Transparency, hassle-free delivery of services and ease of application are the basic parameters of e-Governance. Digital India is the dream project and GoI is committed to making it successful all over India. The fact is it has transformed the meaning of services offered by Government offices. From provident funds to an Aadhaar card to any application, everything is in online mode. Jammu and Kashmir somehow missed the bus due to lockdown, more than a year post Article 370 due to the net ban and afterwards due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, LG Administration has taken the matter seriously and for the last few months focus is totally on implementing e-Governance in Jammu and Kashmir. There have been decisions and announcements to make offices paperless and the first step was to stop the practice of the ‘Annual Darbar Move’ of the Civil Secretariat, crores saved and administration is functioning smoothly as ever. Even meeting with officials in Civil Secretariat has been put online mode, no need to waste time visiting to get an appointment. Domicile Certificates have already been put on online mode and Date of Birth and Marriage Registration were the other two services put on online mode. But a few days back major historical administrative decisions had been taken, to have hundreds of services under the ambit of PSGA, a timeline fixed and no excuses for any delays, further LG Administration has directed to put all the services under the ambit of PSGA in online mode. January end was the deadline but now Chief Secretary has directed all offices to offer all services in online mode only, dream of Jammu and Kashmir Digital is finally a reality now. All these services have been put in automatic appellate mode also, if you delay the deliverance of services and automatic punitive action will be taken. All these decisions are historic, no doubt. Officials in incommunicado mode are no more welcomed, impinged explanations are no more accepted, and the departments have to deliver services on time or be ready for punitive action under the set law. All these decisions are to burgeon democracy, the public is prime, they have certain rights and officials have to facilitate the deliverance of those rights. Keen interest and repeated meetings by Chief Secretary are much appreciated and his efforts to ensure everything is being done as per the LG directives in a set time are going to make departments more responsive and accountable in the long run. Enough time has been given and all hiccups have to be sorted out now without further delay. The Chief Secretary has rightly asked departments to form a house task force in their respective departments to ensure there are no hiccups in the assured deliverance of services.
Enough time has been given and all hiccups have to be sorted out now without further delay. The necessary staff and experts have already been aligned, the software platform has been tested, and is being used all over India and running smoothly. Many of these services are integrated with the quality check and feedback-seeking mechanism of RAS and are also being onboarded on the digital portal of e-UNNAT, Service Plus and Digi-Locker for ease and free access to the general public. Wide publicity of online services is being initiated at every level but there must be an automatic mechanism in place to inform the applicant about the status of his/her application or otherwise applicants will again have to rush to respective offices for inquiry. Deluding tactics are not going to work now, perform or facing action is the new mantra, all Government offices are meant to serve the public in letter and spirit, and officials must understand this. The dreams of the past, all these initiatives are a reality now as the Government is ensuring the public gets maximum with minimum effort.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
