eGov-Feb-2011-[18-24]-Cover Story-Institutionalising Efficiency

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18 egov / www.egovonline.net / February 2011

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By Pratap Vikram Singh

he experience of a common man while availing services to a government office, be it bank, utility depart-ments or a local hospi-

tal, has not always been positive. This is unlike the private sector companies, which understand and value their customers, and where the pro-ductivity and innovation are the key focus areas, One always wishes if the attitude of the person sitting on the other side of the desk will change ever. It hasn’t changed much in the last 63 years of independence. The White conceded freedom to India and left the country after 1947, but their very seats were occupied by natives, who still continue to follow the legacy left by the British.

The genesis In United Kingdom, Prime Minister, John Major initiated a political resolution for improving the public services in July 1991, which is popularly called as Citizen’s Charter. The Charter aimed at making the administra-tion accountable and citizen centric, ensuring transparency and easy access to information. It also puts forth measures to cleanse and moti-vate civil servants, besides adopting a stake-holder approach.

Like many other countries across the globe, India too adopted the Citizen’s Charter approach to reform the legacy of the Raj era. However, the public administration in India didn’t go far in transforming itself, as UK and many other countries did.

Proposed legislationIn a move towards institutionalising citizens’ charter and cementing it under a legislative framework in the country, the Executive in some of the Indian states are trying to push through legislation on ‘Right to Services’, which would guarantee the delivery of government services within a stipulated time frame.

It would be similar to some of flagship leg-islations, having a direct impact on governance [in terms of transparency and accountability], akin Right to Information and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guar-antee programme. It would seek to weed out the inefficiency and delay in decision making and establish accountability and efficiency in governance.

T

InstItutIonalIsIng effIcIency The proposed right to services legislation in some states of the country will make government officers pay for delay in service delivery. Will it really work?

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19 February 2011 / www.egovonline.net / egov

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Let us consider the law proposed by the states like Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Punjab, as the basic structure of the right to services, deliberately ignoring the variations in one or the other provision. In a typical case of non compliance, where the designated official is not able to deliver the services in time, there are provisions under which an applicant can go to a ‘first appellate’ authority, which would look into the matter and take a decision within a fixed timeframe [the duration varies from service to services and state to state.

If the first appellate fails to do so, or if the applicant seeks to pursue his case further, he or she can make an appeal to the second appellate authority, who has to again dispose the case in a pre-scheduled duration.

Failing to deliver the service on time, the designated official would be liable to punish-ment The failing officers would be penalised with deduction of Rs 250 or Rs 500 (varying from state to state), each day from his/her own salary. If the first appellate officer fails to ensure delivery of services, without valid reasons, he will be liable for a fine of minimum Rs 500 per

such the legislation on right to services, called as the Madhya Pradesh Public Services Guarantee Act / Lok Seva Adhiniyam, 2010. It is followed by the state of Bihar, which claims to be working on a much more ‘comprehensive’ legislation that would cover as many as 15 departments and more than 60 services. Punjab, too, is planning to bring an ordinance on the same.

On the other hand, Maharashtra, is working on some what different legislations, in compari-son to above mentioned states. It is planning to come up with ‘Mandatory Electronic Delivery of Services Bill’ to deliver the services within a stipu-lated timeframe but strictly through the elec-tronic channel. The most recent draft IT Policy of the state government envisions to e-Enable almost every government department under the state authority and mandate them for delivering their services in an online fashion, a step which would be a boon for many people who have to do the rounds and rounds to a government office at the block or at the district level for availing basic government to citizen services.

Similarly, at the Centre, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Com-munication and IT too, is working on similar draft legislation on electronic service delivery.

MP Public Services Guarantee Act 2010In Madhya Pradesh, the delay in delivery of services related with education [like approval, non approval of scholarship], land records and mutation and trade licenses and the subse-quent harassment of citizens sought the atten-tion of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan. Taking an early cognizance of the citizen harassment and friction in the state – citizen interface, the state dallied forth for MP Public Services Guarantee Act 2010.

Previously, as per some state government

day, but the total fine would not to exceed the limit of Rs 5000.

For the over all administration and manage-ment of work under the legislation, the law also proposes to set up a Public Service Deliv-ery Commission.

The legislation intends to sensitise the public officials towards pro-actively respond-ing to the citizen’s demands. It aims to bring a cultural transformation in the state-citizen interface. The enactment would stimulate the disposal of cases in a faster manner thereby saving citizens’ time and resources.

Pre-independence, the Indian Civil Ser-vants (ICS) were not accountable to the elected representatives. Later, in the independent India, the civil servants were made account-able to the people’s representatives. However, over the years, the political masters and the civil servants have grown a quid pro quo like situation where both take good care of each other. The given legislative measure would provide the reigns into the hands of citizens, while dealing with the nexus between politi-cal executives and the bureaucracy.

Speaking on the proposed RTS legislation, B Shadrach, Executive Director, Telecentre.org Foundation said, “This would make citizens aware of their rights. However, the institutions that practice right to services would need to re-engineer its processes to respond to active demand from citizens from that of a passive demand that exists today.”

Its adoptionUnfortunately, at the Central Government level, even draft legislation on right to services is yet to see the light of the day. Nevertheless, taking one step ahead towards good governance, Madhya Pradesh has become the pioneer state to bring

“ Almost 691277 applica-tions were received in No-vember 2010 out of which 680611 were disposed on

time. In December, 508047 applications were received

& 493270 were timely disposed”

AnurAg JAInSecretary to Chief Minister & Secretary, Dept of In-formation Technology, Govet of Madhya Pradesh

“The institutions that practice RTS would need to re-engineer

its processes to respond to active demand from citizens

from that of a passive demand that exists today.”

B. ShAdrAchExecutive Director, Telecentre.org Foundation

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Public Service Delivery Commission, where in the Commissioner and other officials would be recruited from outside the government, on the lines of the various State Information Commissions.

Deepak Kumar, Principal Secretary, Depart-ment of General Administration, said, “Our agenda is zero tolerance while dealing with inefficiency and corruption within the govern-ment.” He added: “Our ultimate objective is to motivate officials to be prompt and deliver information and services well within the deadlines.”

The umbrella of services would include, inter alia, distribution of certificates, issuing of trade licenses, processing of police verification

officials, the Chief Secretary of the state used to monitor the delivery of services offered by the various departments. Eight years back, a citizen’s charter was set up for reviewing the performance of the various departments. This stock taking and monitoring by the then Chief Secretary was not continued further by his successors. The introduction of legislation causing change in the status quo, was the result of the conviction at the top most level in this central Indian state.

One of the most unique aspects of the MP Public Services Provider Guarantee Act is that the amount by which the designated non compliant official would be penalised, the same amount would be given to the concerned applicant in form of compensation. “The pro-cess to deduct the fine amount from the guilty officers has been fixed and at the same time the applicant will get the compensation within a period of 30 days,” Anurag Jain, Secretary, Department of Information Technology said. The Act covers nine departments and 26 ser-vices across the state.

He added: “The legislation intends to create an ambience for speedy disposal of applications and faster delivery of services to the citizens.” He further informed that almost 6,91,277 applications were received in the month November 2010 out of which 6,80,611 were disposed of by providing services on time. In December, 5,08,047 applications were received out of which 4,93,270 were timely disposed.

Bihar Right to Services Bill 2011In Bihar, the state government is quite seri-ous for a transformation in the socio-political and economic landscape of the state. Ashish Bose, the economic analyst, had coined the term BIMARU for the under performing state which included the states of Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. How-ever, having scored the highest GDP growth at 16.59 percent [in 2008-09] and taking a series of initiatives in reforming governance in the state, one might have to re-think the appropri-ateness of calling the state as BIMARU.

Following a legislation to curb corruption among the public officials in the state - Bihar Special Courts Act 2009, which goes to the extent of confiscating the property of arrested held public servant even in trial stage, the state government is working on the draft bill on ‘Right to Services’ to establish accountability and efficiency in the public administration.

Government is planning to table the Bill in the budget session of the state assembly.

The Bihar government plans to widen the scope and coverage of service delivery Act, encompassing more than 15 departments and at least 60 services. Quite interestingly, the state government is also planning to include ‘tatkal services’ under the proposed legislation. The Act will have provisions for delivery of services in a much lesser time, charging higher fee from the applicant. For example, it could apply on obtaining a new driving license or caste certifi-cate, much before the stipulated timeframe.

It has also been learned that for an impar-tial overseeing and monitoring of the Act, the state government is considering setting up

What does the proposed legislation on right to Services aims to achieve in Bihar?The Right to Services would accelerate the

decision making process in the government and

would increase the administrative efficiency,

since lot of malpractices and corruption prop

up in the system because of the late decision

making in the government. The legislation will

cover every government department and public

servant under its purview and it would go a long

way in establishing the accountability of the

public servants.

can you tell us briefly about the state of proposed legislation on right to Services?

The draft of the right to services legislation will

be approved by the cabinet and then would be

tabled in the state assembly in the coming

Budget session. The regulatory body and the

nature of penalties are being prepared in the

draft. Various thoughts are under consideration

varying from financial penalties ranging from

`500 to `5000 and could go up to re-consider-

ation of official’s promotion.

What would be the measurable impact of rTS?During the British Raj, the work load was quite

less. The public interface of the government was

too little as compared to these days situation.

The rules, norms and regulations need a lot of

improvement. This Act would be milestone in

fixing accountability, since before you catch a

corrupt official you need to put in place such

systems through which the accountability is

clearly defined.

We need to establish accountability in government

Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Minister for Energy,

Parliamentary Affairs and Registration and

Prohibition, Government of Bihar

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reducing the response time and timely delivery of information and services to the citizens.

In case of non compliance, there is provi-sion in the proposed state law of penalising the official for Rs 250 per day. Additionally, the performance under the case disposal would also be linked to performance audit of the civil servants.

Maharashtra Mandatory Electronic Delivery of Services BillMaharashtra’s Mandatory Electronic Delivery of Services Bill would take the state ahead from the current model of providing ‘single window’ service delivery to ‘no window’ ser-vice delivery, which means a citizen may not really required to go to a particular govern-ment office or an outlet to avail G-2-C services. Reportedly, although the focus of the Act would be more on providing services to citi-zens in an electronic mode, there would also be some provisions for setting up the account-ability into the state government functionary, as is the case with RTS in the respective states.

The state would thus eliminate the human interface in the G-2-C interactions. Now, a person living in rural area may no more be needed to come to a district head quarter or a block office to avail basic government services. He can drop in to any of the telecentres [the common services centre or to the Panchayati Raj kiosk- powered by broadband internet] in his vicinity and avail the services while paying a small amount of money.

“The legislation would change the way public delivery of services function,” Vijay-alakshmi Bidari Prasanna, Director, Depart-ment of IT, Government of Maharashtra said. She explained that there are three stages of e-Government advancement, which

for passport and caste certificates. The state is also deputing IT managers at the district level and IT assistants at the block level to look after the delivery of services and its subsequent monitoring.

Punjab Right to Services Bill 2011In queue, Punjab too is planning to bring an ordinance on right to services in not more than a month. The state Administrative Reforms Commission, which was entrusted to come up with recommendations on the same, has given some “useful suggestions” to the state government.

Articulating the objective of the enact-ment, Dr Pramod Kumar, Chairman, Punjab Administrative Reforms Commission said, “I think it is more than a tool to fight corrup-tion, it the tool to ensure some basic rights of the citizens- which includes Right to Identity, Right to Dignity and Right to Efficiency.”

He said it is quite significant to put faith in citizenry. The state has already taken away the criteria of asking to citizens for affidavits to prove their identity and authenticity of the documents. There are specific sections under the Indian penal Code – IPC Section 199 & 200 – which deals with claims under the self declaration.

The state also aims to set up more than 600 community police stations – which would have different teams for counseling on

domestic affairs; economic offences [manned by chartered accountants and people from finance and banking sector], non residential Indians, and women cell.

Besides, a citizen can file a complain online to a police station and the concerned cop will be required to respond to it within seven days period, taking a clear decision, whether the complain is being considered for First Information Report (FIR) or it has been just updated in the daily dairy report. Since the decision taken by the cops would be recorded online, they will be under constant scanner and can be held responsible for a particular decision, non suiting in the best interest of the applicant. Moreover, ensuring the right to efficiency, the government is working upon

“Our agenda is zero tolerance while dealing with inefficiency

and corruption within the government”

deePAk kumArPrincipal Secretary, Department of General

Administration, Government of Bihar

SIDhI FIrST To IMPlEMEnT PuBlIC SErvICES GuArAnTEE ACT-2010

The Madhya Pradesh Public

Services Guarantee Act-2010

has started yielding its positive

results with Sidhi District provid-

ing relief to 10,651 in the month

of December. Sidhi has to its

credit to become first district

for implementing the Act

effectively. People who used to

move from pillar to post to get

works done now heave a sigh of

relief to get works on time.

Sidhi, a tribal dominated

district, showed more awareness

among tribal people as far

asusingtherightsofLawis

concerned. 10 thousand 651

applications were disposed of

within the month of December

only. No application is pending in

the district.

Strategy

To implement the Act effectively,

all the officers have been trained

in the district. The district

administration applied tools

of information technology to

meet and defuse the complaints

before time limit. All the officials

are connected online through

computer. They shared informa-

tion through internet. They have

developed special programming

with password that enable to

make inter communication

from office to office. Not only

this, the functioning can also be

monitored at state level from

Bhopal.

Source: Government of

Madhya Pradesh

www.smart-city.in

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includes: informative, transactional and inte-grated. Currently, various departments under the state government are at different level of e-Government.

Through this Act, the state aims to attain the third and topmost level of e-Government – that is integrated level of e-Government, where in the state departments can share and interact through a complete back end integration.

She pointed that the state is also planning to constitute an Electronic Service Delivery Com-mission for the effective service facilitation and monitoring. Moreover, the IT Department is also working on to include provisions which would enable the authorities to be receptive on taking suggestions and requests from citizens in terms of its online presence.

Besides, every government office [depart-ment] will have Electronic Service Delivery Officer to look after the processing and disposal of the online application requests. In terms of outcomes, Prasanna is quite confident that the Act would be much more impactful than the Right to Information.

The Department of IT aspires to make avail-able as many number of services online as many other countries of globe like Singapore and South Korea do, where 300 to 400 online ser-vices are being availed by the citizens. “We are

targeting to offer at least 100 services online in five years down the line,” she averred.

EDS Bill of Government of IndiaKapil Sibbal, Union Minister for Telecom and Information Technology has recently announced a hundred day action plan for its Ministry, which includes drafting of the Elec-tronic Service Delivery Bill by the Department of IT. The Bill, when passed, would put an obli-gation on the various central government min-istries and departments to digitise and provide most of the services online, in a timely phased manner.

IcT for right to servicesThe monitoring of the disposal of cases within stipulated timeframe by the designated official, disposal of cases on the level of the first and second appellate authorities and generation of real time management information system (MIS) reports, would be much more easier through leveraging the information technology (IT).

In MP, the state government is using IT for generation of MIS reports, however in an off line mode. As per the state IT department, it will very soon start work on the real time data entry and MIS report generation. In Bihar, the draft legislation on right to services also envis-

ages use of IT, for the electronic delivery, so as to provide the services to citizens on a 24x7 basis.

Elaborating the application of ICT in facilitating RTS, Shadrach said, “Firstly, the ICT tools are handy for digitizing and simplifying government services from that of bureaucratic set-up to more of easy access; and that of pro-cess oriented to outcomes-oriented. Secondly, ICTs have the opportunity to reach out to citi-zens and citizenry organisations with delivery platforms that are accessible; and lastly, ICTs can help to monitor the progress made by ICT-enabled services and evaluate their impact vis-a-vis manual delivery.”

challenges While there have been rounds of applause from many corners of the country on having such a legislation, there is another school of thought which abstains from advocating addition of one more legislation to the library of laws and enactments in the country. Amita Singh, Professor & Chair, Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, Jawaharlal Nehru University put forth: “What citizens need right now is simplification of regulations. More regulations in the area of provisions for basic services is a symptom of a failing leadership even though it appears on the surface as another right for empowering ordinary people.”

This school of thought cautions that the law might delay further, the already constrained access to justice as the bureaucracy would now legitimately delay as per the provisions of 30 and 60 days to appeal. A re-appeal would devastate an ordinary citizen seeking, medical, livelihood, financial support, educational assis-tance, inter alia. “The tendency to make laws should stop now and the ability to lead within the enormous library of laws should now be enhanced to save this Republic from the white elephant of governance,” she opined.

According to Shadrach, “The ‘actors’ them-selves pose greater challenges.” He points out to the nexus between the legislature, executive and public service authorities that prevail across the country and which continue to pose a greater challenge. The moral deficit in the private sector too will be a huge challenge when it comes to services, for a good majority of services are dealt with by the private sector today.

He added: To add to all these, if the media and the civil society fail to respond to the needs, these efforts would only be futile exercises con-ducted in a vacuum.

“We are targeting to offer at least 100

services online in five years down the line”

VIJAyAlAkShmI BIdArI PrASAnnA

Director, Dept of IT, Govt of Maharashtra

IMPACT oF rIGhT To SErvICES l TMotivate and sensitise the public

administrationtowardsgrowingcitizen’s

demands

l Ensure timely delivery of services

l Reduce delay in decision making

l Act as deterrence for corrupt public

servants

lCitizenempowerment

lInstitutionaliseefficiencyandaccountability

l Ensure right to dignity

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eGov-Feb-2011-[18-24]-Cover Story-Institutionalising Efficiency