The Government expenditure on e-governance is expected to rise by a whopping 37 per cent by the yearend while 86 per cent citizens across the country report reduction in corruption wherever there is e-governance, according to the second Skoch report.
Addressing mediapersons here, Sameer Kochhar, CEO Skoch Consultancy Services, said the government's IT expenditure is likely to increase to Rs 3,014 crore by December, up from Rs 2,200 crore in 2004, and surpass Rs 5,000 crore by 2007.
Mr Kochhar said it was a myth that only urban India could handle IT. ''The projects covering rural India got significantly high citizen approval in the report, with Suwidha in Punjab and Rural e-Seva in Andhra Pradesh rated at the highest of 8.9 nationally,'' he said.
Most of the increased IT spending in the next two years will go to rural projects, education, Panchayati Raj, Common Services Centres and communications connectivity, he added.
''In fact, the Right to Information Act will have a significant effect on the e-governance projects. You cannot put the Act to work withjout e-governance,'' Mr Kochhar said.
The report notes that some of the pilot projects were being replicated enthusiastically and the citizen approval was similar to the benefits reported from the original projects.
The Skoch e-governance Report 2005 was researched over eight months of field visits to e-governance sites across the country, including rural and remote areas, besides interfacing with citizens and collecting first hand feedback.
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