Rural E-Governance through the “Panchayati Raj” Institutions in India: Prospects and Challenges

Abstract

In India, the administrative system, with roots in the colonial past, is largely perceived as unresponsive and insensitive to the citizens’ needs particularly in its vast rural hinterland. The common citizens at the rural village level often find themselves at the receiving end of a cumbersome, iniquitous, and unfair service delivery system with very little involvement or inclusion in governance processes despite the best intentions of the government. It is believed that Information Communication Technology (ICT) enabled e-governance through the local self governing units (Panchayats) at the village level could simplify civic governance, improve the public services delivery system, make government and administration more democratic and inclusive, and more accessible to the citizens at the local village level. In this context, the chapter attempts to examine the challenges to, and dimensions of the task of electronic delivery of government services through the local self-government Institutions called “Panchayati Raj” in India.