Effectiveness of ICT Enabled Public Service Delivery System: A Critical analysis of e-District Project in Cooch Behar, West Bengal

Abstract

The concept of governance has received significant attention in academic discourse since the late 1980s, has further expanded with the inclusion of e-governance. In the realm of the machinery of government, the e-governance i.e. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) based applications are promising to enhance the service delivery system and enlarged participation, and made the democracy more inclusive. By using ICT’s government can deliver a package with efficiency, time bounding, cost-effective way to their citizens. To achieve this objective, the Government of India has initiated various electronic- governance projects at different levels of governance. E-district project is one of the important projects announced under the National e-Governance Plan, 2006 with the purpose of delivering some basic services to the citizens at their doorstep electronically. The main purpose of the present study is to assess the effectiveness of e-governance services delivering through the e-district project from the citizens’ perspective. The study also tries to identify the key challenges of these projects and also to suggest avenues for better performance.