ASSESSING THE REACH OF GOVERNMENT SERVICES THROUGH ICT IN INDIAN VILLAGES

Abstract

In a time when Honourable Prime Minister of India has launched the Digital India campaign it becomes important to understand the current status of e-governance initiatives taken in rural India. Moreover in the recent time the huge surge in the mobile and internet usage gives an impression that now rural India is also not untouched with this mobile and internet revolution in the age of Information Technology.

The need to understand the ICT initiatives in rural India and its reach is more important considering the population of India which resides in the Indian hinterlands. Its huge and hooping 70% of entire Indian population. So from any angle this population cant be ignored. Every now and then companies, governments are vying for ways to reach this population.

Today ICT has become a hot cake. Hot cake for everyone be it government, private companies, NGOs etc. ICT stands for Information and Communication Technology. It has got into lime light because of its potential to influence a huge chunk of Indian population. The ICT technology itself is evolving regularly be its concepts, methods or application. he present strategy of rural development mainly focuses on poverty alleviation, better livelihood, provision of basic amenities and infrastructure facilities. Even after so many years after independence India have not been able to move to the stage of “developed nation”, the nation is still developing. Public administration, governed by bureaucratic structures built on rationale principles, that dominated the twentieth century, has failed to respond to the changing requirements of the present times. Application of Information and Communication technology is a timely shift taken by the Indian government in order to improve the service delivery to rural population. With the use of ICT, government renders services and information to the public using electronic means. In past government has been using ineffective means to reach to this rural population, now this means are termed as traditional means. With the rising awareness amongst the citizens and their better experiences with the private sector– the demand for better services on the part of government departments became more pronounced. The infusion of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is playing a prominent role in strengthening such a demand. So in a time when country is talking of 'Sabka Saath and Sabka Vikas' combining Information and Communication Technology in the countryside development has huge potential to not only accelerate the development process but it can also help in bridging the digital gaps that exist between backward and forward sections of the society.