What Gujarat does today, others do tomorrow! In the past, there have been several instances that show how the development initiatives of Gujarat have been emulated by several other States. Be it holding business summits to give a boost to investment, to take steps towards enhancing development of skills, of coming out with a new solar policy first, Gujarat has shown that when it comes to innovation and efficient implementation of initiatives that touch the lives of the people, the State emerges with flying colours. The pro-people and proactive development-oriented approach of Narendra Modi has put the State on quick gear as far as the development journey is concerned.
Another such example was seen when the Union Cabinet approved the Rights of Citizens for Time-Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill, 2011. A careful study of this Bill reveals that what the Central Government has merely passed right now has been in practice in Gujarat in various ways for the last decade. It is only now that the Centre seems to have woken up from its policy paralysis slumber, something which has pushed the nation behind by a decade.
The Rights of Citizens for Time-Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill, 2011 was approved y the Cabinet on March 7. The Bill provides for time-bound delivery of Government services like passports, birth and death certificates and other documents.
The Bill also puts an obligation on every public authority to publish a citizens’ charter, specifying the time within which specified goods and services will be delivered. Additionally, the bill provides for a grievance redressal mechanism for non-compliance of its provisions. The Bill allows citizens to file complaints regarding grievances related to the Citizens Charter, functioning of Public authority or a violation of a law, policy or scheme.
While it is only now that the scam-ridden UPA Government has realised the need for greater accountability and transparency, Gujarat under Narendra Modi thought well ahead of time and brought the model of ‘One Day Governance’ in 2003 to deliver key services to its citizens in the duration of a single day. The total number of beneficiaries of this One Day Governance in Gujarat are more than 60 lakh people, most of them belonging to poor families.
At the core of the citizen-centric administration by leveraging e-governance infrastructure are the Jan Seva Kendras. The main objective of the JSK is to provide all Government-to-citizen services covered under the Citizens’ Charter. The JSKs mainly offer the following citizen-centric services such as revenue, Panchayat, health, education and agriculture and maintaining a fundamental data of all records.
Over 173 types of public services like essential certificates, affidavits, land, civil supplies are included so far. The services are divided into 3 types:
1. Tatkal: 20 per cent of the applications are included in this type which takes 20 minutes to 2 hours for processing.
2. One day governance: These applications need a single day for processing. Within a duration of 12 hours, documents such as birth, death and caste are delivered. 40 per cent of applications fall under this category.
3. Non-one day governance: The applications under this category are No Objection Certificates (NOC) from Police, Roads and Buildings, hotel licenses, land allotment for non-agricultural purposes etc.
The JSKs are operational in all Collector and Mamlatdar offices with a PPP model and have yielded outstanding results through quick, convenient and efficient functioning, more transparency.
The intangible outcomes, however, are even more remarkable!
There has been a radical change in the perception of common citizens about Government offices. Additionally, retired citizens have got involved in helping illiterate people in completing their applications. The attitude of Government employees too has changed significantly, owing to transparency.
In the year 2003, the Vadodara District authorities won a Merit Award for implementing One-Day Governance under the category of ‘Exemplary e-Governance Initiative’ at the 7th National E- Governance conference. In 2007, the Department of Information Technology, Government of India evaluated the project as a ‘Model Project’ in district-level e-governance for the entire country! Furthermore, in 2008, Jan Seva Kendras of Gandhinagar received the Stockholm Challenge Award ICT Driven e-Governance Public Service Mechanism, CAPAM 2008 International Innovations Award and was also honoured at the 4TH Dataquest EGOV Summit 2008.
Additionally, the launch of Apno Taluko, Vibrant Taluko (ATVT) in the year 2011 ensures that every Taluka has a resourceful Jan Seva Kendra. This grassroots initiative has activated pro-people governance at the sub-district level!
Narendra Modi has aptly said, “Technology enables last mile delivery. Blending it with the will and determination to deliver, Gujarat has experienced the true power of e-governance.” With this Mantra, Gujarat has also witnessed last mile delivery to the all 18,000 villages too! With the E-Services provided by E-Gram Centres, the State Government has offered G2C (Government-to-Citizen) services such as Land Record services, Certificates and E-ration card Coupon.
In addition to its One Day Governance Initiative and Jan Seva Kendras, the Government of Gujarat has implemented unique and effective schemes to address Citizen Grievances. Narendra Modi has said, “People’s voice is the key driver of a democracy and listening to that voice is the key test of Good Governance.”
While the UPA Government in the Centre has only now begun deliberating on Grievance Redressal through the latest Bill, SWAGAT (State-wide Attention on Grievances by the Application of Technology) has been functional in Gujarat from the year 2003. It enables direct communication between the citizens and the Chief Minister! In Gandhinagar, the fourth Thursday of every month is a SWAGAT day wherein the highest office in the administration attends to the grievances of the common man.
Additionally, SWAGAT sessions are also held at the District and the Taluka level. At the district level, the District Collector chairs SWAGAT sessions wherein aggrieved citizens can convey complaints and at the Taluka Level, the Mamlatdar holds similar meetings. Furthermore, the SWAGAT program has been extended up to village level by the launch of the Gram SWAGAT program on 1st February 2011. Under this programme, citizens can lodge their grievances at the Gram Panchayat office and hence do not need to travel all the way to the District Place or the State capital to register complaints. The programme was honored with the United Nations Public Service Award in 2010 for “Improving Transparency, Accountability and Responsiveness in Public Service Category. Out of the 1,7,3,244 complaints received till the end of 2012, 1,55,374 complaints have successfully resolved. This is an impressive success rate of about 90 per cent.
Modi often says that the real test of good governance is its grievance redressal system. Under his stellar leadership, he has not let this thought remain merely a thought. It has been translated into action and has brought in smiles to the faces of lakhs of Gujarati people. His One Day Governance approach is clearly more valued by the people as compared to the unending test match the UPA is playing with their demands, grievances and aspirations!
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