e-Governance at Grassroots Level in South Asia: A Study of Citizen-centric e-Panchayats in India

The paper intends to underline the features of e-governance at local selfgovernment level in rural India and examines the viability of the e-panchayats in making the local-self governance citizen-centric for efficient, responsive, costeffective, result-oriented mechanism for faster pace of rural development. The epanchayats also become the effective instrument of vibrant grassroots democracy by empowering people with knowledge. Theoretical tenets, application of ICT in local-level governance and outcome features have also been underlined. The focuses have also on the theoretical aspects of egovernance, followed by practical aspects, and the role of ICT in the areas of good governance and facilitating people’s enhanced access to the governance, and finally on the prospects of e-governance at local level in the south Asian region.