9th October 2013
Long unending queues, piles of forms gathering dust, files
waiting for approval, officials taking a nap, citizens made to run from
pillar to post – such imageries are usually witnessed in most public
offices in India. India undoubtedly is booming as one of the fastest
growing economies but is this growth reflected even internally?
Governance
Governance involves both state and non-state players that seek to offer equitable services to its citizens. India has a long history in governance. Many ancient literary sources envisage governance as a righteous set of governing activities including the ancient epic, Mahabharata. Governance that caters to its people when required is a challenge for any country. And open data and transparency is one such way to tackle this challenge.
Open data challenges
Open data governance is one that maintains clarity, accountability and transparency that promises to offer time-bound delivery of services to its citizens. But the picture in India is slightly complex with regard to maintaining an open data of public records. A democratic country like ours calls for maintaining accountability as well as sustainability for delivering good governance to its citizens. This has been a challenge to India ever since independence. For a country with over two centuries of colonial rule, independently formulating the administrative mechanism of a country was indeed a challenge. But over the years, government policies and administrative structures have witnessed refinement. But with regard to offering stable and reliable services that reflects the true identity of good governance, the country has not done much progress.
Current state of public governance
An efficient administration always attempts to upgrade the quality of service delivery to the citizens. This kind of responsive administration offers its citizens the right to freely participate in public affairs with a guaranteed sense of liberty. Contrary to this is the scenario in India where lies a widespread absence of accountability in offering public services on time. The services are certainly enlisted in their charters but seldom do they promise to deliver it to citizens. And even if these services exist, the price to obtain these is through bribery. When money for a service becomes imperative, then accountability of public funds is bound to get embezzled. This leaves no choice for citizens to avail any service thereby depriving the scope of good governance. Retail corruption precisely blows hard on a common man that cuts out the basic right of a citizen to avail a service without a bribe.
The endeavour of refining the administration has been taken up by many initiatives that envisage open data system through the use of technology. There are civil service organisations also acting as agents of change that co-ordinate with government to guarantee better governance. Ipaidabribe is one such forum that helps aid the government in maintaining an open data through crowd sourcing of data and records from public. Over the years, as a measure to tackle the challenge of maintaining an open data by public authorities systematically, the central and state governments have come up with programmes that benefit the citizens. Few government-run programmes incorporate a two-scale idea behind their scheme that offers time-bound delivery of services and also maintains a track of public records. E-governance is one such solution that warranties clarity and systematizes the process to benefit public at large. Projects such as CARDComputer-Aided Administration of Registration Department in Andhra Pradesh; Bhoomi in Karnataka; Mahiti Shakti in Gujarat; Mitra in Rajasthan and many such e-governance projects that seek to maintain a clean record reflects an evident progress by state government in administration.
Sakala in Karnataka
Corruption no doubt pervades every public forum in our country. A systematic approach to maintain open data seems to be the only viable route to control this menace, if not erode it. At least at the level of a delivering time-bound service, transparent data definitely helps. To ensure this, the Karnataka state government started a new scheme under the Karnataka Guarantee of Services to Citizens Act (Sakala) in April 2012.
Sakala that literally means ‘in good time’ is a citizen charter programme that ensures timely delivery of basic services to citizens. This scheme started on a pilot basis in four taluks now covers 11 department and 151 services under its forte. Their main motto remains – “to deliver services within a stipulated time”.
Departments under Sakala Act:
This scheme not only checks time-bound delivery of service but also levies penalty and fines for delay in delivery. A Fine of Rs 20/- is imposed on the official per day for delay up to a maximum of Rs. 500/- . Citizens need not worry about having to pay bribes as they will be given a 15 digit number along with the application which will reflect the updated status of service. Also the fine will be paid as compensation to the citizen who applies. This scheme also offers the benefit of checking the online status of the application as well.
What are the promises of Sakala?
Accessibility: The scheme offers great scope for citizens to access information regarding the service online. It mentions the department, the kind of service, the official in charge to deliver the service, the applied charges, the process and the time taken for the applied service. Therefore, this provides a clarity on the responsible personnel and the exact procedure involved and hence proving to be user-friendly to citizens as they will to able to access this.
Transparent by its mechanism- The entire process flow is mentioned online. If the service is not delivered by a stipulated time, then the citizens can post a complaint, which will impose a fine on the concerned official to pay a fine. All data about the fees and process is open and transparent to the citizens.
Accountability (Grievance Mechanism) – the officials in charge are accountable to the service that they are appointed to deliver. The citizens will be timely updated on the status ensuring that their application is duly forwarded to the concerned official. In case the official fails to deliver or answer other queries that need to be addressed, citizens can post it on the grievance section. These will be considered and worked upon by grievance addressing officials.
Wide scope - this provides clarity and is user friendly by nature. Since all procedures and applications are available easily to the citizens, the scheme has greater chance of being accepted and widely spoken about. The scheme is proving to be beneficial and citizen friendly for all.
Sakala can act as a tool to strain corruption out of the system especially with regard to public services and its open data. But there are certain short comings in this scheme too. The token system of putting a service on hold can be one of the impediments to this scheme. It is an illegal form of confirming the service for a price between the citizen and the officials through a piece of token. If this is one inadequacy, then others include citizens’ attitude of refusing to pay a bribe, lack of co-operation from the part of citizens, unwillingness to post complaints and also corrupt tactics used by officials.
How successful is it?
Just few months of its launch, the scheme received one crore application forms from the citizens across the state. A recent press release mentions the success of the scheme as observed by representatives from Odisha and Bangladesh, standing as a testimony of open governance. Although this scheme proved to be a success in many parts of the state, a few sceptical thoughts was raised about its objectivity in benefitting citizens. Also the existence of a token system and a cynical mind set towards such an initiative is perhaps perceived with a benefit of doubt by citizens. But on a fair note, the scheme has indeed benefited a lot in the state and hence seeks to eliminate the existing shortcomings and to realize the true spirit of open governance.
Governance
Governance involves both state and non-state players that seek to offer equitable services to its citizens. India has a long history in governance. Many ancient literary sources envisage governance as a righteous set of governing activities including the ancient epic, Mahabharata. Governance that caters to its people when required is a challenge for any country. And open data and transparency is one such way to tackle this challenge.
Open data challenges
Open data governance is one that maintains clarity, accountability and transparency that promises to offer time-bound delivery of services to its citizens. But the picture in India is slightly complex with regard to maintaining an open data of public records. A democratic country like ours calls for maintaining accountability as well as sustainability for delivering good governance to its citizens. This has been a challenge to India ever since independence. For a country with over two centuries of colonial rule, independently formulating the administrative mechanism of a country was indeed a challenge. But over the years, government policies and administrative structures have witnessed refinement. But with regard to offering stable and reliable services that reflects the true identity of good governance, the country has not done much progress.
Current state of public governance
An efficient administration always attempts to upgrade the quality of service delivery to the citizens. This kind of responsive administration offers its citizens the right to freely participate in public affairs with a guaranteed sense of liberty. Contrary to this is the scenario in India where lies a widespread absence of accountability in offering public services on time. The services are certainly enlisted in their charters but seldom do they promise to deliver it to citizens. And even if these services exist, the price to obtain these is through bribery. When money for a service becomes imperative, then accountability of public funds is bound to get embezzled. This leaves no choice for citizens to avail any service thereby depriving the scope of good governance. Retail corruption precisely blows hard on a common man that cuts out the basic right of a citizen to avail a service without a bribe.
The endeavour of refining the administration has been taken up by many initiatives that envisage open data system through the use of technology. There are civil service organisations also acting as agents of change that co-ordinate with government to guarantee better governance. Ipaidabribe is one such forum that helps aid the government in maintaining an open data through crowd sourcing of data and records from public. Over the years, as a measure to tackle the challenge of maintaining an open data by public authorities systematically, the central and state governments have come up with programmes that benefit the citizens. Few government-run programmes incorporate a two-scale idea behind their scheme that offers time-bound delivery of services and also maintains a track of public records. E-governance is one such solution that warranties clarity and systematizes the process to benefit public at large. Projects such as CARDComputer-Aided Administration of Registration Department in Andhra Pradesh; Bhoomi in Karnataka; Mahiti Shakti in Gujarat; Mitra in Rajasthan and many such e-governance projects that seek to maintain a clean record reflects an evident progress by state government in administration.
Sakala in Karnataka
Corruption no doubt pervades every public forum in our country. A systematic approach to maintain open data seems to be the only viable route to control this menace, if not erode it. At least at the level of a delivering time-bound service, transparent data definitely helps. To ensure this, the Karnataka state government started a new scheme under the Karnataka Guarantee of Services to Citizens Act (Sakala) in April 2012.
Sakala that literally means ‘in good time’ is a citizen charter programme that ensures timely delivery of basic services to citizens. This scheme started on a pilot basis in four taluks now covers 11 department and 151 services under its forte. Their main motto remains – “to deliver services within a stipulated time”.
Departments under Sakala Act:
- Commercial Taxes Department
- Education Department
- Food And Civil Supplies
- Health And Family Welfare
- Home Department
- Labor Department
- Revenue Department
- Rural Development And Panchayat Raj
- Transport Department
- Urban Development
- Women And Child Welfare
This scheme not only checks time-bound delivery of service but also levies penalty and fines for delay in delivery. A Fine of Rs 20/- is imposed on the official per day for delay up to a maximum of Rs. 500/- . Citizens need not worry about having to pay bribes as they will be given a 15 digit number along with the application which will reflect the updated status of service. Also the fine will be paid as compensation to the citizen who applies. This scheme also offers the benefit of checking the online status of the application as well.
What are the promises of Sakala?
Accessibility: The scheme offers great scope for citizens to access information regarding the service online. It mentions the department, the kind of service, the official in charge to deliver the service, the applied charges, the process and the time taken for the applied service. Therefore, this provides a clarity on the responsible personnel and the exact procedure involved and hence proving to be user-friendly to citizens as they will to able to access this.
Transparent by its mechanism- The entire process flow is mentioned online. If the service is not delivered by a stipulated time, then the citizens can post a complaint, which will impose a fine on the concerned official to pay a fine. All data about the fees and process is open and transparent to the citizens.
Accountability (Grievance Mechanism) – the officials in charge are accountable to the service that they are appointed to deliver. The citizens will be timely updated on the status ensuring that their application is duly forwarded to the concerned official. In case the official fails to deliver or answer other queries that need to be addressed, citizens can post it on the grievance section. These will be considered and worked upon by grievance addressing officials.
Wide scope - this provides clarity and is user friendly by nature. Since all procedures and applications are available easily to the citizens, the scheme has greater chance of being accepted and widely spoken about. The scheme is proving to be beneficial and citizen friendly for all.
Sakala can act as a tool to strain corruption out of the system especially with regard to public services and its open data. But there are certain short comings in this scheme too. The token system of putting a service on hold can be one of the impediments to this scheme. It is an illegal form of confirming the service for a price between the citizen and the officials through a piece of token. If this is one inadequacy, then others include citizens’ attitude of refusing to pay a bribe, lack of co-operation from the part of citizens, unwillingness to post complaints and also corrupt tactics used by officials.
How successful is it?
Just few months of its launch, the scheme received one crore application forms from the citizens across the state. A recent press release mentions the success of the scheme as observed by representatives from Odisha and Bangladesh, standing as a testimony of open governance. Although this scheme proved to be a success in many parts of the state, a few sceptical thoughts was raised about its objectivity in benefitting citizens. Also the existence of a token system and a cynical mind set towards such an initiative is perhaps perceived with a benefit of doubt by citizens. But on a fair note, the scheme has indeed benefited a lot in the state and hence seeks to eliminate the existing shortcomings and to realize the true spirit of open governance.
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