Revampting the Administrative Structure and Processes in India for Online Diplomacy

Abstract

There is a talk of e-governance all over the world. India has also not remained oblivious of these developments. E-governance implies a smoother interface between government and citizen. Peoples’ expectations from e-government have gone up very high. They see the new technology as a panacea to improve their living conditions. With the application of IT initiatives in certain states of India and at the union level, there has been some overall improvement in the transparency and accountability of the government. However, it must be remembered that technology cannot deliver everything. It is only a tool and an enabler to accomplish certain objectives—perhaps more quickly. E-governance has both a narrow and a broad perspective. In a narrow sense, it is focused primarily on public service delivery through Web site and Internet, while in a broader sense, it stands for all kinds of ICT (information and communication technology) applications in different stages of policy making, formulation, implementation, and evaluation (Snellen, 2005). E-governance sometimes may also make it harder, rather than easier, to achieve more information-driven, boundary-crossing reform such as improved delivery of public services (Heeks, 2002).