Abstract. Most reported literature on evaluation of e-government systems tend to focus on narrow aspects of project design and implementation. The larger context of development and related issues are not used for assessment. This paper presents a case for evaluation of e-government projects by using development theory as propounded by Amartya Sen. A single e-government system, the Bhoomi system of Karnataka, India, is used as a case, and it is evaluated using both a project assessment approach and a development assessment approach. The two approaches lead to different conclusions, providing insights as to the value of each.