Online services ensure transparency, improve governance
The governments world over have been pushing hard to bring in more efficiency and reforms in offering various services to the people. Be it the developed world or a region like ours which is still in a developing stage, the importance of seamless governance becomes all the more important.
Recently a major step towards achieving the desired result of providing improved and fast services to the people of the UT was undertaken when the Chief Secretary chaired a high level meeting to explore the potential of Community Service Centres (CSCs) in providing seamless Government-to-Citizen (G2C) and Government-to-Business (G2B) services in Jammu & Kashmir.
The meeting focused on integrating a wider range of government services with the CSC platform to ensure accessibility for the people, particularly in remote areas.
Governance at doorstep initiatives aims to bring government services closer to citizens, enhancing accessibility and efficiency. This not only ensures that people get the services on time but their efforts and most important, their time is saved and the desired objective of real governance is also achieved.
Keeping in view the extensive scope of online services and their affordability, the need is to on-board services from key departments including Revenue, Housing & Urban Development (H&UDD), Agriculture, Rural Development (RDD), Labour & Employment, Power Development (PDD), Jal Shakti, Industries & Commerce, and the Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (BOCWWB). This integration would not only enhance the service delivery but also boost the earnings of CSC operators.
Notably, an app has also been kept for this purpose so that anyone can avail the services with least human interference, which otherwise leads to hiccups and delay in services.
The significance of the ‘Digidost’ feature of CSCs, allowing the citizens to avail government services from their homes provides these services at regulated rates.
The reduced human interaction minimizes the opportunity for corruption and bribery, besides, digital payment systems reduce the risk of corruption and ensure transparency.
The online module of providing services to the general public ensures that governments can reduce infrastructure costs, as services are delivered at the citizen’s doorstep. This mode of operations increases productivity, as citizens and government officials can focus on more critical tasks.
By bringing governance closer to citizens, governance at doorstep initiatives can significantly improve the overall citizen experience, increase transparency, and reduce corruption.
The online service model can also be worked out fully for banks which can explore the feasibility of transforming the service providing centres into Business Correspondents (BCs) or Unbanked Rural Centres (URCs), given their widespread presence and infrastructure across J&K.
In a place like ours offering services online can be more beneficial as government offices fall at long distances from villages and other towns’ and citizens can avail to save time as they won’t need to travel to government offices.
The government services that are being made available at the citizen’s doorstep are making it easier for people with disabilities, elderly, or those with busy schedules to avail the services.
The governance at doorstep initiatives encourages citizen participation, fostering a sense of ownership and responsibility. The citizens can also provide feedback, helping to improve the services and overall governance.
