Websites and social media technologies as implements of E-Governance: A study of North East India

Parismita Bhagawati

doi:10.17485/ijst/v13i31.1016

Abstract

Background/Objectives: To assess the nature and optimality of website and social media usage by state governments in Northeast India in pursuit of electronic governance. Methods: A case study research design has been adopted. Among the eight northeast Indian states, two states viz. Assam and Nagaland were selected. Data for the study was accumulated through the researcher’s exchanges and interactivity with the selected state governments’ websites and social media platforms over the month of February, 2020. The websites of Government of Assam(GoA) and Government of Nagaland(GoN) were assessed on the basis of the framework of Fan. A self-developed evaluation framework for evaluating the social media sites of GoA and GoN was used. To supplement the study, additionally, brief structured interviews were conducted with the official staff at the respective state secretariats. The respondents were selected using the snowball sampling technique. Findings: The findings clearly attest that e-governance in these North East Indian states has matured to the level of transactional stage or capacity in accordance with various models of e-government maturity (Gartner, UN model, Hiller and Belanger, West, Fan). The basic e-services were available on both websites, however, citizen-government interactivity and reciprocation have not reached an optimum level. Adoption of internet-based technologies involved opportunities as well as challenges. Opportunities included revolutionisation of information dissemination, increased efficiency in public service delivery, cost and time reduction in implementing administrative tasks etc. The various challenges involved were lack of training of staff in requisite ICT skills, problems in vertical integration of government entities due to lack of sound e-governance infrastructure at the lower levels of administration. Novelty/Applications: The findings of this study can serve as crucial input in understanding the gaps in government utilisation of the internet platform and technologies and also appreciate the accomplishments of the states in pursuit of e-governance in this region. Hopefully, this study will be successful in prompting more intensive research in this area with the larger aim towards achieving a holistic and effective framework of e-democracy in the region. Keywords: Electronic governance (e-governance); electronic services (e-services); social media technologies; North East India

Highlights

In the recent decades, fast developing information and communication technologies(ICTs) have perfused into almost every facet of societal and national life
The first real step was the formation of National Informatics Centre (NIC) in the year 1977 followed by the launch of National Informatics Centre NETwork (NICNET) in the year 1987 which was a national satellite based computer network
The findings of this study indicate that Government of Assam (GoA) and Government of Nagaland (GoN)’s adoption of website and social media technologies has assisted the state governments in achieving a modest level of maturity in e-governance development

Summary

Introduction

Fast developing information and communication technologies(ICTs) have perfused into almost every facet of societal and national life. It is created, shared, and used in myriad ways that can generate both public and private value. The first ever official milepost in the development of e-governance in India, in a very nascent form, was the establishment of the Department of Electronics in the year 1970. The first step in this direction was the establishment of the state centre of NIC in Assam in the year 1986. The various implementing agencies of e-governance initiatives are the NIC (Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura), the Meghalaya Information Technology Society and the Department of Information Technology, Arunachal Pradesh

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