Advent of information economy in remote parts of India

Author : Kumar M Tiku and Neeraja Kulkarni
Date added : 2003-09-26

Brief Project Background

Jan Mitra, or a “friend of the public” is part of Government of India - UNDP project on “Improving Citizens’ Access to Information” which commenced activities in 2001.

This project was formulated in recognition of the need for a more open regime with freer access to information with a view to empowering citizens, making administration more participatory, ensuring greater transparency, and deterring the arbitrary exercise of official power.

Against the backdrop of the Right to Information Acts passed in several states in India in recent years, and the Union Freedom of Information Act, this has been a phase of learning for all the stakeholders on the issue of Access to Information. This project and allied initiatives have been timely interventions aiming to add value to the learning process on the issue of access to information through a multi-pronged strategy:

- Through the sensitization, re-orientation and capacity building of government officials to the issue of freedom of information that would enable a change from a culture of secrecy to one of openness.

- By supporting re-engineering of prevailing systems, which now have to respond more swiftly to the demand for information, which in turn might benefit from computerization and improvements in the records management system.

- By creating and increasing the awareness of citizens, and building their capacity to make reasonable demands for information. Efforts for these could be greatly strengthened by forging partnerships, facilitating discussion and inclusion of diverse points of view from a range of stakeholders such as the media, NGOs, consumer rights/ research institutions and the academia.

- Providing support to an enabling legal and institutional environment, within the framework of which all the above efforts would be attempted.

Jan Mitra in the rural district of Jhalawar, Rajasthan, characterized by low literacy, is one of the six disparate locations chosen for piloting ICT-based Access to Information initiatives under this project. The other locations are: Mandya in Karnataka, Bhuj & Panchmahal in Gujarat, Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh, and Kalahandi in Orissa.

Results

Bhawani Mandi, India-It is past 9:30 p.m. in this small border town in the Jhalawar district of the picturesque state of Rajasthan, best known for its orange, opium and coriander fields. The town is asleep and the shops are long closed, save the lone information kiosk that closes only after 10 pm.

The kiosk is run by Ritesh Pandey, a local youth who received the franchise to set up the Jan Mitra information kiosk under the Government of India-UNDP initiative that has piloted the use of information technology for improving citizens' access to information pertaining to government services in some of the most remote parts of the country.

After a hard day's grind, Raju Mali steps into the kiosk. Mr. Mali, in his mid-thirties is slightly built and looks weary. He has stopped by the kiosk, having seen the sign-board that announces in detail the whole gamut of government services that are available at the info-kiosk. One such service that catches Mali's eye and is immediately relevant to him concerns a land title certificate issued to the villagers.

"My father died a year ago and I have not managed so far to have the property transferred in accordance with his will," Mr. Mali tells the kiosk owner. "You know how it is at the district office. We go all the way and find ourselves at the mercy of the clerk who seldom helps, and almost never without a consideration," Mr. Mali says. "I am a lowly electrician in a textile mill and am hired on a daily wage arrangement. I cannot afford to waste a full day being sent back and forth between sundry government offices, without much hope that my job will be done. But can you help in any way?" Mr. Mali asks with a look of hopelessness and incredulity.

Mr. Pandey, the kiosk-owner, is a consummate information retailer. He shows Mr. Mali the on-line application form and promises that the transfer certificate will be issued to him in seven days. All at a fee of ten rupees (20 cents, US) only. Mr. Mali's first look is one of disbelief but after further explanation, Mr. Mali is convinced and ready to use the facility.

For Mr. Pandey, it has not been a bad day. His turnover for the day: a decent Rupees 150 or slightly over three dollars. Most of this income comes from helping regular people access government-related information.

Pravin Soni, another kiosk owner in Bhawani Mandi, says most people’s complaints deal with such Government services as power supply, pensions and land dispute resolution. Most are attended to with alacrity. In one incident, the manager of the local cooperative bank made an on-line complaint against the electricity board to clear the loose high-tension wiring over his house that was exposing his entire family to imminent risk. He had personally petitioned the officials on a number of occasions, without success. But once he registered the on-line complaint, the wires were fixed within three days.

The speedy grievance redressal has been a big ticket success story under the Jan Mitra initiative, which currently has 28 info-kiosks up and running, with the number expected to go up to 40 by the year’s end.

Within a relatively short span of time, the Jan Mitra initiative has been able to create demand for government services among a section of the population and even managed to deliver a fraction of these services at their doorstep. In remote and chronically under-served parts of Jhalawar, the border district of Rajasthan in the foothills of the Aravalis, notorious for its isolation from the mainstream - the nearest railhead is still a good 45 kilometres away -- the seemingly non-descript Jan Mitra village information ‘shops’ are reviving people’s faith in the system by, what most villagers reckon, for the first time facilitating their access to the government. In a region with high levels of income and human poverty, an abysmal state of village roads, chronic scarcity of drinking water supply and erratic, insufficient and poor quality of electricity, it is remarkable how, in village after village, Jan Mitra is heralding the arrival of an incipient knowledge economy. From registration of births, deaths and land records, to grievance redressal, to the submission of on-line applications for a clutch of government schemes and services, to even getting examination results, each e-service comes with its price-tag.

Jan Mitra is being implemented by the Jan Mitra Society headed by the District Collector. The Society consists of the Governing, Advisory and Technical Committees, to manage various aspects of the project. Kiosk operators are mandated to provide certain services of public interest, such as information on BPL families, development schemes and that pertaining to hygiene and health, free of charge. The nominal price for other services is determined by the Society, and typically includes the cost of providing it (electricity, internet connectivity, print outs) plus a small mark up for the kiosk operator.

The villagers are not only not paying up happily, but actually counting their savings in terms of time and effort. It is clear as daylight that what they are enjoying the most, however, is the freedom from an unhappy past associated with the excesses of the Babu (a term loosely used to define every form of the local official) and the red tapism that the Babudom has came to represent for that man on the street.

A combination of administrative reforms and information-technology is marching hand-in-hand in several pockets of India including some of the least developed regions such as Jhalawar in Rajasthan. With the State Government's energetic efforts to bring governance closer to the people through initiatives like subdistrict development fairs and grievance redressal fora to deal with people’s government-related problems on-the-spot, the Access to Information project using the IT-enabled information kiosk approach marks a huge leap forward in bridging the chasm between local administration and the end-users of service delivery.

Lessons

The project illustrates that Access to Information is a cross-cutting issue with tremendous potential as it holds the key to a range of other rights and opportunities, and can therefore be applied to address a host of development issues.

The early success however has not lulled the implementing partners into a false sense of complacency. There is realization that for the long-term viability and sustainability of the project constant updating of information would be necessary. Also, back end computerization, and linkages with all relevant Government departments would be required.

An innovative, grounds-up approach to the use of ICT for development, the initiative offers lessons in public-private partnerships for micro-entrepreneurship development at the grass-roots level.

The profile of users of the ICT-kiosks shows that women have hardly been using the services. This is a cause for concern, as this facility is expected to provide cost-free information on socially relevant issues such as health and hygiene, and on subjects such as reproductive health and family planning. Considering the socio-economic society in which the initiative is based, this is not surprising. However, efforts in this direction are being renewed and redirected: it has been proposed that a beginning could be made by setting up a kiosk run by a woman entrepreneur, which would encourage women to access the services.

Development Impacts

For a project that has barely completed a year, it might be a bit premature to assume that the success of the early days is automatically here to stay.

Nevertheless, one can unhesitating say that the project has led to a paradigm shift in terms of the way in which people are accessing information. It has no doubt heralded the advent of an information economy in a seemingly unlikely place. It has created a livelihood opportunity for the unemployed youth, and will also inspire and encourage people to undertake training in the usage of computers.

Dug, Jhalawar: Dug is a sleepy backward-caste village deep inside Jhalawar, some 120 kilometres from the district headquarters and over 500 miles south-east off Jaipur, the state capital of Rajasthan.

Scene One: Maqsood Alam Gori, a 25-year-old local lad, together with his two younger brothers, runs the Jan Mitra kiosk and a range of other IT-enabled services under the banner of the Divine Computer Institute. Training village high-school children in basic computer skills is big on his agenda and by far the biggest money spinner for the brothers. They keep a hawk's eye on software training schemes for poor that the State and Central governments either sponsor or subsidise, bidding for the schemes and lining up an ever-expanding customer base. Gori, a computer techie, proudly claims to be the first applicant under the Jan Mitra scheme. After being selected by the 'tough' interview committee to run the information kiosk, Gori, along with the score-odd other young entrepreneurs who were selected, received an intensive seven-day training that equipped him with a full knowledge of the customised Jan Mitra software as well as the functioning of various government departments. The kiosk finally got going around August last year.

The boys, exuding a sense of genuine achievement, declare the info-kiosk a runaway success for them. Services such as certificates for land records are a big hit among the villagers as is the on-line grievance redressal system and the on-line application forms that allow people to pitch for dozens and dozens of poverty-alleviation schemes that the villagers earlier did not even know existed.

Jan Mitra is a win-win situation for all. The self-employed are able to expand the menu of services they can provide to their customers, while improving their own prospects and gaining tremendous self-confidence. The average citizen gains on several counts: he saves time, effort and also money, because he is spared repeated visits to a distant office which would have meant incurring transport costs, and loss of wages. The Government is able to “virtually” reach out and come closer to the citizens without physically having to do so, which would have meant financial overheads.

And apart from the obvious short-term gains to all concerned, it marks the first step forward in the evolution of democratic governance - making it more participatory, responsive and transparent.

Dug, Jhalawar, Scene Two: A development fair on the eve of India's 57th Independence Day is in progress, where hundreds of people from nearby villages have assembled under a tent. The open forum, for that is what such fairs are meant to be, is being attended by the highest elected legislator from the local constituency, the woman head of the village cluster, high-level civil servants such as the Divisional Commissioner and the district collector, flanked by government officials from every development-related department who have set up counters to attend to people's complaints. Many of the villagers are busily dealing with the concerned officials to have their pending cases solved under the benign eye of the higher authorities.

After disbursing small loans and revolving credit facility to local self-help groups and a variety of socially, economically and physically disadvantaged groups for small business activity, the district collector, the senior-most district-level official, makes a surprising announcement: "In less than two weeks from today, we will take decentralisation many steps forward by disbanding the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) and devolving funds, functions and functionaries related to 16 departments and 29 subjects -- public health engineering, irrigation, public works, elementary education, fisheries, agriculture, soil conservation, women and child development, to name a few -- to the Zilla Parishad (the district-level elected body headed by the elected district head and administered by a senior government civil servant). This is being done so that you could make better use of the government schemes and programmes for your own development. Indeed, in the days to come make your own development plans for the village".

As the assembled crowd cheers lustily, the collector adds with measured effect, "Did you know we have brought the government to your doorstep by setting up Jan Mitra, the village information centre where most and if not all your development information needs will be met." It is a great occasion to market the info kiosks to the local population and the collector has seized the opportunity with both hands.

The above scene, encouraging by itself, probably masks the more profound changes that lie beneath the surface.

Clearly, there is evidence of Government officials realizing and embracing their new role, and recognizing the emergence of citizens as equal partners in the development process. This would surely have been a long and uncomfortable journey for the officials - from being in a superior position of unquestionable authority - to one of client-orientation, transparency and answerability.

Also evident is the fact that citizens are shedding their former servile attitude and seeking information with confidence (and wonder!) and are able to access government services and schemes, and the opportunities these could open up.

The ICT kiosk, by bringing public services closer to the citizens, restores their faith in the government machinery, and by allowing them access to information, opens several windows of opportunity, thereby laying a sound foundation for the process of their empowerment.

The effects of the advent of the information economy give room for hope that the stage has been set for citizens to evolve not only in their personal capacity, but also as development actors who would be able to contribute to building a better tomorrow.

Project Information

Organisation : United Nations Development Programme
Total budget in US$ : $75,000 approx.
Country of activity: India [IN]

Are there any partners involved : Department of Personnel and Training of the Government of India; Government of Rajasthan; United Nations Development Programme

Contact Information

Kumar M Tiku and Neeraja Kulkarni
kumar.tiku@undp.org and neeraja.kulkarni@undp.org
55, Lodi Estate, New Delhi , India, 110 003, New Delhi, + 91-11-24628877

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