E-Governance Initiative and the Concept of Digital Bangladesh: A Critical Analysis

Government functions are the most profound areas where the new information and communication technologies (ICT) can play a pivotal role in fostering and ameliorating citizen centric services. This can make a significant contribution to the achievement of the socio-economic livelihood of the people. E-Governance, being a strategic outcome, relates to spread digital dividends across different social segments especially in any developing country. In Bangladesh, newer ICT tools remained beyond the access of most of its citizens. As part of the national delivery strategy, the Government has decided with the vision of creating a ‘Digital Bangladesh’ by 2021. The very idea started as part of the election manifesto of the ruling party in the last national election held in 2008. This paper attempts to identify the issues and challenges, which Bangladesh is currently facing with regard to the implementation of e-Governance. E-Governance is recognized as a comprehensive system of specific change and strategic tools that support and simplify governance to improve specific policies such as information, citizen participation, efficiency, rapid service delivery, reducing fraud, forwarding, and responding to changes in the Outdoor area. However, the main focus of the paper is to critically analyze various factors to identify success and failures in implementing such programme in Bangladesh.