Governance Topics

Citizen Charter: 

a. Document that outlines the commitment of a public body towards standard, quality and timeframe of service delivery along with grievance redress mechanism.

b. Principles of Citizen Charter:

• i. Set Standard of Service
• ii. Be open and provide full information
• iii. Consult and involve
• iv. Encourage access and promotion of choice
• v. Treat all fairly
• vi. Put things right when they go wrong
• vii. Use resources effectively
• viii. Innovate and improve
• ix. Work with other provides

c. Significance:

• i. Public institution transparent and accountable
• ii. Effective tool to engage civil society and to curb corruption
• iii. Aims at enhancing standards of service delivery
• iv. Makes government more responsive
• v. Enhance people's participation in governance process and the credibility of the government

d. Components of Good Citizen Charter in India:

• i. Vision and mission statement of the organization
• ii. Details of business transacted by the organization
• iii. Details of Clients
• iv. Statement of services including standards
• v. Details of grievance redress Mechanism and how to access it.
• vi. Expectation from citizen and client
• vii. Additional commitments such as compensation in events of failure of service delivery

e. Issues with Citizen Charter in India:

• i. Absence of legal backing to charter
• ii. Poor design and content
• iii. Lack of consultation
• iv. Inadequate groundwork
• v. Lack of public awareness
• vi. Resistance to change
• vii. Lack of review
• viii. Needs of senior citizen and differently abled have not been included
• ix. Charters have not been prepared in vernacular language
• x. Absence of Penal provision
• xi. Details of public grievance officer is not provided

f. Recommendation 2nd ARC/ Suggestion:

• i. One size doesn't fit all
• ii. Every independent unit should formulate its own citizen charter under an overall citizen charter
• iii. Wider consultation which should include civil society
• iv. Firm commitments
• v. Redress mechanism in case of default
• vi. Periodic evaluation of Citizen charter
• vii. Hold officers accountable for results

3. Sevottam Model: 
a. Sevottam model has been developed with the overarching objective of improving the quality of public service delivery in the country.
b. It provides a framework for organizations to asses and improve the quality of service delivery to citizens. The model was suggested by 2nd ARC in its 12th report Citizen centric administration.
c. Model has three modules:

• i. Citizen Charter
• ii. Public Grievance Redress Mechanism
• iii. Service Delivery Capability

d. Steps:

• 1. Define services and identify clients.
• 2. Set standards and norms for each service.
• 3. Develop capability to meet the set standards.
• 4. Perform to achieve the standards.
• 5. Monitor performance against the set standards.
• 6. Evaluate impact through an independent mechanism.
• 7. Continuous improvement based on monitoring and evaluation.

e. standard, known as IS 15700:2005, was developed by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) based on the objectives of Sevottam. And gives sevottam certification.

f. Significance of model:

• 1. Quality Management framework applicable to the activities of public service delivery
• 2. guides them through systematic initiatives for sustainable improvements
• 3. framework is a tool in the hands of implementing organizations.
• 4. framework enables implementing organizations to undertake a systematic, credible and authenticated self-assessment.
• 5. practical solutions are gradually and systematically incorporated into the organization’s day-to-day routine.

4. Social Audit:
a. Social audit is a process in which details of resources used by public agency for development initiatives are shared with people often through public platforms, which allows end users to scrutinize the impact of developmental programs.
b.

c. Need of social audit:

• 1. Social audit covers a wide horizon of stakeholders as its reports revolve around ethics, labor, environment, human rights, community, society and statutory compliances.

d. Principles of Social Audit:

• 1. Multi-Perspective/Polyvocal: Reflect the views of all the stakeholders.
• 2. Comprehensive: Report on all aspects of the organisation's work and performance.
• 3. Participatory: Encourage participation of stakeholders and sharing of their values.
• 4. Multidirectional: Stakeholders share and give feedback on multiple aspects.
• 5. Regular: Produce social accounts on a regular basis so that the concept and the practice become embedded in the culture of the organisation covering all the activities.
• 6. Comparative: Provide a means whereby the organisation can compare its performance against benchmarks and other organisations’ performance.
• 7. Verified: Social accounts are audited by a suitably experienced person or agency.
• 8. Disclosed: Audited accounts are disclosed to stakeholders and the wider community

e. Significance of social audit:

• 1. tool that helps managers understand and anticipate stakeholder’s concerns.
• 2. helps the legislature and executive in identifying the problem areas and provide solution
• 3. identifies specific organisational improvement goals and highlights progress
• 4. strong emphasis on openness and accountability for government departments.
• 5. uses external verification to validate that the Social Audit is inclusive and complete.
• 6. could be a useful tool to help departments reshape their priorities in tune with people's expectations.
• 7. can enable departments/institutions to act with greater confidence in social areas

f. Limitations of Social Audit:

• 1. scope of social audits is highly localised and covers only certain selected aspects.
• 2. Social audits are often sporadic and ad hoc.
• 3. Monitoring is informal and unprocessed.
• 4. findings of social audit cannot be generalised over the entire population.
• 5. Individual programs present their own unique challenges.
• 6. Several problems require a package of programme to be implemented simultaneously.
• 7. Absence of trained auditors.
• 8. Lack of action on audit reports and findings.
• 9. Lack of awareness among people
• 10. Timely meeting and follow ups are not held

g. Way Forward:

• 1. Investment in Education and awareness of Public/Gram sabha required
• 2. Institutional capacity needs to be increased at PRI, block and DRDA level
• 3. Support may be provided to committed and competent NGOs to play the catalytic role
• 4. Media need be more Rural and Development focussed
• 5. Recognise and Reward the members who have contributed to the process
• 6. Develop an INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK for auditing
• 7. Promoting proactive disclosure of information to facilitate social audits.

5. E-Governance:
a. E-governance is the application of information and communication technology for delivering government services and is considered as one of the most important instruments in realizing the idea of good governance and inclusive growth.
b. Benefits of E-governance:

• 1. Promotes Transparency
• 2. Accountability
• 3. Reduced corruption
• 4. Expanded reach of governance
• 5. Empowering people through information
• 6. Improve interface with business and industry

c. Models of E-governance:

1. Government to Citizen: (G2C): Government services which are shared by the citizen:

• 1) Payment of online bills
• 2) Online registration copies
• 3) Online copies of land record
• 4) Online filing of complaints
• 5) Availability of any kind of information

2. Government to Government (G2G): services which are shared between the government

• 1) Most of the finance and budget work are also done through e governance.

3. Government to Business (G2B): Bond between private sector and government strengthens.

• 1) Collection of taxes
• 2) Rejection and approval of patent
• 3) Payment of all kinds of bill and penalty
• 4) Sharing of all kinds of information, rules and data
• 5) Complaints of any kind of dissatisfaction can be expressed

4. Government to Employees:

• 1) All kind of data (Attendance, record)
• 2) Employee can file complain
• 3) Rules and regulation and information for employees
• 4) Employee can check their payment and working record

d. E-governance initiatives in India:

• 1. Digital India Programme
• 2. National E-governance plan
• 3. E-kranti (Electronic Delivery of Services)
• 4. Government to Citizen (G2C) initiatives:

• 1) Computerization of land records
• 2) Bhoomi Project in Karnataka
• 3) Gyandoot Madhya Pradesh: Intranet Service Delivery
• 4) Lokvani project in Uttar Pradesh
• 5) Project Friends in Kerala: Fast, Reliable, Instant, Efficient Network,
• 6) MyGov: link between government and citizens
• 7) Digital Locker system
• 8) PRAGATI
• 5. Government to Business Initiative:

• 1) E-procurement in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat
• 2) SWIFT initiative as part of government initiative
• 6. G2G: Khajane Project in Karnataka, resulting in computerizaton of entire land records

e. Challenges:

• 1. Non-local language: are written in english, not understood by local people
• 2. Low IT literacy:
• 3. User friendliness of government websites
• 4. Resistance to change
• 5. Interoperability of applications
• 6. Privacy and security
• 7. Connectivity to backward areas
• 8. Lack of human resources
• 9. Lack of infrastructure
• 10. Proper maintenance of sites and other things

f. Measures by Governments:

• 1. Digital India
• 2. CSC
• 3. Kisan Call centers
• 4. Technology Development for India Languages
• 5. Aadhar Enabled Payment System (AEPS)
• 6. Distribution of Laptops
• 7. PMGDISHA