Accessibility and usability analysis of Indian e-government websites

E-government provides a platform to deliver government services to stakeholders, and many countries have adopted e-government websites for good governance. Successful e-government implementation and service delivery depend on how the underlying information present in government websites is made accessible and usable to every individual. This article investigates the accessibility and usability of e-government sites in India. Our sample consists of 65 Indian e-government websites. The analysis was carried out using automatic evaluation tools. The results of the accessibility tests highlight the existence of accessibility issues based on Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0 (WCAG 1.0) and WCAG 2.0. Usability tests also reveal that e-government websites give low priority to such aspects during website design and development. Hence, there is a need to improve the overall accessibility and usability of Indian e-government websites in order to improve the quality and in turn the E-Government Development Index rank of India.