22 June 2024 : Daily Answer Writing

Q1) Citizen’s Charter is the most important cog in the wheel of citizen centric governance. In the light of this statement, discuss various challenges in the successful implementation of citizen charter.

ANS

Citizen’s Charter is a document of government commitments to public w.r.t. services provided or to be provided to them. Its basic objective is to make administration citizen centric and empower citizens by bridging information gap and make governance transparent, accountable and citizenfriendly.

However, Indian experience shows that Citizen’s charters have become a virtual dead letter with pious statements of intention, reasons being:

1. Poor design: Unclear vision, absence of critical information, poor definitions, lack of grievance redressal mechanisms etc. make charter almost useless for public. Measurable standards of delivery are rarely defined.

2. Lack of awareness: Inadequate publicity, complex terminologies, illiteracy etc. make citizen charter unknown to public.

3. Lack of statutory support: Citizen’s Charters are not supported by any law and are thus nonjusticiable, making it mere formality.

4. Lack of consultation: Stakeholders like end-users, civil society organizations, field-level officers and NGOs are not consulted when charters are drafted.

5. Lack of periodic review: Charters are not updated regularly, making it a one-time exercise with no change over decades.

6. Linguistic gap: Most charters are prepared either in English or Hindi with very less emphasis on translation in vernacular language. Even translated charters contain linguistic errors, creating confusion.

7. Inadequate grievance redressal: Details of public grievance officer are not provided in many charters.

Citizen’s charters need transformation in terms of content, design and objectives. Following are the changes suggested for the same:

1. Clear vision statement: Citizen’s Charter should carry a clear statement of vision framed after an open and consultative process, involving all stakeholders.

2. Specification of time-frames: There should be a clear commitment about time-frame for service delivery and grievance redressal.

3. Specification of quality standards: Charter must indicate the specific quality standards to which organization is committed. This will enable citizens to keep the organization accountable.

4. Information about processes to access services: Efforts must be made to translate charter in local language. Charter must provide information about procedures involved in obtaining the service and facilitates the citizen to obtain it.

5. Grievance redressal: Charter should encourage the citizens to put forward their grievances, and organizations should aspire to redress these in a time-bound manner. Charter should clearly lay down the grievance redressal procedures.

In addition to above measures some of the best practices can be followed. For instance, Sevottam model of postal department can be replicated in other departments. This will make Citizen’s Charters an effective document for good governance