International migration flows increase bilateral trade flows between countries through different channels, including creation of diasporic networks that transmit information. These networks have the potential to reduce information barriers and search costs in international trade. This paper quantifies the information effect of diaspora networks, using a panel data set of bilateral migration stocks and bilateral trade data that has been classified into intermediate and final goods. It shows that the migrants' role in exchange of information through business networks does lead to a significant increase in trade among countries. Moreover, the paper finds that this effect is greatest in the case of differentiated goods and that the highly educated migrants are most effective in business networking. Also, this paper addresses the issue of direction of causality between international migration and trade by creating a unique instrumental variable based on citizenship laws of the countries of destination.

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South–South bilateral trade partnerships have been growing increasingly important, and this article analyses the current patterns of bilateral trade between India and five Central Asian countries and the potential for improving them. We apply the gravity model of trade to construct a trade potential index from an Indian perspective and assess the potential for improving India’s trade with Central Asia. We find that the volume of trade between India and Central Asia in 2015 could be six to ten times greater than the actual volume. Political disturbances in the countries that fall along the direct trade route are a major barrier to trade in this region; therefore, we re-examine the potential for trade using alternate routes via Iran and China. We find that the potential for greater bilateral trade between India and Central Asia continues to be positive. JEL Classification: F10, F14

This article, mainly reviews the experiences of egovemance reforms in improving the quality of governance and service delivery in India. The first section deals with the conceptual framework of e-governance. The second section focuses on e-governance initiatives in .India. The third section reviews the implications of e-governance on service delivery in terms of efficiency, accountability, participation and equity on the basis of the secondary resources. The fourth section deals with the enabling conditions in promoting e-govemance in India. Finally, it comes out with the policy perspectives. I E-GOVERNANCE: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK Electronic governanee or e-governance has been defined in a variety of ways. E-governance is about a process of reform in the way governments work, share information, and deliver services to internal and external clients. E-governance refers to the use of information and communication technologies (ICT), such as the Internet, wide area networks, mobile phones, etc. to deliver services to citizens that have the ability to transform relations with citizens, businesses, and other arms of government. Christopher Baum defines e-government as the "transformation of public sector's internal and external relationship through net enabled operations, information technology and communications to optimise government service delivery, constituency participation and governance." 1 E-governance is defined as the application 2 Michel Backus, "E-govemance and Developing Countries; Introductions and Examples."

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