Description:
The idea for this book developed long before the coining of the term
‘e- governance for development’. Indeed, it all started about twenty years ago
when I first started my research on the role of ICT for development planning
and administration in India. At that time, I was confronted by many important issues regarding the process of managing development programmes and
providing welfare. In particular, I noted at that time how the management of
development programmes involved a complex process of interaction between
the implementing agency and the community involving numerous administrative, social, legal (regulatory) and political issues. These issues are as relevant
now as they were then. However, many of the issues have been consistently
sidelined over the years while a growing policy focus among the international
development community and country governments towards new technological and managerial solutions to problems of development dominated discussion and policy formulation. My more recent field visits to India made
me decide that the time was right for a book which unpacked the notion of
e-governance from a developmental perspective given the lack of scholarly
material in this area.