Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication

As Steve Jobs put it - Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication, the statement gets very much relevant in case of various e-governance projects taken up and installed by the state and Union governments. The first ever experiment with internet based governance started with improving the service delivery mechanism. A Public Private Partnership (PPP) project Lokvani is worth mention in this regard. Lokvani was introduced by the district administration in Sitapur distt of Uttar pradesh in 2004. It is a self-sustaining, Public Private Partnership (PPP) based e-governance solution aimed at providing transparent, accountable and responsive administration for grievance handling, land record maintenance, as well as an eclectic mixture of essential services.It involves making the internet cyber cafes of the district partner in the grievance redressal system of the administration. The designated cybercafes have been provided with a software for various services including grievance and petition services, Land Record Services, Tender Services Information on Employment Service, Information about Govt. schemes etc. The kiosk owners charge the prescribed fee to the complainant and take help of the available personnel there to avail the services. The distinguished features of the project are

• It is a self-sustained project based on PPP model of governance.
• Most in-efficient aspect  of administration i.e. the maintenance of requisite infrastructure is at the hands of cyber cafe owners.

However these person-meet based and internet based schemes have not been the best models in fulfilling the concerns of people from the lower economic background. . The common men often have to go through the tiring, expensive and exploitative process of running from pillar to post just in order to meet the District Administrator, Superintendent of Police, Chief Development Officers and other senior officers to make their grievances heard. E-kiosk is also not a viable option for many.
The limitations with which the model suffers are :

• Electricity Power Supply is very uncertain in most of the district and in villages it is yet a luxury in Uttar pradesh. In many districts of U.P. official supply hours of electricity is 16 hours a day. And   beyond capacity transformer loads due to electricity theft, 'Katiya' connections cause chronic failure of supply. The cyber cafe owners are limited to their back up infrastructure.      
• Though it provides multiple access points for availing services and saves a lot of time, effort and money of villagers who travel to district tahsil on public meetings such a Tahsil Diwas to be heard of their grievance and subsequent redressal but still it does not have enough reach to the actual victims of the system owing to their illiteracy, hesitation, disbelief and sense of unfaithful administration.
• Poor quality of internet connection.
• Un-supportive Administrative staff in office and tradition 'un-improved' infrastructure back home (collectorate). The officials have a perception of work arisen out of internet based service mechanism as  'alien work' and have hesitation in responding to it. If top administration is not active enough, the whole systems becomes a victim of infant mortality. 

ICT is abbreviation of Information and Communication Technology and NOT the Internet based Communication Technology.When Internet dependent infrastructure is not well established and when electricity supply is not abundant, how much should be expected from e-governance projects. Majority of services dealt under e-governance are of instant nature and their delivery is a must for the administration therefore govt should not feel free by just establishing a namesake system of delivery with ICT sophistication. Of-course internet based service delivery is the need of the hour to bridge the digital divide between the Bharat and India. But it should be in correlation to capacity development. And the services of urgent characteristics should be attempted to be delivered efficiently with existing infrastructure. 

Simple, effective and easiest use of ICT is demonstrated by Jhansi Jan Suvidha Kendra by making use of telephones and mobile.  Jhansi administration developed the Jhansi Jan Suvidha Kendra (JJSK) with technical consultation of the district unit of National Informatics Centre (NIC). Any person from anywhere within the district can call this centre on a toll free number to seek grievance for concerns related to wide range of government services and administrative provisions. The online software automatically generates a Unique Complaint Number (UCN) for each complaint. The complaints are assigned to different categories depending upon the severity of the complaint. Category A complaints are to be disposed within 24 hours, categories B are to be disposed within 3 days and category C are within 7 days. Complaints related to natural calamity, fire incidents, law and order situation, accidents etc are considered under category A. Complaints related to public service delivery such as for electricity, water supply etc are addressed under category B. Category C has the individual and demand oriented complaints such as the demands for pension, house, employment and so on. As soon as the complaint is saved in the database, one SMS is sent out to the aggrieved person bearing details of his complaint number, category, officer to whom it is marked and the target date of disposal. Simultaneously another SMS is also sent automatically to the concerned officer bearing all the details of the complaint. He is also informed telephonically for immediate action. Printout of the complaint with scanned signature of the District Magistrate is sent to the officer through Fax/Post/Special messenger. The printout of the complaints is taken on coloured sheets to emphasise on the nature of urgency. Green sheet is for A category complaints, blue for B category complaints and C category complaints are printed on pink sheets.In case a grievance is not addressed within the stipulated time period then the system automatically sends out an SMS to the concerned officer informing the urgency of disposing the default complaint as soon as possible. The aggrieved person gets one SMS as well.

I detailed conceptual minutes of JJSK to emphasis upon the beauty and effectiveness of simplicity. Mobile and telephone have registered almost universal reach in our country, irrespective of the generation whereas internet is very much generation dependent at this stage. 

Can you expect everyone  can go to a internet kiosk to register complaint ? 

Here are some facts to gauge the success of this model: 

• The Election Commission of India has replicated the model to register complaints related to the election process through mobile or landline phones from anywhere 24x7 in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Pondicherry and West Bengal.
• This has been successfully replicated in Power Corporation Ltd, Housing Board, and Board of Revenue of Uttar Pradesh.
• The government of Uttar Pradesh has recently ordered replicating the model in all other districts for improving delivery of public services in drinking water, electricity, hygiene/ sanitation, food and civil supplies, social sector schemes.
• JJSK was awarded with prestigious NASSCOM Social Innovation Honours 2010 by NASSCOM foundation under ICT led innovation in e-Governance category.
• Computer Society of India has also awarded JJSK for Excellence in e-Governance.
• Status of Complaints at present is around 95% grievance redressal upto the satisfaction of the citizen. 

India has to accept that computerization of traditional governmental and public functions are not e-governance. We have to empower the citizens with the power of ICT. Though Internet has become an indispensable part of our daily life and It has the potential to streamlining the procedures, inculcate discipline among workforce, and bring transparency and accountability and reduction of costs but at the same time it  requires intelligent and practical management. There are sections of society where internet based service delivery would bring out quick transparency and accountability but such a community is in developmental stage. Our policies target the poor to bridge inequality but actually e-governance has become a tool of making fool of people. 

Improving public Service through E-governance