E-government Trails Telephone and Personal Visits in Bangalore, India's Information Capital, Shows a Recent Study

If you thought all was well with e-government in India’s so-called information capital, Bangalore (now Bengaluru), Karnataka, you are mistaken. A recent study of e-government in Bangalore by Raman (2008)* in 75 of the 100 wards (n= 993) has indicated that though 33% of the participants used computers and internet, only 6.9% used e-government services. Most of those who used government websites used it to look up contact information (81%). Majority of the users (87%) said they did not feel they got any additional information or benefit from using the website. On a scale of 1 (least) to 5 (most), users rated e-government website content on relevance, usefulness, reliability, and up-to-date nature of information at mean scores below 3. There was no statistically significant difference between computer users and nonusers in local government participation. Data revealed that though young, well educated individuals from middle or higher income groups are interested in using new information technology, they rank using e-government services as their third priority after telephone and personal visits to get information about local government. Thank you, Veena, for your study. Check her paper at

http://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/8/9/3/7/pages189372/p189372-1.php

Dr D.C.Misra
January 15, 2009
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* Raman, Veena (2008): Interactive citizen-government relations? A survey of e-government in India’s information capital, Paper presented at the annual meeting of the NCA 93rd Annual Convention, TBA, Chicago, IL, November 15, 2007, Published: December 11, 2008, http://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/8/9/3/7/pages189372/p189372-1.php (accessed: January 15, 2009)