International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 10, Number 17 (2015)

Research India Publications ::: http://www.ripublication.com

SOCIETAL CHALLEGES AND E GOVERNANCE ENGAGING CITIZENS

THROUGH TECHNOLOGY
Lavanya D. 1 & Dr. R. Gayatri2
Research Scholar, Management Studies1 & Professor, Management Studies2
St.Peters University, Chennai1& St. Peters University, Chennai2
r.gayatrisuresh@yahoo.com
Introduction
The e in e-Governance stands for electronic. Thus, eGovernance is basically associated with carrying out the
functions and achieving the results of governance through the
utilization of what has today come to be known as ICT
(Information and Communications Technology). The reason
why countries around the world are increasingly opting for
e-Governance is that governance per se has become more
complex and varied in the last few decades and more
importantly, citizens expectations from government have
increased manifold. ICT facilitates efficient storing and
retrieval of data, instantaneous transmission of information,
processing information and data faster than the earlier
manual systems, speeding up governmental processes, taking
decisions expeditiously and judiciously, increasing
transparency and enforcing accountability. It also helps in
increasing the reach of government both geographically
and demographically.
The primary purpose of governance is the welfare of
citizens. While one aspect of governance relates to
safeguarding the legal rights of all citizens, an equally
important aspect is concerned with ensuring equitable access
to public services and the benefits of economic growth to all.
It is expected that e-Governance would enable the
government to discharge its functions more effectively.
e-Governance :
E-Government can be defined as the use of information and
communications technologies by governments to enhance the
range and quality of information and services provided to
citizens, businesses, civil society organizations, and other
government agencies in an efficient, cost-effective and
convenient manner, making government processes more
transparent and accountable and strengthening democracy.
Defining e-Governance: Although the term e-Governance
has gained currency in recent years, there is no standard
definition of this term. Different governments and
organizations define this term to suit their own aims and
objectives. Sometimes, the term e-government is also
used instead of e-Governance. Some widely used
definitions are listed below:
According to the World bank : E-Government refers
to the use by government
agencies
of
information technologies (such as Wide Area Networks, the

Internet, and mobile computing) that have the ability to

transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms
of government. These technologies can serve a variety of
different ends: better delivery of government services to
citizens, improved interactions with business and industry,
citizen empowerment through access to information, or
more efficient government management. The resulting
benefits can be less corruption, increased transparency,
greater convenience, revenue growth, and/ or cost
reductions.
Thus, the stress here is on use of information
technologies in improving citizen-government interactions,
cost-cutting and generation of revenue and transparency.
Basically, e-Governance is generally understood as the
use of Information and communications Technology (ICT)
at all levels of the Government in order to provide services
to the citizens, interaction with business enterprises and
communication and exchange of information between
different agencies of the Government in a speedy,
convenient efficient and transparent manner. Dr. APJ Abdul
Kalam, has visualized e-Governance in the Indian context to
mean:
A transparent smart e-Governance with seamless access,
secure and authentic flow of information crossing the
interdepartmental barrier and providing a fair and
unbiased service to the citizen. The goal of e-Government
is not merely to computerize governmental records; to the
contrary, the ultimate goal of e-Government is to transform
government. Indeed, successful e-Government is at most
20% technology and at least 80% about people, processes,
and organizations. It is important, therefore, to recognize
that e-Government is not an end; it is an enabler. eGovernment should eventually disappear as a distinct
concept, because government rather than technology is at
the core of e-Government and technology will eventually
pervade all governmental operations. The key question,
therefore, is whether the integration of government and
technology will serve the interests of the public.
Why e-Governance:
E-Government can transform citizen service, provide access
to information to empower citizens, enable their participation
in government and enhance citizen economic and social

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International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 10, Number 17 (2015)
Research India Publications ::: http://www.ripublication.com

opportunities, so that they can make better lives, for

themselves and for the next generation.
Components of E-governance
The following components can be identified:

Technological
Component
with
Electronic
dimension.
Social Component with Egalitarian dimension.
Cultural Component with Ethical dimension.
Political Component with Enactment dimension.
Psychological Component with Extensional
dimension.
Service Component with Empowerment dimension
Technological Component : This relates to educate people
who are in the bureaucratic structure or outside its periphery
regarding use of electronic means to develop better
connectivity within and with the system. It requires use of
computers
(a)In developing the data-base
(b)In networking to facilitate the communication
(c)In creating e- knowledge workers so as to increase their
potentiality. This focuses on e of electronic knowledge and
its proper utilization.
Social Component :
The fundamental duty of any government is to educe a
society which is based on the principles of equality and
justice. A society which is classless with no distinction
between haves and haves-not, where nobody is marginalized
from the main stream , and is committed to provide a
respectful essence of life to its people without any
discrimination of cast or race must be set up. This is possible
when people will be aware of their rights & duties on the one
hand, and know about the governmental policies made for
them on related issues on the other, hence a vigilant society
can be evolved where they can raise their voices by
questioning the governmental decisions. This would help in
attaining the e of egalitarian society with thrust on
equality.
Cultural Component :
With the advent of the era of knowledge explosion there is a
need to reorient some of the value patterns without eroding
the fundamental normative structure of any social system.
The need to create value patterns conducive for egovernance to operate focusing on work ethos therefore
cannot be denied. Thus to work out the ethical framework is
the key to move further by discarding obsolete set of values
that come in the way of potential utilization. Thus e of
ethical framework has to be the focal point in constructing a
morality-based system.

Political Component :

The political system is essential aspect of governance. It

holds responsibility of rationalizing various operative
frameworks by enacting laws. This helps to maintain &
sustain the cohesive force that is required by society to
integrate its people and abide them to follow a uniform
policy to fulfill their targets. This refers to the importance of
e of enactment of laws to stop society from disintegration.
Psychological Component:
Developing required psyche so as to facilitate formation and
inculcation of right type of attitudes in the people is
prerequisite for efficiency. Apart form this; readiness to
connect to people, to listen to their queries, to look for
solutions, to improve communicative skillsetc. will be
necessary elements for behavioral modifications. Hence
personality adjustments must be carried out to cater to the
needs of common man. This specifically relates to e of
extension of self so as to have constructive collaborative
social relationships.
Service Component :
The ultimate function of any welfare government is to serve.
As a provider of good services to its people it has to
assimilate the basic needs and also expectations of common
man in to the documentation of policy, which then has to be
implemented in the right spirit. This develops a constant
pressure on the government to respond to public demands as
this leads to the realization of power they can exercise on
government to maintain impartiality, integrity and
transparency in its functioning. This explains e of
empowerment of people in any system.
Benefits of e-Governance: In the end, e-Governance is
about reform in governance, facilitated by the creative use of
Information and Communications Technology. It is expected
that this would lead to:
Better access to information and quality services for
citizens: ICT would make available timely and reliable
information on various aspects of governance. In the initial
phase, information would be made available with respect to
simple aspects of governance such as forms, laws, rules,
procedures etc later extending to detailed information
including reports (including performance reports), public
database, decision making processes etc. As regards services,
there would be an immediate impact in terms of savings in
time, effort and money, resulting from online and one-point
accessibility of public services backed up by automation of
back end processes. The ultimate objective of e-Governance
is to reach out to citizens by adopting a life-cycle approach
i.e. providing public services to citizens which would be
required right from birth to death.
Simplicity, efficiency and accountability in the
government: Application of ICT to governance combined
with detailed business process reengineering would lead to

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International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 10, Number 17 (2015)
Research India Publications ::: http://www.ripublication.com

simplification of complicated processes, weeding out of

redundant processes, simplification in structures and changes
in statutes and regulations. The end result would be
simplification of the functioning of government, enhanced
decision making abilities and increased efficiency across
government all contributing to an overall environment of a
more accountable government machinery. This, in turn,
would result in enhanced productivity and efficiency in all
sectors.
Expanded reach of governance: Rapid growth of
communications technology and its adoption in governance
would help in bringing government machinery to the
doorsteps of the citizens. Expansion of telephone network,
rapid strides in mobile telephony, spread of internet and
strengthening of other communications infrastructure would
facilitate delivery of a large number of services provided by
the government.
Its Relevance to India: The Government of India, in various
forums, has indicated its commitment to provide efficient
and transparent government to all strata of society. EGovernance is now mainly seen as a key element of the
countrys governance and administrative reform agenda. The
Government of India aspires to provide:

citizens through electronic governance.

Objectives
Better service delivery to citizens
Ushering in transparency and accountability
Improved efficiency within Governments
Data collection method
The researcher collects this data for the first time and it does
not exist already. The tool used to collect the data is
Questionnaire method. The questionnaire was distributed
among employees working in Corporation
Sample profile
It is not possible to get the required information from all the
employees with in a short period of time, so the convenient
sampling method is used by the researcher. The sample size
is fixed to 250 employees. The employees working in
Corporation in Chennai were the sample for the study.
Statistical tools applied
The appropriate statistical tools were used for doing the
analysis ad drafting the interpretation. This study purpose
percentage analysis and Descriptive statistical analysis
1.

Governance that is easily understood by and

accountable to the citizens, open to democratic
involvement and scrutiny (an open and transparent
government)
Citizen-centric governance that will cover all of its
services and respect everyone as individuals by
providing personalized services.
An effective government that delivers maximum
value for taxpayers money (quick and efficient
services)

e-Governance is, in essence, the application of Information

and Communications Technology to government functioning
in order to create Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive
and Transparent (SMART) governance. e-Governance aims
to make the interaction between government and citizens
(G2C), government and business enterprises (G2B), and
inter-agency relationships (G2G) more friendly, convenient,
transparent, and inexpensive.
Research Methodology
Research Design
A research design is the arrangement of conditions for the
collection and analysis of data from the employee in a
manner which aims to combine relevance to the research
purpose with economy in procedure. The study is to
investigate the employees attitude towards e governance and
finding the key factor determinants of transparency,
accountability, error free and better service delivery to

Employees view about E Governance

Table: 1.1

View of E Governance

No of
Respondents

Associated by ICT

SMART Governance

40

16

A Tool

20

All the Above

190

76

None of the above

250

100

Total
Source : Primary Data
Chart No: 1.1.1

Increase
Incr Brin Cost Emp
500
0
ease g effe owe
inte Tran ctiv r
rn sp e co
Percentage

All
the
abo
ve

Non
e of Tota
the l
ab

16

22

58

100

No of
40
Respondents

55

10 145

250

Inference: The above chart stated that 76% of the

respondents concluded that e governance is a tool associated

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International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 10, Number 17 (2015)
Research India Publications ::: http://www.ripublication.com

by Information communication technology 16% of the

respondents stated that E governance is a tool for SMART
Governance
2.

In your opinion what are the objectives of E

Governance

Table No: 1.2

Objectives of E
Governance
Increase internal
efficiency

No of
Respondents

40

16

Bring Transparency

55

22

Cost effective

10

Empower common man

145

58

All the above

None of the above

Total

250

100

Chart No: 1.2.1

100%
0%

Incre Brin
Emp All Non
Cost
ase g
owe the e of
Total
effec
inter Tran
r abov the
tive
nal sp
co e ab
Percentage

16

22

58

100

Inference: The above table shows that 58% of the employees

working in corporation concluded that E governance is a tool
to empower common man and 22 % stated that E governance
will bring transparency and 16% stated that implementation
of ICT will increase internal efficiency of the Government
process
Descriptive Statistics
Table No:1.3
It can be seen from the above table that Timely reporting of
corporate activities has the lowest mean (1.08) followed by
Error free Civic services(1.14), overall perception of quality
of e-governance(1014), improved transparency (1.14) and
easy retrieval and processing of data(1.14).
It is being followed by Quality of accounting process (1.16),
Integration of civic services (1.22) and Faster and better
communication (1.24). We can also see from the above table
all the perceived benefits factors have low mean

(Mean<2.00) which indicates the respondents are not aware

of the perceived benefits on implementation of e-governance.
Although respondents aware of objectives of e-governance
(3.04), they were not fully experienced the same. But it can
be seen that e-governance led to growth of e-literacy among
common man (Mean =3.48) which contribute greatly to the
success of e-governance initiatives.
Correlation analysis
Table No:1.4
A correlation analysis was conducted on all variables in
order to check for multicollinearity and to find the level of
relationship between variables. Multi collinearity is shown
when inter-correlation between explanatory variables exceed
0.8. Our interpretation of the relationships between the
variables will follow Round tree (1987) guidelines. Round
tree classification of correlation co-efficient (r) is as follows:
0.00 to 0.02 weak and low
0.02 to 0.04 moderate
0.04 to 0.07 strong and high
0.07 to 0.09 very strong and very high
Multiple Correlation analysis was done to identify the
relationship between Perceived benefits on implementing egovernance, Accountability and Technical factors and the
results are as follows
It can be seen from the above table that there exists a very
high correlation between all factors under consideration and
all the correlations significant at 1% level of significance. It
can be seen that the highest correlation was seen between
Accountability and perceived benefits (0.967**)
Findings:
It is found that due to the implementation of EGovernance the accountability and of the employees will
improve.
Through the analytical findings it proves that E-Governance
gives smart and good communication tool for effective
performance.
Conclusion
Since Internet Technology has evolved rapidly in
the last few years, there is a need to think strategically about
where we want to be in the future. As time goes on, new
technologies will continue to develop at a rapid pace and we
must be flexible enough by showing quick response to the
technology explosion. The state that are faster in adopting
the technology have started reaping the benefits already.
Process level changes are required before rushing to the web
to launch the Government Online. At the same time the
government managers should quickly learn to use technology
fueled management tools for administrative efficiency and
use them for a more value added service to the citizens.
To make the futuristic vision work, there is a need
for collaboration among e-Governance virtual communities.
This demand more political and organizational will take hard
decisions, change themselves and learn to build capacities for
e-Governance. Outdated regulations and procedures are to
be removed before launching the project. The above issues

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International Journal of Applied Engineering Research ISSN 0973-4562 Volume 10, Number 17 (2015)
Research India Publications ::: http://www.ripublication.com

and challenges are not beyond our capacity to resolve, but

they need immediate attention.
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http://www.ippr.org/research/files/team34/project80
/eparticipation.pdf

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