Background

The project e-Jana Samprak was lunched  in August 2006 by Chandigarh Administration as another further step to fulfill its commitment to bridge the digital divide by extending the application of IT for the benefit of the common man. After the successful launch of the e-Sampark Centres, which have brought together 24 basic citizen services of different departments under one roof, in the second phase of the e-governance initiative, the Administration decided to provide the citizens with the information about its services under various departments, private services and other Government of India services.

e-Jan Sampark project specially  targeted underprivileged citizens, who are without  IT connectivity, by providing them with easy dissemination of information services and delivery  of useful non transactional services without cost  from easily accessible common places. In other words, the objectives of e-Jana Sarmpark project was to provide a single, efficient information dissemination system to the citizen for availing government services by minimizing multiple interaction points and hence reduce the wastage of valuable time.

The Administration, therefore, sets up e-Jan-Sampark Centers, which support multi service delivery (information delivery and non-transactional services) which is a judicious mix of all the possible government services and information and other localized services which are needed by a citizen.

 Presently 21 such e-Jana Sampark centres have been serving the citizens of Chandigarh. Among this 21 centres, only 2 centres run as entirely separate centre or kiosk, the rest work in and alongside other e-Sampark or Gram Sampark centres. In each e-Samapark Centre and Gram Sampark Centre there is a separate desk or counter only for e-Jana Sampark.

An e-Jana Sampark centre. Photo collected from e-Jana Sampark website.

About the project’s functions

An e-Jana Sampark centre provides the following information services:

• All Procedures and Forms for all departments, which are frequently used by a common man, for example, how to apply for a birth/death certificate including procedure for late entry, how to lodge a FIR, various forms and procedures concerning public offices such as RLA, Estate Office, DC Office, Municipal Corporation, Engineering Wing etc.

• Education and health related information services, for example, dailyupdated information regarding     availability of blood in blood bank of government medical hospitals, exam results, information about availability of educational and health related facilities in each sector etc.

•  Transport and tourism related inquiries, for example, bus routes, information relating to tourism activities etc

•  Inquiries relating to passport status; railway booking status,train timings etc

•  Providing access to all government websites.

•  Other information like utility services available in each sector etc.

These services are provided free of cost except when the citizen needs any print out, the same is available at a nominal cost per page of print out.

An important aspect of this project is that the citizens can submit their grievances relating to any department at these Centres. National Informatics Centre (NIC) has created a Grievance Monitoring System under which, whenever any grievance is received at the e-Jan Sampark centre, the same is scanned and forwarded via email immediately to the Nodal Officer of every department who has been specially appointed for the e-Jan Sampark services. The hard copy of the grievance submitted by the citizen is also sent to the Nodal Officer of the concerned department. A time line is given to the concerned Nodal Officer for the redressal of the grievance. Under this Grievance Monitoring System, the head of department is also able to monitor the redressal of grievances online.

There is also provision for the submission of applications under the Right to Information (RTI) Act at the e-Jan Sampark Centres along with the statutory fee. All received applications are delivered to the Central Public Information Officer (CPIO) of the concerned department in the same day. Then it is the duty of that information officer to reply directly to the citizen along with the desired information as per law. If any further fee needs to be paid by the applicant, CPIO requests for additional fee from the applicant directly and reply to the applicant directly. Simply put, an e-Jan Sampark Centre only provides the facilitation services for the receipt of RTI applications so that a common man does not need to visit each and every office.

As a recent add to the services at e-Jan Sampark Centres, now patients can get appointments for Government Multi Specialty Hospital Sector 16 & Government Medical Hospital, Sector 32 at e-Jan Sampark centres of Chandigarh.  A patient desirous of visiting these hospitals can seek a prior appointment, which can be from a day to a fortnight, from the nearest e-Jan Sampark / e-Gram Sampark Centres and on stipulated date & time they can visit the hospital and go to the doctors directly.

Why can the project be called a best practice?

From the very beginning, e-Jana Sampark centres were able to create great enthusiasm among common citizens. In the mean time, the centres have been very much popular among common citizens. During our visit to some of the centres, we talked to numbers of users. Some users have expressed their opinions that because of the friendly nature of the centre staff, they feel comfortable to come to the centres for any type of information. But earlier when they had to depend on government respective offices and staffs, they could not get all these information so easily.  At present, 40-50 information seekers visit each of these 21 centres everyday. Here are some other important outcomes of the project for which it can be called a best practice.

Transparency

 Only a single counter works in each centre, but there is no irregularity because service is provided on first come first serve basis. Everyday online status report of each centre is made. The status reports contain total statistics of transactions in each centre which the coordinator of project or other superior authority can monitor online. Moreover, each centre keeps a visitors book, where the users can write their comment about irregularities in service, if they find, grievances, suggestions etc. All these ensure transparency in the functioning of the project.

A page from the visitor’s book from e-Jana Sampark centre.

Participation

It is a project implemented with government’s interdepartmental direct participation and collaboration. However, the location, setup and infrastructures of the centers have been developed with public private partnership (present partners are UTI Bank and SQL STAR International Limited). The officers (information providers) in the centres are not government employees. They are appointed contractually by the partner organizations of the project. People’s participation in making decision regarding service delivery and improvement of quality of service is ensured in various ways.  For example, the criteria for making new services available through the e-Jana Sampark centres is based on the requirement generated by citizens through the feedback received and the citizen satisfaction surveys conducted.

Accountability

Alongside the regular official monitoring various surveys are conducted by the authority as to the performance of the centres and officials. The visitor book of each centre where users can write their complaints and comments are regularly checked to understand public reactions, demands or opinions. People are asked what type of problems they face in the existing system and how it can be improved, what more services can be included etc. The results of these surveys are taken into account also. Again the officers of the centres (information providers) are employed contractually, whose performance is regularly monitored by the coordinator of the project. All these things directly and indirectly make the officers of the centres dutiful and accountable.

Speed and Ease to Service Delivery

e-Jana Sampark  centres give 12 hours service from 8 am to 8 pm everyday except Sunday. This is a great opportunity for the office going or busy persons who can get their services after office time in the evening. Each e-Jana Sampark centre is run by two trained IT officers. Each officer works for one shift of two shifts a day. Each of these centres is located in public places or other suitable places where people can easily visit. As opposed to complex official formalities, the project officers are easygoing. A visitor can easily go to the information centre and ask the officer about their needs. All these factors ensure speed and east to its service delivery.

This project by providing the necessary public information has made the government services closer to the citizen. It has enabled the common people to get the benefit of Right to Information. Its information dissemination has created scopes for generating transparency & efficiency in government-citizen interface.  The project’s simpler way of providing information is suitable for the common citizens. And as a result increasing number of citizens are availing the benefits from the centre.

Sustainability

This project was an innovation of Chandigarh Administration to make useful information available near common citizen’s reach. Citizens have warmly accepted the innovation and supported it. Presently 21 e-Jana Sampark centre have been functioning, yet people’s demands are on an increasing graph and also very diverse. They want more centers to get the services more accessible. For example, during our visit to one of the centres we found several people complaining that they had come all the way to seek railway information as well as to buy and book tickets. (But the centres give only railway booking status and train timings). Failing to get this service from e-Jana Sampark centres, they suggested that the centres should include more of these types of services, for which they are even ready to pay. This continuous public eagerness and support is a great sustainability factor. However, the project is fully run by Chandigarh Administration. All expenses of maintenance of the centres, salaries of the officer etc. are borne by the Administration. In contrast, all services are free of cost, and the centres do not have any income generating source. Hence, its financial sustainability is dependent upon government.

Replicability

The information services e-Jana Sampark has been offering to the citizens of Chandigarh are useful and necessary for the people of any place, city or village. Hence, it has a great potential to be replicated other states of the country.

Lessons Learnt

For its financial section, the project is still dependent upon government support. This lack of self-sustainability in terms of finance is likely to create hurdles for its expansion. For sustainability of such project continuity of government support is must.