UGC NET Questions (Paper – 1)

E-governance initiatives use ICT to deliver services such as applications, payments and grievance redressal through online platforms. This reduces the need for travel, saves time and lowers administrative burden on both citizens and offices. It can also increase transparency and reduce opportunities for corruption. Therefore, easier access to services is a key advantage.

Option A:
This option correctly emphasises improved accessibility and convenience as core benefits. Citizens can interact with government beyond office hours and from remote locations. Such features reflect the citizen-centric orientation of modern e-governance projects.

Option B:
Allowing people to bypass legal procedures would undermine rule of law and is not an aim of e-governance. ICT platforms are meant to ensure compliance and documentation, not to remove legal requirements. Hence, this statement is incorrect.

Option C:
Requiring disconnection from the Internet contradicts the entire idea of delivering services online. E-governance depends on network connectivity to portals and databases. Thus, this option is logically inconsistent.

Option D:
Mandating handwritten applications only would prevent the adoption of digital processes and contradicts the push towards paperless offices. Many e-governance systems encourage electronic forms and digital signatures.

E-governance uses ICT to make government processes more transparent, efficient and citizen friendly. Delivering services like tax payment, certificate issuance and grievance submission through portals reduces the need for physical visits and can reduce delays and opportunities for corruption.

Option A:
This option correctly highlights that ICT is used to provide services and information to citizens any time and from many locations, matching initiatives such as online forms, digital signatures and integrated service portals.

Option B:
Stopping computer use reverses modernisation and conflicts with the very idea of e-governance, pushing administration back to slower, manual processes.

Option C:
Keeping all records only on paper restricts access and makes retrieval and analysis cumbersome, whereas e-governance emphasises digitisation and shared databases.

Option D:
Using ICT only for entertainment for officials ignores citizen services and accountability, which are central goals of e-governance.

Statements A, B and D correctly describe the nature and benefits of e-governance, while statement C is incorrect. E-governance relies on ICT to deliver services and information, uses portals such as grievance redressal systems and improves transparency through online tracking. It reduces rather than increases the need for physical visits to offices, so C cannot be part of the correct set. Therefore the only option that includes A, B and D but excludes C is A.

Option A:
Option A is correct because it combines all the true statements about e-governance and omits the false one. It recognises ICT-enabled service delivery, online applications and transparency as core features. By excluding the claim that every transaction requires a physical visit, it reflects the real purpose of e-governance.

Option B:
Option B is incorrect because it includes only A and B and leaves out D. While A and B are true, statement D is also correct in highlighting transparency through online tracking. Excluding D makes the set of statements incomplete.

Option C:
Option C is incorrect because it treats B and C as the correct set. Although B is true, C is false since e-governance aims to minimise routine physical visits. Including C and omitting A and D makes this combination both incomplete and partly wrong.

Option D:
Option D is incorrect because it assumes that all four statements are correct and therefore accepts C. Since C contradicts the very idea of e-governance as ICT-enabled service delivery, this option cannot be accepted as correct.