The term E-Government (e-Gov) emerged in the late 1990s, but the history of usage of IT in government organizations dates back to the beginnings of computer history. Some early projects on IT in government go back to the 1970s.
Just like the e-Commerce, E-Government also gained widespread acceptance with the Internet boom. However, it is not limited to providing applications on Internet or publicly accessible systems for direct use by citizens. E-Government started with government and bureaucrats struggling to meet the new challenges of governance and then using the Internet medium by implementing new systems creatively.
In India, e-governance goes back to the seventies with a focus on development of in- house government applications in the areas of defense, economic monitoring, planning and the deployment of IT to manage data intensive functions related to elections, census, tax administration etc. The efforts of the National Informatics Center (NIC) to connect all the district headquarters during the eighties was a very significant development.
During the introductory stages of ICT in governance there was widespread resistance with doubts of computerization cannot work in the complex government system, it may lead to un-employment and also doubts whether government employees at all levels would be able to handle computers. Though all these thought and resistance got easily cleared out with successful implementation of E-Government and ICT projects, especially the online ticket reservation system.
The Government of India established the Department of Electronics in 1970 and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) in 1977 which acted as baby steps for e-Governance in India by bringing ‘information’ and its communication in focus. In early 1980s, use of computers was limited to selected government departments and organizations. But, with emergence of personal computers the storage, retrieval and processing became cheaper and accessible to all.
e-Governance was boosted by the launch of NICNET in 1987 – the national satellite-based computer network. This was followed by the launch of the District Information System of the National Informatics Centre (DISNIC) programme to computerize all district offices in the country for which free hardware and software was offered to the State Governments. NICNET was extended via the State capitals to all district headquarters by 1990. In 1999, the Union Ministry of Information Technology was created. By 2000, a 12-point minimum agenda for e-Governance was identified by Government of India for implementation in all the Union Government Ministries/Departments.
e-Governance in India has steadily evolved from computerization of Government Departments to initiatives that include many aspects of Governance. Many initiatives by the Central and State governments to bring public services closer to the citizens have been taken. The National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), takes a holistic view of e-Governance initiatives across the country, integrating them into a collective vision and a shared cause.
