VisionTo offer Government-to-Citizen (G2C), Businesses-to-Citizen(B2C) and Citizen-to-Citizen (C2C) services to people in a transparent, quick, fair and economical manner by way of effective application of Information and Communication Technology(ICT).  To achieve this with the Public-Private Partnership and with the involvement of all the stakeholders.  

 Objectives

- Transparency: Information about the status of the work-in-process to the applicant           

- Accountability: Time deadlines for every issue of public service, Written Commitment to the  applicant about the latest date of completion of work, Compliance of the time limits with due alerts and reminders to the office staff and higher level officers

 - Efficiency: Increase in the quality and quantity of output of the office staff by minimizing undue status queries by citizens and by ensuring the computer based acceptance of applications, complete in all respects

 - Fairness: Computer enforced in-turn processing, Computer assisted application scrutiny, Smart Token-Counter system for service delivery front-end

- Speed:  Minimized queries and so single pass processing, Reduced interactions to handle inquiries and undue expectations of applicants

-Services to remote locations:  Laptop and mobile connectivity based village camps to cater services to poor and illiterate citizens in remote areas

-Public-Private Partnership:  Involvement of citizens, institutions as sponsors, as service providers as well as feedback providers for continuous reforms

-Cost Savings:  Prescribed fees, No agents or touts, Computer based front-end to accept applications, deliveries in committed time, No need for personal follow-ups

-Convenience:  Mobile van based service deliveries, Home delivery of processed papers, No need for office visits and follow ups, No need to approach different offices for different work, Clarity on requirements

 Milestones Already Accomplished:

* ‘Jan Seva Kendra’ G2C One-Spot service delivery outlet at district head quarters in Gandhinagar. (A district is an administrative unit for civil administration comprising of approximately 500 – 600 villages and has both urban and rural areas in its jurisdiction. Average population in a district is 1.5 million) 

* Similar ‘Jan Seva Kendra’ at sub-district centres linked with the district centre.

* Mobile Computing based camps to reach out and extend services to citizens in remote rural areas

* Creation of a central data record for citizens as the services are delivered

* IVRS and SMS systems for any time status information to the citizens

* Personal follow-up visits by the applicants reduced from over 1000 a month to less than 50 a month

* Sponsorships availed for Infrastructure development, Partnership with private company for  service delivery, Sponsorship for stationery and forms by way of advertisements, honorary services by retired senior citizens

* Daily SMS status for online monitoring by officers

* Process reforms by way of regular meetings followed by office orders

* Preparation of procedures, forms as well as time limits for various issues 

 Milestones yet to be accomplished

  To extend the services to cover other issues related to the district administration such as,  health, education, agriculture, animal husbandry, etc.

  To add Citizen-to-Citizen and Business-to-Citizen services for better financial sustainability

  To set up work flow management systems for back end administration

  To set up distributed service delivery outlets

Impact:

•  Significant change in the perception of the common man about a government office.  This fact is reflected in over 95% of several hundred feedbacks received from people during the past 12 months.

• Significant time-saving for the public for availing different services offered by the different participating departments.  For example, the processing time for several issues has been reduced from several days to less than four hours.

• Involvement of retired people and senior citizens to help illiterate and other needy people to complete their paperwork.

• Notable change in the attitude of government employees due to transparent systems including tracking the work in process.

• Transparency has helped increase the confidence of citizens in the administration.  SMS, IVRS help people know the status of their paperwork at any time from any place

•Complete accountability is maintained as papers are delivered to people within the committed time printed on the acknowledgement slips.  Daily summary SMS as well as any time availability of pending cases to the higher level officers has boosted the performance of the administrative staff.

• The efficiency of the administration has increased due to significant savings in time by the government officers as they do not have to meet people directly and as they receive all the applications in a completed manner. Besides common man is not hassled by personally contacting concerned officers.

• ICT is applied and accepted in true sense: Bar Code for traceability, IVRS for any time response, SMS for alerts, Web-Cams for instant photos, Biometrics for identity and MIS software for continuous monitoring, tracking and reforms.

• Minimization of corruption as there is a single, systems driven, computer based front-end interface for the citizens.  Incomplete applications can not be accepted, processing is always in-turn, applicant to officer interface is significantly reduced and time limits are observed in a highly transparent manner.

Jan Seva Kendra (Gandhinagar) is the outcome of the strategic union of technology and positive governance.  The initiative is aimed towards using ICT to bring effective e-Governance at the district level, while introducing the transition from traditional governance to paperless, place-independent governance services in planned phases.  

The Jan Seva Kendra currently offers over 90 different types of civic services, 44 types of affidavits, and several other value-added services in a prompt, simple and convenient manner.  These services encompass land related issues, civil supplies related matters, revenue collection, grant of licenses, issue of certificates, Right-to-information cases and affidavits.   The services are delivered from the district head quarters at Gandhinagar as well as the linked nodes at all the sub-district centers. The infrastructure at Jan Seva Kendra includes Computer Systems with  Barcode Scanners, IVRS, SMS, Webcams, Biometrics, etc. Connected to LAN, WAN and Internet.

On average, 400 applications are processed everyday and 100,000 cases are completed till 31-December-2007 with better than 90% on time delivery record. 

The Process of service delivery at Jan Seva Kendra is as follows: 

Form Issue Barcode stickers are applied to every form. This is done either at the time of issuing the form or just before the submission of the form. There is no need to log the name of the applicant at the time of the issue of the form or the barcode. This helps avoid queues and makes the process more convenient to the applicants. Registered citizens can obtain partly-filled forms by giving their fingerprint or registered government photo ID. Thirteen of the basic fields are automatically filled up in the application form. 

Submission of the form: Tokens Applicant visits the token issue counter, where an operator scans the barcode and the computer system allots a token at one of the counters, on basis of the type of the issue, as well as to ensure the minimum wait time for the applicant.  Typically, the wait time is between 0 and 15 minutes.  The computerized token system also helps ensure optimal use of the resources at the Kendra, as well as avoids the creation of any queues there.  Citizens can be seated and wait till their token number is called at the assigned counter.  Separate counter “Green Channel” is available for senior citizens and handicapped persons where all the work is completed at the same counter on priority basis. 

Acceptance of the form  Applicant visits the designated counter when the token number shows up on the display. The operator at the counter checks the enclosures with computer assistance and tick marks its receipt on the computer screen. The applicant does not need to re-submit enclosures previously submitted in any other application. The operator performs qualitative check to ensure the complete fill-up of the form and ticks that on the PC. The operator takes a web-cam photograph of the applicant if required. In case all the required enclosures are checked, the software issues a bar-coded acknowledgement slip in two copies. One copy is given to the applicant and the second copy is attached to the application. The applicant copy shows up Jan Seva Kendra’s help line number, latest delivery date and time. In case of affidavit, franking is also done at the same counter.  At the same counter, the applicant can specify if he or she needs any certified copies, laminated certificates and/or home delivery of papers. 

Forwarding The back office operator at Jan Seva Kendra scans the barcode on the application.  The system shows up the concerned office and this way the received papers are sorted out.  A list is generated for acknowledgement by the concerned branch. 

Follow-ups: Every department can access the information on pending cases on-line, through SMS query, or by requested printouts.  Reminders and alerts are sent to the officers by the system to ensure in time completion of the cases.  The District Collector also monitors the pendencies using her own computer. 

Follow ups and inquiry by the applicants  Applicants get the status of their application in four ways.

(1) By calling Jan Seva Kendra IVRS line 079-23242501  (24 hours service)

(2) By sending SMS query on 997-997-2068

(3) On the Jan Seva Kendra website: http://jansevakendragnr.gujarat.gov.in

(4)  By telephoning or visiting Jan Seva Kendra 

Completion of cases and Delivery The system automatically sends an SMS when the case is scanned for completion.  At the time of delivery, the bar coded acknowledgement is received and the papers are given to the applicant.  If the applicant has shown the preference, at the time of submission, certified photocopies are also kept ready for delivery.   If the applicant has opted for home delivery, the papers are dispatched to the applicant’s residence by courier. 

Reports and Monitoring Various types of reports are generated and are available on the system to show the performance of the system.  Typical time of processing, Lapses and delays, Issue-wise / department-wise volume, payment collection, pending cases, etc. are among these. 

Back-end Operations Tracking of Applications in process: All the accepted applications are forwarded by the Jan Seva Kendra to the concerned departments.   For this, the bar code on the application is scanned by the Jan Seva Kendra operator. The software senses that the particular application is for a specific Issue and for specific region.  As per the process chain configured for that issue while creating the forms (user definable & not hard coded), the computer shows up specific department and specific officer responsible to receive these papers first.   When the operator presses “forward” button, a list is generated which contains all the applications which are to be forwarded to the particular department.  Papers are then taken physically by the Jan Seva Kendra person to the officer along with the printed list.    

Best Practices 

Village Camps Jan Seva Kendra conducts weekend camps at remote villages with the help of laptop computers with mobile phone connectivity for on-spot acceptance and delivery of applications.  These initiatives save money and time of the villagers.  These also help the Jan Seva Kendra utilize its resources even in weekends.    

SMS Intimation The computer system automatically sends an SMS to the applicant on completion of the processing of his or her application.  Applicants feel assured of the actual availability of their completed documents on the receipt of the SMS. 

SMS Query Applicants can know the status of their paperwork by sending an SMS to the Jan Seva number.  The system automatically responds with the status of the file.  There is a need to increase customer awareness about this facility. 

SMS and Auto-Email to Officers The system sends a daily SMS to concerned officers to inform them about the activities during the day and the pendencies in various issues.  On demand SMS query by the officers is also supported. 

Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) Applicants can call the automated phone line at 079-232-42501, enter the 12 digit number of their application, and check the status of their application.  This has helped many applicants avoid cumbersome follow-up visits.  

Barcoded Applications, Acknowledgements & Certificates  Barcode is used from the issue of the form till the case is completed and papers are archived.  At every stage, the registry of a case is made using the bar code scanner.  Barcode scanning eliminates operator errors, increases speed, helps track the papers in process and helps to identify papers archived. 

Queue-free Operations through Computerized Token System The software intelligently estimates the time for each counter, and automatically assigns the counter having the least wait time for the applicant.  Till their turn is displayed, the applicants can comfortably wait at the Jan Seva Kendra lounge.  No queues are formed for any step of the process. 

Monitoring of paperwork by the Officers using their own computers Officers have direct access to the database of the Jan Seva Kendra and can review the status and count of pending applications within their department or at their own office.  They can export and print these reports.  They can view the applications that are overdue and act on those accordingly. 

Home Delivery The completed papers are home delivered by courier at a nominal fee of Rs. 5/- to Gandhinagar city residents.  Home delivery is also used in cases requiring address verification. 

Special assistance to Senior Citizens and Physically Challenged people The “green channel” counter is set up to handle all the services from form issue to delivery.  This is a one-spot service delivery counter for Senior Citizens and the Physically Challenged. 

Involvement of Retired Officers Being the state capital, Gandhinagar is home to several government officers, in-service and retired.  Several retired officers offer their services at Jan Seva Kendra on honorary basis.  They have experience with the procedures and terms.  They help applicants in filing out forms, and help the vendor simplify the forms. 

Weekly Meeting headed by the Collector A weekly meeting chaired by the Collector and attended by the deputy collectors, mamlatdars and Jan Seva Kendra officers is held every Monday at 1 PM.  The issues of overdue cases are reviewed and resolved on spot.  Feedback from people is also discussed and due reforms are implemented.  Matters related to simplifications of forms and procedures are also discussed and acted upon in these meetings. 

Formal e-Governance Training The Collectorate has supported the initiatives of local ITIs( Industrial Training Institutes which are vocational training institutes) to offer special courses to prepare the work force for e-Governance. 

Extended Hours of Operation The Jan Seva Kendra at Gandhinagar remains open 7 days a week and even on government holidays.  The services are offered from 9:30 AM in the morning to after 6:30 PM in the evening.  The several government employees at Gandhinagar take advantage of the extended hours to submit their applications after their office time.