Scribd
Upload
2 views

Block-4

The document discusses the significance of citizen interaction with public administration in India, emphasizing the importance of laws like the Right to Information Act, 2005, and the establishment of institutions like Lokpal to combat corruption. It highlights the challenges faced in implementing Citizens' Charters, including lack of consultation and awareness, which undermines their effectiveness. Additionally, it addresses the role of e-governance in enhancing transparency and efficiency in governance through the use of information and communication technologies.

Uploaded by

Irshad Andy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
2 views

Block-4

The document discusses the significance of citizen interaction with public administration in India, emphasizing the importance of laws like the Right to Information Act, 2005, and the establishment of institutions like Lokpal to combat corruption. It highlights the challenges faced in implementing Citizens' Charters, including lack of consultation and awareness, which undermines their effectiveness. Additionally, it addresses the role of e-governance in enhancing transparency and efficiency in governance through the use of information and communication technologies.

Uploaded by

Irshad Andy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 22

12th

Citizen and Administration “Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or
Interface
through freely chosen representatives. The will of the people shall be the basis
of the authority of government”. Richard Box (1998) observes that the era of
elite control has been replaced by the era of democracy. In the latter citizen
governance or taking decisions through deliberation has primacy. Citizens’
initiatives and interaction with the public administration is also helpful in
mitigating their grievances. Citizen interface with administration, therefore, seems
to be of much significance for effective administration.

To mitigate citizens’ dissatisfaction regarding corruption in India, laws have been


enacted creating institutions such as the Lokpal and Lokayukta. These institutions
are intended to inquire into allegations of corruption. Right to Information Act,
2005 (empowering the citizens to get information), Citizens’ Charter (making
entitlement of citizens to specific services), e-governance (governing through
the electronic mode), are also relevant enactments in this regard. These and many
more institutional mechanisms and laws are in operation in order to redress the
Citizens’ grievances.

The present Unit deals with some significant dimensions of the interface between
citizens and the administrative aspects of government.

8.2 THE RIGHT TO INFORMATION ACT, 2005


Perhaps this is the most important law ever enacted in India. This law known as
the RTI (The Right to Information Act, 2005) broadly gives the right to citizens
of India (except for the people of Jammu & Kashmir) the right to seek information
from any public agency or institution on any matter which promotes transparency
and accountability in its working. Its main objective is to combat corruption and
enable public institutions to work for people. It also aims at creating an informed
citizenry and to enable the citizen to exercise vigilance on the functioning of
government and its institutions. This law which focuses on strengthening
participatory democracy and ushering in people-centred governance also aims
at promoting transparency in public agencies. For providing ease of access to
citizens the RTI online portal has been expanded to cover all public authorities
registered with the Central Information Commission (CIC).

The Act gives the citizens the right to seek information held by any authority or
body or institution of self-government established or constituted by or under the
Constitution; or by any other law made by the Parliament or a state legislature.
Institutions or organisations substantially financed by the central government or
a state government also fall within the meaning of public authority. The RTI
includes inspection of work, documents and records, taking certified samples of
material held by the public institution/public authority. It also includes information
relating to any private body which can be accessed by the public authority under
any law for the time being in force. There are some categories of information
which each public authority is required to publish suo moto.

Under the RTI, one has to simply make a request to the Public Information Officer
(PIO) of the office concerned, indicating the information sought and the address
at which the information is required. The request can be sent either by post or
submitted in person in Hindi, English or in the official language of the area and
can also be sent through e-mail. If the applicant does not get the information
106
Citizen and Administration 5) provision of redressal of grievances.
Interface
Citizens’ Charters have been in place in India for more than two decades. In
2016, the DARPG website listed nearly 2000 charters drafted by various
government or semi-government agencies in India.

8.4.3 Problems of Implementation of Charters


There are several problems in the conception and implementation of Citizens
Charters. Some of them are discussed below.

1) The general perception of organisations which formulated Citizens’ Charters


was that the exercise was to be done because it was a direction from the top.
It thus became one of the routine activities of the organisation without any
focus. Consequently, the consultation process with the citizens was largely
missing or absent.

2) The officials who were entrusted with the job of formulation of Citizens’
Charters lacked proper vision and training.

3) The work relating to Citizens’ charters was disturbed as the employees who
were handling it were transferred during critical stages.

4) Awareness campaigns meant to teach clients about the Charter were not
conducted in a systematic manner.

5) Often, the norms and delivery schedules of services mentioned in citizens’


charter were not adhered to. Consequently, the credibility of the citizen
charters was lost. As such, they were perceived by some citizens as farcical
and ritualistic.

6) The idea of maintenance of standards in quality in the citizens’ charters was


not properly understood. Consequently, their implementation faced many
issues regarding the quality of service delivery.

8.4.4 Critical Observations


It is observed that a citizen charter is designed to provide quality of services and
its delivery as per time schedules, grievance redressal, and accountability.
However, in its implementation it faces many difficulties similar to those in the
domain of normal public administration. Nevertheless, the introduction of Citizens’
Charters in government organisations and public agencies represents a landmark
in the sphere of delivery of goods and services. It has both symbolic and
substantive value.

8.5 E-GOVERNANCE
E-Governance and E-Government (e-gov) are words that are frequently and
interchangeably used in recent decades. Many governments have been making
use of e-governance strategy to improve the quality of governance. E-governance
deploys information and communication technologies (ICTs) to make governance
more effective, efficient and transparent. In a broader sense, ‘e-governance’ is
all about reform in governance facilitated by the creative use of ICTs.
112

You might also like