Introduction

What is governance?
The word government has its origins in the Greek language, meaning ‘to steer’. In its broadest
sense, it refers to a body that has the authority to make and the power to enforce laws within
a civil, corporate, religious, academic and other organization. At a nation level, government
commonly refers to the administration of a state, in general to the executive function or
branch of the body of the exercising authority. The level of government responsible for
running a district, province or city is also referred as local government in contrast with
bodies at nation-state level. The advent of new ITs such as the Internet offers a potential to
induce a transformational pattern in the way government functions are conducted and
services delivered to citizens.

The concept of ‘governance’ is as old as human civilization. In essence, the term ‘governance’
refers to the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are
implemented (or not implemented) . The word ‘governance’ can be used in several contexts
such as corporate governance, international governance, national governance and local
governance.

Governance refers to the exercise of political, economic and administrative authority in the
management of a country’s affairs, including citizens’ articulation of their interests and
exercise of their legal rights and obligations. If we define governance as a process of
decision-making involving multiple entities, study on governance would refer to a thorough
analysis of the actors and structures involved in this decision and implementation process.

The World Bank defines governance as the exercise of political authority and the use of
institutional resources to manage society's problems and affairs.

An alternate definition suggests that governance is the use of institutions, structures of authority
and even collaboration to allocate resources and coordinate or control activity in society or
the economy. The Worldwide Governance Indicators project of the World Bank defines
governance as:

The traditions and institutions by which authority in a country is exercised.

This considers the process by which governments are selected, monitored and replaced; the
capacity of the government to effectively formulate and implement sound policies and the
 respect of citizens and the state of the institutions that govern economic and social
interactions among them.

Simply defined, governance is the use of structures of authority to a decision-making process

for the management of society’s affairs.

According to the United Nations Development Programme's Regional Project on Local

Governance for Latin America:

Governance has been defined as the rules of the political system to solve conflicts between
actors and adopt decision (legality). It has also been used to describe the ‘proper functioning
of institutions and their acceptance by the public’ (legitimacy). And it has been used to
invoke the efficacy of government and the achievement of consensus by democratic means
(participation).

What is e-governance?
Whilst e-Government has traditionally been understood as being centered around the
operations of government, e-Governance extends the scope by including citizen
engagement with and participation in government activities. As such, following in line with
the OECD definition of e-Government, e-Governance can be defined as

‘the use of ICTs as a tool to achieve better governance.’

E-governance is the performance of governance via the electronic medium in order to facilitate
an efficient process of disseminating information to the public, and other agencies, and for
performing government activities.
PURPOSE

The purpose of implementing e-governance is to enhance good governance. Good governance

is generally characterized by participation, transparency and accountability. The recent
advances in communication technologies and the Internet provide opportunities to
transform the relationship between governments and citizens in a new way, thus
contributing to the achievement of good governance goals. The use of information
technology can increase the broad involvement of citizens in the process of governance at
all levels by providing the possibility of on-line discussion groups and by enhancing the
rapid development and effectiveness of pressure groups. Advantages for the government
involve that the government may provide better service in terms of time, making
governance more efficient and more effective. In addition, the transaction costs can be
lowered and government services become more accessible.

MISSION AND OBJECTIVES

With the sole mission of bringing district administration closer to the common people thus
offering efficient and effective services,E governance is evolved with the following
objectives.

To provide a friendly, affordable, speedier and efficient interface between the

government and the public.

To ensure greater transparency, efficiency, objectivity, accountability and speed that can
help tackle most of the maladies of the government by providing efficient services to the
public.
To provide responsive and transparent services to the citizens of the state.
To provide cost effective service and at the same time improving the quality of service.
To provide a single window for government services at district level.