Abstract
With increased ICT (Information and Communication Technology), the day-to-day life is shifting online. E-government is one of the crucial parts of the developing world. This chapter contains a detailed introduction of e-government, which includes a broad definition, pillars, goals, stages, delivery models of e-government, advantages, and disadvantages. The difference between e-governance and e-government is also clarified. This chapter clears up the concept of e-government and how e-government can have impact on society. Next is the background section, which covers the research and surveys done by UN (United Nations) and other researchers in order to monitor and analyze the developments of e-government across different countries, social implications of e-government, requirements to develop a robust e-government, future scope of the e-government, etc. Finally, the direct and indirect implications of e-government are stated along with a short review of the status of e-government across a few countries.
TopIntroduction
Recent advancements have yielded many technologies, equipments, instruments, etc. and the same have evolved advanced skills, techniques, short-cuts, etc. And these all together have directly optimized the way of performing an action (job, service, task, etc.). One live example of such optimized action is E-government. E-government is one of the crucial parts of E-services. Services which use ICT (Information and Communication Technology) is termed as E-services. ICT is being vigorously used in various applications and services. All the E-services have not only improved the quality of services provided to the consumers but has also eased the task of providing services and getting services.
The world has witnessed many changes and advancements with much faster pace in the last few decades. All these have been possible due to improvement in ICT (Information and Communication Technology). Use of mobile phones, internet, clouds, computers and other digital media are encapsulated in Information and Communication Technology. Today’s life rotates around ICT at every level, be it micro or macro. At macro level, it is used around the globe by many MNCs, large industries and firms, governments, etc. of which we are a part either as a consumer or employee. At individual level, ICTs are used in most of our day-to-day activities, be it in contacting people, in cash transactions, in booking tickets, getting governmental subsidies, etc. The ICTs have diminished the distances between various parts of the world which subsequently, has made the whole world appear in one screen. The use of ICT by government to deliver various governmental services to people at their fingertip is called e-government. Government services includes almost all the services being provided directly or indirectly by the government. Online applications for getting government identification cards, passports, visas, online release of government data and even online railway ticketing system are a part of e-government. Nowadays, there are online portals for direct interaction between government and public. These all are included in services provided by E-Government.