A single computer in a police station can make redundant thousands of written files accumulated over the years and release space at the station and extra time for the policemen for their field work as they would not have to do so much tedious writing work

Computers adding speed and efficiency to government administration

Computerisation of the courts and land administration in Bangladesh can help to overcome the present very ossified and corrupt systems of work at these two areas of the administration . Anyone who ever stepped inside a court house in Bangladesh would remember how outdated and archaic was the system of working there.
Record rooms of the court houses are dens of corruption. Work is done manually and very tediously where getting the copy of a record can take a very long time if the palms are not properly greased. Then again, the records can be manipulated through bribing. Record keeping through the traditional  document writers take both time and leave open the scope for deliberate manipulation. All such ill practices can be effectively brought to a close probably through computerisation of the court houses and their recording systems. If this is done, both the speed of the functioning of the courts will increase and  record keeping can become foolproof.
People at land offices are harassed at every step and have to bear the torturers of unscrupulous ones there who tamper with ownership and other documents of land for underhand payment. Computerisation can help to bring to an end such harassment of people and the tampering of records.
Presently, the police spend a great deal of their time in writing diaries of cases and investigations by hand. The system has hardly changed since the colonial era. Records of criminals are similarly kept hardly befitting the need for speed when the soaring number of crimes and the voluminous investigation  reports dictate much  speedier handling. In some police stations of the country, files of years ago even turn unreadable  from disuse and the careless or unprotected filing system.
Computers can come to the rescue in such a situation. A single computer in a police station can make redundant thousands of files accumulated over the years and release space at the station and  extra time for the policemen for their field work as they would not have to do so much tedious writing work. Furthermore, computerisation can tremendously aid detection of criminals as their pictures can be preserved in computers and the same can be brought to the screen any time through the flick of a mouse.
How computerisation can speed up administration is evident from only the working of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA). Even in the eighties, the BRTA did its work manually. Mountains of paper at each BRTA office was the unchanging scene. This situation understandably bred delays and corruption for such a thing as even the simple act of registration of  a car after its purchase.
Things began to change from the early part of the nineties when BRTA offices were fully computerised. Now registration and other  documents can be obtained fast within one working day and also hassle free from a BRTA office by those who are familiar with its current system of working and who do not fall prey to touts at these offices. Anyway one looks at it,  computerisation marked an advance for the better in BRTA offices.
The same kind of efficiency, speed of working, transparency and reduction of corruption can be achieved by introducing computers in all spheres of the government administration. The customs department  is considered as a  very corrupt one in Bangladesh.
But use of the computer-- which has much reduced the need for human application-- is reportedly already succeeding in bringing corruption down in this key department. With its greater computerisation, perhaps the corruption in this department can be reduced substantially.
  Thus, real hope is showing up that greater application of computers for governance can be a very potent factor in the fight against corruption in the government as well as for speeding up  of the functioning of the government departments.

The writer is a contributor to The Independent

A single computer in a police station can make redundant thousands of written files accumulated over the years and release space at the station and extra time for the policemen for their field work as they would not have to do so much tedious writing work

Computers adding speed and efficiency to government administration

Computerisation of the courts and land administration in Bangladesh can help to overcome the present very ossified and corrupt systems of work at these two areas of the administration . Anyone who ever stepped inside a court house in Bangladesh would remember how outdated and archaic was the system of working there. Record rooms of the court houses are dens of corruption. Work is done manually and very tediously where getting the copy of a record can take a very long time if the palms are not properly greased. Then again, the records can be manipulated through bribing. Record keeping through the traditional document writers take both time and leave open the scope for deliberate manipulation. All such ill practices can be effectively brought to a close probably through computerisation of the court houses and their recording systems. If this is done, both the speed of the functioning of the courts will increase and record keeping can become foolproof. People at land offices are harassed at every step and have to bear the torturers of unscrupulous ones there who tamper with ownership and other documents of land for underhand payment. Computerisation can help to bring to an end such harassment of people and the tampering of records. Presently, the police spend a great deal of their time in writing diaries of cases and investigations by hand. The system has hardly changed since the colonial era. Records of criminals are similarly kept hardly befitting the need for speed when the soaring number of crimes and the voluminous investigation reports dictate much speedier handling. In some police stations of the country, files of years ago even turn unreadable from disuse and the careless or unprotected filing system. Computers can come to the rescue in such a situation. A single computer in a police station can make redundant thousands of files accumulated over the years and release space at the station and extra time for the policemen for their field work as they would not have to do so much tedious writing work. Furthermore, computerisation can tremendously aid detection of criminals as their pictures can be preserved in computers and the same can be brought to the screen any time through the flick of a mouse. How computerisation can speed up administration is evident from only the working of the Bangladesh Road Transport Authority (BRTA). Even in the eighties, the BRTA did its work manually. Mountains of paper at each BRTA office was the unchanging scene. This situation understandably bred delays and corruption for such a thing as even the simple act of registration of a car after its purchase. Things began to change from the early part of the nineties when BRTA offices were fully computerised. Now registration and other documents can be obtained fast within one working day and also hassle free from a BRTA office by those who are familiar with its current system of working and who do not fall prey to touts at these offices. Anyway one looks at it, computerisation marked an advance for the better in BRTA offices. The same kind of efficiency, speed of working, transparency and reduction of corruption can be achieved by introducing computers in all spheres of the government administration. The customs department is considered as a very corrupt one in Bangladesh. But use of the computer-- which has much reduced the need for human application-- is reportedly already succeeding in bringing corruption down in this key department. With its greater computerisation, perhaps the corruption in this department can be reduced substantially. Thus, real hope is showing up that greater application of computers for governance can be a very potent factor in the fight against corruption in the government as well as for speeding up of the functioning of the government departments. The writer is a contributor to The Independent