E-Governance Service Delivery – An Assessment of Community Information Centre Project of Assam

Jugal Bharali, Dr. A. R. M. RehmanAsso. Prof. in Business Management Professor in Commerce Diphu Govt. College, Diphu Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh Assam, India, PIN 782462 Assam, India, PIN-786004 e-mail: jcbharali@gmail.com e-mail: armrehman.du@gmail.com

Abstract: There exists relationship between the Governance and

Information & Communication Technology [ICT]. For the digital revolution in the

rural areas in developing countries like India, governmental intervention was done

in the form implementation of a Community Information Centre Model [CIC] of

ICT project to reach the people. Hence, an assessment of e-governance through

CIC Model was done. The scope of the study was to analyse the activities of CICs

in one of the districts in India. The district has its rural and tribal character and

unique distinction of ISO 9001:2000 certificate for integrated citizen centric

services.

The study investigated the demand-supply matching of e-governance

services rendered under the CIC model from the perspective of the Service

Providers, Service users and Community People. The study necessitated the

developing a new evaluation methodology and use of Empirical Research Design,

structured questionnaire, Multi stage Stratified Random Sampling technique,

primary data along and Descriptive statistics and Non-Parametric testes for

hypotheses testing.

The study observed that there is gap between the level of demand and the

level of supply in respect of e-governance service by CICs, as perceived by the

Service Providers, Service Users and Community People. To fulfil the gap between

the levels of delivery of the e-governance service, views of the target population

should be considered more. The positive message is that there exists high level of

demand for e-governance service in the rural as well as tribal areas. The most

This paper was submitted for eWORLDFORUM 2011 conference Page 1

alarming fact is that a vast portion of rural population remained out of reach of

the benefits of recent development. Poor and the people from remote locations

failed to reap the benefits of ICT due to inadequate road communication, house

hold income, occupational status, lack of education and empowerment to use ICT.

The services supplied by CICs did not reflect the greater use of ICT by community

people. The activities of CIC did not reflect increasing activity in terms of

integrating ICT for delivering citizen centric services as per community needs.

There is a gap between the level of demand and level of supply in respect of all ICT

services rendered under the CIC model of service delivery. The demand for

services like utility bill payment, online ticket booking of railways/airways, mobile

phone recharge, issue of certificates/license/permit, download of forms, online

purchase were growing in rural areas. It is necessary to extend the reach of the

ICT services to the through CICs or CSCs.

Based on the findings, observations and implications of the study,

suggestions have been to improve the role of CIC/CSC to deliver citizen centric

services and to extend the reach of the information resources to the people, living

in remote rural areas of the country. The suggestions may be helpful to the

government for successful implementation of CSC project in the Country. The

study also mentioned scope of the future research.

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Bio Information of Authors:

1. Jugal Bharali, Associate Professor in Management, Diphu Govt. College, Diphu, Assam, has been completed his research leading to Ph.D. on Community Information Centre project in Assam.

2. Dr. A. R. M Rehman, Professor and former HOD of Dept. Of Commerce, Dirugarh University and Nagaland University.

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