Citizencentricity for e-Governance initiatives in Rural Areas

Abstract

Democratic governance mechanisms are becoming more receptive to the potentials of information communication technologies (ICT) to achieve good governance in its implementation. This application of ICTs for governance is covered under the umbrella term of ‘e-governance’. E-Governance is expected to maximise citizen satisfaction by not just improving responsiveness of public service delivery mechanisms but also by augmenting citizens’ participation in governance mechanisms (Gilmore & D’Souza, 2006 1 ). Certainly for any e-governance initiative to be totally acceptable, citizens’ needs and aspirations need to be its starting point and the core nuclei (Saxena, 2005 2 ). However, the reality seems to its contrary, more specifically in the rural areas of developing countries such as India