Information Technology Initiatives for Providing Efficient Service Delivery System in India

India has the highest number of mobile phone users, but its impact on growth is not clear given the diversity in socio-economic and demographic features across states. In India mobile telecommunication industry has witnessed a tremendous growth over the last few years, with one billion mobiles in the country. India has become second largest mobile phone market after China (economictimes.indiatimes.com). However, there is a wide variation in mobile diffusion as well as GDP growth process across various states in India, bringing in question of socio-economic disparities and how technology diffusion may help in convergence of growth process among various states. Empirical studies have found several factors such as per capita income, income inequality, population density, age profile of population, competition and regulatory structure to have a positive impact on mobile penetration. A study in the context of Kerala found that the use of mobile technology has increased information quality and overall efficiency of government processes. The computer illiteracy problem in India in general and in Punjab in particular, will also pose challenge to m-Governance application reaching to the citizens. As a result, the services that are provided by the government through mobile devices might not reach to the majority of the citizens of the state. With this above back ground, it is interesting to look into the initiative of m-Governance and its importance in empowering the citizens of the state of Punjab in terms of accessing information and utilizing the services of the government. The issue regarding improvement in the service delivery through use of mobile, internet and other electronic device would be discussed in detail in fully length of paper.