15thNCEG Back Ground Paper

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Background Papers

th15 Nati onal Conf erence on e-Governance

Bhubaneswar, Odisha, Indiath th

9 - 10 February, 2012

Government of India

Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions


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9. How does social audit benefit the people? ........................ .......................... .......................... 46

10. What are the limitations of social audit? ................................................ ........................... .. 47

11. Why is social audit difficult in India? ........................ ........................... .......................... .... 48

12. Citizen Engagement ....................... ........................... .......................... ........................... ..... 49

13. Social Audit- The Ground Reality ....................... ........................... .......................... ........... 50

Global trends ....................... .......................... ........................... .......................... ............... 52

Domestic trends ......................... .......................... ........................... .......................... ........ 52

Some interesting examples ......................... ........................... ........................... ................ 53

14. References .......................... ........................... .......................... ........................... ................. 54

Participatory Government

1. Executive Summary ........................ ........................... .......................... ........................... ..... 56

Definition ........................... .......................... ........................... ........................... ............... 56

Context ........................... ........................... .......................... ........................... ................... 56

2. Understanding Participation ........................... .......................... ........................... ................. 57

3. Why Participatory Government? ....................................... ........................... .................... 58

4. Enabling Environment ....................... ........................... ........................... .......................... .. 59

Roadmap .......................... ........................... ........................... .......................... ................ 60

Models ........................ .......................... ........................... ........................... ..................... 61

Innovation ......................... ........................... ........................... .......................... ................ 61

5. Institutionalizing participation .......................... ........................... ........................... .............. 63

e-Governance .......................... ........................... .......................... ........................... .......... 64

6. Monitoring & Evaluation ...................................... ........................... .......................... .......... 65

7. Critical Success Factors ........................................ .......................... ........................... .......... 66

8. Key Performance Indicators ............................ ........................... .......................... ................ 67

Barriers ........................ .......................... ........................... .......................... ...................... 67

Plenary Session - IV


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15th National Conference on e-Governance - Background Papers 3

services such as grievance redressal, ration card registration, birth and death certificates, electoral registration

and NREGA digitisation work under a single roof, thereby increasing convenience for the people.

Transparency, Accountability and Reduced Corruption

Dissemination of information through ICT increases transparency, ensures accountability and prevents

corruption. An increased use of computers and web based services improves the awareness levels of citizens

about their rights and powers. This helps to reduce the discretionary powers of government officials and curtail

corruption. For instance, land registration requirements in Andhra Pradesh after computerisation can now be

completed within an hour without any official harassment or bribes.

Use of ICT would make civil servants responsive and accountable with free flow of information

regarding administration and policy. Moreover, it would reduce manipulative capacity and misuse of resources

thus enhancing the trust of people in the government processes.

Increased Participation by People

With easy access to the government services, the faith of the citizens in the government increases and

they come forward to share their views and feedback. Increased accessibility to information has empowered the

citizens and has enhanced their participation by giving them the opportunity to share information and contribute2

in implementation of initiatives. For example, under 'Gyandoot in Madhya Pradesh, a citizen can file a

complaint to the district administration through e-mail with an assured reply within seven days.

Balanced Development

With the spread of ICT awareness, the government has started offering services through electronic

means that were typically difficult for the government to provide and for the people to utilise. This elimination

of digital divide has increased the availability of services at the doorstep of the poor and has led to strengthening

of people in backward areas.

Initially, the rollout of government services through ICT was believed to benefit only the people

who had access to computers and were acquainted with their usage. However, after the execution of3

projects such as Gyandoot and Bhoomi , the perception has been proven wrong. People who use these

services can visit kiosks for assistance and rest of the work is done by the officials in lieu of a nominal fee.

With this, e-Service delivery has become an effective mode of encouraging balanced regional development

in the country.

2Gyandoot is an intranet in Dhar district, Madhya Pradesh connecting rural cyber cafes catering to the everyday needs of the masses.

3Bhoomi project is an initiative taken in Karnataka for on-line delivery and management of land records.


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15th National Conference on e-Governance - Background Papers4

State of e-Service Delivery in India

Over the last few years, the Indian Government has commenced several initiatives to improve thedissemination of public services to the citizens. It has introduced policies around development of e-Service

delivery to improve the reach and speed of government services. For this, significant investments have been

made to build an efficient infrastructure. These investments vary from carrying out basic computerisation of

government departments to creating effective service delivery mechanisms for various citizen centric services.

The government had launched NeGP to make all government services accessible to common man in his

locality through common service delivery outlets and ensure efficiency, transparency and reliability of such

services at affordable costs to realise the basic needs of the common man. The NeGP has developed 27 Mission

Mode Projects (MMPs) at the central, state and local government level to transform high priority citizen services

from their current manual delivery to e-delivery. These include projects such as, Income Tax, Customs and

Excise and Passports at the central level, and Land Records, Agriculture and e-District at the state level. There

are also a number of integrated MMPs such as e-Procurement and Service Delivery Gateway which require

coordinated implementation across multiple departments.

The government has also set up core common infrastructure for effective delivery of public services.

The three important elements forming the basis of this infrastructure are - State Wide Area Network (SWAN),

State Data Centre (SDC) and CommonService Centres (CSCs). SWAN has been planned to act as the backbone

network for data, voice and video communications throughout a state and to cater to the information

communication requirements of all the departments. On the other hand, data centres have been established under

SDC in all the states to host state level e-Governance data thus enabling seamless service delivery.

In order to build a front-end channel and increase the access of public services in rural areas, the

government had approved the Common Service Centre (CSC) scheme in September 2006. As on November 30,

2011, there were 97,439 CSCs across India. While the CSCs established a delivery channel facilitating the reach

of public services to rural areas, the government has also encouraged people in urban areas to use internet foraccessing public services.

In order to assess the impact of the various

capacity building schemes, the government has

formed theNational e-Governance Division (NeGD).

A Capacity Building Management Cell (CBMC) has

been also established within the NeGD. It plays a key

role in setting up the structure, and framing guidelines

and policies of capacity building schemes at both

the national level (NeGD) as well as state level

(State e-Mission Teams). State e-Mission Teams

(SeMT) have been specifically introduced to enhance

the skills of state government employees as well asto provide technical and professional support to

state governments.

Achievements


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The portal has registered an average of 40 lakh hits per day and about 102 lakh documents have been

filed electronically so far.

MCA21 has enabled anywhere, anytime secure e-filing for transactions through providing e-forms.

e-filing of forms has reduced the probability of errors that are committed while filling forms.

It provides convenient multi-model payment mechanism comprising the existing payment system

and payment through cards and internet banking.

The services can be accessed from home using the software that is freely available with no additional

costs to the user.

The use of digital signatures while making transactions ensures security of electronic forms and

documents in confirmation with the IT Act 2000.

The waiting time during each user trip at the service delivery centre has come down from 75 minutes

to 25 minutes.

The e-Office MMP was launched by Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances

(DAR&PG) to develop an integrated system of record and file management. It aims to introduce the concept

of e-file (electronic files), rule based file routing, flexible workflows and digital signatures for authentication,

thus leading to a paperless environment (refer to e-Office Architecture on the following page).

With the deployment of the above measures, the government aims to improve efficiency, consistency

and effectiveness of government responses. Additionally, it intends to reduce turnaround time, processing

delays and establish transparency in the system.

In 2009, National Informatics Centre (NIC) was selected to develop the e-Office software. Followingthis, three pilot projects were launched in September 2010 in DAR&PG, DIT (Department of Information

Technology, e-Governance division) and Department of Personnel and Training (Training division).

DAR&PG implemented e-Office MMP in 12 ministries / departments during 2011. The department

has laid a strategic plan to implement the same in 29 ministries / departments by 2016. The government aimsth

to cover all the departments by the end of 12 Five Year Plan. The MMP also envisages product awareness

trainings, process studies and capacity building as part of the post implementation support.

Benefits

Current Status

e-Office


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Benefits

The project will provide the following benefits:

Easy accessibility of records across government offices through automation.

Prevention of unauthorised access by facilitating role based search and use of digital signature

certificate at the time of information exchange.

Interoperability by integrating different government departments and different levels within the

same department.

Reduction in paper usage.

Standardisation and automation of recurring processes / workflows.

e-Courts MMP has been envisioned to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of the Indian Judicial

System through overall process re-engineering. It aims at making the justice delivery system affordable,

accessible, cost effective, transparent and accountable.

e-Courts helps judicial administration with streamlining of regular activities and reducing pendency of

cases for litigants and judiciary. It helps to increase transparency and database accessibility using the ICT based

e-Courts

e-Office Architecture


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Challenges

Although the government has come up with severalinitiatives to facilitate the access to public services, the desired

outcomes are yet to be fully realised. This can be largely attributed

to various front-end and back-end challenges that the government

continues to face. Front-end challenges relate to user-specific

issues such as, high illiteracy levels, non-availability of user-

friendly interfaces, inadequate power supply in rural areas, low

broadband penetration and most importantly, lack of awareness of

e-Governance initiatives.

On the other hand, back-end challenges relate to technical,

process or human resource issues within the government. These

issues include lack of systems integration within a department,

lack of integration across government departments, limitedknowledge of using computers at various levels of bureaucracy

and deployment of technology without proper process

re-engineering.

The front-end challenges are described below:

Low Rate of Literacy: The illiteracy level is very high in India and poses a big challenge to the success of

various e-Service delivery initiatives. Although the government has launched various initiatives to increase

citizen accessibility to public services, the basic literacy challenge remains a major impediment for their success.

The government needs to take robust steps to raise literacy levels in the country; else accessibility will remain

an ongoing challenge.

Inadequate Power Supply: Lack of adequate power supply is hindering the last mile connectivity of

government services in rural areas. Currently, a number of villages in the country face problems with regard to

the availability of electricity. A large number of villages either have no power for long periods, or face erratic

power supply. To ensure effective utilisation of IT infrastructure, the government will have to invest heavily to

develop an efficient rural power infrastructure.

Low Broadband Penetration: Currently, the use of broadband in India (with a penetration of less than

1%) is amongst the lowest in the world. This can be largely attributed to low computer literacy and high costs of

internet access. This is significantly impacting the e-Service delivery of government services as the government

is not able to reach the users at the grass root level and the services are not utilised to their full capacity.

The government has to make investments to create robust national infrastructure catering to

requirements not only in urban areas but also in rural towns and villages. According to TRAI, an investment of

` 32,300 crores is required to set up a Pan-India optical fibre network and make all villages broadband enabled.

Absence of User-Friendly Interfaces: One of the major accessibility problems faced by the people,

especially in rural areas is the usage of English as the main language across government portals. To overcome

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taken up by different states with different priorities. The government needs to develop an effective framework

for 'Programme Management' such that inter-dependency of projects is taken into consideration and timelines

are strictly adhered to.

Lack of Defined Outcomes and Measurement Mechanisms: The government has made limited

efforts to understand citizen expectations, define outcomes and service levels, and create a framework for

continuous monitoring and measurement. This has led to poorly designed projects as well as low uptake

from the citizens. The government has to develop a mechanism for citizen engagement as well as appraisal

of various initiatives, both from a citizen perspective as well as to monitor progress in terms of implementation

of projects.

Inadequate Data Security: In order to avail benefits of various government services, citizens have to

provide personal information multiple times to different government agencies. Therefore, the government

has to develop a framework for storing personal data so that all government agencies can access the

information from a single location.

This, in turn, will imply that a huge quantum of data (databases of central and state governments,

citizens and businesses) is accessible through the internet. The government will have to ensure that the

personal data shared by the citizens is kept secure.

Partial Online Execution of Services: Most of the e-Governance initiatives do not allow citizens

to fully execute their transactions online. For instance, in the Passport Seva Process, the citizens can

fill and submit the application forms online. However, they are still required to visit the Seva Kendras

for verification of documents and submission of fees. The government needs to build back-end infrastructure

and processes such that the services can be fully executed online, thereby realising the complete potential

of e-Services.



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Imperatives for Successful e-Service Delivery

Governments around the world have followed a structured approach for rolling out e-Governance

initiatives and achieving higher levels of maturity. This maturity of e-Governance has been in terms of - number

of services delivered online, automation of processes, level of interaction between government and citizens,

ability of citizens to complete transactions online and extent of integration between different government bodies

/ processes. In this regard, a maturity model developed by Gartnerprovides a useful framework to understand

the current state of e-Governance initiatives as well as to chart out a roadmap for improving the delivery of

e-Services.

As per the maturity model, e-Service delivery can be classified under four different stages. These stages

represent the increasing maturity of service delivery through the use of ICT and indicate a shift towards

transaction processing. The ultimate goal is to bring the maturity of e-Service delivery at the final stage, which

facilitates an integration of initiatives, thus developing a greater focus on citizen needs and convenience.

A review of e-Governance initiatives in India reveals that a majority of projects reside in 'Information'

and 'Interaction' stages of the maturity model. In these stages, citizens can access basic information related to the

services (check rules and regulations, download documents) and conduct part of the transactions online (fill

forms online, make payment). However, citizens are still not able to complete the transactions online, partlybecause of technological limitations (e.g., checking for authenticity of user) but largely because of lack of

integration across various levels and departments of the government. In order to achieve full benefits of

e-Service Delivery Maturity Model


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Adopt Emerging Technologies: The government

may look to adopt new technologies, such as cloud

computing, which can not only help cut down the investmenton infrastructure set-up but also reduce costs and efforts

related to ongoing upgradation and maintenance. Cloud

computing would also help reduce duplication of efforts and

increase utilisation of available resources. The use of cloud

computing and similar technologies can help the government

on a long-term basis as these are readily available and

easily scalable.

Partner with Private Players: e-Governance projects are typically constrained by lack of financial

resources and low level of skills and capacity. Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) can not only help overcome

these challenges but also expedite the delivery of government services. Private players can bring in specialised

expertise (project and change management) and facilitate faster development of tools and technologies. The

government has already embarked on this journey through the launch of several initiatives. For example, thegovernment has already gone live with Passport Seva, a portal that was developed in partnership with Tata

Consultancy Services. The portal allows users to apply for a passport online, by filing an application form and

submitting it online. Users also have the option of uploading documents and are only required to visit the

Passport office for the payment of fees. The government may explore further ways to effectively leverage

this model across all of its initiatives as this helps facilitate speedy delivery.

Build Capacity and Effectively Manage Change: Training of government staff is another critical

factor for the success of e-Service delivery. There is a need to build capacity and provide training at all levels of

the government, especially at the departmental levels where employees are directly interacting with the citizens

and processing transactions. Apart from addressing the skill issues, the government may also be required to

make efforts to increase the comfort level of its employees as far as the delivery of e-Services is concerned.

People get used to a particular style, and changing this will require the government to educate its employees.

At the same time, the government may need to ensure that the necessary procedural and the administrativechanges smoothly disseminate throughout the departments.

e-Governance is not simply a matter of putting the existing government services online; an integration

and transformation of back-end government processes is essential to achieving its full potential. This includes

the integration of systems at various levels (vertical integration) and different functions (horizontal integration).

As most of the government initiatives are delivered on a piece-meal basis, it becomes imperative to ensure that

the services are delivered using a common platform and that the back-end systems are integrated. The

government not only needs to integrate systems and processes but also ensure re-engineering of processes

to facilitate performance improvement. To achieve this, the government needs to ensure the following:

Integrate Systems and Platforms: The government will need to ensure the use of a common platformacross different initiatives, as this may help integrate different functionalities and avoid duplicities. Integrated

systems can also help remove inconsistency in data structures and facilitate data validation. A horizontally

Integration

Cloud Computing allows people to access

data and applications residing in a remote

location through the internet. A provider

can host se rv er s, st orag e de vi ces,

applications etc. without the user being

aware of the physical location of this IT

infrastructure and without being

concerned about its upgradation and

maintenance.


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integrated approach helps to build a single window for the citizens to access government services. Back-end

integration removes the hassle of entering citizen data multiple times as it provides a single window access

across the different government departments. In order to build an efficient integrated structure, the governmentneeds to come up with effective solutions to resolve the complexity related to technical integration of

diverse databases and system requirements across different functions.

Focus on Business Process Re-engineering: To build efficiencies and focus on process improvement,

the government may look at Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) at each initiative level. BPR can aid

in redesigning process workflows, which ultimately help improve performance in terms of cost, quality

and speed of service.

The success of any government initiative will need active participation from the citizens. Given

the geographic spread and the huge population of a country such as India, the government will need to

proactively think of ways of engaging its people. To facilitate participation, the government will have togenerate greater awareness about its policies and initiatives and at the same time involve the citizens in its

policy formulation and implementation. In India, it has been often argued that the uptake of e-Governance

initiatives has been small due to lack of awareness (largely driven by lack of access) and a low level of

engagement on the part of the citizens. This challenge can be addressed by:

Use New Technologies: Emerging technologies such as

the Web 2.0 and new service delivery channels such as mobile

phones can be increasingly leveraged to enhance the government

reach. The widespread acceptance of these technologies and their

increasing usage presents the government with an alternative

avenue to reach out to the citizens and solicit their participation.

The governments, both at the centre and the state, have

started taking strides in this direction. For example, mobile phone

based services such as SMS' are being used in Kerala for providing

health related information. The government has also developed a Web 2.0 based portal, Gov 2.0, where citizens

can become a part of online communities, and interact and collaborate with the government. Gov 2.0 also allows

citizens to share real-time feedback, which if used constructively, can help increase the effectiveness of several

government services.

Inclusion

Web 2.0 is associated with web

applications that allow users to interact

and collaborate with each other and

create a virtual community. Examples

of Web 2.0 include social networking

sites (facebook, Linkedin), blogs, video

sharing sites (Youtube) etc.

The Government of Goa has launched a mobile governance initiative by establishing a SMS Gateway for

providing SMS based services to residents by various government departments. These services include SMS

alerts for receipt of applications, shortcomings in the applications, and status tracking. The Gateway has

integrated SMS into the e-Services provided to the residents by the various departments. This has been

facilitated by integrating Application Programming Interface (API) with the eServices software. Currently,

the SMS Gateway services are being provided to the following departments: Goa State Pollution ControlBoard, Directorate of Accounts, Directorate of Printing and Stationery, Inspectorate of Factories and

Boilers, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary services, and Commercial Taxes.


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Conclusion

Since 2006, when the NeGP was introduced, the government has learnt a lot from the successes and

failures of various initiatives. Based on these learnings and dialogue with several experts, the Department of

Information Technology (DIT) has drawn up a Strategic Plan for the next five years. The Plan discusses

the aspirations in each of the core areas over the next five years. These core areas include setting up of additional

SWANs, SDCs and CSCs, appraisal of MMPs, implementation of the various capacity building schemes,

strengthening of SeMTS, providing high speed and secured e-Governance network, and the design, development

and implementation of e-Governance applications. The Plan also lays down the goals for the DIT to define

outcome based targets, identify a mechanism to encourage participation of Indian IT industry, define

security related parameters and the number of citizen touch points, and explore the use of advanced technologies.

This is a step in the right direction as such a plan will not only help the government measure the effectiveness

of its e-Governance initiatives but also take corrective actions.

To promote better governance and provide greater impetus to timely delivery of services to the

citizens, the government has introduced two bills in the recently concluded winter session of the Parliament.

The first bill, The Right of Citizens for Time Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of

Their GrievancesBill, aims to provide the public with the right to get delivery of services within a stipulated

timeframe and also attempts to set-up a grievance redressal mechanism including tackling graft in lower

ranks of administration. The bill requires government departments to acknowledge complaints of non-delivery

within two days of receipt and action these within 30 days.

The second bill, The Electronic Delivery of Services Bill, has been introduced to enable electronic

delivery of government services across all states. Under the proposed bill, the central government, the

state government and public authorities shall be mandated to deliver all public services by electronic

mode within five years of the commencement of the Act. The proposed bill requires each authority to

publish the list of all public services to be delivered by it through the electronic mode. A periodic review at

the beginning of each year is also mandated where each authority shall review and notify a list of services

that shall be made available through electronic mode and the manner and quality of delivery of such

services.

The government's commitment to e-Service delivery is also evident by the scope of investments it

plans to make for e-enablement. Under the NeGP, the government has already pumped in more than ` 10,000

crores to make public services online and for development of infrastructure. The figures are expected to reach

` 40,000 crores by 2014. This will involve increasing the count of service offerings from 600 to 1,100

and increasing the count of CSCs from 97,439 to 250,000 to ensure presence in each Gram Panchayat.

The government also has plans to roll out certain services such as land records and employment exchange

in 2012, followed by treasury and commercial tax services in 2013.

e-Service delivery is an effective and efficient tool available to the government for development

of the society, and the initiatives highlighted above signify the government's commitment to such a delivery

mechanism. Multiple challenges remain for successful implementation of different projects, but once these

are addressed, the government will be able to realise its vision of providing services to each and every citizenof the country.


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Introduction

The free flow of information is a basic human right. The ability to seek, receive and impart information

is crucial for respect of human rights.

One way of looking at Democratisation of Information is the ability of every person to get the

information they need to make their lives better as it helps them in effective decision-making.

Another dimension to this is building an information-driven society which has access to all services

and facilities with minimum bureaucratic and procedural formalities.

An information-driven society leads to transparency and accountability. This provides impetus to

programmes aimed at improving the processes and systems of public bodies thereby improving service delivery.

Information availability is basic to human dignity.

The 'Right to Know' is for everyone.

A must for people to exercise their rights.

Drives transparency, accountability and improved service levels

A number of international bodies with the responsibility of promoting and protecting human rights

have recognised the fundamental nature of the Right to Information (RTI).

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted by the United Nations (UN)

General Assembly in 1948 (source Toby Mendel, Freedom of Information, A Comparative Legal Survey),

is generally considered to be the flagship statement of international human rights. Article 19, binding on

all states as a matter of customary international law, guarantees the Right to Freedom of Expression and

Information in the following terms:

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression;this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference

and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through

any media and regardless of frontiers.

Information is required at multiple levels as follows:

At the first level, the public should be aware of their rights. There are numerous examples where

millions of people are not even aware of their basic rights. For example, the Targeted Public

Distribution System (TPDS) has been in place for many decades in India, but a number of the

targeted beneficiaries are not even aware of their entitlements.

At the second level, people need to have information that will enable them to use the services

provided by the government. For example, a beneficiary needs to know the ration card registration

process in order to avail the benefits. A simple IT based system of ration card registration where

the beneficiary is helped through the process can make a huge difference.


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At the third level, people will be able to demand services as per service level agreements set by

the government and raise grievances so that the system is able to correct itself based on the

feedback from the users.

Unfortunately, many people do not have information at the first level itself.

Thus, awareness of rights, government services and welfare schemes is central to democratisation of

information. The electronic delivery of services provides information to users so that they are aware of the

services and benefit from it by using multiple communication channels. Some of the electronic channels being

used today include Web portals (available on the Internet), e-mails, SMS, kiosks that ensure that information

flows to people wherever they are. Service centres manned by skilled people are also a key channel for

distribution of information. Other channels of information dissemination include print media, television,

radio and public office premises.

In this context, civil society organisations and media have a key role to play. The civil society

organisations are increasing awareness and helping people get access to information. The media has played

its part in generating awareness and remains a powerful means of ensuring reach and awareness.

In India, the Electronic Delivery of Services Bill has been introduced while the RTI Act was passed in

2005. The challenge is, however, not in the absence of law but in its implementation. This includes bringing

about a cultural change towards 'openness' in the way public authorities work. It also means managing the cost of

information and using innovative ideas and Information Technology (IT) to make information accessible to

public wherever they are at a reasonable cost. Use of technology is the only way by which information can be

made available to a billion-plus people in India, as it can remove economic, language and other barriers to

information flow.

While the flow of information has some obvious benefits like increased transparency, accountability,

public participation and empowerment, it has some pitfalls too. If the information is used to make allegations to

malign public servants or create disorder it can negatively impact the working of public bodies. Adequate checks

and balances are needed in the systems to ensure that information is not misused by such elements.

Today, a number of public authorities at the central and state levels are using IT to manage and

disseminate information. However, the progress has been slow. While India is miles ahead of other countries

in the maturity of its IT industry, the pace of adoption within the government space is slow.

Various governments have been striving to bring about changes in the way public authorities function.

Large transformational projects have been implemented. The success of these projects hinges not only on the

technical solution but also on its adoption by various stakeholders. Some examples of successful use of

technology are as follows:

Ministry of Corporate Affairs Projects

State Portals like MP Online

eDistrict Projects

IT in Social Welfare Projects like AP NREGA

Setting up of call centres, where the call centre facilitates drafting an RTI application


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Current Scenario

The Electronics Service Delivery Bill provides for delivery of public services by the government to all

persons by the electronic medium to enhance transparency, efficiency, accountability, accessibility and

reliability in delivery of such services. A number of projects have been undertaken by the Central and State level

bodies to ensure electronic service delivery. However, the pace of work is slow. The government has stipulated

a five-year period for all public services to be delivered in electronic mode.

The RTI Act is under implementation and some progress has been made. For instance, the following

areas are being explored:

Proposal to leverage Common Service Centres (CSCs) for RTI

RTI Call Centres Some states have already setup RTI call centres, while some others are in the

process of setting up the same.

RTI Portal

e-Governance initiatives such as e-District, e-Municipalities should have an RTI module.

The use of IT in the government sectors in India is low as compared to many countries. This means

that authorities need to sift through huge volumes of data manually and follow sub-optimal processes to

deliver services and information to the stakeholders. This translates into huge productivity loss for the nation.

As long as files remain on paper, the speed with which data can be processed, collated and disseminated

will remain slow and costly. A digitised government can ensure efficient processes and service delivery at a

lower cost.

Various e-Governance initiatives ranging from Citizen Services, Social Development, Public Health,

Public Infrastructure, Disaster Management and Revenue and Tax have made significant improvement in

public services and engagements by using IT. A lot more can obviously be done.


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Benefits of Democratisation of Information

It is well recognised that information plays a pivotal role in the lives of people. Some examples are

as follows:

A pensioner does not know how to get pension or faces challenges getting pension and is unable to

get help to resolve the issue.

A daily wage earner does not get full wages for work done.

People loose their lives and property as they do not get advance information on disaster even though

the information is available to a few.

People below the poverty line are unable to get the benefits of various social welfare schemes,

including food and health insurance.

A public body increases its revenue 80 times in two years and increases its collections 150 times over

a three-year period with the implementation of an IT application that provides e-services to citizens.

Citizens, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and activists are able to see information on

progress made at the village level and conduct social audits.

Thus, information is driving transparency, accountability and integrity in the functioning of public

bodies. Moreover, it is helping increase public awareness and adoption of government programmes. It is

connecting people to the government. If citizens are involved in decisions, adoption of new schemes will

become easier.

Information drives transparency and accountability in the system.

It empowers people and ensures participation.

It helps improve feedback, thereby strengthening the system.


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Pitfalls of Democratisation of Information

Democracy brings with it added responsibility. All stakeholders including the public, government

and private entities, civil society need to use the information available responsibly, lest it is misused

for anti-social and anti-national activities. Information can be used by nefarious elements to slow down

the government process and create mistrust among the stakeholders and also compromise the rights of

people and various entities. Thus, adequate checks and balances need to be built to ensure that information

is not misused.


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IT as an Enabler

Digitisation of public bodies can ensure availability of information. Data can be processed into

information which can be disseminated easily. Developing multiple access channels including kiosks,

physical centres like the CSCs, mobile telephony, call centres, Internet among others will remove the

barriers related to IT infrastructure.

Various countries have used technology to ensure successful information flow. For example, Canada

has built an information source document that helps people find the source of information across the

government. This includes the following features (source PricewaterhouseCoopers's study on 'Understanding

the Key Issues and Constraints in implementing the RTI Act'):

One-stop shop for Suo Moto information,

Provides information on government, its organisation and its information holdings.

Helps citizens to determine which institute to contact.

Maintains a repository of addresses and telephone numbers of Federal departments and agencies

subject to RTI.

Other institutions associated with the federal government to facilitate access.

Annual reports and statistics on the number of requests and a summary of federal court cases

related to access to information and privacy is published.

Annual reports for assessing the compliance of government institutions with the provisions of

the Act are tabled within months of the end of the financial year.

Focus on removing barriers to information flow.Ensure convenience to users.


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Appendix A - The National e-Governance Plan and Electronics Service Delivery Bill, 2011

The National e-Governance Plan seeks to lay the foundation and provide impetus for long-term

growth of e-Governance within the country. The plan seeks to create the right governance and institutional

mechanisms, set up the core infrastructure and policies and implement a number of Mission Mode Projects

at the centre, state and integrated service levels to create a citizen-centric and business-centric environment

for governance.

NeGP is a major initiative of the Government of India, the first time under which a concerted effort

is being made to take Information Technology to the masses in areas of concern to the common man.

It aims to make most services available online, ensuring that all citizens would have access to them,

thereby improving the quality of basic governance on an unprecedented scale.The Electronics and

Service Delivery Bill, 2011 provides for delivery of public services by the government to all persons

via electronic mode to enhance transparency, efficiency, accountability, accessibility and reliability in

delivery of such services.

As per the Bill, every competent authority of the appropriate government will publish the following:

Public services that have to be delivered through electronic mode.

The date by which each such service will be made available through the electronic medium.

The manner of delivery of such services and their service levels.

The grievance redressal mechanism available to any person aggrieved about the outcome of

any request made by the concerned person for such service through electronic mode.

The Bill states that all public services will be delivered via electronic mode within five years from

the commencement of this Bill. This is extendable by another three years.


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Appendix B - Right to Information Act

The RTI Act empowers the Indian citizens to seek information from a public authority, thus making

the government and its functionaries more accountable and responsible.

RTI is an act that sets out the practical regime of RTI for citizens to ensure access to information under the

control of public authorities in order to ensure transparency and accountability in the working of every public

authority, the constitution of a Central Information Commission and State Information Commissions and for

matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.

Every public authority will maintain all its records in a manner that facilitates RTI under the Act

and ensures that all records that are appropriate are computerised.

Constant endeavour to provide as much information Suo Moto to the public at regular intervals

through various means of communication, including Internet to ensure that the public resorts to

this Act minimally.

Information will be disseminated widely and in such form or manner which is easily accessible

to the public.

All materials will be disseminated taking into consideration the cost effectiveness, local language

and the most effective method of communication in that local area, and the information will be easily

accessible to the extent possible in electronic format, available free or at such cost of the medium or

the print cost as may be prescribed.

Information that cannot be shared is also listed in the RTI Act. For example, there is no obligation to

give any citizen:

Information, disclosure which may prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of India;

strategic, scientific or economic interests of the states; India's relation with foreign countries or

lead to incitement of an offence.

Information which has been expressly forbidden to be published by any court of law or the

disclosure of which may constitute contempt of court.


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Types of audits

There are at least three types of audits in the government sector:

1. Government Audit

2. People's Audit

3. Social Audit

Government audit - A government audit (or simply called audit) is usually conducted by professional

auditors without significant involvement of the affected people. Its main focus is on scrutinizing the integrity

of processes and quality of outputs. However, it is not an effective method to gauge public perceptions and

verify the outcome of a programme.

People's audit- conducted by the people, sometimes with assistance from civil society organizations

and NGOs, with a standing invitation to the government. It is an effective instrument to gauge public perception,

gather local knowledge and conduct public verification. It can assess the outcomes of the programs, and candetermine if the priorities have been set correctly. However, the findings of a people's audit do not have much

validity and acceptance among governments, for the simple reason that government is not a part of it.

Social audit- conductedjointly by the people and the government. The people are specifically those

who are the intended beneficiaries of the scheme being audited. It is an effective tool to gauge the perceptions

and knowledge of the people, and can evaluate the outcomes as well as the outputs of the program. This type

of audit has much greater validity and acceptability among the government, at the same time it involves

common people as well.

There are a few important things to note about social audit. Firstly, it is essentially a government audit,

but one that is conducted in a more transparent manner and involves the participation of the people as well.

Secondly, it is not a replacement for a government audit. It is conducted in addition to it for certain types of

programs and schemes, particularly those that involve big amounts of expenditure. Also, if the public feelthat the government audit process has been inadequate, they can call for a social audit.

Women are engaged in canal digging work under the MGNREGA in Thrissur. The Comptroller and Auditor-General of India has

recommended to the States to set up directorates to train auditors from civil society to be part of social audit of the scheme.

(Photo taken from www.thehindu.com)


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importance. The major reason for this is the audit methodology and evidence requirements (For example,

unauthenticated oral evidence cannot usually be accepted). Manpower constraint is another important

factor. (For example, practically speaking the CAG cannot verify employment generation for every householdin a Gram Panchayat).

There are basically three categorizations of audit viz. financial, compliance and performance audits.

Where does social audit fit in? The type of audit is determined essentially by the audit objectives with reference

to the generally accepted auditing standards. The objectives of social audit revolve around empowerment

of the beneficiaries and directly affected stakeholders of the public sector programs in matters of planning,

implementation, delivery of services, appraisal, corruption and frauds, impact, etc.

While social audit has a crucial role in the implementation of social sector programs, in itself it

cannot fulfill the complete audit objective of any of the three basic types of auditing. All the objectives

and processes adopted for social audit will fit into the audit objectives of one or more of the three fundamental

types of audits.

Therefore, social audit cannot be a substitute for the public audit by the government agencies, but

can be supplemented to one or more of them to augment the efficiency of the audits conducted by CAG

of India. Thus, social audit is really not any different type of audit, but a method or technique to increase

the efficacy of audit by the government.

Social Audit as a supplement to Government Audit

A social audit or Janata Jaanch in progress in Unnao (Photo taken from www.citizennews.org)


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Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana is a flagship programme of the Government of India which began in April 2005 and was

aimed to accelerate the pace of rural electrification in the country. To check the ground reality of the same, Greenpeace along with its

partner organisations conducted social audits in Azamgarh district in Uttar Pradesh, Srikakulam district in Andhra Pradesh and

Madhubani and Saran districts in Bihar. (Photo taken from www.greenpeace.org)


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Implementation of social audit

Following steps are important in implementing social audit-

1. Define the goals clearly- The goals of the local elected body must be defined clearly and

unambiguously. Unless the goals definition is not clear, not only can the audit process not be

applied properly, but also the success of the scheme is not possible.

2. Identify all stakeholders- All stakeholders involved with the scheme need to be identified,

along with their roles, rights and duties. One of the most important aspects of social auditing is to

ensure a say for all stakeholders. It is therefore crucial that weaker sections of society are also

represented adequately.

3. Establish core group- A core group of committed, trusted local people needs to be established,

who will assess if the decisions based upon social audit have been implemented properly. These

people should be qualified and willing to do the job assigned to them.

4. Define key performance indicators-The keyperformance indicators must be defined clearly.

Also, data about these indicators must be collected by the stakeholders on a regular basis, and in atransparent manner.

5. Conduct regular meetings- Besides the social audit meeting, follow-up meetings with the

panchayat body need to be conducted to review stakeholders' actions, issues, and deciding on the

action items and the owners.

6. Share audit findings- In order to ensure transparency and accountability, it is critical that the

findings of the social audit should be shared with all local stakeholders. A report of the social

audit meeting should be distributed for Gram Panchayat review.

A Social audit in progress at Aaseewan Lok Man village panchayat

(Photo taken from www.indiatogether.org)


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e-Governance

The use of information and communications technologies to provide and improve public-sector services,transactions, and interactionshave enabled government organizations to deliver better service and improve

effectiveness and efficiency. In many countries, more than 70 percent of taxpayers now file taxes electronically,

for example, and many other transactionsranging from renewing drivers' licenses and paying parking tickets to

managing government benefitscan be conducted online. However e Governance is not just about using ICT, it

also has two critical aspects namely process re-engineering and change management which are far more

important than probably the use of ICT.

Illustrated below are three critical components of e-Governance:


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like Kerala and West Bengal that the system began to yield benefits for the poor and for disadvantaged

social groups such as women, and scheduled castes and tribes .

"Policies were found to be more pro-poor in those villages where grama sabha was regularly held,

compared to villages where it was not, which clearly suggests that deliberations in village assemblies

empowered marginalized groups to influence decisions in their favour. UN"

The State has adopted three tier structure since 1960. There are 33 Zilla Parishads, 320 Panchayat

Samitis and 27,700 Gram Panchayats. Election of all these bodies are held regularly by the State Election

Commission constituted in 1994 after the 73rd constitution amendment. Most of the rural development

programmes have been transferred to PRI except the subjects like public distribution scheme, rural

electrification, land reforms and land consolidation, etc. Since October 2, 2000 Government of Maharashtra has

transferred 124 subjects to PRIs with a view to strengthen the Gram Panchayat/Gram Sabha and to involve ruralpeople in developmental decision making. Under Mumbai village Panchayat Act, 1958, wide powers have been

given to the gram panchayat (GP) and gram sabhas (GS) for preparing village plans for economic development

and social justice. GP can execute works up to ` 5 lakhs. As no technical staff is available at GP level, GP have to

obtain technical sanction from Block Development Officer (BDO). Rural people are to select, prepare execute

and evaluate the development related works undertaken in the village. Funds for the purpose are kept at the

disposal of the GP. In order to augment their resources, GP have been authorized to levy and collect a number of

taxes and collect its revenue, major source being property tax on buildings and lands. Other taxes include yatra

tax, bazar fee, water charges, etc.

The findings of the study suggest that, by and large, PRI have not delivered the services to rural people

even though they are empowered to prepare plans for economic development and social justice. They have not

yet become the real institutions of self governance largely due to (a) lack of people's participation, especially, thewomen, the poor, and other marginalized groups because of ignorance, poverty and lack of distributive justice;

(b) reluctance of the higher tiers of the Government to devolve financial and administrative powers to them as the

Line Departments and District Rural Development Agency continue to control the planning and implementation

of developmental projects; apathetic attitudes of bureaucrats and politicians; insufficient capacity and resources

of the PRIs (and Gram Sabha) in running their activities effectively; and, lack of organic linkages among the

three tiers. It was found that, the GS in sampled villages (N=40) are not held regularly. Thus, important decisions

that need to be taken at the GS are invariably taken by the GP members or Sarpancha without involving the

villagers. It was reported that fake signatures and thumb imprints are obtained on manufactured agenda and

minutes for GS meetings simply to fulfill quorum requirements, and the requisite decisions are in fact taken by a

few influential members of the GP and the active elements of the village polity. Gram Sevaks (the village level

workers) often have more than one village under their jurisdiction which reduces the amount of time and effort

that they can devote towards any one village on developmental activities/ convening GS meetings, etc.

Case Study PRI in Maharastra


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References

1. United Nations - Participatory Governance and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

2. UN reports on participatory governance

3. Institutionalizing civic engagement for building trust UN

4. Handbook on citizen engagement: Beyond consultation Amanda Sheedy

5. Mckinsey e-Government 2.0

6. Gartner's Open Government maturity model

7. Participatory Rural Governance in India: A myth or reality Prof. Ratna Naik Murdia

8. Civicus

9. At the dawn of e-Government - Deloitte

10. Governance Process Innovation for Improved Public Service Delivery Naimur Rahman


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Documents

15thNCEG Back Ground Paper