Building an alternative e-Governance model: Lessons from e-Gram in Gujarat

This paper frames a critique of India's existing e-governance programme in the context of a market-driven and efficiency enhancing approach. This narrow guiding vision occurs because of a deficit in normative frameworks for governance rooted in principles of governance reform, and in turn a normative model for telecentre-based e-governance. It empirically assesses an e-governance initiative in the state of Gujarat, e-Gram, exploring what kind of development and local governance are served by this telecentre based initiative. The research then elaborates an e-governance model based on the development cornerstones of participation, social justice and equity.