta, 2013). AI with associated software works on a large amount of data set and learns automatically from various patterns and characteristics of the data based on fast, iterative processes and intelligent algorithms. Therefore, understanding the insights as regards volume, velocity and veracity of data is very crucial for effective leveraging of AI in PSD.

Table 1.

Categories of the Emerging Technologies/Disruptive Technologies

Category – I (Artificial Intelligence (AI) Everywhere)	Category – II (Transparently Immersive Technologies)	Category – III (Digital Platforms)
Machine learning, Deep learning, Cognitive learning	Assistive Technology	Internet-of-Things (IoT) Internet-of-Everything (IoE)
Sentiment Analysis	Wearable Technology	Cloud Computing
Natural Language Processing	Virtual Reality (VR)	Big Data/Analytics
Drone/Robotics/Robotic Process Autonomous (RPA)	Augmented Reality (AR)	5G
Autonomous Vehicles	Nanotechnology	Cryptocurrency
Facial Recognition Techniques	3D/4D Printing	Edge Computing
Smart Dust	Brain – Computer Interface	Quantum Computing
Ontology Management	Ambient/Ubiquitous Technologies	Digital Twins
Enterprise Taxonomy	Holograms	Severless PaaS

Source: Gartner, Top Trends in the Gartner Hype Cycle in 2017, gartner.com.

Employing Transparently Immersive Technologies in PSD

Another major megatrend that will drive PSD realm into the next decade is that of ‘transparently immersive technologies’. The health sector is liberally employing Wearable Devices (WDs) to monitor real-time health parameters of critical patients (Chan et al., 2012). A WD can detect if an officer on critical duty has experienced a life-threat, such as an accident or heart attack (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6617500/). Nokia in Finland (with Helsinki University Hospital) live streams neurosurgical procedure to approximately hundreds of surgeons using VR to train more and more doctors (Malhotra, 2018a, b). With the help of AR in medicine, a surgeon can see hidden organs inside a body and improve the perception of treatment procedure by interacting with the real world (Ha & Hong, 2016). AR can also be used for location-based applications, such as ‘Archeoguide’ (augmented reality-based cultural heritage on-site guide) to provide with information bound to location and physical objects in the surroundings (Vlahakis et al., 2001). Capping up this category now are holograms that serve as means of performing precise interferometric measurements on 3D objects and are being increasingly employed in optical image formation, military mapping, brain imaging and so on.

Employing Digital Platforms in PSD

Digital platforms offer a bevy of disruptive options, including IoT, Social Media, Mobility, Analytics and Cloud (SMAC) and so on. IoT ‘smart’ devices provide a more ‘interconnected’, ‘integrated’, ‘intelligent’ and ‘interactive’ applications, including traffic management, city/road planning, dynamic toll pricing, flood management and so on. A start-up, Agrisource Data (Atlanta), is using intelligent in-field sensors and data analytics for measuring water levels, soil moisture, in-field crop health, fuel levels, storage temperatures and so on. In a pioneering initiative, the government of Maharashtra has data-mapped and analysed three blocks of its district Chandrapur using big data to create village development plans to transform each of its villages into a model village (2016–2017). Such contextualised, actionable insights and evidence-based decision-making by governing agencies can indeed propel better public policy formulation and resource management in a developing country. Since 2012, Estonia has been using blockchain technologies in maintaining all its records/registries such as national health, judicial, legislative, security and commercial code systems and plans to do so in other spheres such as personalised medicine (Manushaqa et al., 2019). The Dubai government has already initiated the usage of blockchain technologies in the management of the land record system (https://www.dubailand.gov.ae). The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India too mandated telecompanies to adopt blockchain to allow only registered users to participate in telemarketing. While using IoT and SMAC, the data source, particularly the unstructured data source, requires in-depth analysis so as to avoid predetermined biases in the decision-making process that may hamper actual beneficiaries in PSD.

Public Services 4.0: Convergence of ET in PSD to Achieve SDGs

At this point, it is also pertinent to note that these three categories of ETs (Table 1) are not ‘stand-alone’. The technologies listed in one category seamlessly collaborate with other technologies, to provide transformative service delivery experiences to its recipients. For example, in a smart city implementation, major urban sectors including transport, waste management, health care, urban space planning, street lighting and so on are digitalised using both IoT-based and AI-based devices by including face recognition CCTV cameras and so on. Real-time data captured by ‘smart devices’ are streamed to ‘cloud’, collated in ‘blockchain’ and analysed using ‘edge/fog computing’ for predictive analytics. This convergence of ETs has caused an interesting paradigm shift in manufacturing and production vertical called Industrial Revolution 4.0 (IR 4.0). In IR 4.0, the physical world of manufacturing is connected with digital world using cyber-physical systems, IoT, industrial internet of things, cloud computing and AI to yield better collaboration across departments, partners, vendors, product and people (Malhotra & Anand, 2020). The outcome of IR 4.0 is ‘Industry 4.0’ that encompasses newer versions of self-regulated and self-driven digital supply networks. This novel phenomenon of Industry 4.0 inspires to transform the face of governments of future to realign PSD processes as per personal and contextual needs of the citizens. ‘Public Sector 4.0’ is subsumed in ‘Government 4.0’. In the proposed scenario, the entire value chain of PSD—starting from ‘policy-formulation’ and ‘execution’ to ‘citizens service request’ to ‘delivery and feedback’ along with all other intervening steps—gets interlinked in a self-organising manner with negligible human intervention. In present critical times, heralded by COVID-19, agile digitalisation and governance accountability are two of the most powerful compulsions on PSD to reform and perform. More so, this may take shape of a physical–digital package of service delivery model during such crisis. The proposed conceptual model of Public Services 4.0 (PS 4.0) easily offers both these advantages. The heady thought of chalking out such innovative futuristic possibilities in the public sector has already started tantalising our policy makers, academics, designers and practitioners to brainstorm together newer possibilities of its existence. Some of the suggested applications of PS 4.0 employing convergence of ETs towards the achievement of SDGs are summarised in Table 2.

Table 2.

Suggested Applications of Emerging Technologies for Achievement of SDGs

Sustainable Development Goals	Suggested Application of Emerging Technologies
SDG6: Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all	Using smart meters, soil sensors, remote irrigation management system, rainwater harvesting systems, etc.
SDG7: Ensure sustainable energy for all	Using smart grids, smart appliances, energy storage, predictive analysis, demand response technology.
SDG11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable	Smart City Mobility – Driverless mobility, interconnected infrastructure using IoT; Smart Building - Alarm management and automation, big data analytics and energy management, monitoring, detection and diagnosis technologies
SDG12: Ensure sustainable production and consumption patterns	Smart Village – Optimised farm management and automated irrigation system, soil sensors and satellite and integrated weather information, traceability and tracking system.

Source: IIPA (2018). Role of Digital Technologies in Governance: Theme Paper, 64th Annual General Conference.

Indian Scenario: Employing Emerging Technologies and Related Challenges

The journey of India towards a utopian PS 4.0 has already commenced. The public sector in India has realised the importance of providing richer user experiences (UX) and easier user interfaces by creating national-level digital platforms. We must also ensure that the digital foundation so created is capable of delivering any service from any cloud with intrinsic security inbuilt into the ecosystem. There are a plethora of Digital India initiatives (including MyGov, DigiLocker, UMANG, GEM, UPI, NKN, etc.) that have been spearheaded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), GoI (meity.gov.in). IndiaStack (indiastack.org), popularly known as Aaadhar stack, is the most important unified platform to smoothen PSD. It offers four main layers (Figure 1) and a set of Application Programming Interface (APIs) that allow a user in India (governments, businesses, start-ups and developers) to utilise this digital infrastructure for their respective verticals. All service providers including banks, healthcare providers, non-profit organisations and others can use this stack to build value-added services to benefit the end consumers using open APIs.

Various PSD applications have been recently proposed/developed using the IndiaStack approach. One such application that has been initiated by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is the creation of National Digital Health Blueprint that provides a common platform for integration of existing applications and data of health domain in India. Similarly, the largest blockchain network by the name of ‘IndiaChain’ is linked to IndiaStack to ensure transparency in transactions (Sen & Murali, 2017). Several other applications of IndiaChain include land records management, supply chain management (such as public distribution system, pharmaceutical supplies, etc.) and electronic health records. Considering the huge benefits that AI, blockchain and 5G technology can usher in achieving the vision of Digital India, high-level forums, such as ‘National Strategy for Artificial Intelligence #AI for All’ (2018), ‘5G India 2020 (2018)’, IoT Policy (2019) and ‘Blockchain–The India Strategy (2020)’, have been set up to lay down the road map for the implementation of ETs in India and to recommend related interventions (niti.gov.in and meity.gov.in). However, several hindrances could impede the creation of ‘one nation, one technology architecture’, including establishment of last mile telecom connectivity as well as data protection, data privacy, confidentiality and data security issues (Malhotra et al., 2019a, b). Such challenges are classified into three different categories and enumerated subsequently.

Figure 1.

Source: indiastack.org

Challenges of Implementing Digital Technologies/Emerging Technologies for PSD in India

As evident from the preceding discussion, PSD can benefit tremendously from the application of digital and ET, but multiple challenges abound, especially in the context of developing countries such as India. The present low e-Government Development Index (eGDI) rank of India (96th position out of 193 countries) vouches for this assertion. To measure the development of national e-government capacities, the United Nations has been generating an index called the ‘UN e-Government Development Index (eGDI)’, biannually (in every two years) since 2001. eGDI is a composite indicator comprising three aspects, viz. Online Service Index (OSI), Telecommunication Index (TI) and the Human Capital Index (HCI), which are equally weighted. It compares and describes the progress of this index for the member countries and elucidates the factors contributing to successful e-government implementation in these countries. In 2010, eGDI rank for India was 119 (of total 193 countries) and in 2018, it managed to climb only to the 96 position. The overall ranks, both 2010 and 2018, have been abysmally low. Extensive field exposure of the corresponding author across the entire length and breadth of the country has given her fair exposure to delineate some of these challenges of employing ETs for PSD. For instance, close informal interactions of the author with approximately 28 district collectors/deputy commissioners from the states (in 2007) had indicated glaring issues, such as inadequate technical infrastructure, erratic power supply with limited supply of kerosene fuel to run the power backup generator machines, lack of customised software and absence of meaningful content. The author has broadly classified these headwinds as ‘technological challenges, human resource challenges and governance challenges (Malhotra, 2018a, b). First and foremost, since India boasts of varied profiles and preferences of its citizens, the digital divide phenomenon poses the most glaring and complicated challenge. Hence, governments face increasing pressures to engage with citizens (McKinsey, 2016). The challenge confronted by the unaware citizens and reluctant employees is also another critical aspect that hinders the smooth implementation of e-governance. Further, a possibility of Internet blackout would completely retard the progress of implementation of ETs (Kathuria et al., 2018). e-Waste too is a big socioeconomic challenge with fatal health repercussions because of unplanned discarding that makes disposal difficult as well as costly (Dasgupta et al., 2015). According to the Global e-Waste Monitor Report 2017 (Balde, 2017) by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), around 44.7 million metric tonnes of e-waste was generated in 2016. Lack of robust regulatory mechanisms may further end up creating a national psyche of insecurity against uptake of ETs in governance. Utter lack of National Technology Standards (NTS) for the same service causes apparent disruption in user experiences and convenience (Satyanarayan & Malhotra, 2018). Outdated institutional frameworks, sponsor dictates and inefficient partnership models could aggravate governance challenges. Digital surveillance by establishments and e-hegemony/data autocracy by the developed nations also impede the uptake of ETs by developing nations. A sustainable and successful business model is an essential ingredient for building the entire PSD system in India, where roles and responsibilities of central line ministry, states/state departments, implementing agencies and other stakeholders should be defined clearly and distinctly. In addition, very strong emotional and spiritual IQ must be inculcated in AI programmers to create digital systems of our future, especially the ones that are employed in governance context; this would help to counter the uncontrollable self-destructing scenarios (Malhotra et al., 2018a, b). After gauging the complexity of so many challenges that could constrain the application of digital and ETs, time is now ripe for governments to evolve a newer approach towards resolving these concerns. One such citizen-centric and citizen-inclusive approach employing ETs in PSD, titled ‘Public Services 4.0’, is presented below.

Public Services 4.0: Designing a Sustainable Digital Architecture

The global technology trends have put governance in a continuous state of flux. Governance models are now gradually morphing from the unidirectional e-government formats to more participatory and collaborative formats of e-governance. This has also led to creation of UN Participation Index (e-PI) defined ‘as the process of engaging citizens through ICTs in policy, decision-making, and service design and delivery so as to make it participatory, inclusive, and deliberative’ (UN e-Government Survey, 2018). India was among the top 15 nations in 2018. Encouraged by this higher rank as well as inspired by ensuing trends of Industry 4.0 (discussed earlier) as well as adequately supported by literature where a ‘Citizen-Centric Approach (CCA)’ has been proposed (Malhotra & Chatterjee, 2014), the study hereby suggests a more sustainable digital architecture for PSD implementation, referred to as ‘Public Services 4.0’.

The Proposed Framework for Public Services 4.0: Co-creating PSD Using Digital/Emerging Technologies

PS 4.0 is an interesting and new constituent of Government 4.0, also referred to as digital governance. The three core components of biome of digital governance—‘governance’, ‘technology’, and ‘citizens’—have been pictorially mapped as a network of constituents and communication (Figure 2) in the backdrop of ‘legal and regulatory framework’ (LRF; LRF has been represented as a blue-dotted boundary, Figure 2). Dissecting each of them —the outcome of ‘governance’ is a socio-political pattern that emerges out of interacting efforts of all its constituents and activities, including PSD systems, to ensure ‘happiness for all’. As already stated, emulating Porter’s value chain model (Alberto, 1985), for PSD and inspired by Industry 4.0, the role of ‘technology’ in the PSD value chain graduates from a supporting ‘enabler’ to that of an ‘integral’ and core component. This means that each of the activities of PSD value chain gets redefined by application of appropriate ETs. The third but the main component of digital governance is the ‘citizens’, who are entrusted with the pivotal role of providing the contextual inputs as well as the threshold accountability values (the ETVX model discussed in the first section) for designing as well as measuring the outcome of digital PSD (Linkages 1; Figure 1). For doing so, appropriate digital technologies and a sustainable business model for creation of the digital platform and associated applications be made available to the citizens that would empower them to co-create a personalised and contextualised PSD. In the context of a primarily rural country like India, citizen-inclusive techniques such as citizen consultation rounds (Malhotra, 2017), participatory rural appraisals, social audits and so on could be employed to elicit these inputs from the citizens. Since the prime set of inputs and feedback in this model comes from ‘citizens’, they play the most critical role in the design and deployment of digital PSD value chain. The socio-economic and cultural context influencing the systems suitability as well as sustainability emanate from the ground reality of the citizens themselves. Further, the vibrant digital linkage of PSDs with citizens’ (Linkages 2; Figure 2) would also inculcate real-time ‘accountability’ characteristic of good governance. Therefore, in the implementation of PS 4.0, PSDs would not just statically deliver public services (as is the case in the conventional PSD approaches) but would also digitally communicate to the citizens the actual values of performance indicators achieved while delivering public services to them.

Figure 2.

Public Services 4.0 - The Proposed Digital Architecture for Public Services

It is obvious that this bidirectional digital communication (Linkages 1 and 2; Figure 2) of the PS 4.0 model would help the PSD agencies to strategise the governance policies as per the socio-cultural context of citizens themselves. Thus, the PS 4.0 approach essentially stems from the co-creation paradigm. Even the ever-changing facets of digital technologies are bridled in this approach by providing multi-modular, multi-channel interfaces in its implementation. The authors firmly assert that the proposed citizen-inclusive approach of PS 4.0 can celebrate a self-learning, self-regulated, long-term sustainable ecosystem of digital governance that would also prove to be self-evolving and self-optimising, in the longer run. PS 4.0 is expected to provide citizens with what exactly they need and aspire rather than an aped, automation-based approach where usually ‘one size fits all’ and social equity is completely rebuffed. However, to successfully advance towards inculcation of PS 4.0 in the Indian context, there is an urgent national need to realign our staid approach towards application of digital technologies, for which we need an agile, empathetic regulatory and legal framework too. The governing bodies must create conditions conducive for timely execution, innovation and collaboration. After all, the success of any change is more dependent on the responsiveness of its ecosystem and not on the technologies employed therein.

Concluding Remarks

The study has attempted to explore the role and best possible use of emerging digital technologies to create a sustainable model for PSD. Digital technologies/ETs are expected to serve as meaningful contrivances to engage with all the cross-currents linking the 17 SDGs together from the local to global levels provided it is strategised and executed with a judicious mix of responsiveness and accountability. The present explorative study reinforced that the successful convergence of ETs have globally accelerated the delivery of public services in all verticals including banking, education, healthcare and agriculture and particularly in production and manufacturing sectors through the nouveau phenomenon of Industry 4.0. This could pave the way for a more personalised and contextualised PS 4.0 too. Understandably, there are likely to be many challenges (technological, governance, regulatory and human resource) in the journey of digital governance, especially in the context of developing countries like India. To overcome these challenges, fully interconnected, responsive digital spaces must be co-created—where ‘citizens’ serve as the start point and digital/technologies serve as expedient means of bidirectional linkages and not an ‘end’ in itself. This would celebrate a more mature self-organised and self-evolving sustainable model of PSD. This absolute digital transformation of public service landscape beseeches an empathetic and flexible regulatory fabric but, once implemented, ensures a more equitable economy as envisioned by SDGs.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

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