Blog Post Year: 2018

Aadhaar in Public Service Delivery: Enabler or Disruptor?

This is the sixth part of an eight-part series on the challenges and life hacks in experiencing and accessing government benefits and services. 

The recent push by successive governments towards a digital, transparent and more efficient public service delivery system in India is praiseworthy, notable for its focus on harnessing the power of technology to bring about social change.

But are we really ready for the massive overhaul that we seem to be moving toward? Accounts from a survey of Aadhaar Based Biometric Authentication (ABBA) efforts, conducted by student volunteers and researchers across 5 states in the country in 2016, to assess the implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) seem to suggest otherwise.

Evidence, both empirical and anecdotal, points towards several implementation gaps and lacunae at the ground level, despite a concerted government-led push to promote Aadhaar as a panacea to cure public service delivery systems. These gaps, mainly at the level of institutionalising Aadhaar, can be attributed largely to logistical and infrastructural issues.

Radha Devi*, a resident of a small village in Satna (one of the most backward districts of Madhya Pradesh, with a sizeable chunk of the population living below the poverty line) recounted with horror the many obstacles her family had to overcome to get their Aadhaar cards made in order to access their entitlement of 35 kg ration under the Antodyaya category of the NFSA.

To begin with, sometime last year, all residents of the village were told in a gram sabha meeting that having an Aadhaar card was mandatory under the new NFSA rules. Without this card existing ration cards would get cancelled, SAMAGRA IDs would be invalidated, and ultimately families would be unable to purchase grain from the fair price shop. This was closely linked with the introduction of new Point-of-Sale (PoS) machines, which were technically advanced enough to facilitate fingerprint recognition in order to avoid any duplication or identity fraud under the Public Distribution System (PDS).

The first difficulty was applying for the Aadhaar cards itself. Because of the hilly and rocky terrain, the registration camp was not set up in Radha Devi’s village, and all residents were advised to go to the nearest district centres to get enrolled – a fair 13 km walk over the other side of the mountain. Radha Devi and her family visited this camp on three separate occasions before they were finally able to enrol for their card. The loss in wage while a mere inconvenience in the eyes of the state, meant one less meal for her family for each day.

Another issue was Radha Devi’s husband’s calloused hands (because of work on his farm), which the biometric system was unable to recognise, resulting in registration issues. Well-meaning (and also impatient) villagers in the line suggested everything from Vaseline to coconut oil, and even scaling the top layer of his skin in order to proceed. Fortunately, Manoj was able to record his details without inflicting any physical harm to himself, and was fifth time lucky in getting his information uploaded.

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Nonetheless, getting enrolled turned out to be only the tip of the iceberg. On the day of the visit to the PDS shop for collecting ration, the PoS machine did not match his prints, or his wife’s, and it was their 8 year old son Munna who was finally called to step in and match his prints, so that the family could finally purchase grain.

Further, Radha Devi’s village also does not have access to any internet or mobile towers, and the entire village still relies on a crooked red landline phone in the Sarpanch’s house to receive calls. While many own a mobile, they must walk a kilometre or two outside to receive a signal. As a result of this, even though the PoS machine did not need an active internet connection to operate, the uploading and seeding of data, updates and changes to family IDs, Aadhaar details etc. required the dealer to physically take the machine out of the village. The entire process of data uploading takes a week or more at the beginning of the month. Radha Devi spoke of how this led to frequent delays in receiving ration entitlements, along with disruptions at the time of sale, most notably due to “Invalidated SAMAGRA IDs” – the government IDs that became dysfunctional due to incorrect or mismatched seeding of Aadhaar numbers.

A final issue was the addition and deletion of new members in the family’s ration cards. While earlier all births and deaths were recorded in the Panchayat register in an on-the spot manner, (sparking nonetheless concerns over efficiency and corruption), the technological advancements under Aadhaar have raised a completely new set of issues. As most villagers continue to be illiterate, unable to operate computers or make changes online, this has resulted in a parallel economy of “technical middlemen” who charge a “small fee” to “assist” the villagers in the process to update their details.

A peculiar case is also that of young kids below the age of 5, where even the government policies and state rules seem to vary from area to area. Previous research has indicated the futility of enrolling infants in the Aadhaar database, given how their fingerprints are still developing, but the iron fisted bureaucratic diktats around this scheme have ensured that such orders of “universal seeding” are being complied with nonetheless, or resulting in revoked entitlements.

The problem ultimately, with Aadhaar, may not be one of intent (though its’ potential for misuse remains high), but at a more basic level of the sheer incapacity of the state system to tackle implementation issues. The shift to a digital and technology-dependent public service delivery system is perhaps imminent, and even unavoidable, but before jumping on the technological bandwagon, a more comprehensive SWOT analysis of the state machinery and conditions in the hinterland, which holds more than 75% of India’s 1.2 billion population may be in order?

It is important for one to keep in mind that the ultimate goal of a welfare state is to facilitate access to rights of the people – if the very force intended to do so ends up acting as a disruptor, then a reassessment of its’ modalities, strategy for implementation, and need to strengthen more fundamental necessities may be warranted as a precondition.

*Name has been changed to protect identity.

Bridging gaps between citizens and the bureaucracy – Part 1

This is the seventh part of an eight-part series on the challenges and life hacks in experiencing and accessing government benefits and services. 

Since the last two months we have been sharing stories  of common citizens who attempted to avail rightfully owed benefits and services with varying degrees of success.  Each story is set in a unique context but a couple of common issues unite these experiences. In this blog I will discuss two themes that kept emerging in the previous posts and how these affect both citizens and bureaucrats.

Issue 1: Digital illiteracy in Digital India   

Public services are being digitised across all states in India. Telecommunication networks are expanding and internet connectivity is improving but digital literacy is still in its infancy. Even if people have the access and skills to navigate the internet, they may still feel stuck because text on many of the government websites is in English and not in regional languages.

In one of our blogs about water woes in Delhi, we learnt that in the absence of knowledge around how to access or apply for a drinking water pipeline, locals invariably turned to local politicians. All the information, however, is available on the Delhi Jal Board website, but the locals were not computer literate nor did they have ready access to internet facilities.  In my blog, I shared the story of a man who also happened to be computer illiterate and had no access to necessary resources to access services. In his struggle to get his daughter admitted to a private school under the Economically Weaker Section quota, he ended up relying heavily on his employer’s goodwill to help him get critical information at all stages, apply for admissions and also lodge his grievance – all done online.

Among other issues raised in the blog on challenges around the effective implementation of Aadhaar in a village in rural Madhya Pradesh, the rise of technically sound middle-men who charge a small fee to ‘help’ out village folk was a major one. They make use of these intermediaries when they need to access or update their registered online information.

The cost of digital illiteracy is partially borne by bureaucrats themselves. Officers spend a disproportionate amount of time dealing with the public on a daily basis over petty matters.

The cost of digital illiteracy is partially borne by bureaucrats themselves. Officers spend a disproportionate amount of time dealing with the public on a daily basis over petty matters. This could be easily resolved if citizens are digitally literate and the content on these websites is available in regional languages. This would free up bureaucrats’ time and allow them to focus on their core tasks, and also directly address the next issue.

Issue 2: Grief around grievance redressal

Are grievance redressal mechanisms just an added layer of bureaucracy which must be tackled before one is to access services or benefits? This is one question that the reader may be left with after reading the blogs in this series. 

We describe how a man from Bihar ended up organising a protest to grab the Department’s attention to the issue of the people who were not getting their due rations under the Public Distribution System. He and his compatriots took this extreme step after the Department officials continued to ignore their formal complaint which was lodged earlier with the Food & Consumer Protection Wing. Their efforts bore fruit but raised questions around the efficacy of having the grievance redressal wing in the first place.

Back in Delhi, calling on the Delhi Jal Board helpline and lodging formal complaints with the Department to access drinking water pipelines prove to be a dead-end for the area’s locals. Water tankers continued to provide water in this area and that too of substandard quality (this was a stop gap arrangement made by the efforts of their MLA, according to the locals). After repeated attempts at seeking redress, the locals seem to have accepted this as their fate.

In a third instance, the Education Department in Delhi set up its grievance redressal portal for issues around EWS admissions (portal is entirely in English though). The applicant got a response within a week’s time which was very helpful. But one doesn’t know if the speed with which the government responded was an indicator of the Department’s general efficiency and rate of responsiveness or to the fact that education (and admissions under the EWS quota in particular) is an area of political focus.

When a query is filed under the RTI Act, the inquirer gets a time-bound response because departments are legally bound by the Act. This is not the case with most grievance redressal mechanisms.

In another blog we explored how important the Right to Information Act has become to get the state to respond to citizen’s queries. A man filed RTI applications upon pre-empting an issue in his area. The state responded within 30 days as it is legally bound to do so under the Act. There was backlash against his RTI ‘activism’ but he ultimately got the right officials to address the problem before it escalated.

When a query is filed under the RTI Act, the inquirer gets a time-bound response because departments are legally bound by the Act. This is not the case with most grievance redressal mechanisms. The draft of the Right of Citizens for Time Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill, 2011 continues to languish in Parliament. The status and efficacy of various state level grievance redressal mechanisms can and should be questioned. The time is ripe to carry out research into how complaints submitted on various grievance redressal portals are processed, and where the bottlenecks lie. 

In part two of this blog (and the last one in this series), we will sum up the “hacks” applied by the protagonists in this series, and way forward to address the issues discussed above.     

Bridging Gaps Between Citizens and the Bureaucracy – Part 2

In the previous blog, I highlighted two of the common themes emerging from stories shared with you over the last two months:

  • Digital illiteracy and access to internet facilities were keeping ordinary citizens from accessing vital information – ranging from filling up forms, making official changes to information that had been previously furnished to filing grievances.
  • Weak grievance redress mechanisms.

In the face of these hurdles, these proactive citizens applied the following ‘hacks’ upon facing trouble in accessing public services or rightfully due benefits.    

Hack #1: Directly contacting the MLA or other local politicians to get the job done.

This enabled a water-deprived community in Delhi to access water tankers (even though the water quality is poor and drinking water pipelines are still a distant dream).

Hack #2:  Seeking the intervention of the employer or other privileged folks in the vicinity to share their internet password and their computer. An English-speaking, digitally literate person’s services were needed to help navigate government websites.

It got a girl admitted to a private school in Delhi under the Economically Weaker Section quota. In the unfortunate situation where the requisite resources were in short supply, like in the case of some families in rural MP who were trying to access/modify their Aadhaar information, middle-men arranged this at a fee.

Hack #3: Organising a protest.

In Bihar, when no one in the concerned department was paying attention to formal requests, aggrieved people gathered for a protest. The local administration took action thereafter when the individual’s formal complaints regarding not receiving full rations were taken lightly.  

Hack #4: Filing RTI applications along with the original request.

There is an obvious caveat here. The applicant must first know how to file an RTI application. (Hacks 1 and 2 are applicable in this case as well!) Administrators are legally bound to move and respond to queries within 30 days.  Simultaneously the original request seems also to get the attention it deserves; something that may have otherwise taken an indefinite amount of time owing to a generally weak commitment to the idea of time-bound service delivery in India. We saw this in action in Himachal Pradesh where a citizen, upon anticipating a public order issue, promptly filed RTI applications to get the right officials to address the matter before it exploded.   

For a developing country like India which is marching down the good governance and e-governance path, it is not enough to simply create the policies and advertise using traditional means. The State must step in to create the demand for the same.

Moving towards long-term solutions

I must apologise in advance in case the readers found these unorthodox “solutions” unsatisfactory. The thing is that we shouldn’t be in a position where we have to resort to short-cuts or round about ways to access basic services! It belies the whole point of “efficient” service delivery and only increases a sense of mistrust and cynicism towards civic bodies. But unfortunately, this is the status quo even in this day and age of e-governance.

The administration on its part, in tandem with political players, is moving in the right direction, albeit slowly. For instance, in the case of admissions under the Economically Weaker Section quota in Delhi, the State Government has made headway by heavily advertising about the quota and admission process in the last two years, volunteer booths were set up to help families fill up admission forms across Delhi, there is a detailed FAQ about EWS admissions on the Education Department’s website in Hindi and English. A video in Hindi explaining how to fill the admission form step by step exists, and parts of the admission form itself are in Hindi. What stopped those involved from fully translating the form in Hindi is still a mystery, but the larger point is that we can see progress.

While resolving the twin challenges of improving access to IT resources and spreading digital literacy will require several more years, there are some things that the State can do in the medium to short term to bridge the last mile access gap. For a developing country like India which is marching down the good governance and e-governance path, it is not enough to simply create the policies and advertise using traditional means. The State must step in to create the demand for the same.

One way to do this could be by setting up internet kiosks for the public to freely access information or apply to avail various public services. Text on websites should be readable in regional languages. Short, informative videos can be put up on websites that communicate the same information as text, for wider reach. Governments should crack down on ‘technical middle men’ who are exploiting the gap in demand and supply. Finally, audits should be conducted to assess the efficiency of user-friendly government websites, and the efficiency of existing department-level grievance redress mechanisms.

In the meanwhile, it is incumbent on us as the citizens of this country to seek out public officials and discuss possibilities of deepening and re-imagining our modes of engaging with the system.

The views shared belong to individual faculty and researchers and do not represent an institutional stance on the issue.

Discussion: The State of Aadhaar

Aadhaar is changing the way Indian residents interact with each other, the modern economy and government. The coverage of Aadhaar is increasing rapidly across India. However, for each of Aadhaar’s use-cases—whether it’s enabling bank account opening or authenticating a cash transfer—we do not have a clear understanding of the intended and unintended impacts of the use-case. Reports of exclusion from government programmes, for example, co-exist with contradictory reports of savings and reductions in corruption. 

On 21 July, Accountability Initiative hosted a discussion with IDInsight on the State of Aadhaar Report 2016-17. The report unpacks various topics related to Aadhaar. It also provides an overview of Aadhaar’s technological and operational architecture, legal and governance framework, and its applications in financial inclusion, social protection, and emerging uses in other sectors. The discussion was led by Ronald Abraham, Partner IDinsight, who shared some key findings.

Get a glimpse of the discussion here. You can also access the full discussion below. 

1. What is the State of Aadhaar

 

2. Key Questions Answered  

 

Why the Bureaucracy clicks, and doesn’t

A six week drought on the blogging front was not without its compensations; I wandered and connected with people and friends. One of the interesting conversations that I had was on social media groups of my former colleagues in the civil services and the IAS. Social media can be stressful and mind-numbing at its worst and the temptation to walk away is often high. My civil services and IAS group are exceptions, because there is always something to learn, some elevating thought that rises above the usual jokes and banter.

One of the conversations that developed well on these groups was about the successes that were achieved by some of our colleagues. I would not deny that most civil servants are fiercely competitive, driven by the fact that the pyramid narrows at the top, but my colleagues are genuinely generous in their praise of the achievements of others.

That brings me to Kurien.

Anybody who uses the International Airport in Kerala’s commercial capital Kochi, would notice that it is quite an unusual structure. While most airports sport an anonymous façade; of an industrial shed with ultra-luxurious embellishments, Kochi’s airport harmoniously integrates Kerala temple architecture with the needs of a busy airport. The furniture in the domestic terminal comprises cushioned sofas made of wood, which would be more at home in a living room than in a busy air terminal. And busy, it is. Kochi airport is now the fourth busiest international airport in the country in terms of number of international flights and the traffic handled, following Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

V.J. Kurien is the Managing Director of the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), the Company that owns and manages the airport. He is currently serving his third term as the Managing Director and his name is synonymous with the airport. The story goes that all you need to mention is Kurien’s name to the taxi drivers in Kochi and they will take you to his home, or office.

So how did it all start? From the start of his career, Kurien earned a name not only for his hard work, but for his capabilities as a bridging individual of high integrity. Kerala is not your typical Indian State and hierarchies don’t work too well. People regard leaders only on their intrinsic merit and there is little bowing and scraping to authority. That often means that decisions are delayed, because consensus should evolve beforehand. Ideas and projects, even good ones, cannot be stuffed down the average Malayali’s throat. Kurien’s affable nature, patience and persistence endeared himself to everybody as a team builder.

As district collector of Kochi district, Kurien tried to facilitate the expansion of the Naval airport, built on Willingdon Island, a manmade island in Kochi harbor. However, the project was not feasible, due to limited space. Kurien turned his attention further inland and conceived of the idea of building an airport that would be within striking distance of Kochi and Trissur. To overcome the constraints in financing, he proposed a model of public private partnership, with funding drawn from the considerable Keralite diaspora that would benefit from direct international flights into Kerala. However, it is was not easy to commence the project. People in Kerala are passionately attached to their land, and while they all recognised the need for an international airport, they feared loss of livelihood if they were dispossessed of their land. With its culture of mass movements, local opponents to an airport in their vicinity organised themselves well to prevent the project from taking off.    

Kerala is not your typical Indian State and hierarchies don’t work too well. People regard leaders only on their intrinsic merit and there is little bowing and scraping to authority.

Just when a stalemate seemed inevitable, Kurien was able to obtain the support of the local government in the area, the Nedumbassery Panchayat. Local leaders began to see the sense in the airport coming up in their area, as it would enhance property values. Furthermore, the airport assured all those who would lose their lands for the airport, not only adequate compensation, but also stable employment. The airport, contrary to other similar projects elsewhere, agreed to pay property tax to the Panchayat. None of this would have been possible if it were not for Kurien’s credibility as someone who strived for consensus and peoples’ participation in decisions for the common good.

I will continue the story of Kurien’s success next week.

Measuring People’s Thoughts, or Corrupt Transactions?

I ended my last blog by observing that questionnaires on corruption related surveys are often cut and paste jobs from earlier surveys, with little thought given to the particular context or environment in which a survey is proposed to be conducted. This is particularly harmful when attempting to measure corruption, because of wide ranging perceptions of which transactions constitute ‘corruption’, held by different cultures, legal systems and nations.

A researcher from Europe once observed in a panel discussion that I was part of, that there is a North/South divide in the definition of corruption. She averred that the distinction between ‘grand’ and ‘petty’ corruption is an artificial one created by the North and is, for the most part, applied to monitor behaviour in the South. There are double standards, she said. Therefore, anti-Corruption campaigns in the South single out relatively less harmful or merely dysfunctional behaviour in the South as ‘corruption’, when such acts are merely controversial in the North. Thus global corruption barometer surveys, comparison of civil society practices and such like, only reveal very broad trends across countries, she said, and could never provide solutions for reducing corruption, process by process.

That was quite a thought provoking statement for me, and took me back to understanding the value of what one had attempted to do, whilst running the ipaidabribe.com website.

For those who don’t know, I used to work in an NGO named Janaagraha that started a website named ipaidabribe.com, in 2010. For two years, I led the team that ran the site and played a key role in designing, rolling out and upscaling the efforts of the site. What the site did was to solicit experiences relating to corruption, from citizens, on a condition of anonymity.

Citizens’ reports were collected under three broad heads, namely, ‘I paid a bribe’, ‘I didn’t pay a bribe’ and ‘I did not have to pay a bribe’ (now named as ‘I met an honest officer’).

Apart from a drop-down menu that covered about 20 departments, 50 plus services and a column for indicating the volume of the bribe paid, the website did not prescribe any format for recording citizens’ experiences. People who logged into the site were able to write in as much detail as they wished. When public reports began to accumulate, we discovered that unstructured reporting had its advantages. People were writing in, describing their emotions when they paid the bribe. Those who successfully resisted corruption wrote in detail about the tactics that they used to beat corruption. Those who had the good fortune to meet an honest officer wrote in volubly about the honest attributes of these officers.

From the haze of the unstructured reports, trends and patterns began to emerge, once there were enough reports available for research. For example, from the multitude of reports – about 85 percent of all reports received – of people paying bribes, we began to recognise that those who paid bribes justified their action through reasoning that fell into a pattern. Most of those who paid bribes, felt a need for speed, which was tied to the idea of undertaking a process ‘conveniently’. Some paid because they were ignorant of processes and were unwilling to learn about them. They were taken in by misinformation by middlemen and agents. Many paid out of fear and nervousness, and even out of relief; they were generous when a major transaction in their lives were completed – such as the purchase of a flat – that they generously ‘tipped’ the government staff involved. Some paid in fear of justified, unjustified or excessive punishment. They were often persuaded by peers and mentors (Children who obtained driving licences said that their parents persuaded them to bribe, in order to avoid ‘trouble’).

The worst form of corruption was when people paid to avoid business loss, or paid for mutual benefit, to the detriment of the government’s interests – as in the case of undervaluation of properties to avoid payment of registration fees or property tax. Similarly, from the reports of those who successfully resisted corruption, we distilled 10 behaviour patterns or tactics that were effective in stopping the corrupt in their tracks. We termed these, the ‘Ten Commandments for Fighting Corruption’.

The emergence of patterns in why people paid bribes would not have happened if the crowdsourcing of reports was not through an unstructured manner. The very nature of ipaidabribe.com, as a forum where one could unburden oneself of one’s frustration and confusion at having been compelled to pay bribes, enabled the rich documentation of peoples’ emotional state while they paid bribes. From a survey standpoint, ipaidabribe.com probably unwittingly, stumbled upon the realisation that the indicators for corruption need not be structured, but they could themselves emerge through the process of crowdsourcing. Besides, because the site was a continuous collector of experiences, it enabled a real time monitoring of citizens expectations and experiences. It also had the potential to emerge as a tool by which those involved in process change could constantly obtain feedback on whether their reform efforts in cutting red tape or streamlining processes, were actually bearing fruit.

However, the question is whether the rich database in ipaidabribe.com was actually used to undertake a range of analyses that was possible. That is not for me to judge, but for users of the site. What is beyond doubt is that the potential of crowdsourcing as a survey methodology, remains as huge as it was, when the site was launched.

T R Raghunanadan, an advisor to the Accountability Initiative (AI) at Centre for Policy Research, is a pioneer on corruption work and was the programme head of the first website launched to address the issue called ipaidabribe.com. Understand corruption systemically; break down the different types of corruption and the various ways in which both the state and citizens can tackle it through this podcast. 

 

Empowering Grassroots Governance Institutions

Ever wondered how government initiatives such as the Swachh Bharat Mission are implemented at the village and district levels?

Accountability Initiative’s PAISA Survey tracks the plans, budgets, fund flows, and decision making systems of these schemes.

As a senior official in the Elementary Education Department of Purnia district, Bihar, puts it: ‘The flow of funds through various levels of the government is very similar to the flow of blood from the heart to the various parts of the body. If there is blockage somewhere, it affects the entire body, so in that regard PAISA studies do the work of a physician’.

In late 2016, Accountability Initiative, as part of the PAISA Dialogues, took the results of the survey back to the district-level bureaucracy in 5 key states. These states were Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

The objective of the PAISA Surveys and PAISA Dialogues have been to help find solutions to pressing challenges faced by ICDS, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)

Here are 3 reasons why this process has been so unique:

• The PAISA survey is the country’s largest citizen-led expenditure tracking survey. It is based on rigorous research methods that focus on making the government process in delivering these 3 critical social sector schemes transparent. Many citizen volunteers take part in this effort. Backed by solid research from the PAISA Survey, the PAISA dialogues thus act as a catalyst of change by sparking discussions with the bureaucracy on how implementation of the welfare schemes can be made stronger in their regions.

• Are the schemes reaching the intended beneficiaries: By identifying implementation bottlenecks and the reasons that are contributing to making the schemes weak, the PAISA survey also asks critical questions such as – does the present structure ensure government allocated benefits are reaching the people? If not, what are the challenges and who is accountable to make right?

• Finding solutions, where it counts: Governance has a complex structure in India, and consequently the answers to where the roadblocks lie are not always obvious or simple. By looking at this system and following a bottoms-up approach, the PAISA studies process helps find sustainable solutions.

‘For instance, when we do the PAISA dialogue, we first talk to the teacher, cluster and block officer and then go to the district magistrate or state project director. By doing so, we take suggestions from all of these people to the higher levels of government. That along with our research has a great impact,’ says Dinesh Kumar, a senior PAISA Associate in Bihar.

If there is blockage somewhere, it affects the entire body, so in that regard PAISA studies do the work of a physician.

To know more about the PAISA Dialogues click here. Interested in governance, public policy and decentralisation? Tell us what you think by leaving a comment below!

सूचना का अधिकार- एक पहलु यह भी…

This is the third part of an eight-part series on the challenges and life hacks in experiencing and accessing government benefits and services. 

वर्ष 2005 से सरकारी निकायों में समाज के लिए पारदर्शिता और जवाबदेही को बढ़ावा देने के मकसद से सूचना का अधिकार क़ानून एक शक्तिशाली उपकरण के रूप में उभरा है। इस कानून का मकसद सरकारी महकमों की जवाबदेही तय करना और पारदर्शिता लाना है ताकि भ्रष्टाचार पर अंकुश लग सके । हालांकि इस क़ानून का उद्देश्य काफी हद तक पूरा भी हुआ है । यह अधिकार आपको ताकतवर तो बनाता है लेकिन साथ में कई बार इस क़ानून से जुड़े ऐसे भी मामले सामने आते हैं जिसमें आवेदनकर्ता को मुख्य मुद्दे से भटकाने के प्रयास किये जाते हैं ।

मैं आज आपसे इसी विषय को लेते हुए अपने मित्र अरुण के साथ हुई एक वास्तविक घटनाक्रम को साझा कर रहा हूँ । अरुण पेशे से स्वयं का डेयरी फ़ार्म चलाते हैं । उनकी पत्नी गाँव के एक सरकारी विद्यालय में मध्याहन भोजन बनाने का काम करती हैं । इसके अलावा आमदनी का और कोई ठोस माध्यम नहीं है ।

यह बात 2 वर्ष पूर्व की है जब पंचायत प्रधान एवं उसके पति द्वारा एक सड़क गाँव से मुख्य सड़क तक जोड़ने के लिए बनायी जा रही थी । अरुण को सूचना मिली कि पंचायत प्रधान का पति JCB मशीन की मदद से एक सड़क बना रहा है । अरुण मौके का मुआयना करने गए तो उन्होंने देखा कि जिस जगह से सड़क निकाली जा रही थी वह एक सरकारी वन भूमि है और जिसमें कुछ पेड़ भी काटे जा रहे थे ।

अरुण ने मौके पर पहुंचकर इस कार्य के बारे में जानने के लिए प्रधान के पति से बातचीत करनी चाही जिसपर उसने अरुण को धमकाना शुरू कर किया और इस कार्य में हस्तक्षेप न करने की चेतावनी दी । अरुण को यह सब कुछ बहुत अजीब लग रहा था क्योंकि गाँव में पहले से ही सड़क मौजूद थी जो मुख्य सड़क को जोड़ती थी और इस सड़क के बनने के बाद भी मुख्य सड़क की दूरी केवल 1 किलोमीटर ही कम होनी थी तो ऐसे में इस सड़क को बनाने का क्या औचित्य था ? इन्ही सब सवालों के साथ अरुण ने जिला वन अधिकारी के नाम से एक आरटीआई दायर की जिसमें उन्होंने सूचना मांगी कि क्या वन विभाग को इस कार्य की जानकारी है ? यदि हाँ तो क्या मौके पर कार्य का निरिक्षण किया गया है और इसमें क्या-क्या कदम उठाये गए हैं ?

एक सप्ताह के बाद जिला वन अधिकारी द्वारा अरुण को फ़ोन आया जिसमें उन्होंने कहा कि इस कार्य की विभाग को कोई जानकारी नहीं है लेकिन मौके पर जाकर इसका निरिक्षण किया जायेगा और इस पर उपयुक्त कार्यवाई की जाएगी । इसी बीच सड़क निर्माण कार्य को भी रोक दिया गया ।

लगभग 1 महीने के बाद अरुण को जिला वन अधिकारी के दफ्तर से आरटीआई का जवाब और जुर्माना की गयी राशि की छायाप्रति प्राप्त हुई । इसके अनुसार उपरोक्त कार्य का निरिक्षण रेंज ऑफिसर और फ़ॉरेस्ट गार्ड द्वारा किया गया और पंचायत को दोषी मानते हुए उसके ऊपर 15000 रूपए का जुर्माना किया गया है । अरुण जवाब से संतुष्ट नहीं थे क्योंकि वह यह जानते थे कि इस कार्य में बहुत नुकसान हुआ है अतः जुर्माना भी अधिक होना चाहिए था । अरुण को सूत्रों से पता चला कि जिला वन अधिकारी एवं महिला पंचायत प्रधान आपस में रिश्तेदार हैं । अरुण को समझ आ रहा था कि इस वजह से ये लोग क़ानून को ताक पर रखकर अपनी मनमर्जी कर रहे हैं जिसमें ये सभी आपस में बराबर एक दूसरे के संपर्क में थे । अरुण ने इसके बाद वन विभाग के चीफ कन्सर्वेटर अधिकारी के नाम से आरटीआई दायर की जिसमें उन्होंने पिछले आवेदन एवं जिला वन अधिकारी द्वारा दी गयी जानकारी को संलग्न किया । अरुण ने अधिकारी से इस पूरे प्रकरण की पुनः जांच करने का अनुरोध किया ।

कुछ दिनों के बाद चीफ कन्सर्वेटर अधिकारी ने स्वयं अरुण को फ़ोन करके इस कार्य कि जांच कराने का आश्वासन दिया और भरोसा दिलाया कि यदि इसमें किसी भी प्रकार की अनियमितता पायी गयी तो इसमें लिप्त दोषियों के खिलाफ कड़ी कार्यवाई की जायेगी ।

इस बीच एक रात अरुण को अपने घर की गौशाला में बहुत तेज आग की लपटें दिखाई दीं । बाहर आकर अरुण ने आग बुझाने का प्रयास किया लेकिन आग की लपटें इतनी तेज थीं कि काबू पाना मुश्किल हो रहा था ।  अरुण की पत्नी ने बहुत जल्दी से गाँव के कुछ लोगों को इकठ्ठा करके आग बुझाने की कोशिश की । 1 घंटे तक यह सब चलता रहा और काफी प्रयास करने पर अरुण और कुछ लोगों ने सभी तीन गायों को बाहर निकाला जो बुरी तरह से  झुलस चुकी थीं और उनमें से एक गाय की ज्यादा जलने से मौत हो गयी । अरुण ने गायों का इलाज करने के लिए डॉक्टर को बुलाया जिसमें डॉक्टर के अनुसार बची हुई गायें बहुत ज्यादा जलने की वजह से उन्हें ठीक होने में काफी समय लगना था । तीन दिन बीतने के बाद अरुण की एक और गाय ने दम तोड़ दिया । अरुण और उसका परिवार बुरी तरह से सदमे में थे और अरुण के मुताबिक़ उसे समझ आ रहा था कि इस सबके पीछे प्रधान के पति का ही हाथ था । लेकिन अरुण जानते थे कि प्रधान एवं उसके पति के आर्थिक रूप से अधिक संपन्न होने की वजह से वह इस सबमें ज्यादा कुछ साबित नहीं कर पाएंगे ।

कुछ दिनों के बाद वन विभाग के चीफ कन्सर्वेटर की ओर से अरुण को लिखित जवाब और सड़क कार्य में की गयी कार्यवाई वाला दस्तावेज प्राप्त हुआ । जिसके अनुसार पूरी जांच करने के बाद जिला वन अधिकारी एवं रेंज ऑफिसर और फॉरेस्ट गार्ड को इस पूरे प्रकरण में दोषी मानते हुए निलंबित कर दिया और उन पर  कुल 1 लाख रूपए का जुर्माना भी किया गया । जिस जगह से सड़क निकाली जा रही थी उसे बाड़ लगाकर सील कर दिया गया ।

अरुण आज भी डेयरी का ही काम करते हैं लेकिन इस पूरी घटना से अरुण की आर्थिक एवं मानसिक स्थिति पर कितना प्रभाव पड़ा इसका आकलन करना मुश्किल है ।

इस बात से कतई इन्कार नहीं किया जा सकता कि आरटीआई एक बहुत शक्तिशाली उपकरण के रूप में उभरा है लेकिन यह भी सच है कि इस क़ानून के अस्तित्व में आने के बाद से ही कई तरह की घटनाएं सामने आती रही हैं । अतः सरकार को यह शायद सुनिश्चित करने की आवश्यकता है कि जिस प्रकार आवेदनकर्ता को सूचना पाने का हक़ उसका अधिकार है, उसी प्रकार उसकी सुरक्षा के लिए भी इस कानून में संशोधन किया जाना परम आवश्यक है ताकि आवेदनकर्ता भयमुक्त होकर भ्रष्टाचार के खिलाफ अपनी लड़ाई लड़ सके ।

कुछ सुझाव…

आवेदनकर्ता को अंदेशा हो कि उसके जान-माल की हानि हो सकती है तो ऐसी स्थिति में:

  • वह जहाँ पर अपील कर रहा है वहीं के लिए एक अपनी तरफ से सचेत पत्र भी लिखे । इस पत्र में आवेदनकर्ता स्वयं एवं उन सभी व्यक्तियों के बारे में जानकारी साझा करे जिनसे उसे नुकसान होने की आशंका हो । पत्र की प्रतिलिपि जिला उपायुक्त, उप प्रभागीय न्यायाधीश एवं स्थानीय पुलिस अधिकारी के नाम से अवश्य करें
  • इस प्रकार के पत्र हमेशा रजिस्टर्ड पोस्ट द्वारा ही भेजे जाने चाहिए जिस पर कोई भी विभाग निश्चित रूप से ध्यान देते हैं
  • ऐसे किसी भी पत्र, शिकायत एवं अपील की एक कॉपी हमेशा अपने पास संभाल कर रखें ताकि समय आने पर वह काम आ सके
  • पूरी जानकारी एवं आवश्यक दस्तावेज अपने ख़ास विश्वासपात्र लोगों के साथ अवश्य साझा करने चाहिए ताकि यदि आवेदनकर्ता के ऊपर किसी प्रकार का कोई भी संकट आये तो वे लोग भी दृढ़तापूर्वक उसके पक्ष में अपनी बात रख सकें

Crafting a Meaningful Measure for Corruption: Some Suggestions

My last three blogs have been a critique of a recent study undertaken in India, which attempted to measure both the perceptions and incidence of corruption in India. As explained, the greater attention paid to perception of corruption rather than incidence, and the lack of enough samples to come to any definitive conclusions on the service-wise and state-wise incidence of corruption undermined the value of the Study.

That begs the question then; what would comprise a meaningful study of corruption?

The answer is not an easy one, as it commences with finding answers to another question; what are the boundaries of ‘Corruption’, itself?

These were some of my thoughts when I was invited a few years back, to attend a Workshop on ‘Global Governance by Indicators – Measuring Corruption and Corruption Indices’, conducted by the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. The circulated background note for the Workshop set the tone for the deliberations, as follows:

“The workshop on ‘Global Governance by Indicators – Measuring Corruption and Corruption Indices’ brings together scholars and policy-makers to promote mutual understanding and learning about the role of corruption indicators in evaluating global governance.

It focuses on the measurement of corruption as a phenomenon of political, institutional and social reality and practice that is not inherently “countable”. The measurement of this phenomenon heavily depends on more or less complex aggregations of indicators that construct a certain countable and measurable object. The choice of indicators to measure corruption may vary considerably according to the institutional, political and/or national contexts in which they are developed.

Notwithstanding these uncertainties, corruption indicators are influential. They exert formal or informal pressure on actors’ behaviour and policies, although in a manner and quality somewhat different to authoritative international policy or legal instruments. This particular characteristic directs the workshop’s attention towards important questions concerning the exercise of public authority at global governance level, including: the use of corruption indicators to measure compliance with international norms; legitimacy and accountability for the production of corruption indicators which generate ‘governance’ consequences; political steering and regulation as well as epistemic community-building, policy-learning and (expert) knowledge-sharing related to the measurement of corruption.”

The first sentence encapsulates all the difficulties associated with the task of measuring corruption; that it is not inherently ‘countable’. In spite of efforts to standardize the world view of what constitutes corruption, the legal codes of different countries define corruption differently. Furthermore, if corruption is a deviation from ethical standards, who sets those standards? Does not the social measurement of ethical standards vary considerably across societies? Clearly, therefore, measurement of corruption has to be based on ‘complex aggregations of indicators that construct a certain countable and measurable object’. Thus, indicators for corruption in surveys often trespass into the areas of larger good governance indicators that look at the wider landscape of sustainable development and sustainable public finance. Lastly, the choice of indicators is also driven by the impact desired from such surveys. Is it meant to improve the legal and formal standards, or to improve cultural and social standards through propelling and supporting civil society and raising awareness? 

I actually favour the former approach. To me, the value of a study that is primarily faced towards the government is higher than that focused on the people alone. The reason is that a government facing study lends itself better to double duty; it might have great lessons for public action, while something that is directed to raising awareness amongst the people might still be ignored by the government. A government facing study on corruption will also link back easier to the task of improving legal systems, law enforcement processes and government data collection and statistical systems. I also like the idea of scientific and scholarly critiques of indicators feeding back into the policy of making indicators. If we know more about how indicators are formulated, by whom and for what reasons, we will have a stronger focus on enforcement and end results. For example, a pointed set of studies on public procurements, focusing on critical sectors such as energy, mining, land, water, healthcare and pharmaceuticals, construction and infrastructure, engineering, telecommunications, IT, and financial services, banking and investments, will yield far more results than conducting a series of interviews with people to ascertain their views about corruption.

A mere ranking of States or processes on a scale of corruption does not per se improve anything, except providing grist to a media mill.

 

 

 

सच्चाई की जीत

This is the fourth part of an eight-part series on the challenges and life hacks in experiencing and accessing government benefits and services.

कुछ दिन पहले वैशाली जिला के एक पंचायत में अपने अधिकार कि मांग को लेकर ग्रामीण जनआंदोलन कर रहे थे | मुद्दा था, सार्वजनिक जन वितरण प्रणाली (PDS) योजना जो भारत और राज्य सरकार के संयुक्त सहयोग से वर्षो से चलाई जा रही थी | इस योजना से करोड़ो ऐसे परिवार (भूमिहीन कृषि मजदूरों,  रिक्शा चालकों) जिन्हें दो वक्त के खाने के लिए अनाज अत्यधिक रियाती दर पर उपलब्ध किया जाता था | सरकार संकल्पित है की प्रत्येक परिवार को उचित दर पर योजना का लाभ पहुचाया जाए | परन्तु जमीनी हकीकत कुछ और था , सरकारी दावे खोखले साबित हो रहे थे | अनाज पूरी तरह उपलब्ध नहीं हो पा रहा था |

पंचायत के कुछ सीमांत किसान और मजदूर राशन कार्ड लेकर सार्वजनिक वितरण प्रणाली केंद्र पर गए | जहां उन्हें उनके परिवार के लिए अत्यधिक रियाती दर 2 रु. प्रति किलो गेहूं और 3 रु. प्रति किलो चावल उपलब्ध कराया जाना था | PDS चलाने वाले डीलर उन्हें अनाज उपलब्ध करवाते थे | परन्तु जितने महीने का राशन उन्हें मिलना चाहिए था और जितना किलो मिलना चाहिए था उतना नही मिल पाता था | यह स्थिति वर्षो से चली आ रही थी | मजदुर और किसानों के द्वारा आवाज उठाए जाने पर भी कुछ असर नही हो रहा था |

हमेशा कि तरह जन वितरण प्रणाली (PDS) के संचालक के द्वारा उन्हें यह बाताया जाता था कि सरकार के द्वारा 12 महीना के लिए अनाज आवंटित नही किया जाता है | साथ ही साथ वजन में भी कम दिया जाता है | अत: संचालक आपको प्रत्येक महीना अनाज उपलब्ध नही करा सकता है | हमेशा की तरह वह व्यक्ति वजन में कम अनाज लेकर वापस अपने घर आ जाता था |

एक दिन वह लाचार और विवश मजदुर शिकायत लेकर (MO) प्रखंड आपूर्ति पदाधिकारी के पास गया | जहां उसे निराशा हाथ लगी | उसे जो संचालक के द्वारा बाताया गया था वही बाते  MO के द्वारा भी बताई गयी | इन्होने ने हार नहीं मानी| एक दिन पंचायत के सभी मजदुर मिलकर प्रखंड विकास पदाधिकारी के पास शिकायत लेकर गए , और लिखित शिकायत भी दी | उनके द्वारा किए गए शिकायत पर अमल नही होने के कारण वे सभी सड़क पर बैठ गए | PDS संचालक (डीलर) के खिलाफ जांच की मांग की | सड़क बंद हो जाने से आम से खास व्यक्ति तक की परिवहन व्यवस्था बाधित हो गई | जिसके कारण प्रशासन भी दहशत में आ गए थे |

प्रखंड विकास पदाधिकारी से लेकर जिला स्तर के पदाधिकारी तक को धरना स्थल पर पहुचना पड़ा | स्थिति ऐसी हो गई कि उस संचालक के खिलाफ जांच कि गई| धरना स्थल पर माहौल ऐसा बन गया कि प्रत्येक उपस्थित व्यक्ति के अंदर संचालक के प्रति आक्रोश और शिकायत के भंडार का चिट्ठा खुल गया |

जिला पदाधिकारी के द्वारा जाँच टीम बैठाई गयी | पारदर्शिता और जवाबदेही सुनिश्चित करने के लिए सार्वजनिक वितरण प्रणाली से संबंधित रिकॉर्ड सार्वजनिक करने के लिए सामाजिक लेखा परीक्षा और सतर्कता समितियां बनाई गयी । और अंत में जांच के बाद सबकुछ ठीक हो गया | इस प्रकार से संचालक के द्वारा प्रत्येक महिने उचित दर पर पक्के वजन के साथ अनाज उपलब्ध कराया जाने लगा |

नियमानुसार संचालक को प्रत्येक महिना प्रत्येक व्यक्ति को 5 किलो अनाज देना चाहिए | यदि किसी को प्राप्त नही होता है तो उसे प्रखंड या जिला में शिकायत निवारण केंद्र में शिकायत दर्ज कराना चाहिए | शिकायत दर्ज करने में कितनी ही दिक्कत क्यों न आए लेकिन आपका मुद्दा अगर सही है तो उस पर अमल जरुर होगा |