Page 8 - ICT Nepal News Issue 02

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By:
Prof . Dr. Suborno Shokyo

Nepa"l

e-Government is the use of lnformation and level of literacy, low per capita income and insufficient
Communication Technologies to promote more efficient infrastructure for the implementation of e-government in
and effective government, and make it more accessible Nepal.
and accountable to the citizens. The e-Government
readiness index of Nepal is found to be low as compared 2. e-Government Projects in NePal
to other countries. There are various challenges for The government of Nepal with support of the Korea
effective implementation of e-government in Nepal. These lT lndustry Promotion Agency (KIPA) prepared an
challenges are like low literacy, low per capita income and e-Government Master Plan in November 2006. ln order
limited fi nancial resource. to establish the foundation for investment phase of the
Master Plan, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) provided
1. Understanding e-Government a project preparatory technical assistance (PPTA) to
e-Government is the use of information technology to the government of Nepal. According to the PPTA, the
provide citizen and organizations with more convenient implementation plan was initiated and ADB agreed to
access to government information and services and to invest grant fund for Nepal and after that the government
provide delivery of public services to citizen, business of Nepal and Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed the
partners, and those working in the public sector. ln grant agreement of ICT development project dated 23 May
other words e-Government is the use of information 2008. Then after e-Government implementation project
and communication technologies (lCTs) to improve the starts in Nepal. The project involves: (i) modernizing rural
activities of public sector organizations. e-Government communities, particularly in remote areas, by improving
has very significant role in the development of a nation. rural connectivity through wireless broadband networks,
It has brought revolution in the governance of the mobilizing community socioeconomic activities through
government.According to Economist lntelligence Unit the village network portals, and building telecenters to
e-readiness index of Nepal is low. The implementation improve last-mile access to services in remote rural areas;
of e-government is very challenging because of the low (ii) building a government information and communication

i8l ]r5lNEPAL [Vol-1,lssue-Z, 20L7)