CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

In the 19th century, the advancement of mechanical technology marked the era in the
form of the Industrial Revolution and in the 20th century the next remarkable thing
was the advent of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), which resulted
in the transformation of industrial society into the information society. ICT comprises
telecommunications, computers, communication satellites, optical fiber, and the most
popular mode of communication, ‘The Internet’. The internet revolutionized the
operations of collecting, storing, and processing information, knowledge generation
and all this augmented multifold development and it continues to contribute to
improving efficiency, economy, and effectiveness of the governing systems
worldwide. Being the single largest takers of public income and providers of a
multitude of services in return, to the citizens, particularly those related to the
dissemination of information and welfare, it was imperative for the governments to
introduce the usage of ICT in governmental service delivery.

In the present information age of 21st century, administrative systems around

the world have witnessed growth in the use of Information and Communication
Technologies (ICTs) in the online electronic delivery of public information and
services. This being the era of liberalization, privatization, and globalization, the
discipline of public administration saw a new paradigm shift in the form of New
Public Management (NPM). It represents a significant shift from a traditional, rigid,
and hierarchical bureaucratic model of administration to a flexible market model of
management. It also gave an impetus to the popularity of the concept of good
governance, which refers to the reinvention of traditions and institutional structures to
develop the capacity for promoting accountability, the centrality of the citizens,
impartiality, open accessibility, positive substantive outcomes, public legitimacy in
information sharing, public policymaking, and service delivery process. The Post-
NPM thinkers understood the transformative impacts of Information Technology and
predicted the new shifts of the movement towards the emergence of Digital Era
Governance (DEG), “which involves reintegrating functions into the governmental
sphere, adopting holistic and needs-oriented structures, and progressing digitalization

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of administrative processes.”1 This declaration of DEG movement as the successor of
NPM supports the launching of e-Governance within public administration as well as
its interaction with users, either citizens or private sector. Citizen-centric theory of
New Public Service (NPS) re-imagined the administrative accountability of public
administration toward citizens. All this leads to rapid development and massive usage
of ICTs in public service delivery with an equal emphasis on keeping citizens in the
center.

ICT influenced the interactions between State, Private enterprises, and Civil
Society. e-Governance is the latest trend in the governance process, which defines the
governmental use of ICTs to improve the quality, efficacy, efficiency, and
effectiveness of governance and public service delivery. It facilitates the
administrative development for a better interface between people and government and
more transparency in governmental operations. While e-governance has put the
citizen at the center, it has resulted in pushing the government and public servants on
their toes to make time-bound and efficient delivery of services.

Many governments in the world have framed their ICT policies and have
started implementing them at the national and state level. India is also seriously
bringing necessary administrative reforms to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
Punjab, being one of the developed and progressive states of India, is very keen to
adopt the e-practices in its administrative improvement. SUWIDHA Project in Punjab
was one of the earliest procedural innovations in the administrative system and it
initiated a new trend in positively influencing our administrative culture. To keep
pace with the changing situation and growing expectations of the citizens from the
government, it was imperative to examine the working of SUWIDHA Project in
various districts of Punjab and to understand the perceptions and satisfaction of the
target clientele towards this new system. It was equally important to gauge the
attitudinal change of the concerned administrators regarding this new initiative as the
successful implementation of any project greatly depends on the administration and in
the process brings about a change in the administrative culture.

1
Dunleavy, Patrick et al., “New Public Management Is Dead - Long Live Digital-Era Governance.”,
Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 2005, p. 467.

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e-Governance

The building block of every organization is built on governance, which is

about “new methods and forms in governing and ultimately is about a change in the
meaning of government.”2 The concept of governance is always in the evolving
process. The UNDP has defined governance as “the exercise of political and
administrative authority at all levels to manage a country’s affairs. It comprises the
mechanisms, processes, and institutions, through which citizens and groups articulate
their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligations, and mediate their
difference.”3 As a broader concept, it subsumes the disciplines of Public
Administration and Management. The World-Bank touted that the concept of Good
Governance has gained currency in public administration since the 1990s. To
implement the fundamentals of Good Governance, the instrumental role of e-
governance is highly recognized equally by the scholars and the practitioners of
Public Administration worldwide. Renowned Indian Thinker P K Mohanty, in his
working paper of 2nd ARC, commented that ‘e-Governance is a tool. No e-
Governance tool can be successful without focusing attention on process reforms for
good governance. Good governance dictates the design and shape of e-tools for
improving governance outcomes and processes.’4

The use of ICT in government has led to e-governance, which is also known
as digital governance due to the heavy usage of the internet as the gateway for
connecting government with its clientele, i.e. citizenry. It facilitates the administrative
development for a better interface between people and government and more
transparency in governmental operations. It is an endeavor to bring about Simple,
Moral, Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART) governance by
employing ICT for the functioning of Government processes and public service
delivery. It enhances the participation of citizens in the public policymaking process.
It is also being considered as a “technological enabler in the delivery of redesigned
public services to eliminate inefficiency, corruption, and bureaucracy and to enhance
effectiveness in service delivery.”5

2
Pardhasaradhi et al., “Public Administration and ICT Paradigm”, in Bava, Noorjahan (ed.), Public
Administration in The 21st Century, Kanishka Publishers, New Delhi, 2004. p.301.
3
UNDESA, Governance and development, May 2012, p.3.
4
<www.cgg.gov.in/workingpapers/eGovPaperARC.pdf> [Accessed: 26/07/2013]
5
Dwivedi et al., “E-Government: Potential and Challenges”, Yojana, November 2013, p. 31.

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 The concept of e-governance is defined by various scholars from various
perspectives. Scholars like Hernon, Cullen, and Relyea defined it narrowly as ‘the
provision of government services and information via the Internet for businesses and
citizens’, whereas the renowned scholar Richard Heeks defined it from a broader
perspective, which includes ‘all use of digital information technology in the public
sector.’6 Generally, e-governance is considered an ‘application of e-commerce
techniques to government services’ to improve service to citizens and businesses.7
Table 1.1 contains the list of definitions of e-governance given by the prominent
personalities, scholars, and practitioners of public administration:

Table 1.1: Various Definitions of e-Governance

Scholar Definition
APJ Abdul Kalam, Transparent smart e-governance with seamless access, secure
Former President of and authentic flow of information crossing the
India8 interdepartmental barrier and providing a fair and unbiased
service to the citizen
Second e-Governance refers to the use by government agencies of IT
Administrative (such as WAN, the Internet, and mobile computing) that can
Reforms transform relations with citizens, businesses, and various arms
Commission, India of government resulting in better delivery of government
services to citizens, improved interactions with business and
industry, citizen empowerment through access to information,
or more efficient government management.
Planning e-Governance is the application of IT to the processes of
Commission, India9 government functioning to bring about Simple, Moral,
Accountable, Responsive, and Transparent (SMART)
governance. It also involves a transformation from being a
passive information and service provider to active citizen
involvement.

6
Rocheleau, Bruce, “Whither E-Government?”, Public Administration Review, Vol. 67, No. 3, May-
Jun., 2007, p. 584.
7
Satapathy, C., “Role of the State in the E-World”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 35, No. 39,
Sep. 23-29, 2000, p.3493.
8
http://arc.gov.in/11threp/ARC_11thReport_Ch2.pdf [Accessed: 06/11/2018]
9
http://14.139.60.153/bitstream/123456789/5043/1/Report%20of%20the%20Working%20Group%2
0on%20Convergence%20for%20the%20Tenth%20Five%20Year%20Plan%20%282002-
2007%29.pdf [Accessed: 24/06/2020]

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UNESCO10 e-Governance is the public sector’s use of ICT to improve
information and service delivery, encouraging citizen
participation in the decision-making process, and making
government more accountable, transparent, and effective.
CSR Prabhu11 e-Governance comprising of processes and structures involved
Director in deliverance of electronic services to the public, viz. citizens.
General (Retd.) It also involves collaborating with business partners of the
NIC, New Delhi government by conducting electronic transactions with them.
Besides, it entails enabling the general public to interact with
the government, through electronic means, for getting the
desired services.
Subhash e-Governance is about a process of reform in the way
Bhatnagar12 governments work, share information, and deliver services to
external and internal clients.
Governance e-Governance acts as a strategic tool for transforming
Knowledge Centre governance and improving the quality of services provided by
(GKC), the government to its people. IT is very useful in reinvigorating
DARPG13 the government administrative systems by enhancing their
capacity and efficiency. The potential and scope for the
application of IT in governing processes and transactions are
enormous.
Source: Compiled from Secondary Data

e-Governance can renovate the system of government procedures and

establish a more inclusive system of governance, through digital means, “that is
committed to working with civil society in a transparent and accountable way to
reduce poverty, safeguard the environment, redress inequality, foster security and
fulfill social, economic, cultural, civic and political rights.”14 The power of ICT has
enabled governments to connect and integrate various departments and organizations

10
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-
URL_ID=3038&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html [Accessed: 24/06/2020]
11
Prabhu, CSR, E-Governance: Concepts and Case Studies, Prentice Hall of India, New Delhi, 2004.
p.1.
12
Ministry of Information Technology, Electronic Governance - A Concept Paper, Ministry of
Information Technology, Government of India, 2001 http://egov.mit.gov.in [Accessed: 08/12/2012]
13
http://indiagovernance.gov.in/e-governance.php [Accessed: 28/05/2013]
14
Pardhasaradhi et al., op.cit. p.301.

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of government and make them more accessible and equitable. “It has also provided
external linkages facilitating the exchange of information with other organs of the
civil society and in turn disseminating information and data universally.”15 e-
Governance is the way for utilizing ICT for improving the performance of the public
sector and employing new advances for democracy itself.

By providing better coordination at both horizontal and vertical levels of

government, e-Governance ensures the active participation of all players involved in
decision making during the formulation and implementation of policies. In policy
formulation, it enables the wider participation in the discussions, while in the course
of implementation it ensures cooperation and networking, and hence makes the
processes more cost-effective, faster, simpler, and transparent. e-governance has the
potential to eradicate inefficiency and unaccountability and lead towards the
development of new entrepreneurial and accountable work culture.

e-Governance can reinvent and reorganize the whole administrative structure

by breaking down the hierarchy, hence it can bring about even downsizing of the
organizations by eliminating the need for levels and a long chain of command. It
provides a one-stop-shop in the form of single window Electronic Service Delivery
(ESD) for various Government services. e-Governance ensures the re-engineering of
processes and re-designing of the procedures of administrations which cut down the
discretionary powers of bureaucrats. Administrative reforms, Government Process
Re-engineering (GPR), and reorganization of administrative structures with a focus on
ICT is an organizational force for successful e-governance.

In principle, the IT “makes it possible for anyone anywhere anytime to voice

demand to their governors.”16 It has the potential to enhance the citizens’ perceptions
of the government as citizen-friendly government. e-Governance is fast emerging as
an important tool for improving accessibility, accountability, efficiency, effectiveness,
efficacy, and transparency by providing a user-friendly interface for interactions with
the government. It empowers the users by providing them access to information and
enables them to make informed choices about services provided by the government.

15
Rawal, K.L., “Book Review of E-Governance in India: Initiatives and Issues by R. P. Sinha”,
Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 42, No. 4, Apr., 2007, p. 758.
16
Rose, Richard, “A Global Diffusion Model of e-Governance”, Journal of Public Policy, Vol. 25,
No. 1, Cambridge University Press, Jan.-Apr., 2005, p.5.

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 e-Governance in public service delivery aims to re-style how citizens avail of
services by pushing forward a Paperless and Presence-Less model of governance
which can also be cashless by enabling digital mode of payments. It focuses on
enhancing accessibility, affordability, delivery, efficiency, mobility, quality, and user
satisfaction in the governmental service delivery mechanism.

e-Governance and e-Government

Every so often used as synonyms, both the terms, of ‘Government’ and

‘Governance’ conceptually derive different meanings. Merriam-Webster defines the
former as “the body of persons that constitutes the governing authority of a political
unit or organization”17 and later as “the act or process of governing or overseeing the
control and direction”18 of Government. It denotes that Governance is the action part
of the government. “Governance is not Government, although the government at any
level can potentially become part of a governance process.”19

Donald F. Kettl (2002) describes Government as ‘an institutional

superstructure’, which converts the politics into the process of law-enactment and
formulation of policies; whereas Governance is the resultant product that emerged
from the G2C interactions in the course of political and administrative processes of
policymaking and public service delivery. Hence it demarcates the boundary of scope
between e-government and e-governance. CSR Prabhu (2004), while dealing more
specifically with this demarcation, distinguishes e-government from e-governance, by
considering the former as a ‘pragmatic application’ for the realization of the vast
potential of the government. He describes e-government as the usage of the most
innovative technologies in ICTs for delivering efficient and cost-effective services,
and information to the citizens. While the former is defined as a mere mechanism for
ESD and information sharing via ICTs, the latter acts as an interactive platform of
communication to engage citizens and administrators participate in the decision
making process.

From the above discussion, it can be concluded that e-government consists of

the information infrastructure that interacts with the clients, i.e. citizens and

17
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/government [Accessed: 16/09/2019]
18
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/governance [Accessed: 16/09/2019]
19
Bryant, Christopher, “Government versus Governance: structure versus process”, EchoGéo
[Online], 43, 2018, http://journals.openedition.org/echogeo/15288 [Accessed: 30/06/2020]

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organizations. It ensures the availability of government information and services in
the public domain and enables the citizens to exercise their right to access them. e-
Governance acts as an enabling agent for that purpose. e-Government provides
electronic service delivery and information sharing to the users, whereas e-
governance provides interface for interactions between government and users to avail
the delivery of services and information.

History of e-Governance

To make more sense of any phenomenon, it is important to understand its

history. The past trends in the evolution of that phenomenon not only enable us to
better comprehend its present status, but also to chalk out logical predictions about its
future.

The literature on e-governance identified that it first occurred in the country of

Chile in 1972. In that era, usage of Information Technology was considered as the
gadget of private businesses only. The government of Chile felt the need to make its
operation more efficient and took the services of Prof. Stafford Beer. By
implementing the recommendations of Prof. Beer, Chile emerged as the first country
to initiate the concept of e-governance in the operations of Public Administration.
Over time, this concept became popular across the world, and public organizations
showed a keen interest in adopting this in their operations.

‘Even though historically it was Chile which implemented real e-

governance solution as early as the seventies, the current interest and
attention on e-governance applications all over the world have its
roots in the "Information Super Highway'' concept initiated by the US
Vice President Al Gore in early 1990s. The “Information Super
Highway” was defined largely in terms of the information
infrastructure at the national level by many countries including the US,
UK, Canada, Australia, and India. The focus was then largely on the
development of components of the infrastructure, such as fiber optic
networks across the States or Nations.’20

20
Prabhu, op.cit.

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 Subsequently, the Information Highway, with the help of e-governance, led to
the inclusion of socio-economic considerations and made the way for the concept of
Information Society or Knowledge Society. This enabled the development of e-
governance in a more formal and focused way which resulted in the emergence of
some partial success stories of its implementation in many countries including India.

During its initial years, e-Governance mainly got implemented in business

enterprises with the usage of Information and Communication Technology. ICT was
progressively utilized to stretch out the operations and connections and bring about
more efficiency in service delivery. The success of ICT in providing anytime ATM
services, call centers, e-shopping, etc. instigated the governments all over the world to
realize the potential of e-governance. With the widespread use of ICT in the early
nineteenth century, e-governance had begun to establish itself as an important concept
of Public Administration. Initially, it was limited to computerization of government
offices basically to make the administrative procedures paperless, but gradually it
started to expand its footprints in the fields of information processing and service
delivery by applying the business process re-engineering techniques. With time,
several steps have been taken to establish connections between citizens and the
government through e-governance by organizational restructuring.

Stages in the Evolution of e-Governance

Table 1.2 states seven stages of the evolution during the implementation of e-
governance in any public organization or government department: -

Table 1.2: Stages in the Evolution of the e-Governance

Stage Level Progress

Stage 1st Starting the usage of e-mail communications and the establishment of
Local Area Networking (LAN).
Stage 2nd Development of Accessible Intranet facility for Staff.
Stage 3rd Providing open access to information through the Internet (Web
Portals, Mobile Apps like MyGov.in, etc.)
Stage 4th Enabling two-way communication and transactions (including
financial) with stakeholders through Internet-enabled kiosks (For
example, MMPs like CARD, Gyandoot, Bhoomi, etc.)

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Stage 5th Provisions of online transactions to citizens. (For example, e-
Procurement)
Stage 6th Enrichment of Digital Democracy via activities like usage of
Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), online polling, referendum, and
gathering opinion regarding policy formulation and implementation,
etc.
Stage 7th Electronically Joined Government, All three organs of Legislature,
Executive and Judiciary got horizontally integrated and inter-
connected.
Source: CSR Prabhu (2004)

Scope of e-Governance

e-Governance is more about the transformation of government processes than

merely putting information on the net. It involves innovative aspects of streamlining
and re-engineering of the internal structures, entire processes, and practices of the
government (GPR), enhancing capacities by the reorganization of whole
administrative structure and simplification of procedures. e-Governance provides an
enabling environment for the growth of the country by mobilization, deployment, and
utilization of resources such as financial, human capital, information, and technology.
To make the governance process proactive and service-oriented, ‘e-governance is
divided into categories or areas like e-democracy, e-service provision, and e-
management.’21 Based on interactions and different types of flow of information in
Government service delivery system, most commonly, the scope of e-governance
communication can be categorized into five categories, as follows:

1. Government to Government (G2G)

2. Government to Citizen (G2C)

3. Citizen to Government (C2G)

4. Government to Business (G2B)

5. Business to Government (B2G)

21
Ghayur, Adeel, “Towards Good Governance: Developing an e-Government”, The Pakistan
Development Review, Vol. 45, No. 4, December 19-22, 2006 (Winter 2006), p. 1011.

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 Government to Government (G2G) or Intra-government interaction involves
all those activities and communications that take place between government
organizations horizontally and vertically. Horizontal interactions involve the
communications between different agencies at the same level of either center or state
government, on the other hand, vertical interactions denote the communications
between different agencies of the center and state governments. It improves the flow
of information and services amongst the government institutions and as a process, it
leads to more efficient and speedy operations of the government. Government to
Citizen (G2C) interaction relates to the activities of providing online access to
information and services to the users, i.e. citizens, via an electronic mode of the
interface. It not only facilitates the citizens’ access to public services and information
but also improves the quality of delivery of governmental services and information.
Citizen to Government (C2G) interactions consist of the activities in which citizens
apply for the public services, do transactions, and provide feedback in the form of
complaints and suggestions via electronic means of communications. Applying online
for any service, paying bills digitally, filing income tax returns, etc. fall under this
category. Government to Business (G2B) interactions are those which involve
prospects and directives to private businesses or industries regarding sales and trading
of goods and providing various services. These interactions include issuing and
allotment of various licenses, tenders, permits, collection notices concerned with
Goods and Sales Tax (GST), and operations of investments and disinvestments of
Public Enterprises. Business to Government (B2G) interaction involves transactions
such as various application forms for licenses, permits tenders, and grievance redress
mechanism concerned with GST and feedback about the policies and procedures that
may result in bringing about reforms in the corporate sector especially.

Moreover, the advancement of ICTs has provided new opportunities to

increase the speed and reach of democratic governance. Various e-Governance
surveys conducted by the United Nations Organization chalked out the areas covered
under its ambiance such as Artificial Intelligence, Connected Governance by utilizing
online social networking, Customer Relationship Management, Cyber Security of
Data and Information, Digital Literacy, Disaster Risk Management, e-Consultation,
e-Decision Making, e-Information, e-Participation, e-Resilience, Knowledge
Management, Multi-channel Service Delivery, Mobile Governance, Social Media, etc.

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The recent UN Survey of 201822 on e-government discusses the role and identify the
challenges, emerging issues, and areas of e-governance from the perspective of
sustainable development also.

e-Governance holds enormous potential in terms of improving accountability,

accessibility, administrative responsiveness, affordability, effectiveness, efficacy,
efficiency, transparency, and cure ails of corruption and mismanagement in public
service delivery. Time-bound delivery of services with cost-effectiveness is another
emerging field of research and development in developing countries especially. In
addition to the above role, the consolidation of back-end systems and processes with
front-end service delivery mechanism, various technical issues such as development
and installation corresponding software and hardware, Intranet and Internet
Networking, Database Management Systems are also covered under the scope of e-
governance.

Prominent Organizations of e-Governance

The organizations associated in studying the issues related to the research and
development of e-governance initiatives at the international and national level are as
follows: Centre for Digital Government (New Jersey), National Center for Public
Performance (Suffolk University, Boston), National Centre for Public Productivity
(Rutgers University, New York), Centre for e-Governance (MeITY, GoI, New Delhi)
Centre for Electronic Governance(IIM-Ahmedabad), Centre for Good Governance
(Hyderabad), Computer Application Division (ICAR-Indian Agricultural Statistics
Research Institute (IASRI), (New Delhi), Digital India Corporation (DIC, GoI),
National Informatics Center (NIC), National e-Governance Division (DARPG, GoI),
National Institute of Smart Governance (Hyderabad), Research Centre for e-
Governance (IIT Hyderabad), etc.

Significance of e-Governance

As discussed in earlier segments of this chapter, e-governance extends a wide

range of opportunities to its participants whether in the context of public service
delivery or information sharing among government, businesses, and citizens. It brings
a drastic change in government operations by defining new sets of rules and
22
UNDESA, United Nations E-government Survey 2018: Gearing E-government to Support
Transformation towards Sustainable and Resilient Societies, United Nations, New York, 2018

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responsibilities. It provides an enabling environment to enhance the citizen-centricity
of administrative approach by making government process, procedures, practices
more cost-effective, efficient, transparent, accessible, responsive to the needs, and
requirements of the citizens. The implementation of digital governance is an essential
component in making the administration more result-oriented and having its
transformative impacts on bureaucratic accountability, time-bound service delivery
with increased participation and engagement of informed and empowered citizens.

The benefits and significance of e-governance in government machinery can be

determined as follows: -

I. e-Governance has the potential to enhance citizens’ accessibility to

governmental information related to policies, legislation, rules, and
regulations, administrative processes, and procedures, etc. on the easily
available digital platforms such as government web-portals, websites and
mobile applications. Also, public service delivery can be made easily
accessible to the citizens through online service delivery, one-stop-shop type
of service centers such as SUWIDHA Kendra in Punjab, etc. These benefits
not only save the time and money of the users, as multiple physical visits are
not required for service delivery but also by increasing the service quality, it
may directly impact on the satisfaction level of the citizens, positively.

II. It is government anytime, anywhere by being available 24*7, 365 days a

year to the citizens.

III. e-Governance enhances the level of administrative accountability and

efficiency by speeding up the task of application processing which reduces the
backlog of applications in public service delivery. It makes the time-bound
delivery of service a reality with the new supervision technique of online
tracking of file status.

IV. By providing information regarding policies, processes, and procedures in the

open domain and making them accessible to all, e-governance empowers
citizens to make informed choices regarding services they want to subscribe to
from the administration. Right to Service Acts enacted by various States
empowered the citizens to demand time-bound delivery of services as a right
from the administration. The associated benefit of this empowerment resulted
in disintermediation, which means the elimination of the malpractice of

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 getting things done through mediators such as agents, facilitators, middlemen,
and touts.

V. e-Governance makes it easy to conduct opinion polls and gather public

opinion through the internet. Hence it can enhance citizen participation in
the decision making and policy formulation of the government.

VI. It has the potential to strengthen the vertical relations between government
and the citizens by providing better interactions and bringing some
fundamental changes in the way the government operates and hence plays a
significant role in the improvement of the democratic process.

VII. It also has an effective impact on the horizontal communications among the
different wings at inter and intra-levels of the governments and provides better
coordination tools.

VIII. e-Governance provides users a user-centric interface to interact with the

government for getting information, delivery of various services, and
complaints/feedback.

IX. e-Governance also plays an important role in downsizing the organization by

reducing the levels of hierarchy.

X. e-Governance also acts as an environmentally friendly mode of governance

as it paves the way for paperless administration and contributes to
environmental protection by saving a huge amount of paper.

XI. e-Governance helps the government in maintaining law and order by

providing more vigilant surveillance mechanisms at much lower monitoring
costs, such as CCTVs; online FIR-lodging, database management regarding
crimes, and the criminals. It has become far easier to trace the criminals with
the help of mobile tower locations.

XII. It also facilitates and simplifies the recruitment process of the government.
Now, nearly all of the recruitment announcements are posted on websites of
the concerned department or concerned recruitment agency. All the
information related to the recruitment is easily available to the aspirants.
Moreover, most of the applications can also be submitted online which saves
the time of applicants. Results declared at various stages of recruitment are
also posted online on the websites.

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 In addition to the above-stated potentials of e-governance in bringing about
significant improvements in public service delivery, it possesses a much wider
capability to improve the quality of life and nature of democracy. e-Governance has
proved its significance not only in the administrative spheres but also in the political
spheres of India. Even political parties are looking forward to harvesting the benefits
of e-governance in their activities. Apart from the usage of widespread social media
tools, they are holding seminars and conferences on e-governance at their level.

UN EGDI

e-Government Development Index (EGDI) is a biannual International Index

on e-governance. EGDI is presented by the United Nations’ Department of Economic
and Social Affairs (UN-DESA). It is used “to measure the readiness and capacity of
national institutions to use ICTs to deliver public services”23 It is a composite
indicator which consists of three indexes of Online Service, Telecommunication and
Human Capital. EGDI covers a broad range of topics related to e-governance with
equal weightage to all three indexes.

The recent tenth edition (2018) of the survey with the theme “gearing e-
government to support transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies” was
made life in July 2018. The survey was aimed to serve as a development tool to
identify areas of strength and challenges in the field of e-government and shape the
policies and strategies. This edition declared Europe as the leading continent
regarding development in the field of e-Government. As per EGDI 2018, the global
trend shows improvement in the usage of e-governance as at present 140 countries
(out of the 193 surveyed) have at least one transactional service have provided online.
In ICT usage for public service delivery, Denmark, Australia, and the Republic of
Korea topped on EGDI. India was ranked in 96th position for its performance in IT
development and execution. India demonstrated substantial progress, as it rose from
118th rank in 2014 to 107th rank in 2016.

e-Governance in India

While Information technology is much the same around the world, states and
societies are not. “Since governance is about the interaction of the state and society, e-

23
Ibid.

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governance is necessarily influenced by its national context.”24 Being a culturally,
traditionally, geographically, demographically, and economically diverse nation, India
is a union of its type. Effective implementation of various socio-economic
development projects and programs is still an issue, which demands innovatively
designed governance solutions. India is also seriously concerned about bringing the
necessary administrative reforms to meet the challenges of the 21st century. In this
context, e-governance appeared as a strategic tool for the Government of India (GoI).
India is demonstrating significant success in the introduction and implementation of
the e-governance initiatives and the government is claiming the improved levels of
accessibility and corruption-free service delivery to the citizens. In India, e-
governance established its foundation initially in the form of computerization of
departmental records of Government and then gradually marched towards the various
initiatives that encapsulate the ideals of Good Governance such as citizen-centric
administration, accountability, transparency, service orientation, etc.

The establishment of the National Informatics Centre (NIC), under the

Electronics Commission, in 1976, brought e-governance to India through networking
and computer applications in various organs of the government at central, state and
district levels. “It has done a remarkable job of connecting thousands of government
offices which are the repositories of a wealth of information required for planning and
execution of numerous development schemes and also for governance. NIC is now
the largest repository of comprehensive information about our country, its people, its
wealth, its projects and trade and commerce, and many other areas.”25The launching
of the national satellite-based information network NICNET in 1987, followed by its
extension at the district level in the form of DISNIC by 1990, was a major thrust in
promoting e-governance.26 After adopting the policy of liberalization, in the 1990s,
the GoI took several initiatives to promote the use of IT in governance. India
introduced e-governance in a planned manner through its erstwhile popular mode of
Five Year Plans (FYP) prepared by the Planning Commission (PC). 10th, 11th, and 12th
FYPs earmarked a hefty amount of funds as projected central assistance to States/UTs
for convergence of technology, implementation of e-governance, particularly of
National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). The enactment of the Information Technology

24
Rose, op.cit.
25
Prabhu, op.cit.
26
http://india.gov.in/e-Governance/initiatives/central-initiatives [Accessed: 20/06/2013]

Page 16 of 47
Act in 2000 was also another milestone in the progress of e-governance in India,
specifically in the field of cyber-crimes and e-commerce.

The formulation of NeGP and launching of its components and 27 MMPs in

2006 was the first strategic initiative of the Government of India. In 2015, the
Government of India launched a flagship program named as Digital India to ensure
the electronic delivery of public services to citizens. This campaign focused on digital
infrastructure development, digital service delivery, and digital literacy. It revamped
the NeGP into the next version of NeGP 2.0 with new nomenclature of e-Kranti with
increasing the number of MMPs to 44. Gradually, a vast array of projects and
programs have been undertaken by the governments at state levels also for successful
adoption of e-governance, specifically in the fields of public service delivery to make
it more efficient and effective for citizens as well as administration. States have
MMPs on Agriculture, Commercial Taxes, e-District, Gram Panchayats, Health
Services, Local Government Services, Land Records, Municipalities, Police Services,
Road Transport, and Treasuries, etc. In addition to the above MMPs, the states have
other e-governance initiatives.27All these projects and initiatives have been discussed
in detail in the second chapter of this study.

Apart from building the technical infrastructure required for e-governance, the
GoI also build its institutional capacity by training employees and recruitment of e-
governance experts in the form of advisory groups. For better implementation of e-
governance, the GoI framed laws, plans, and policies incorporating the current and
emerging future technology and modified many existed legislations to include e-
governance. The government at central and state levels published a plethora of
information online on its websites and official portal facilitated through centralized
data centers.

e-Governance in Punjab

Located in the northwestern region of India, Punjab is also known as the land
of five rivers. Having a total area of 50,362 sq. km,28 Punjab is bordered by Pakistan
in the west and Indian States of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and
Rajasthan in the north, east, south, and south-west respectively. The state shares its
27
http://india.gov.in/e-governance/initiatives/states-initiatives [Accessed: 20/06/2013]
28
Economic Adviser to Government of Punjab, Punjab at a Glance (District-Wise)2018, Publication
No. 959, GoP, 2018, p.4

Page 17 of 47
capital of Chandigarh, a UT, with the neighboring state of Haryana. Punjab has
primarily agriculture-based economy due to the climate, water resources, and fertile
soil. The administrative structure of Punjab is based on the lines of the Indian
Constitution and follows the parliamentary system of government. In teledensity,
Punjab is the fourth highest state in the country with 100% 4G connectivity across the
State.29

In India, as mentioned earlier, the journey of e-governance passed through

various stages ranging from informative, interactive, transactional, and
transformational phases of evolution. Punjab, being one of the developed and
progressive states of India, is very keen to adopt the e-practices in its administrative
improvement. The state government has been implementing NeGP to utilize ICTs to
provide better service delivery to the citizens.

With the vision of using ICT as a vehicle for effective governance to empower
citizens, the government of Punjab has undertaken various projects and initiatives to
commence an era of e-governance, primarily with the implementation of NeGP. The
Department of Information Technology has worked upon the development and
establishment of common infrastructures such as PAWAN, SDC, CSCs, Web portal
of government of Punjab, and SSDG. As a core infrastructure, it has established
single-window front-end delivery channels in the form of service centers like
SUWIDHA Kendras, Fard Kendras for services linked to land records, and Saanjh
Kendras for services related to Police. All these single window centers have been
actively providing services to the citizens of Punjab. It is worthwhile to mention that
the state has pioneered the single window front end delivery channel with the
establishment of SUWIDHA Kendras in the year 2002.

Apart from these front end e-initiatives, to deliver all services in an efficient
and hassle-free manner, back-end computerization of offices of Divisional & Deputy
Commissioners and various departments has been completed. The realization of this
process has paved the way for online service delivery to the citizens. Other e-
initiatives such as e-District, e-Sarkar, Integrated Financial Management System,
Integrated Workflow & Document Management System, Online Service Delivery

29
https://pbindustries.gov.in/static/about_punjab;Key=State_Profile [Accessed: 30/06/2020]

Page 18 of 47
using State Portal, and SSDG, Standardization of Governmental Websites, etc. have
also been implemented by the government.

SUWIDHA Project

SUWIDHA Project in Punjab was one of the earliest procedural innovations in

the administrative system and it initiated a new trend in positively influencing our
administrative culture. The pilot project was initiated in August 2002 at Fatehgarh
Sahib30. Also known as Web SUWIDHA, the term SUWIDHA is an abbreviation for
“Single User-friendly Window Disposal and Help-line for Applicants”. Designed and
developed by NIC and it was funded by the Department of Communication &
Information Technology of Government of India. PSeGS facilitated the establishment,
management, operations, and maintenance of SUWIDHA Kendra in districts through
the district level Sukhmani Societies. This project was got implemented statewide by
2005.

SUWIDHA Project was initiated with the purpose to provide services to the
citizens in a convenient manner by re-engineering government processes and
standardizing the procedures. It was aimed to integrate the back-end services with
front-end to ensure the timely delivery of service. Another objective was to enhance
accessibility and transparency, ensuring time-bound service delivery by developing an
efficient, consistent, and reliable mechanism. It also attempted to replace the manual
system of record-keeping and maintenance.

SUWIDHA electronically record the details provided by the user for availing a
service and match the checklist of the required documentation. It also prints
acknowledgments and fees receipts and issues various certificates. It facilitated online
tracking of file movement.

The user approach SUWIDHA Kendra applied for the desired service at the
respective counter on his turn-based on the token number. After applying, the operator
issued him an acknowledgment receipt cum reference number, which also specified
the date of delivery of services. Every kind of payment for the fees etc. was made at
the SUWIDHA counter. The application/case was then sent to the branch for action.

30
Mishra, Purva, “Progressive Punjab: A Step Towards E-Governance”, Indian Journal of Public
Administration, 342 / VOL. LX, NO. 2, April-June 2014, p. 347.

Page 19 of 47
The delivery of the documents was also made from SUWIDHA Delivery Counter and
not from the branch.

On the line of the SUWIDHA project, Sewa Kendras were earlier got
established in rural areas and later in urban areas. It is a further development in the
front-end service delivery mechanism of Punjab. Later on in August 2016, Sewa
Kendras took over the SUWIDHA Kendras, but the functions and the services offered
remained the same. Currently, the back-end for 51 citizen services has been
computerized under the e-District project. The remaining services are being processed
and delivered manually. At present in 2020, as per the official website31 of the
Government of Punjab, there are approximately 500 Sewa Kendras that are
operational in the State and a total of over 249 services, with 77 main services and
sub-services related to arms license, issuance of birth/death certificate, caste
certificate, domicile certificate, payment of electricity bills, etc., are being provided at
3000+ counters across the state. All the above-mentioned projects and other major e-
initiatives by the government of Punjab such as AGMARKNET, ITISP, PRISM,
SARATHI and VAHAN, etc. are discussed in details in the third chapter of this study.

Review of the Literature

In their empirical study, Beshi and Kaur (2020)32 assess the level of citizens’
trust towards the functioning of the local government. The study identifies various
factors affecting the level of citizens’ trust. It also examines the effect of demographic
and political backgrounds of citizens in determining their level of trust. The locale of
the study located in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. Based on primary data, the study reports a
low level of citizens’ trust with the local administration. The study also establishes
that the trust level of citizens is largely determined by their gender, age, and political
affiliation, while educational and income levels do not have any significant impact in
this context. The study concludes that the citizens’ needs and interests must be
considered by the government to enhance the level of trust towards local
administration.

31
https://dgrpg.punjab.gov.in/sewa-kendras/ [Accessed: 30/06/2020]
32
Beshi, T.D. and Kaur, Ranvinderjit, “Citizens’ Trust in Local Government Evidence from
Ethiopia”, World Affairs, Vol. 24, No. 2, Summer (April – June) 2020, pp. 128-140.

Page 20 of 47
 Chaudhury et al. (2020)33 in their case study of Assam State of India present
insights on digital mode of public service delivery. Being insiders, as associated with
NIC, they utilize their access to the knowledge of both sides of administration and
citizens and highlighted the challenges still facing the delivery of e-services. The
authors consider the specific issues of digital service delivery in Assam, where they
were involved in operations. Based on their first-hand practical knowledge of service
design and related data they conclude that stages of service delivery mechanism must
be updated again and again in the light of various factors such as user needs, process
re-engineering, and requisite skill integration. They also suggest for effective training
and sensitization of public officials towards citizen-centric service delivery and
citizens must be empowered with the awareness regarding e-service delivery. They
are of the view that state initiatives must combine themselves with the strategic
initiatives at the national level also.

In their informative article about Blockchain technology, Mittal et al. (2020)34

highlight its significance in bridging ‘trust deficit’ in governance. The article
emphasizes that this technology has the potential of transforming the entire public
service delivery ecosystem. The article underlines this technology as an enabler for
the creation of a trust-based governance system at all levels of government and as a
backbone for data storage.

Raghupathi et al. (2020)35 in their whitepaper on Industry analyze banking

penetration, access to the public, trends in technology and innovations, and identify
potential opportunities in the field of Fintech, i.e. the financial and technology
crossover space. They emphasize on ensuring digital data privacy, security, and
transparency to generate trust among the stakeholders.

Sethi et al. (2020)36 in their informative article about e-initiative of ‘Digidhan

dashboard’ throws light on innovative features of the dashboard and its role in the

33
Chaudhury et al., “Reforming and Strengthening Digital Service Delivery: Case of Government of
Assam” in DARPG, India 2020: Digital Transformation, Government of India, New Delhi, 2020.
pp.33-40.
34
Mittal et al., “Ushering a Trust-based Benefit Delivery Ecosystem in Rural India Powered by
Block-chain” in DARPG, India 2020: Digital Transformation, Government of India, New Delhi,
2020. pp.68-75.
35
Ragupathi et al., “White Paper on Digital Payments & Fintech”, presented during 23rd National
Conference on e-Governance held at Mumbai Maharashtra on February 7-8, 2020.
36
Sethi et al., “Digidhan Dashboard – a digital platform for monitoring Digital Payment Transactions
and Infrastructure to promote Digital Economy” in DARPG, India 2020: Digital Transformation,
Government of India, New Delhi, 2020, pp. 21-32.

Page 21 of 47
monitoring of digital transactions and digital infrastructure to promote digital
economy in India. The paper discusses in detail the technical framework of the
dashboard and methodology adopted in its design and development. The authors term
it as a milestone in the definition of a monitoring tool of digital transactions in the
country.

In their empirical study, Beshi and Kaur (2019)37 examine the role of good
governance practices on public trust in the local government of Bahir Dar City
situated in the Amhara region of Ethiopia. An extensive survey of existed literature is
conducted and study largely supports the ideas of ‘sound governance’ propagated by
Professor Farazmand. The authors develop and test a conceptual framework and
evaluate the practices of good governance at the local government level. The study
draws conclusions supported with a range of sources and established the importance
of the above variables of good governance as influential factors in generating public
trust.

Neeta Verma (2019)38 highlights the role of the National Informatics Centre
(NIC) and attaches office of Ministry of Electronics & IT, Government of India, in
providing state-of-the-art infrastructure for various e-initiatives of the government.
She explains in detail the significance of the support system provided to various e-
initiatives in the form of NICNET, NKN, Data Centers, and other facilities operated
by NIC. This article provides useful insights about the working of NIC - more
specifically the usage of cloud computing in providing services to the citizens by the
government.

In his informative article about e-Services in India, Ravi Shankar Prasad

(2019)39 highlights the policy perspective of the Government of India regarding the
digital empowerment of Indian citizens. This article discusses the details of various
Mission Mode Projects or initiatives of the Government of India.

37
Beshi, T.D. & Kaur, R., “Public Trust in Local Government: Explaining the Role of Good
Governance Practices”, Public Organization Review, published online on 04 February 2019 <
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11115-019-00444-6 > [Accessed: 30/06/2020]
38
Verma, Neeta, “Digital Infrastructure: Core of Governance”, Yojana, Department of Publication,
Government of India, New Delhi. July 2019, pp. 17-20.
39
Prasad, Ravi Shankar, “Empowering Citizens Through e-Services”, Yojana, Department of
Publication, Government of India, New Delhi. July 2019, pp. 7-10.

Page 22 of 47
 Simmi Chaudhary (2019)40 highlights the role of e-governance initiatives of
the Indian government to make the governance mechanism more participative in
terms of public participation - more specifically through the flagship program of
Digital India. Considering Digital India as a successful case study, she emphasizes
participatory governance as a key element of a responsible democracy and mentions
key e-initiatives of the DI program. The author also chalks out the key areas where
further focus is needed for privacy protection, disrupting software product
development, IP creation, fostering quick adoption of digital technologies, enhancing
trust, and customer experience.

Vinay Thakur (2019)41 discusses in detail the implementation of location-

based Geographic Information System (GIS) by the Government of India. He
elaborates on the working and features of the National Centre of Geo-Informatics
(NCoG) and highlights its potential in enabling Good Governance. The article also
provides a birds-eye view of various key NCoG projects operated by Central and
State Governments.

In his article, Yadav (2019)42 discusses the issues and trends of digital
payments in India. The study mentions Indian society as traditionally a cash-based
society and discusses the evolution of digital payments through card-based and QR
based transactions. He also discusses the reasons for QR based payments became
popularized with Indian users. He also describes the benefits of digital payments and
highlights the risks associated with them and their preventive measures. The article
emphasizes that for the successful propagation of digital payments it is imperative to
ensure trust in the mind of both clients and merchants.

The empirical study of Kimutai et al. (2018)43 investigates the influence of

citizen participation in the governance of public service delivery in Kisumu County of
Kenya. It examines the existing mechanism to assess the level of citizen participation
through the primary data collected through interviews of citizens and officials. The

40
Chaudhary, Simmi, “Digital Empowerment through ‘Maximum Governance, Minimum
Government’”, Yojana, Department of Publication, Government of India, New Delhi. July 2019, pp.
22-24.
41
Thakur, Vinay, “Tracking Schemes Through GIS”, Yojana, Department of Publication, Government
of India, New Delhi. July 2019, pp. 12-15.
42
Yadav, Narendra, “Less Cash India: Vision to Reality”, Yojana, Department of Publication,
Government of India, New Delhi. July 2019, pp. 26-28.
43
Kimutai et al., “Good Governance and Service Delivery: A Study of Citizen Participation in
Kisumu County”, Universal Journal of Management, 6 (2), 2018, pp. 59-69.

Page 23 of 47
study indicates the enhanced level of citizen participation in public service delivery
promoted administrative accountability. The study also chalks out political
interference, low turnout in government functions, and lack of adequate understanding
of government procedures among the citizens as major obstacles in achieving the
absolute level of citizen participation. The authors suggest that high literacy would
increase the level and quality of citizen participation.

Arora (2017)44 examines and assesses the role of e-governance in the state of
Punjab through the case study of SUWIDHA Project in the selected districts. This
descriptive study critically evaluates the user’s perceptions about the working of the
project. It also gauges the satisfaction level of employees from the working and
service conditions. The primary data for the study was collected through a field
survey conducted at the SUWIDHA Kendras of three selected districts of SAS Nagar
(Mohali), SBS Nagar, and Amritsar and was analyzed by using both qualitative and
quantitative methods. The study concluded that SUWIDHA Kendras are providing
services to people with efficiency and transparency in SAS Nagar and SBS Nagar
districts. The study also recommends policy suggestions for further improvement in
public service delivery mechanism of the state.

In their study based on the analysis of secondary data, Bello et al. (2017)45
critically investigate the level of citizen satisfaction from the municipal services in
Malaysia. The study highlights the variations in the existed literature related to
municipal awareness and citizen satisfaction. The study shows positive trends in the
context of citizen awareness and satisfaction from municipal service delivery but
needs additional efforts to sensitize the public about service delivery. The authors
present some practical guidelines to improve the quality of services that would
increase citizen satisfaction. The limitation of the study is that its scope is restricted to
local government services only.

Porumbescu and Im (2017)46 in their empirical paper examine the impact of

information dissemination through government websites on citizens' perceptions of

44
Arora, Jyoti, E-Governance in Punjab: A Case Study of Suwidha Centres in Select Districts, Ph.D.
Thesis, Department of Public Administration, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 2017.
45
Bello et al., “Municipal Awareness as a Tool for Enhancing Citizen Satisfaction in Municipal
Councils of Malaysia”, European Journal of Social Sciences Studies, Vol. 2, Issue 5, 2017, pp 109-
121.
46
Porumbescu, Greg and Im, Tobin, “Does transparency improve citizens’ perceptions of government
performance? Evidence from Seoul, South Korea”, Administration & Society, Volume 49, Issue 3,
2017. pp. 443-468.

Page 24 of 47
transparency in public sector performance. The universe of the study is Seoul, South
Korea. This study was conducted to assess the performance of the government at the
macro level. The authors mark the point that ‘computer-mediated transparency’ may
make citizenry believe that the government is not ‘doing things well’, but it may also
positively boost citizens’ perception that the government is ‘doing the right things’.
The findings suggest that though the usage of government websites positively impacts
citizens’ perceptions regarding transparency in public sector performance but also has
harmed citizens’ satisfaction in the context of public service provision.

In his empirical study on e-Gram Sampark Centers in Chandigarh, Goliya

(2016)47 gauges the perceptions of the rural population about the working, services of
these centers, and measure the level of users’ awareness and satisfaction. The study
also conducts a comparative analysis of the working and services of these centers with
the previous manual system of service delivery. The findings of the study are based
on primary data collected through a structured questionnaire in a field survey. The
study found the low satisfaction level among users in the context of efficiency,
transparency, and participation at these centers. The study highlights the significance
of demographic characteristics of the users in shaping their perceptions about the
working and services of e-Gram Centers and suggests that public service delivery
mechanisms and government websites must be designed as per the varied needs of the
users. The author also recommends better coordination between front-end and back-
end officials at these centers.

Kaur (2016)48 investigates and examines the contribution of e-governance in

improving public service delivery through the case study of SAMPARK Center, a
single-window initiative of Chandigarh Administration. The study also assesses the
impact of e-governance on transparency, corruption, administrative credibility, citizen
participation, red-tapism, and agent system in service delivery. The primary data was
collected through the structured questionnaires distributed among the users and
officials of SAMPARK centers. Though the study is an empirical work, the sample

47
Goliya, Nemi Chand, “E-Governance and Citizen Perceptions: A Case Study of E-Gram Sampark
in Chandigarh” in Purva Mishra, (ed.), Innovations in Governance, Bharti Publications, New
Delhi, 2016. pp. 90-115.
48
Kaur, Ramnik, Role of e-Governance in Deliverance of Public Services: A Case Study of
Chandigarh Sampark Centres, Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Public Administration, Punjabi
University, Patiala (Punjab), July 2016.

Page 25 of 47
size is not specified and the study observes an overall positive impact of e-governance
on public service delivery through the SAMPARK center initiative.

Sodhi (2016)49 reviews the achievements and progress of e-governance in

India and identifies the strategic factors in the effective implementation of e-
government. The paper highlights problems, challenges, and barriers in the planning,
designing, developing, and implementation of e-initiatives. The author also focuses on
the role of government in the promotion of e-governance in India. The paper
establishes that e-governance has bright prospects in India after full
operationalization.

The empirical study of Almarshad (2015)50 examines that the factors of

municipal awareness and their impacts on citizen satisfaction in the city of Arar in
Northern Borders Province of Saudi Arabia through the primary data collected by
field-survey. The study establishes a strong relationship between municipal awareness
and citizen satisfaction.

In their descriptive study, Farjad et al. (2015)51 empirically investigate the

impact of NPM and citizens' participation in public policy formulation and
implementation. The findings of the study establish the positive and significant impact
of NPM on the citizens` participation. The study finds decentralization as the most
influential dimension of NPM in the context of citizens’ participation in the
monitoring of public policy.

In their descriptive study, Warale and Diwakar (2015)52 empirically evaluate

the level of citizen satisfaction in the context of public service delivery from the
SETU project of Maharashtra State of India. The findings of the survey conducted for
the study chalks out the low level of citizens’ satisfaction from the quality of service

49
Sodhi, Inderjeet Singh, “Application of e-Government in Developing Countries–Issues,
Challenges and Prospects in India”, S O C R A T E S, Vol. 4, Issue 3, 2016. pp. 91-109.
50
Almarshad, Sultan O., “Municipal Awareness and Citizen Satisfaction: The Case of Northern
Borders in Saudi Arabia”, International Review of Management and Marketing, 5(2), 2015, pp. 94-
101.
51
Farjad et al., “The Impact of New Public Management (NPM) and Citizens Public Participation on
Public Policy in Iran”, European Online Journal of Natural and Social Sciences, Vol. 4, No. 1,
2015. pp. 247-254.
52
Warale, Prajakta N. and Diwakar, Hemalatha, “A Study of Citizen Satisfaction for e-Governance
Initiative SETU in Maharashtra (INDIA)”, International Journal of Computer Applications,
Volume 124, No.17, August 2015. pp. 12-19.

Page 26 of 47
delivery. The authors suggest BPR with the usage of the latest technological
infrastructure.

As a contribution to ADB Economics Working Paper Series, Babajanian

(2014)53, examines different approaches for promoting citizen empowerment
effectively through three empowerment models including grievance redress,
participatory performance monitoring, and community-driven development. He also
differentiates service entitlement on the bases of Rights and Programs. The paper
discusses three sets of factors of citizen empowerment in the context of public service
delivery such as institutional properties of the models, citizen participation, and
administrative responsiveness. The paper establishes the positive effect of these
models on citizen engagement and highlights the need to improve citizens’ ability and
willingness to engage themselves with the administration. The author also suggests
for effective grievance redress mechanism and administrative commitment to
facilitate fair and inclusive access to services for the citizen. The study outlines the
policy lessons and practical possibilities for supporting citizen empowerment by
highlighting broader operational and contextual issues.

Malik et al. (2014)54 highlight the role and potential of ICT in supporting the
agenda of good governance in developing countries. The paper outlines the main
contributions of e-governance as improvement in government processes, connecting
citizens, and building external interactions. The paper also focuses on the challenges
faced by developing countries in the effective implementation of e-governance
projects and discusses the factors which are responsible for achieving the goals of
good governance. The paper also highlights the present status and prospects of e-
Governance in India concerning the achievements of the 11th Five Year Plan and the
vision and objectives of the 12th Five Year Plan.

Mishra (2014)55 in her article based on secondary data, particularly available

at websites of the Government of Punjab highlights the significance of e-governance.
The author presents data, more specifically the information, about e-initiatives

53
Babajanian, Babken, “Citizen Empowerment in Service Delivery”, ADB Working Paper Series, No.
396, June 2014.
54
Malik et al., “Challenges and Future Prospects for E-Governance in India”, International Journal of
Science, Engineering and Technology Research, Volume 3, Issue 7, July 2014. pp.1964-1972.
55
Mishra, op.cit.

Page 27 of 47
undertaken by the state of Punjab. The author suggests creating awareness among
masses regarding the use of e-services.

Tyagi (2014)56 in her article highlights the significance of ICTs usage in the
operations of government. The author emphasizes that e-governance can transform
the government into a more efficient, effective, transparent, and accountable
government for achieving the goals of good governance. The paper establishes that e-
governance is a key to good governance and it impacted the working of the Indian
Government by simplification of organizational structures and amendments in statutes
and regulations.

The Ph.D. thesis of Vivek Jyoti (2014)57 studies the introduction and impact
of e-governance in specifically in the Shimla District of Himachal Pradesh and
analyses the citizens’ perception of the functioning of e-governance in the Shimla
District. The major findings of the study establish the positive impact of e-governance
on the administration and citizens expressed satisfaction about its working. The study
also finds that majority of e-governance users belong to urban areas of the State.

Dwivedi et al. (2013)58 consider e-government as a technological enabler in

the delivery of redesigned public services to eliminate inefficiency, corruption, and
bureaucracy and to enhance effectiveness in service delivery. The authors discuss in
brief the history of the emergence of e-governance in India and chalk out the
opportunities it brings with its arrival. Authors identify the challenges in the
realization of e-governance goals and establish that due to these barriers the overall
level of e-governance usage is low. The study suggests the government should focus
its attention on mobile-governance for communication and service delivery. The study
also stresses on change in administrative culture through citizen training, availability
of regional language in e-governance, timely evaluation of services, and trust-
generation among the public.

56
Tyagi, Anuradha, “E-Governance-Emerging Dimension in India”, International Journal of Business
and Management Invention, Volume 3, Issue 4, April 2014. pp. 31-36.
57
Jyoti, Vivek, Issues, Constraints and Prospects of E-Governance in Himachal Pradesh: A Study of
District Shimla, Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Public Administration, Himachal Pradesh University,
Shimla (Himachal Pradesh), 2014.
58
Dwivedi et al., “E-Government: Potential and Challenges”, Yojana, November 2013, pp. 30-33.

Page 28 of 47
 In his article, Gian Singh (2013)59 critically examines the working of
SUWIDHA project in Punjab. He analyzes that the Revenue Department of Punjab
Government has successfully implemented the computerization of rural lands,
whereas it is facing complications in the case of the urban lands. The author also
discusses the problem of clients in checking details of their land records. He feels that
the previous manual system was far better than this modern computerization. He also
discusses the need for a ‘mental revolution’ on the part of bureaucracy for the
successful implementation of computerization.

In his empirical study, Harpreet Singh (2013)60 studies the working and
problems faced by the clientele and administrators of Patiala’s SUWIDHA Kendra.
The study establishes that the project has eliminated the agent system which was the
causative factor of corruption in government service-branches, albeit a large number
of clients still consider the earlier system better because they regard it as less time-
consuming as they didn’t have to stand in queue and wait. The study reflects the
culture where clients themselves consider corruption as an easy way to take services
and a time-saver practice.

Padmapriya (2013)61 focuses on the e-initiatives taken by the Government of

India and the critical factors required for their successful implementation. of e-
governance in India. The paper identifies the potential of e-governance to benefit the
citizens. The author establishes that e-governance may help in addressing the issues of
economic underdevelopment and pervasive corruption. The paper identifies the digital
divide, lack of political will, and bureaucratic inertia as the key obstacles in the
effective implementation of e-governance.

In his informative article, Sharma (2012)62 highlights various e-initiatives and

assessed their impact on society in India. The study focuses on various e-initiatives in
different states of India and assesses that Indian users' awareness about e-practices.

59
Singh, Gian, “SUWIDHA Kendra BnaamAsuwidhaava’n”, Punjabi Tribune, dated May 27, 2013,
pg. 5
60
Singh, Harpreet, “A Case Study of SUWIDHA Kendra, Patiala: Suwidha, Asuwidha and What a
Duwidha”, in Renu Kapila, (ed.), Administrative Reforms: Milestones and Challenges, Regal
Publications, New Delhi, 2015, pp.206-219.
61
Padmapriya, A., “E-Governance: A Move Towards Paperless Administration in India”,
International Journal of Computer Trends and Technology, Volume 4, Issue3, 2013. pp. 404-411.
62
Sharma, D., “Inception of E-Governance Initiatives in India: A Journey towards Good
Governance”, International Journal of Computer Science and Management Studies, Vol. 12, No. 1,
January, 2012. pp.1-6.

Page 29 of 47
The study found that Indian users were not aware of e-practices and about how to
access various services through the internet. The study concluded that low awareness
among users is a major obstacle to the effective implementation of e-initiatives.

In their empirical study, Singh and Chandra (2012)63 have discussed the role
of e-governance in the economic development of Punjab,. The study attempts to
analyze the degree of user satisfaction from the service delivery mechanism in the
rural sector. The study highlights the problems of corruption and harassment in the
mechanism. According to the authors, as Punjab's economy is based on agriculture,
the wise use of e-governance in the agriculture sector and the provision of technology
awareness to the farmers will accelerate its economic growth. Highlighting e-
governance as a tool of social and economic change, authors suggest that to properly
deliver the benefits of e-governance, the medium of e-interfaces should also be in the
Punjabi language.

In their research paper, Singla and Aggarwal(2012)64 look into the e-

initiatives by the Government of Punjab to make the process of public service
delivery more effective and efficient. The study suggests a suitable e-governance
framework for the effective implementation of SUWIDHA. They recommend a few
changes at the human behavior level and infrastructure level at SUWIDHA center.

Yadav and Singh (2012)65 discuss the latest trends of technology adopted by
the Government of India. The authors present a framework of e-governance
implemented by the center and state governments. The paper establishes that e-
governance has enhanced the efficiency and transparency of the government. The
paper presents a comprehensive list of e-initiatives implemented in India and suggests
usage of emerging technologies of Open Source and Cloud Computing in government
operations.

63
Singh, V. and Chander, S., “On the Role of e-Governance in Economic Development: An Impact
Study of Rural and Semi-Urban Punjab”, International Journal of Computing and Business
Research, Vol. 3, No. 1, January 2012. pp. 1-10.
64
Singla, Sushil Kumar and Aggarwal, Himanshu, “e-Governance Framework For Effective
Implementation of Suwidha in the State of Punjab.” International Journal of Research in IT &
Management, February 2012. pp. 175-184.
65
Yadav, Nikita and Singh V. B., “E-Governance: Past, Present and Future in India”, International
Journal of Computer Applications, Volume 53 - No.7, September 2012. pp. 36-48.

Page 30 of 47
 Garg et al. (2011)66 offer a very detailed discussion on the significance of e-
governance for technical and vocational education in India. The study highlights the
impact of e-governance on administrative efficiency, speedy dissemination of
information, and transparency in the public service delivery in the context of technical
and vocational education. The study establishes that e-governance can improve the
quality of services in the field of technical and vocational education and ensure
administrative accountability.

Ghosh (2011)67 highlights ICT’s significance and benefits in the context of

rural development and its benefits by discussing various e-initiatives. Achievements
and failures of various initiatives have been categorically discussed before media
liberalization and post media liberalization. In the opinion of the author, the Gyandoot
project implemented in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh has proved to be
instrumental in raising the standard of living of the rural masses.

Tejasvee and Sarangdevot (2011)68, in their research paper, discuss the

impact of ICT in Rajasthan in the context of administrative efficiency, employment
opportunities, and quality of life of citizens. The study explores the integration of ICT
with various e-initiatives in Rajasthan. The study concludes that e-governance proved
to be beneficial for the state and citizens.

Chen and Hsieh (2009)69 weave their article around the question “Can e-
governance fulfill the ideal of citizen-centric government around the world?” The
study believes that for the successful implementation of e-governance, broad
administrative reform focuses on IT and technological advancements are the
organizational drivers. The research utilizes a framework that captures the
institutional, organizational, and technological drivers of e-governance performance.
The results indicate that the United States and Taiwan excel in different areas, but
could improve in others and learn from each other.

66
Garg, et al., “Effective Implementation of e-Governance in Technical Institutions in India using ICT
to Make them World Class”, An International Journal of Engineering Sciences, Vol. 4,
September 2011, pp. 535-543.
67
Ghosh, A., “Initiatives in ICT for Rural Development: An Indian Perspective”, Global Media
Journal, Vol. 2, No. 2, December, 2011. pp. 1-8.
68
Tejasvee, S. and Sarangdevot, S.S.,” Integration of ICT and E-Governance in Rajasthan”, Indian
Journal of Computer Science and Engineering, Vol. 2, No. 2, April-May, 2011. pp. 177-183.
69
Chen, Yu-Che and Hsieh Jun-Yi, “Advancing E-Governance: Comparing Taiwan and the United
States” Public Administration Review, Vol. 69, Dec., 2009, pp. S151-S158.

Page 31 of 47
 In their theoretical research study, after analyzing various theoretical
frameworks and reviewing e-applications, Ojha et al. (2009)70 formulate a conceptual
model of the anti-corruption effects of e-governance. Based on in-depth analysis
carried out of various literary and empirical pieces of evidence of e-governance’s
impact on curbing corruption they declare that all the knowledge base available about
this impact is largely a-theoretical and descriptive. They highlight the potential of the
proposed model to stimulate further research in corruption studies, more specifically
of e-Initiatives, in a more unified manner. The researchers also systematically identify
and theoretically discuss the constraints in combating corruption through e-
governance and offered suggestions of overcoming them.

PGRC in its 1st status report (2009) 71 conceptualizes the reform as a change
in the formal rules and procedures of service delivery mechanism. The commission
further highlights that there is a need to control the influence of private facilitators to
bring about perceptible, measurable, and qualitative improvement in the delivery of
various citizen services. PGRC expresses dissatisfaction about the quality of services
at SUWIDHA and recommends urgent revamping of the project. It stresses upon
uniformity in public service delivery mechanism and suggests that SUWIDHA
Kendra of District Headquarters must function as a residual complaint center for all
Departments operating in the District. The 3rd status report (2010)72 provides a
framework for the citizens’ interaction with the government. The revolutionary
proposal of this report was to make service delivery a time-bound process by
attaching a stipulated time-frame for the completion of services. The 4th status report
(2011)73 highlights the absence of e-governance among other hindrances in efficiency
and effectiveness of public service delivery mechanism in the state of Punjab. The
report highlights the significance of procedural reforms and suggests the effective
implementation of e-governance in government departments. The 5th status report
(2011)74 emphasizes reforming the governance system by implementing e-governance
to meet deficits that exist in trust, dignity, and productivity of the public service
delivery mechanism. The report highlights the concept of citizen engagement through

70
Ojha et al., “A Model for Impact of E-Government on Corruption: Exploring Theoretical
Foundations” in Bhattacharya, Jaijit (ed.), Critical Thinking in e-Governance, Gift Publications,
New Delhi, 2009.
71
PGRC, Status Report on Delivery of Citizen Services. GoP, Chandigarh, May 2009.
72
PGRC, Third Status Report. GoP, Chandigarh, December 2010.
73
PGRC, Fourth Status Report. GoP, Chandigarh, September 2011.
74
PGRC, Fifth Status Report. GoP, Chandigarh, September 2011.

Page 32 of 47
e-governance to successfully implement reforms and simultaneously building the
capacity of the system around core elements of e-governance i.e. efficiency,
accountability, and transparency.

The report presented by Singh (2009)75 discusses ongoing e-governance

projects in Punjab, specifically in the SBS Nagar District with emphasis on the result
and enable indicators. The report summarizes the issue of capacity building in the
SBS Nagar District. This article provides valuable information about the services
provided to the citizens through the SUWIDHA project.

In his analytical article, Dawes (2008)76 examines e-governance in terms of

five interrelated objectives and establishes that in the US it enhance the quality of
public services and improved government operations but doesn’t contribute much in
enhancing democracy. The author highlights the potential of e-governance for
enhancing citizen participation and civil society engagement in the policymaking
process.

In their article, Kasinathan and Gurumurthy (2008)77 mention the internet

as a building block of the information society, and due to this fact, its governance is
an important issue. They discuss the issues related to internet governance and suggest
ways that explaining how may the Internet Governance Forum contributes to
participatory decision-making. The author explains that the importance of the internet
has become more pronounced over time, so its governance processes and structures
may also impact the overall global governance processes.

THE second ARC in its Eleventh report (2008) 78, specifically based on the
promotion of e-governance in India, states that the mere introduction of the IT
component in government departments is not enough for the successful
implementation of e-governance. The report highlights that e-governance reforms
need to be comprehensive by covering the GPR, preparedness, and technology, and
the people in the concerned departments. The commission classifies three types of

75
Singh, S., "Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar, Punjab" published online in 2009 at https://www.csi-
sigegov.org/ppt/CSI2009Book240909.pdf [Accessed: 06/02/2016]
76
Dawes, Sharon S. “The Evolution and Continuing Challenges of E-Governance”, Public
Administration Review, (Special Issue) December 2008, pp. S86-S102
77
Kasinathan, Gurumurthy and Gurumurthy, Anita, “Internet Governance and Development Agenda”,
Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 43, No. 14, Apr. 5 - 11, 2008 pp. 19-23.
78
Second ARC, Promoting e-Governance: The SMART Way Forward, 11th Report, GoI, New Delhi,
December 2008.

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categories of e-services as providing information, improving processing efficiency,
and facilitating transactions. The report presents an institutional framework for
coordination and sharing of resources/information at the center and state levels. The
report also considers the role of Public-Private Partnership (PPP) as a preferred mode
of implementation of e-governance projects. The commission proposes that a legal
framework for e-governance in India should be outlined by 2020. The commission
also suggests that center and state governments should take proactive measures for
establishing Knowledge Management systems as a pivotal step for administrative
reforms in general and e-governance in particular.

West (2008)79finds that the non-hierarchical character of internet delivery

permits people to look for information at their convenience and the interactive aspects
of e-government allow both citizens and bureaucrats to send as well as receive
information. His findings establish that the factors such as institutional arrangements,
budget scarcity, group conflict, cultural norms and prevailing patterns of social and
political behavior have restricted government actions. Cultural factors also affect the
usage pattern of technology by the government and the governed. The report also
reviews the current status of electronic government and suggests useful
recommendations for improving the delivery of information and services over the
Internet.

Moreno (2007)80examines the challenges presented to modern public affairs

education by the rapid development of e-governance. The author argues that the
potential impact of emerging information and communication technologies on the
education of public affairs and public administration is limitless.

The enormous potential of e-governance in terms of improving service

delivery and efficiency, better response to business and citizen needs, and provision of
affordable government services are suggested by Ghayur (2006)81in his research
paper. He describes e-governance as a tool of good governance and mentions various
e-governance initiatives in countries like the USA, Canada, Singapore, India, and

79
West, Darell M, Improving Technology Utilization in Electronic Government around the World,
2008, Published online in 2008, <http://www.brookings.edu/research/reports/2008/08/17-
egovernment-west >[Accessed: 08/06/2013]
80
Moreno, Eduardo Araya, “Competency-Based Educational Models for Electronic Governance:
Implications for Inclusion and Responsiveness in the Public Service”, Journal of Public Affairs
Education, Vol. 13, No. 1, Winter-2007, pp. 79-86
81
Ghayur, op.cit.

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Pakistan. He highlights the importance of the internet for developing economies as it
is a tool that is equally and easily accessible both to the poor and the rich. The paper
concludes with the opinion that functioning e-government is feasible for the
development of e-services.

In their remarkable paper, Kampen et al. (2006)82 study how satisfaction with
service delivery affects trust in public agencies in an empirical setting. Their findings
suggest the idea that increased quality of public service delivery would increase
satisfaction with the public sector, which, in turn, would ultimately lead to increased
trust in government. The study emphasizes that trust in government is a prerequisite
for governmental reforms. Without trust, reforms are not supported, even though they
aim to increase public trust.

The research paper by Sumanjeet (2006)83 provides a conceptual framework

of e-governance and a comprehensive overview of its implementation in India. The
paper focuses on issues and identifies hindrances for the successful implementation of
e-governance in India. The author suggests the constitution of a national coordination
committee, effective program management, and proper planning for accelerating the
growth and effective implementation of e-governance in India.

In his paper, Kluver (2005)84discusses the critical administrative and political

problems facing the government and demonstrates ways in which e-government has
been designed to meet these. He further discusses the problems presented by reliance
on e-government in a developing country. He argues that the purpose of e-government
initiatives in China is neither in the sense of citizen-empowerment nor to attract
external investment, but to add stability to social change and to re-establish the
control of the governing authorities by improving the quality of surveillance for the
re-legitimation of the Communist Party of China.

82
Kampen, Jarl K., Walle, Steven Van De and Bouckaert, Greet, “Assessing the Relation between
Satisfaction with Public Service Delivery and Trust in Government: The Impact of the
Predisposition of Citizens toward Government on Evaluations of Its Performance”, Public
Performance & Management Review, Vol. 29, No. 4, June 2006, pp. 387-404.
83
Sumanjeet, “e-Governance: An Overview In The Indian Context”, The Indian Journal of Political
Science, Vol. LXVI1, No. 4, Oct-Dec., 2006. pp. 857-866.
84
Kluver, Randolph, “The Architecture of Control: A Chinese Strategy for e-Governance”, Journal of
Public Policy, Vol. 25, No. 1, Jan - Apr 2005.

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 Rose (2005)85 states that the development of e-governance in a country is a
function of the collective national and local capital supplying IT services and of
informal social and human capital creating a demand for e-governance. Supply
requires public officials and citizens to have access to the internet and access varies
enormously according to a country's modern resources and political openness. He
opines that in countries with a high degree of modern resources and a majority of the
adult population online, digital choice creates limits, as well as opportunities for e-
governance since most non-users of the internet, are older people who see no need for
going online. Even the net savvy people prefer traditional means over digital means
for contacting the government.

The article of Saxena (2005)86 helps us to identify the various constraints in

the way of successful implementation of e-governance in India. The author points out
that the application of ICT is not an end in itself, rather it provides means to the end
of service delivery and it leads not only to e-governance but to good governance.
While chalking out the constraints, the author, by citing examples from various Indian
states, establish problems like disparities in e-initiatives, the colonial mindset of
bureaucracy, top-down policy approach, and lack of adequate infrastructure as
administrative constraints. In social constraints, the author brings forth the problems
of the digital divide, gender divide, lack of technological access, lack of content
availability in the local language, low technical literacy, the patriarchal character of
society, and the absence of women from decision-making structure. The study finds
that lack of political will is a major political constraint and is also equally responsible
for not so successful implementation of e-governance in India.

In one of the best basic books available on the subject of e-Governance in

India, C S R Prabhu (2004)87 presents a very wide view and good insight into
various dimensions of the subject as it covers not only the theoretical concepts of e-
governance with in-depth analysis but also describes the practical experience gained
during the implementation of various e-governance projects in India and other
countries. Being officially attached to NIC on a unique position, the author was

85
Rose, op.cit.
86
Saxena, Anupama, “E-Governance and Good Governance: The Indian Context”, The Indian
Journal of Political Science, Vol. 66, No. 2 (Apr.-June, 2005), pp. 313-328 <
http://www.jstor.org/stable/41856130 > [Accessed: 18/03/2014]
87
Prabhu, op.cit.

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privileged to deeply analyze the design and implementation of various e-governance
applications and projects on various levels. The special attraction of the book is the 22
Case-studies of various National and International e-governance projects, which cover
the broad spectrum of the practical implementation of the subject. The author
discusses and evaluates in detail the principles and applications of various models of
digital governance and the evolution and characteristics of five maturity levels of e-
Governance. He also discusses the concept of e-Readiness and the infrastructural
preparedness required for the successful implementation of e-governance including
seven stages of the evolutionary process of e-governance. The applications of data
storage required in governmental operations were also given.

Gupta (2004)88 emphasizes the radical change in the core values, structures,
and public service delivery system is valorized by NPM. The author also deals with
the opportunities and constraints faced by developing countries from the twin forces
of globalization and IT. While discussing the impact of technology on governance,
she is of the view that e-governance has put the citizen at the center and brought the
government and public servants at their toes. Though e-governance is supposed to be
cost-effective in the long term, it requires huge investments into information
technology at the initial stages. She emphasizes that not only it requires huge cost and
efforts, but also a complete overhaul of the mindset of policymakers and the public.

In his paper, Mukhopadhyay (2004)89 briefly analyzes the changes brought

about by fast emerging IT and then examines the impact of its development on the
administrative culture. The author predicts a new kind of administrative culture,
which would be required by an IT-enabled administrative structure, which signifies
the age of paperless administration. He states that IT has changed the administrative
process by facilitating administrative decentralization through the elimination of the
various levels of hierarchy and right-sizing the government. The author also
highlights the importance of Team Culture for the successful implementation of e-
governance.

88
Gupta, Asha, Globalisation, “Technological Innovations and Public Administration: Challenges and
Constraints” in Noorjahan Bava, (ed.), Public Administration in The 21st Century, Kanishka
Publishers, New Delhi, 2004.
89
Mukhopadhyay, Asok, “IT and Administrative Culture in India” in Verma, SP (ed.), Information
Technology and Indian Administration, Kanishka Publishers, New Delhi, 2004.

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 In their joint paper, Pardhasaradhi and Musalaiah (2004)90 point out that
technological innovations make activities like a supply of information,
communication, decision making, deliberation, and voting possible through electronic
means. It paves the way for e-Democracy, which aims at improving representative
democracy. They discuss the electronic delivery of government services under the
heading of The electronic bureaucracy model and emphasize that due to the
augmentation of new technology, a new form of culture is also emerging in the
organizations.

Pardhasaradhi et al. (2004)91 describe how the use of ICT in the government
has given rise to a new phenomenon of e-governance which is regarded as an essential
tool of good governance. The authors predict that e-governance can transform the
existing system of government and pave the way for an inclusive governance system
through digital means. It would increase transparency and accountability in
government business by creating a more effective linkage between the government
and the citizens. They stress that it should be regarded as an alternative and
complementary approach for public administration and service delivery. They denote
the word ‘E’ in the sense of efficiency, effectiveness, empowerment, and economic
and social development. The authors also point out the benefits of IT in bringing
revolutionary changes in the organizational structures by decentralizing the whole
administrative process and downsizing the organization. The case-studies carried out,
lend evidence to the fact that e-governance has been found to facilitate accountability,
efficiency, effectiveness, responsibility, responsiveness, and transparency in the
public service delivery mechanism of various departments under ‘one-roof’. The
interface between government and citizen is improved by the projects and the citizens
get empowered by their participation in governance. The authors consider that ICT
has become the paradigm of Public Administration in the 21st century.

Sachdeva (2004)92in his paper informs about the Tenth Five-Year Plan’s
objectives and the various initiatives taken by the Indian Government to develop the

90
Pardhasaradhi, Y and Musalaiah, J, “Electronic Democracy: Concepts, Trends and Implications for
India”, in SP Verma, (ed.), Information Technology and Indian Administration, Kanishka
Publishers, New Delhi, 2004.
91
Pardhasaradhi et al., op.cit.
92
Sachdeva, R.K., “Social Value Creation Through Information and Knowledge: Vision of the 21 st
Century”, in Noorjahan Bava, op. cit.

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IT sector and make its greater use in governance. The challenges and constraints
involved in this task are also discussed.

In his case study of Ottawa city, Roy (2003)93 suggests that governments
would need to constantly change to safeguard themselves and enhance performance
due to the dynamic nature of the technology itself. He stresses that e-governance is a
partnership-driven initiative among government and connected citizenry. He also
remarks that in the context of partnering and outsourcing, the typically secretive
nature of relationships between companies in the private sector is not transportable to
the public realm, where greater transparency and public oversight are the norms.

Bouckaert and Van de Walle (2003)94 in their remarkable study on citizen

trust and satisfaction, differentiate between ‘hard and soft indicators’ for
administrative performance monitoring. They highlight the significance of including
‘quality of life’ as a key indicator for measuring performance in the context of
governance mechanism. They are of the view that increasing the quality of
governance would enhance citizens’ satisfaction and generate trust among them
towards the government. This article establishes that contemporary attempts to
measure trust and satisfaction in government were misleading in the context of their
correlation with the concept of good governance.

In their study of the IT industry of Tamil Nadu, Bajpai and Radjou

(2000)95mention that in the knowledge-based global economy, the sustainable
competitive advantage will be available to the nations who can harness their
intellectual assets of their country. To cultivate this ability, nations need to initiate a
knowledge-led development policy that builds on the success of the IT industry.

Satapathy (2000)96chalks out the implications for the state in the wake of
rapid advances in technology and commerce in the form of mobile
telecommunications and the internet. The author argues that the democratic
strengthening of the state can be transformed into a reality by making available

93
Roy, Jeffrey, “The Relational Dynamics of E-Governance: A Case Study of the City of Ottawa”,
Public Performance & Management Review, Vol. 26, No. 4, June 2003.
94
Bouckaert, G. and Van de Walle, S., “Comparing Measures of Citizen Trust and User Satisfaction
as Indicators of 'Good Governance’: Difficulties in Linking Trust and Satisfaction Indicators.”
International Review of Administrative Sciences, Vol. 69, No. 3, 2003. pp. 329-344.
95
Bajpai, Nirupam and Radjou, Navi, “Raising Global Competitiveness of Tamil Nadu's IT Industry”,
Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 35, No. 6 (Feb. 5-11, 2000)
96
Satapathy, op.cit.

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information through the net which citizens cannot access otherwise. While discussing
the benefits of e-governance, he states that better functioning of public offices and
greater responsiveness on the part of office-bearers can only be ensured by an
informed citizenry.

INFERENCES DRAWN FROM THE REVIEW OF LITERATURE

The review of literature has highlighted studies concerning the impact of e-

governance in the fields of public service delivery, procedural improvement of
administrative processes, citizen engagement and citizen empowerment in India and
abroad. The studies reviewed suggested that effective implementation of e-
governance proved beneficial equally for the citizens and the administration.
Regarding various dimensions like Citizen Satisfaction and Trust, the major inference
drawn from the review of literature is that the introduction of e-governance has the
potential for positively improving citizens’ perceptions about the administration; and
hence, has a direct impact on enhancing the level of satisfaction among the citizens. e-
Governance can also play a significant role in bridging the trust-deficit among citizens
and government. The significant inference about Citizen Engagement drawn from the
review of literature is that e-governance offers platforms to the citizens to directly
engage themselves in the political and administrative process of policymaking and
implementation. Citizens can share and express their ideas, opinion, knowledge, and
information on various online forums to implement the concept of e-democracy. The
major inference about Administrative Improvement drawn from the review of
literature is that e-governance supports organizational re-structuring and BPR and
helps in making the processes more transparent, accountable, effective, and efficient.

The studies conducted in developing countries in general, India in particular,

highlighted challenges and obstacles in the implementation of e-governance such as
lack of adequate infrastructures and ICT networking, lack of financial resources,
illiteracy especially digital illiteracy, etc. The studies about e-governance in Punjab
and SUWIDHA project further emphasized on the issues of capacity building, weak
infrastructures, the unwillingness of citizens to adopt e-practices as major challenges
for its successful implementation.

Although many studies have been done in the field of e-governance across
India and in many other states, there were not many studies available in Punjab,

Page 40 of 47
especially on the SUWIDHA project. When the present work was started in 2013,
some studies were going on about the SUWIDHA, but no comprehensive study was
available. The studies conducted were also limited to one, two, or at the most three
districts. It is notable that what to talk of comparative study, no study covering the
regions of Majha, Malwa, and Doaba in Punjab was available. Even now, micro level
studies are found in this field but no study with a wide canvas, covering the whole
state is there. Thus, this was the major research gap and the present study is a humble
attempt to fill this gap.

Significance of the Study

Administrative reforms acquired the center-stage in the paradigm shift of Public

Administration during the 1990s and stressed upon the simplification of process and
procedures. In India, the 11th Report of 2nd ARC published in 2008 highlighted the
significance of citizen-centric governance by promoting e-governance. SUWIDHA
Kendra was also one of the initial procedural innovations of Punjab and later became
a new trend in the administrative system of the state. PGRC in its 7th Report (2013)
recommended for delivery of various services of issuance of
certificates/licenses/permissions from SUWIDHA Kendra by eliminating transit time
and costs through e-governance.97 As the project had been introduced with much
fanfare to improve service delivery to citizens, it was important to evaluate its
achievements in the field of public service delivery and how much improvement it
was able to bring in. Only research studies could provide these inputs and bring out
the real picture. At the time of commencement of this study in 2013, not much
literature and research studies were available on SUWIDHA and only one major
research study (Kumar, 2012)98 on SUWIDHA was conducted. At the inception of
this study, only one major research (Arora, 2017)99 on the SUWIDHA project was
being carried out at Panjab University, Chandigarh, the scope of which was limited to
the only three districts of Punjab. While at Punjabi University Patiala only one minor
research study (Kaur, 2014)100 at SUWIDHA Kendra in Ludhiana district was
registered with the Department of Public Administration. Thus, the present study is

97
PGRC, Seventh PGRC Report on Right to Public Service (RTS) Act 2011 and Reforming Public
Service Delivery Systems. Chandigarh, July 2013. p.97.
98
Kumar, Sushil, Design of Framework to Improve Effectiveness of E-Governance in the State of
Punjab, Ph.D. Thesis, University College of Engineering, Punajbi University, Patiala, July 2012.
99
Arora, Jyoti, op. cit.
100
Kaur, Samandeep, Role of SUWIDHA Centres in Service Delivery System in Ludhiana City,
M.Phil. Thesis, Department of Public Administration, Punjabi University, Patiala (Punjab), 2014.

Page 41 of 47
very significant because it is vaster as its scope is spread over six districts of the three
regions of Punjab to explore the various dimensions of the project.

In recent years, despite claims made by the Government of Punjab for the
advancement in the field of e-governance, it is an eye-opener that Punjab has been
lagging in this field at the national level. Since 2014, none of the e-initiatives by
Punjab Government has been included in the award list of India's highest National
Conference on e-Governance (NCeG). And it was shocking to find that Punjab is
ranked 9 with a score of 0.36 in the list of 18 Indian States, while its nearest neighbor
Haryana State is ranked on the top with a score of 0.63.101

To keep pace with the changed situation due to e-governance practices,

growing needs of the government, and rising expectations of citizens, an empirical
research effort was very much required to find out how the SUWIDHA project is
performing in Punjab and what are the problems it is facing. Therefore, it was
imperative to study the working of SUWIDHA and problems faced by the clientele
and its administrators. This study will be useful to present the impact of e-governance
on public service delivery specifically of SUWIDHA Project in Punjab and to suggest
some ways for its improvement in the future.

Scope and Locale of the Study

The aim of the study is to get first-hand knowledge about the impact of e-governance
on public service delivery through the SUWIDHA Project in the state of Punjab. The
Punjab state is located in the northwest of India and is geographically divided into
three regions of Malwa, Majha, and Doaba. The state is administratively divided into
five divisions which consist of 22 districts. To cover the SUWIDHA project of Punjab
which was started in 2002 as a pilot project in one district and got implemented in all
districts by 2004-05, SUWIDHA Kendras at six district headquarters, two each from
the three regions of Punjab State, form the locale of study. The field survey for this
study was conducted from June 2015 to January 2016 and since then, the situation has
been reviewed frequently by field visits.

101
DARPG, National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment 2019, Government of India, New
Delhi, 2020, p.113.

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Objectives of the Study

The objectives of the present study are as under: -

1. To study the background and development of e-governance policy in India and

Punjab.

2. To study the implementation of SUWIDHA project in the selected six districts

of Punjab.

3. To explore the impact of e-governance on service delivery and find out turn-
around time in the receipt, processing, and delivery of services in the selected
districts.

4. To study the attitude of the officials about SUWIDHA and its impact on the
administrative culture.

5. To investigate the degree of satisfaction of the people after the introduction of

SUWIDHA project.

6. To find out the shortcomings of the SUWIDHA project.

7. To suggest suitable policy recommendations in the field of e-governance

related to the service delivery mechanism in Punjab.

Hypothesis

The following hypotheses were formulated for the present study:

1. e-Governance initiative of SUWIDHA in Punjab has improved the overall

governmental efficiency

a) SUWIDHA has improved public service delivery with the simplification

of procedures in terms of speed.

b) SUWIDHA has made public services easily accessible to the public.

2. e-Governance initiative of SUWIDHA has effectively helped in checking the

corruption especially the touts in the delivery of public services in Punjab.

3. e-Governance initiative of SUWIDHA is a step towards a more transparent

and accountable administrative culture in Punjab.

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 4. The scope of the reforms does not match the available infrastructure at
SUWIDHA Kendra.

5. Citizen satisfaction with service delivery and trust in the corresponding public
institutions are positively correlated.

Research Methodology

The present case study of SUWIDHA project in Punjab is an empirical work,

which aims to assess the impact of SUWIDHA project on the public service delivery
system in Punjab. The geographical locale for the field survey was selected
employing multi-stage sampling. In the first stage, North India from India was
selected. In the second stage, Punjab state situated in North India was selected.
Further at the third stage, all three regions of Majha, Malwa, and Doaba of Punjab
state were selected. From each of these regions, SUWIDHA Kendras at two districts
headquarters were selected on the basis of convenience sampling at the fourth stage,
namely Patiala and Sangrur in the Malwa region, Amritsar and Tarn Taran in the
Majha region and Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar in the Doaba region (as shown in Figure
1).

Figure 1: Map of Punjab showing selected districts for the present study in colors (Yellow for Malwa,
Blue for Majha and Green for Doaba)

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 It is a descriptive study where both primary and secondary data have been
used. A convenience sample of 480 users of services from SUWIDHA Kendra of
these districts was drawn, taking a convenience sample of 80 clients/users availing
services from each SUWIDHA Kendra. An Interview Schedule was prepared and
used to collect quantitative data from the citizens availing services from these
SUWIDHA Kendras at the time of the survey. The Observation was another
important method which was simultaneously used to understand and supplement the
primary data collection. Informal interviews were conducted with officials of
SUWIDHA to gain a more in-depth understanding and to collect the qualitative
information about the working of the SUWIDHA.

Primary data for the study was collected by the field survey, conducted from
June 2015 to January 2016, by visiting Suwidha Kendras under study. To organize
and summarize the data collected, it was processed by editing, coding, classification,
and tabulation. Statistical data analysis was conducted manually to draw valid
conclusions regarding the objectives of the study.

Relevant books, case studies, governmental information received through

application under RTI Act, journals, mobile apps related to e-governance,
newspapers, official PPT presentations, published proceedings of conferences, reports
of various commissions and committees, statutory documents, Statistical Abstracts,
theses, websites, working papers and so on formed the secondary data sources.
Secondary sources were meticulously reviewed and critically analyzed to understand
the past trends in the area of e-governance usage in public service delivery.

Chapterization

The study progresses with the following scheme of chapters: -

1. INTRODUCTION: The first chapter defines the concept of e-governance and

discussed its history, stages of evolution, scope, and significance. It also
highlights the significance, scope, objectives, hypothesis, research
methodology, and limitations of the present study. A review of existing
literature in the form of books, articles published in edited books and journals,
thesis, reports, and websites has also been presented in this chapter. The
chapter scheme of the study also has been mentioned in this chapter.

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2. e-GOVERNANCE IN INDIA: The second chapter throws light on the
history of e-governance in India and its present status. The role and
contribution of various entities in the development of e-governance in India
are discussed briefly. Details of various initiatives of Central and State
Governments are also mentioned in this chapter.

3. e-GOVERNANCE IN PUNJAB AND SUWIDHA PROJECT: The third

chapter of the study focuses on various front-end and back-end initiatives of e-
governance in Punjab. It also highlights various agencies involved in the
implementation of e-governance in the state. Further, it highlights core e-
governance projects and initiatives in Punjab with a detailed description of the
SUWIDHA Project.

4. USERS’ AWARENESS AND PERCEPTIONS ABOUT SUWIDHA IN

MALWA REGION OF PUNJAB: The fourth chapter presents the user’s
perceptions and awareness level regarding e-governance at the SUWIDHA
Kendras of the Malwa Region of the Punjab state of India specifically in the
districts of Patiala and Sangrur. The primary data collected during the field
survey in these districts were presented in tabular form and explained.

5. USERS’ AWARENESS AND PERCEPTIONS ABOUT SUWIDHA IN

MAJHA REGION OF PUNJAB: The fifth chapter presents the user’s
perceptions and awareness level regarding e-governance at the SUWIDHA
Kendras of the Majha region of the Punjab state of India specifically in the
districts of Amritsar and Tarn Taran. The primary data collected during the
field survey at these districts were presented in tabular form and explained.

6. USERS’ AWARENESS AND PERCEPTIONS ABOUT SUWIDHA IN

DOABA REGION OF PUNJAB: The sixth chapter presents the user’s
perceptions and awareness level regarding e-governance at the SUWIDHA
Kendras of the Doaba region of the Punjab state of India specifically in the
districts of Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar. The primary data collected during the
field survey at these districts were presented in tabular form and explained.

7. EVALUATION OF SUWIDHA PROJECT IN PUNJAB: This chapter

evaluates the data collected during the field survey from the users as well as
officials. The data presented in the last three chapters have been combined in

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 this chapter to clarify the status of e-governance in the whole of Punjab. This
chapter evaluates the impact of SUWIDHA from the viewpoint of various
indicators based on perceptions of the users.

8. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS: The eighth chapter of the present

study summarizes the previous chapters and presents the major findings,
hypothesis verification, and policy suggestions, etc.

Summing Up

This chapter outlines the concept of e-governance and discusses its history,
stages of evolution, scope, and significance. It also briefly discusses the extent of e-
governance in India and Punjab. An extensive survey of existing literature in the form
of books, articles published in edited books and journals, thesis, reports, and websites
has also been presented in this chapter. An overview of various aspects, perspectives,
and issues relevant to the present study has been presented through the review of these
studies. It also highlights the significance and scope of the research area, objectives,
hypothesis, research methodology, and limitations of the present study. Thus the
research design for the present empirical work has been described in detail.

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