E-READINESS QUESTIONNAIRE FOR NORTH ... - Kunnat.net

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centers, mobile devices, it becomes very convenient for people in urban as well as rural
parts of the country to avail themselves to these services. Application of ICT for delivery
of services also facilitates the government becoming more responsive towards citizens
24 .
Empowerment of citizens through greater access to government information
and ability to interact and participate
Effective use of technology in government, and sharing of information with stakeholders,
results in the empowerment of citizens through easy and enhanced access to
government information and the ability to easily interact and participate in the process
of governance. Enhanced interaction among citizens and government as well as
increased participation of the citizens in government functioning, decision making,
policy making etc. promotes civic engagement and strengthens democracy24 .
Enhanced Transparency & Increased Accountability of the Government
Application of ICT in the processes of government also helps in enhancing transparency
in government functioning, interaction with the citizens and businesses. Sharing
information such as government processes, procedures, regulations as well as provision
for tracking the status of application/request, introduces a lot of transparency in government
functioning. This in turn helps in raising the trust level of citizens towards
government and leads to better relationship between the government and citizen as
well as government and businesses24 .
Increasing the internal effi ciency and revenue generation by
the government
Application of ICT to the internal functioning of the government has been in place
for quite some time. And it has been established at many occasions that an effective
use of ICT can minimize transaction costs and streamline government operations, thus
making government processes more effi cient and effective. Judicious deployment of
technology can lead to more productivity and a possible reduction and redeployment
of the workforce. Further, streamlined operations, timely reports on various aspects of
the service can help in initiating timely action that results into much higher revenue
collection by the government such as collection of taxes, duties etc24 .
Improving the relationship between the government and the citizens
Finally, the adoption of E-government and its benefi ts including higher productivity,
effi ciency, enhanced transparency, accountability, responsiveness lead to an overall
improvement in the image of the government in the minds of the citizens. The trust
level imposed by citizens and businesses in the government can signifi cantly go up due
to the increased ease and effi ciency of interaction while dealing with the government.
Raised trust levels lead to improved relationship between government and citizen as
well as between government and businesses, fulfi lling one of the major objectives of
good governance24 .
Thus, it makes tremendous sense for the government sector all over the world to
adopt E-government and embrace ICT advancements for streamlining their processes,
connecting all the stakeholders, cutting costs, improving the delivery of services, and
most importantly, realizing the vision of ‘good governance’. Further, with the success
stories of E-government in different parts of the world, the international call for governments
to respond to standards of accountability, transparency and participatory
governance as critical elements for democracy and state legitimacy, have all contributed
to the growing popularity of E-government24 .