Governments at Central, state and partly at local levels are facing challenges posed by increased demand for better quality of governance. While the developed world and some Asian countries have moved very quickly, India continues to lag behind in meeting the increasing levels of citizen expectations. The massive population growth, diversity of cultures, acute poverty and high illiteracy create numerous difficulties in delivery mechanisms of government services. The existing processes of service delivery and governance need to be improved. E-Governance has been recognised as a vital force for transfonnational improvement in quality, efficiency and effectiveness of governance. A governance strategy driven by information and communication technology has to be developed and applied with the objective of bringing in more transparency and increased accountability. Successful leveraging of e-govemance opportunities, however, involves many factors which include human capital, financial resources, well-directed initiatives, leadership intent, administrative structural changes and citizen awareness.
The importance of citizen feedback on public services can never be undermined. However, for many public service organisations, citizens’ feedback is the least of the priorities. Technology has not only helped in improving public service delivery but also the feedback part of it. This article highlights the importance of feedback in the context of public service delivery. It also identifies the challenges faced in implementing feedback systems, besides highlighting critical success factors. Further, it has been discussed how online feedback systems have transformed the way citizens interact with public authorities. This article also discusses the Rapid Assessment System (RAS), which is a generic technology-enabled platform for seeking real-time citizen feedback on public services.
In the current phase of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, and now broadly governance, regulatory administration has acquired growing importance as an instrument of achieving socio-economic objectives. It is through instrumentality of regulatory administration that the government is able to exercise effective political and economic sovereignty and control over the country’s governance process and resources. Governments of nearly all developing countries have initiated policies and procedures to promote and strengthen regulatory bodies and agencies. However, the results of these promotional and regular activities have varied considerably, often reflecting large inadequacies in policies, organisational structures and procedures. Increasing emphasis is now being placed at the national level on a more flexible regulatory administration to enforce compliance with nationally established policies and requirements in various political, economic and social spheres. As a watchdog for the public interest, governments both at central and state levels should engage in activities for the promotion of social and economic justice, so as to ensure the happiness and prosperity of the people.
Bene.fit •Transfer (DBT) is a relatively new concept in India. The service delivery mechanism under DBT has received a mixed response. There arises a need to ascertain as to which factors are important for making public service delivery DBT successful. A research consisting of both exploratory and descriptive phases was undertaken to identify factors differentiating among satisfactory and unsatisfactory beneficiaries of social pensions in Chandigarh. Data collected from 125 respondents was analysed using a step-wise Discriminant Analysis method. The study has highlighted certain crucial points which the policy makers need to keep in mind while designing a DBT-based benefit transfer system. These are long queues at the time of disbursement, ease of biometric usage, and advance information on pension disbursement. The .findings could be used by other States and UTs undertaking similar DBT initiatives for creating an effective public service delivery mechanism.
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