Where Are E-Governments in South Asian Countries? A Comparative Approach

AbstractThe four countries are selected and compared based on their use of e-government as a tool to work and share information more effectively while delivering better services to the public. It also provides a general understanding of e-government and uses different variables to discuss the reality of e-government development and e-participation over the last few years in these four countries. In view of this, the time series data are collected from the United Nations e-government survey to highlight developing trends in e-government along with issues and challenges, best practices, and opportunities for the development of e-government. As a result, this study finds that real e-government remains a distant hope in these countries due to the expense of supplying technology, a lack of infrastructure, limited human capital and a weak private sector.Keywords: E-government, E-government Development, E-government ReadinessIntroductionE-government can generate development for the people. Public services delivered through e-government are designed to be responsive, socially inclusive and centered on citizens. E-government refers to the use or application of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in public administration to integrate workflows and processes, improve and enhance delivery of public services, manage data and information n more effective ways, as well as expand communication channels for engaging with and empowering the people. Governments are also able to involve citizens through delivering services via more participatory processes. Recent e-government progress in a growing number of countries where citizens both use and co-produce public services provide evidence for participatory service provision. Through e-government, nations around the world can be more efficient, providing better services and responding to demands for transparency and accountability. E-government itself has become an important and powerful tool, both nationally and locally, for addressing development issues and as a force for effective participation and governance. It can also help governments promote effective management of natural resources while stimulating economic growth and promoting social inclusion (United Nations, 2014).E-government is transformational. It is altering the ways business, government, and the public at large interact with each other. Through ICT use and government applications, the means of providing services and information to the public have changed dramatically. The way government interacts with multiple stakeholders, including employees, businesses, and other government agencies has also been accelerated (Rhoda, 2013). ICT is introduced primarily to improve government transparency, efficiency, and effectiveness. E-government is becoming a very important application for the use of ICT and carries the potential to remake citizen relationships with government by simplifying the ways in which they can communicate and transact with government. Specifically, it is argued that the impact of ICT has improved the performance of government and private sector organizations, particularly in developing countries (Khan, 2013). The benefits of ICT adoption are numerous and widespread.In this regard, it can be assumed that the governments of developing countries make efforts towards adapting ICT in their governance system and increase their ability to remake relationships with citizens, businesses, and other levels of government and the public sector. This study tries to compare the government's use of ICT in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh with Korea, as a successful example. This comparison is based on e-government efforts to deliver better services to the public by sharing information and working more efficiently. In particular, this study compares the ability of governments, their desire for e-government, and the involvement of the public in e-participation. It provides a general understanding of e-government and uses different variables to discuss the reality of e-government development and e-participation over the last couple of years in these four countries. …