Punjab Sewa Kendras touches 700,000 applications a month
Gains momentum with 700,000 applications a month
Transparency and accountability are twin pillars of good governance. It is of paramount importance for any responsible government to ensure the delivery of its programs and activities reaches the people without leakage or pilferage. And on this note, e-governance can play a pivotal role in advancing transparency and process enhancement in public offices and administration through the interjection of digital solutions that are easily accessible.
A successful case study in India emerges from the well-heeled adoption, implementation, and execution of e- governance by the state of Punjab. Sewa Kendra Services were launched in the middle of August 2016, and today, 2,147 centers nationwide dot the state map. In these 9 months of operations, the daily footfall is over 30,000. With close to 700,000* applications processed in the month of May of 2017, there is sufficient proof that the citizens of this progressive state have embraced e-governance with both hands.
Each month since their launch, these Sewa Kendras have found favor with the citizens. Starting with 1.51 lakh applications in the first full month of operations in September 2016; it has now reached 7,00,000 applications in May 2017, showing a 24% increase from the previous month’s April figures. The response has been overwhelming, and the figures are nowhere near stabilizing; there has been exponential growth on a month-to-month basis. In a country like India with a wide geographical spread, bureaucratic complexities, red tapism, and stifling procedures; e-governance is the only tool to plug the leaks in the system.
Indian citizens are used to “running pillar to post” and “greasing the palms” for basic services – registering a property, applying for electricity or ration cards, collecting pensions, and birth, wedding, and death certificates, to name a few. Unless there is access to a Tehsildar, MLA, or bureaucrat at the top level of administration, those days are gone. Welcome to e-governance!
Good governance practices have installed transparency and accountability through the computerization of all the public dealing departments, including the police, judiciary, transportation, and registration of properties.
The development of information technologies has brought about fundamental changes in the relationship between citizens and public authorities and local governments. Today, the media is vociferous in taking on vested interests and exposing acts of misgovernance and corruption through RTI. The government machinery is more than aware that citizens have multiple mechanisms and cannot be inconvenienced.
Punjab is a proof that corruption can be curbed by systematic changes in governance through introducing participation, transparency, accountability, and probity in administration. The government’s initiatives to incorporate Citizens’ Charters, the Right to Information, e-Governance, Report Cards, and Social Audits are an illustration for other state governments in the Union.
BLS International is a key player in Punjab Sewa Kendras, operating and managing all 2,147 outlets. They operate as a single point of reference for all governmental documentation requirements for Punjab residents. Through investments in IT systems, a robust Data Management System, disciplined workforce; these Sewa Kendras provide 82 citizen-centric services (of the proposed 223 as the rest of the services will be added subsequently).
The benefit to Punjab residents is enormous and immediate. They beget the convenience of availing services at a Sewa Kendra close to their homes in a time-bound and transparent manner, and importantly, across 82 services pertaining to 17 departments under one roof. E-governance in Punjab is showing the way for other states in India to follow in ensuring transparency and accountability for the efficient and effective delivery of government services.
* The reduction in count from Dec-Feb was on account of the demonetization effect.