The Government of Bangladesh (GoB) conceptualized and initiated the ’Digital Bangladesh’ campaign with the vision of digitalizing most aspects of a citizen’s life. As the government itself is the primary provider of services to citizens, digitalizing the government would entail addressing the sufferings of citizens while interacting with the government.
Built on an archaic, colonial system of bureaucracy, the country’s sprawling bureaucracy is filled with red tape. Long queues in government offices, traveling long distances to avail government services, and resorting to bribery and corruption to expedite the failing bureaucracy are some of the major grievances experienced by citizens.
The Bangladesh government undertook the rollout of a massive e-governance system across most of the government offices in the country as part of the Digital Bangladesh agenda. Such a rollout took a citizen-centric approach to reduce the travel time and associated costs incurred by citizens to establish a pro-citizen government. Bangladesh’s e-government initiatives have reduced in-person visits to government offices as well as waiting times in queues, somewhat accelerating citizen’s satisfaction and experience. E-government initiatives are pivotal in making public service delivery more accountable, transparent, and speedy. It enables state institutions to build trust and confidence among citizens.
According to the E-Government Survey of 2022 by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), Bangladesh has ranked 111th in the overall E-Gov Development Index (EGDI) 2022 with a value of 0.5630. Eight years ago, in 2014, it was 148th. That means a 37 place jump in eight years. Even in 2020, it was 119th, so the country has jumped eight places over the past two years while battling a global pandemic. In terms of e-participation, Bangladesh ranked 75th in 2022, while in 2020, the rank was 95th – a 20 place jump. Bangladesh is also the highest ranked least developed country (LDC) on the list.
National Web Portal
The Bangladesh government launched the national web portal in 2015 in order to establish a one stop platform for all citizens that will provide all the pertinent information regarding the government services offered by various state and local government institutions.
1 Million
E-directories
46000+
Registered Offices
2 Million
E-service users/month
1.5 Million
Average daily visits
As of 2021, there were 1 million e-directories, 46,000+ registered offices, 2 million e-service users/month, 5 million contents, and 60 million hits each month. Till 2023, 657 e-services and over 1.05 crore subject-wise contents were made available in the portal. The portal attracts an average daily visit of 1.5 million people. The portal has also connected apps like ‘Uttoradhikar Calculator‘, which has been downloaded by over 0.1 million people in Bangladesh.
Digitalized Land Services
Previously, citizens had to travel several times to the local land offices to collect their land records. It used to take a minimum of 15 days to extract the records from the district record room. Citizens had to resort to corruption as they had to hire a middleman in order to expedite the process. They had to pay more than BDT 500 to the middleman or broker to access the records, which is one of their fundamental rights. To address this bottleneck head on, the government has made most of the land services available, including collecting land records at the Union Digital Centers (UDC) in each area. So people can visit these UDCs in their neighborhood and spend only BDT 100 to get their land records. These UDCs offer these digitalized land services directly to individuals living in rural areas who could not otherwise access the digitalized services provided by the government due to their lack of technological access.
Land-related Disputes
Land Registration
Land-related Disputes
The government has undertaken the initiative to build the Digital Land Management System to effectively manage land-related disputes. The online platform will also contain key land-related services, including land registration and a cashless land development tax service.
E-Mutation
In the past, mutation of a land for taxation purpose meant visiting government offices numerous times, waiting for hours, and paying a broker tons of money to get things done. On February 1, 2017, the government piloted the country’s first ever e-Mutation system in 7 upazilas (sub districts) in Bangladesh. The E-Mutation system enables citizens to transfer or change the ownership record from one individual to another in the government records digitally in the event that the property is being transferred or sold.
6600+ offices
Offer e-mutation
492 Sub-districts
offer e-mutation
8.8 Million
Applications filed online
On July 1, 2019, the e-Mutation system was introduced all over the country. Currently, the system is being implemented at more than 6,600 offices, including 492 sub-districts and 20 circle offices in Bangladesh. Till now, over 8.8 million applications have been filed in the system, among which more than 8.32 million cases have been resolved.
Digital Filing System: E-Filing
Previously, the government offices in Bangladesh used the traditional way of recording things – a paper-based manual system. To establish a ‘paperless government’ in Bangladesh, in March 2016, the government launched the digital filing system, popularly known as E-Nothi (E-Filing), which brings all official file management under a single umbrella, covering 19,000 government offices and 150,000 officials to serve 160 million citizens in Bangladesh. Around 2.11 crore files have so far been released through the digital filing system.
19000 Government Offices
Under e-filing system
150000 Government Officials
Under e-filing system
21.1 Million Files
Under e-filing system
The E-Filing system saves both time and money as it has transformed the previously paper-based system into an electronic one. From 2016 to 2021, the system has saved around BDT 1,895 million as the method significantly decreases paper expenses required for file storage, sending letters, and so on. In addition, the E-Filing system, powered by its mobile application, enables civil servants to track down their files and documents, which in turn increases accountability, transparency, and responsiveness in the government. Through the system, it’s also easier to connect multiple government offices altogether and increase coordination among different state institutions to efficiently provide public service delivery.
Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Program
The Bangladesh government initiated the Civil Registration and Vital Statistics (CRVS) Program in 2010 with the vision of modernizing the civil registration mechanisms across various government agencies. The country is establishing a CRVS system based on a Unique ID (UID) system and connecting it with all the pertinent service delivery processes, along with major components such as birth, death, marriage, divorce, adoption, cause of death, enrolment in the education system, and migration (in and out). After that, all these information will be linked back with the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BSS) to produce Vital Statistics (VS), and with other public service delivery mechanisms, including social protection programs. The model is now called as CRVS++ (CRVS and beyond).
My Gov: Government Services in One Address
www.mygov.bd and its mobile application ‘My Gov’ have brought most of the government services to a single platform. The platform acts as a one stop solution that delivers a wide range of services directly to citizens, including utility bills, BTRC applications, railway tickets, passports, NIDs, and so on. The platform has connected 35 ministries/divisions, 178 departments, to deliver 1,992 services. The platform has 4,062,756 registered members. Out of 2,757,450 total applications, 2,619,890 applications were resolved.
35 Ministries/Divisions
Under My Gov
1992 Services
Under My Gov
4,062,756 Registered Members
Under My Gov
- 11
- 150
- 59
- 39
- 30
- 120
- 56
The platform is also facilitating import and export, as businesses can easily get clearance from the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) online.
It’s important to note that even though putting up a website and developing mobile applications should theoretically make all the services instantly accessible to the wider population of the country, it does not function in that way in a developing nation like Bangladesh where in the rural areas most people still do not know how to use mobile or internet properly. Thus, an assistive mechanism where individuals will be employed by the government to be a supporting hand to the not-so-tech-savvy population of the country in accessing the digital services. Here is where Union Digital Centers, District E-Service Centers and other physical infrastructures come in.
Union Digital Centers (UDCs): Service Delivery Decentralized
In the past, public services were largely inaccessible to citizens. Citizens had to travel long distances, spend on travel expenses, and wait in long lines to avail of the services. The Digital Bangladesh Campaign increased accessibility to the internet and information technologies, including mobile phones.
8280 Union Digital Centers
Across the country
15000 Entrepreneurs
Working with UDCs
300 Services
Offered at UDCs
On the foundations of the Digital Bangladesh Initiative, on November 11, 2010, the government inaugurated Union Digital Centers in each of the 4,571 union or rural councils of Bangladesh with the aim of bridging the information gap and directly providing public services to citizens. Till November 2021, the GoB has established 8,280 digital centers across Bangladesh, where around 15,000 entrepreneurs have already delivered 60.50 crore of services. By digitalizing more than 300 services, the UDCs eliminated time, cost, and number of visits (TVC) from the public service delivery chain and put citizens back into the equation through decentralizing public service delivery.
District E-service Centers (DESC)
Currently operating in all 64 districts of Bangladesh, DESC is a multifunctional service center run by Deputy Commissioner (DC) offices, the highest ranking bureaucrat in each district. Since the initiative’s launch in 2010, the DC office has provided more than 150 services that can be requested and accessed online or over the phone. The service seeker receives a contactless service delivery experience (with an updated notification system) upon submitting an application.
Agricultural Information and Communication Center
In 2015, Bangladesh launched its initiative to create tech-driven Agriculture Information and Communication Centers. It brings together 254 associations of farmers to propel “smart farming” into the agricultural industry. These facilities serve as information hubs for all farmers, offering them agro-related data. Its goal is to increase the nation’s agricultural production by incorporating technology into every aspect of agriculture.
Central Grievance Redress System (GRS)
In 1986, the manual grievance redress system was first introduced in Bangladesh, which significantly lacked user-friendliness. In 2015, the Aspire to Innovate (a2i) program launched the fully online and digitalized central GRS system (https://grs.gov.bd/) which is now monitored by the Cabinet Division and all the Ministries or Divisions of GoB.
8000 Government Offices
Under the GRS
7000 Users
Used GRS since May 2020
8000 Complains
Submitted through GRS since May 2020
Currently, 21 out of 64 districts have a fully functional online GRS system. Even though most public services are provided at the sub-district level, the coverage of the GRS system is only limited at the district level. The central GRS system empowers people to exercise their rights by directly filing complaints and getting redress or a solution after concerned authorities reflect upon the complaints. Since May 2020, the GRS system has been executed in over 8,000 government offices across Bangladesh, and around 7,000 users have used the GRS to submit their grievances. A total of over 3,000 complaints have been received through the GRS since May 2020, according to a study.
Bangladesh’s Election App
On November 12, 2023, the Bangladesh Election Commission announced the release of the ‘Smart Election Management BD’ mobile app, which aims to give voters access to pertinent election related information, including voting centers, candidates’ information, real-time election results, and so on.
Long Journey Ahead
Despite the advances made by Bangladesh, the country still has a long way to go before fully transforming the government into a digitalized, smart E-government. So many government services still require a combination of digital and manual work. Even though citizens are applying online, they often have to go physically to submit the forms. The government has to navigate through these challenges in order to establish a fully-functional E-Government in Bangladesh.
About the Author
Shah Adaan Uzzaman is the Blog Administrator at The Confluence. A former Bangladesh Television Debate Champion and winner of several policy & debate competitions, he is currently a student of IBA, University of Dhaka.