Abstract
Kerala is a national leader in educational, sociocultural, and governmental changes. To enhance performance, efficiency, and service delivery quality, the state pioneered the adoption of people-centered e-Governance programmes. Strong foundations for the usage and use of information technology were established through literacy, education, socioeconomic factors, and people-centric development. Rule of law, participation, transparency, efficiency, equity, accountability, responsiveness, consensus, inclusivity, people friendliness, and accessibility are some of the key elements of good governance that e-Government helps government better implement by fostering trust between the public and the government through internet-based methods for involving citizens in the policy-making process and ensuring government accountability and transparency. The main purpose of the study is to find the E-governance services of Government and the researcher made an attempt to examine the attitude, perception and satisfaction of Citizens towards e-government services provided by the government of Kerala.
TopIntroduction
By embracing the advancements in information and communication technologies (ICT), the United Nations (UN) developed the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2015 to empower national development. In the twenty-first century, information and communication technologies (ICT) have experienced a substantial growth. Since technology is evolving quickly, it is practically necessary for the government to employ IT services efficiently in order to give citizens hassle-free services. The government use information technology to enhance the services offered for the benefit of general public is known as E-Governance. An enhanced version of e-Government is E-Governance. E- Governance can be characterised as a platform for coordinated communication between the e-government and the public for the benefit of both. The government use the information and communication technologies because of the following purposes such as information sharing with citizens, government departments, or with business, faster or more effective delivery of public services, improvement of internal efficiency, and lowering costs or boosting administrative revenue of the government.
The “Digital India” programme, which is a component of India's e-governance implementation, calls for technological investments in infrastructure, digital security, Government to Citizens (G2C), Government to Employees (G2E), Government to Business (G2B), Government to Government (G2G) and other related services. It is a goal to create a society and knowledge economy that is empowered by technology. India is making significant investments in e-governance projects. In the words of Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, “E-Governance is strong tool for ensuring corruption free administration.”
The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), introduced in 2006, thrust e-government into the spotlight in India. But even before the NeGP was introduced, the Kerala government launched a number of e-government initiatives focused on the needs of the people. These initiatives aimed to boost public service delivery effectiveness, efficiency, and quality while also making better use of the state's limited resources. The first e-Governance initiative in India, Akshaya, was established in 2002 to address the backwardness of Malappuram District in Kerala. It was a key factor in the Malappuram district becoming the nation's first e-Literate district.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, internet and smartphone usage in the state expanded significantly, and people from all socioeconomic strata switched to digital transactions. According to reports, Kerala came in first place for the most e-transactions for state and local government services during the lockdown, followed by Gujarat. The purpose of this study is to measure the attitude and perception and satisfaction of citizens regarding E-governance practices provided by government of Kerala.