When it comes to discussing a Nation's development, the role of e-governance needs no emphasis. India as an independent nation has completed 60 years and with this it has conquered many podiums and milestones. It has not only emerged successfully as an ICT Superpower, but has also been successful in planning and implementing strategies that promote India as a good administration (government).

The evolution of a nation depends greatly on e-governance; a tool helps to effectively participate in the rapidly evolving globally networked society, to bridge the gap between a nation and other countries, to propel forwards to a new position of strength in the world economy and a lot more. Knowing so many positive aspects of going ‘e’, the launch of National Portal of India became an important factor to vision a better India.

One of the attributes that scale a good governance is the anytime, anywhere delivery of government services. These services are often provided through a number of different departments working in different sectors of development. Already, over 5000 websites of the various Indian Government entities including Ministries, Departments, State/UT Governments, District Administrations, Organisations etc exist in the Internet Space. All these websites provide a variety of information and services which are beneficial to the common citizens and other stake holders. This implies that citizens have to visit a large number of websites for different services. Sometimes, one also has to visit multiple websites to avail a single service. Different websites are following different Technology Standards, Design Lay-outs and Navigation Architecture etc. Accordingly, it results in a lot of inconvenience at the citizens’ end and requires a lot of learning on their part to even access these services, thus defeating the very purpose of the various e-governance initiatives.

For making such information and services accessible in a convenient manner, a need to establish a one-stop source for all the government information and services became the need of the hour and thus came the concept of having a single unified interface could prove beneficial as compared to having multiple websites of different departments simply because it saves the citizen from the hassles of searching across a large number of sites, with diverse design and navigation patterns in order to look for the desired information or service.

With this came the first milestone in the history of National Portal and that was laying the foundation stone in 2004 when the project was given a Mission Mode status, under the e-governance plan.

The following year in 2005, on 10th November the portal was officially launched by the then Union Minister for Communications & IT, Shri Dayanidhi Maran, along with the Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The aesthetic appeal, thoughtful, informative and user friendly content made the portal most favourite bookmarked site, as numerous of hits poured in from all corners of the world.

The National Portal soon became an important link in building strong and effective information chain. It became a mode of fast and convenient service to citizens and also helped in integration of communities, reduction in delays in governmental processes and Red tape etc.

Another important milestone was that, the readers could personalise their content. This entailed providing information suited to specific categories/kinds of target audience classified according to factors such as their Geographical location (urban/rural, specific region of the country), Contexts and scenarios of use (citizen, NRI, foreigner interested in India) etc. Soon more and more people began to access india.gov.in for government information and services online and this made the portal, a citizen's first point of contact with Government.

The well established Principles of Usability and Human Centered Design have been applied while designing the interface for the Portal. The various components of the Portal gave a common look and feel to ensure ease of navigation and consistency in design. Later in 2006 the Hindi version of Portal of was launched. The core team is also working on the project of launching the portal in all official Indian languages to remove al linguistic barriers. A robust team comprising of the portal consists of Senior officers nominated as National Portal Co-ordinators (NPCs) at the Central and the State levels. These NPCs contribute and vet all the content pertaining to their respective Sector/State before it is published on the National Portal.

Technology has completely transfigured our lives all possible ways over the past few decades and has also helped in transforming the social, economic and intellectual fabric in our community. Today as the world and its economies are globalising and shrinking, the role of e-governance is widening, in terms of providing simplified and meaningful interaction between all levels within a nation and within nations. And with that comes to the fore, the role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT).

With the evolvement of ICT, many unique opportunities and challenges have come out in front of the mankind in terms of preparing knowledgeable, democratic and socially responsible citizens. There was a time when the objectives of ICT were an important element in every field, every organisation, every subject, however now ICT and its objectives are also an important ingredient of every country and every government. It has become a significant element in catalysing economic activities and improving government and citizens at all the levels. ICT also helped the nations worldwide in becoming digital and the wide-spread adoption of digital technology promoted the convergence of information technology and interactive entertainment and communication. Thus, the concept of going digital and numerous e-governance projects were launched successfully, which emerged as frontrunners.

india.gov.in is one such initiative by the government of India that has passed through years of research before its launch and is loaded with innovative ICT solutions and shows a foolproof evidence of the determined efforts. The portal is a gamut of more than 5000 distinct Indian Government websites and provides customized, one-stop, timely and authentic online information and services that are provided by National Portal Co-ordinators deployed at the various Indian Government Departments from Central to the State Government, from the District Administration to the Panchayat. The Portal also provides a comprehensive sectoral data on all Schemes, Acts, policies etc. This website is also a reservoir of accurate and authentic news updates on burning issues, prices, experts opinion, statistics, review and outlook, regulatory issues and other general information.

Using ICT the traditional country database is now smart compressed into digital e-books and websites and The National Portal of India presents all information related to India with a single unified interface. One can now get any information round the clock, access to the information at any time, night or day and can be downloaded into convenient e-files. The portal also provides a rich content in a more structured manner, thus browsing through becomes easy.

The contributions and invention of Information and Communication Technology has been a huge benefit to the entire mankind community. It is the most powerful medium towards improvements in the field of education, technology and other e processes. A country's social, political and economic composition today most definitely correlates closely with its E-Governance Programmes as the profound impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) finds its way deeper into the realms of good governance. India's efforts in this field, along with its proven prowess in the Information Technology arena have been well recognised over the past few years.

The publication of information and documents on the Net and online delivery of citizen services such as government tenders, policies, citizen charters on the Portal, as well as status of applications submitted for various government services is not only expected to benefit the end-users or common citizens but also aims to fulfill the basic objectives of good governance namely enhancing transparency & accountability and thus raising the trust levels of the stakeholders, increasing efficiency in service delivery and encouraging effective citizen participation in the process of governance. Ever since india.gov.in has been launched, millions of hits have poured in from all corners of the world and the number seems to be growing manifolds with each passing day.

The unveiling of the National Portal heralds, a significant range of opportunities and services are available for Indian citizens, businesspersons, NRIs/ PIO, and the world at large. National Portal of India has emerged as an ideal solution and a comprehensive one stop source of government information and service delivery through a unified interface.

When it comes to talking about the Portals and e-governance, one cannot leave the Information and Communication Technology and its benefits. Using the ICT india.gov.in has successfully presented the traditional country database in a smart compressed portal that has all information related to India with a single unified interface. One can now get any information round the clock, access to the information at any time, night or day and can be downloaded into convenient e-files. The portal also provides a rich content in a more structured manner, thus browsing through becomes easy.

The contributions and invention of ICT has been a huge benefit to the entire mankind community. It is the most powerful medium towards improvements in the field of education, technology and other e-processes. Thanks to the ICT and its principles that now one can browse through our Country's social, political and economic composition. Through our E-Governance Programmes one can easily profound impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) finds its way deeper into the realms of good governance. India's efforts in this field, along with its proven prowess in the Information Technology arena have been well recognised over the past few years.