(ICT) JHANSI JAN SUVIDHA KENDRA (JJSK)

Details of Implementing Agency:

Name: JHANSI JAN SUVIDHA KENDRA (JJSK)
City: Jhansi
State: Uttar Pradesh
Country: India

(a) About the programme/project/initiative:
The District administration Jhansi has developed a telephone/mobile based e-governance platform known as Jhansi Jan Suvidha Kendra (JJSK) with the technical consultation of District Unit of Nation Informatics Centre (NIC). It was launched in the public interest on 10th June, 2009 in the Collectorate campus, Jhansi. Any person, from any place and at any time can call through landline/ mobile and register his grievance and a warm welcome is extended to the caller. The grievance is registered (online and in master register) and details of the grievance are also recorded automatically (as an audio file). The grievance is immediately marked to the concerned officer. Concerned officer is also intimated telephonically for immediate action. A printout of this complaint bearing scanned signature of the District Magistrate is also sent to him through Fax/Post/ Special Messenger, thus relieving the person from the pain of journey to the concerned office, saving the precious time, money, labour and also at the same time providing required attention in terms of responsiveness (while registering the grievance, while investigating the grievance and while conveying the details of disposal to the aggrieved person), thus fulfilling the objectives of JJSK which is to provide round the clock, free of cost, easily accessible, responsive, user friendly, cost effective and time saving platform for public grievance redressal.

Why was the project started / Objective Due to increase in population, lack of staff to handle huge number of grievances, insufficient fund and lesser reach, the number of grievances has increased tremendously. Expectation of people has grown up at higher side. The existing system of registering, disposing and monitoring of grievances is outdated and not efficient in terms of time, cost and labour effectively. For example in the state of U.P. Public Grievances Redressal schemes like Tehsil Divas, Thana Divas, LOKVANI, daily 10.00A.M.-12.00A.M. availability of officers for public grievance hearing are very much in place and they are giving results but not up to the satisfaction of the aggrieved person in terms of availability, reach, response, scientific recording and monitoring quality disposal, cost and labour effectiveness. The above mentioned schemes are either person- meet based or internet based varying by nature in accessibility, availability and response. The JJSK keeping all the above in mind has developed a platform which is telephone/mobile based, thus overcoming the above mentioned hurdles. Objective The objectives of JJSK is to provide round the clock, free of cost, easily accessible, responsive, user friendly, time-cost-labour effective and time saving platform for public grievance redressal. Target Group As the JJSK services are available 24X7X365 at the doorstep of common man has immensely benefited vulnerable, weaker and marginalised section (SC/ ST/ Women/ Handicapped/ Children/ Old Age) in getting timely & qualitative benefits of Government services. Geographical Coverage - JJSK service covers a whole geographical boundaries of the district for redressal of grievances (Around 2.4 million persons can take benefit of this service, covering 5 Tehsils, 8 Blocks & 437 Gram Panchayats and 834 Revenue Villages) Unlimited geographical coverage for national level for Call/ SMS/ Internet.
 
(b) Date from which the project became operational:10/6/2009
(c) Is the project still operational? : still_operational

(d) How is the programme/project innovative?
Definitely JJSK represents a completely new approach in the arena of public grievance redressal as it is mobile/land line phone based system (As of now the Most Potent, Readily Available, Easy to use, Cost-Time-Labor Effective mode of communication available today is Telephone services - Landline/ Mobile) so that a citizen without wasting his time to approach the concerned Government official can register his grievance through his/her mobile or land line phone from anywhere in the district and at anytime and also gets the quick and effective response/disposal for his grievance registered. The innovation was very much needed in the present scenario wherein an aggrieved citizen has to travel from his base location to either to Block headquarters, Tahsil headquarters, District headquarters to meet the concerned officer/staff to register his grievance or to give his application for disposal. This is time consuming, costly, cumbersome and exploitative process and the monitoring and disposal is also very tedious and ineffective and also the concerned citizen is hardly intimated regarding the disposal status of his grievance. A brief study conducted to gather real-time information has revealed that on an average a person spends Rs.462/- just to register his complaint at district level office. It includes daily labour cost, travel cost, food & beverages, application typing etc.

JJSK by providing quick, easy, accessible (registering grievances through the mobile and land line phone), free of cost services, responsive, quick action and effective tracking of the grievances, keeping constant touch with the concerned citizen and intimating the citizen (on his mobile or land line phone) has successfully revolutionised the whole system of public grievance redressal system in the District Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India. Unique Features of JJSK I. Mobile / basic phone based G2C e-governance initiative for redressing public grievances effectively. As of now for bridging the digital divide and communication gap, the most potent, reliable, easily accessible, time-cost-labour effective platform is telephone ( Mobile/Landline).

This project has effectively used the best features of telephone(mobile/landline) like call features, SMS based feature, call recording features, Internet browsing feature etc. for effective redressing the grievances of common man and to empower public delivery system. II. Call recording feature In JJSK each and every incoming call and outgoing call is automatically recorded by the voice logger software which saves the complete call conversation with telephone number, date, time and file name. This unique feature is very useful for Extracting more details regarding the grievance registered at any point of time. It also ensures extending warm welcome and positive response by the staff / officers deployed at Jhansi Jan Suvidha Kendra. It is very useful for filtering and sorting out, fallacious and false complaints. III. Strengthening the Right To Information Act (RTI)2005 The complete data (complainant's personal detail, complainants contact number, brief summary of complaint, the department/ officer responsible for disposal, disposal details etc) is available on the website of Jhansi Jan Suvidha Kendra ( http://www.jjskjhansi.com ) for administrative purpose and for all stake holders. Various tailor made reports are being generated for administrators and other useful details are available on net for common man thus making the system more transparent, responsible and accountable. IV. Round the clock availability of services The services of JJSK are available round the clock ( 24x7x365) so that no aggrieved person goes unattended at any point of time. V. Effective use of SMS services JJSK has effectively demonstrated the beneficial use of Short Message Services (SMS) feature of mobile telephone for Intimating the aggrieved person his/her complaint number and other details Intimating the concerned department officer regarding details of complaint through SMS for quick and positive response. Intimating the aggrieved person regarding disposal details through SMS as soon as the complaint is disposed within the specified time.

Intimating the concerned officer regarding disposal of the complaint pending with him. Intimating the administrative officers of JJSK and all the Head of Departments of district every day about total complaint status of district / department. When any complaint is shifted from normal pending status to a default status internet generated automatic SMS is sent to aggrieved person and officer concerned intimating the present status and to clear the pendency as soon as possible. VI. Ensuring constant and effective communication with the aggrieved person and concerned officer Throughout the whole process of receiving, registering, intimating, monitoring, disposing complaints and cross verification of disposed complaints JJSK staff ensures constant touch both with the aggrieved person and concerned officer through active call and SMS. VII. 100% cross verification of disposal details for each and every complaint registered. Each and every disposal detail is cross verified by the JJSK by calling the aggrieved person, intimating him regarding the disposal details and also taking his feedback in this regard, thus ensuring time bound effective and qualitative disposal of complaint. In case of dissatisfaction of the complainant the concerned officer is asked to look into it again accordingly. VIII. Regular monitoring at highest level Pending status, defaults status of complaints, disposal quality of grievances registered is being monitored on daily and weekly basis by the Chairman and the Administrators of JJSK. (District Magistrate/ Chief Development Officer/ Additional District Magistrate etc)
 
(e) What are the achievements of the programme/project?
The performance of the system can well be judged from the outcome of complaints registered and disposed. The detailed status of registration and disposal of complaint as on 03.06.2010 is :- Total Complaint received 15800, Total disposed 14768 (93.47%), Total pending 443 (2.80%) Total default 572 (3.62%) This system has strengthened and facilitated the poor common men, women elders, physically challenged, deprived section ( Schedule caste, Schedule Tribe) by providing them a powerful tool in their hands so that they can reach out to the govt. and receive the benefit of all govt. schemes and become a part in the development process without any kind of impediment.  Handle unresolved grievances - when a member of the public claims to have suffered injustice or hardship as a result of maladministration or service failure, he can fall upon JJSK which has in recent past ensured qualitative disposal of long pending complaints/ grievances. Promote good administrative practice - scientific grievance handling and timely effective disposal of public grievances and effective regular monitoring has ensured SMART (Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsible, Transparent) governance.

Contribute to improvement in the delivery of public services (drinking water, electricity, hygiene/ sanitation, Food & Civil Supplies, Social sector schemes and it has strengthened public faith & belief in the Government setup. Keeping in constant touch with the aggrieved person for quality disposal  Bridging various kinds of digital divide through regular use of commonly available ICT tools ( call based SMS, Internet, voice logger, call recording etc.) It is very effective in removing the corrupt practices of middle-man and also false reporting of disposal by the Government officers. Bridging the administrative divide existing between Govt. department & citizen, thus building the trust and bringing them close to Government in decision making process. At the end we deliver SATISFACTION to the customer/target group/aggrieved person. Awards and Honours NASSCOM Social Innovation Honours 2010 Jhansi Jan Suvidha Kendra, Jhansi has been awarded with prestigious ASSCOM Social Innovation Honours 2010 by NASSCOM foundation under ICT led innovation in e- Governance category in recognition of passion and commitment for e-governance and for aiming for the highest standard of excellence to help bring the government closer to the citizen. It also recognizes the JJSK as completely new approach in the arena of public grievance redressal where citizen can register his grievance and get qualitative redressal through mobile or landline phones. The award was given on 09th of Feb.2010 at Grand Hyatt, Mumbai, by Hone�ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra and president of NASSCOM foundation.
 
(f) Elaborate on the challenges faced while implementing programme/project/ initiative and how was it overcome?
Lack of motivation among officers/staff As the existing system of public grievances redressal is outdated, time consuming and inefficient. Officers & the field staff concerned take it as a burden/ additional work. Thus it becomes the last priority of the concerned staff/ officials. It is the duty of the administrative officers and the Govt. to establish a system which is efficient, user- friendly, time-labour-cost effective and takes into account the basic requirements of the staff and the officers and handles their problems efficiently and also to provide a platform for effective monitoring and follow-up. JJSK fulfills the above requirements. Public Grievances Redressal is the op priority of Govt. of U.P. and also of district administration. By providing an efficient platform JJSK has ensured full participation, co-operation of the staff and officers concerned in effectively receiving, resolving, intimating, reporting and recording and follow up of grievances registered. Arrangement of funds for establishing JJSK set up initially and to meet the running cost of JJSK In the initial phases of project conceptualization, implementation, arrangements of the funds & facility was a big constraint as JJSK was a local initiative of the District Administration with the technical support of NIC, Jhansi and their was no budgetary or infrastructure support from the Government.

Thus to overcome the above constraint JJSK was registered as a society under Society Registration Act and the nodal officers were nominated as administrators on the board and it was linked to the existing Lokvani Society for financial and material support as the objective of Lokvani & JJSK are similar in nature. In the present administrative setup and the socio-economic background of the region and the existing high level illiteracy has compelled a common man to believe that until & unless he meets officers at different levels for many times, his grievances will not be heard and will not be resolved effectively. To change this attitude of common man and to convince him that without meeting any person or any officials, without visiting any Govt. office, without wasting precious time, money and labour he can register and can also receive a qualitative disposal from the comfort of his residence by just calling JJSK at any time from his mobile/ land line phone. In the initial two months mo. of grievances received were about 15 to 20 per day but later it increased to 35-40 grievances per day and as of now it is upto 55-60 grievances per day. Thus proving the fact that people have slowly and steadily started trusting the efficiency of JJSK.
 
(g) How can the programme serve as a model that can be replicated or adapted by others?
The four most important requirements essential for any e-governance initiative to be successful are Reliability, Replicability, Sustainability and Security (RRSS) Reliable As JJSK provides round the clock services and ensures easy accessibility, time bound, effective and qualitative disposal of the grievance registered,taking the aggrieved person in confidence, has ensured full reliability, faith, confidence of common man/citizen in this system. Replicable As JJSK is based on commonly available ICT tools (Basic phone/ Mobile/ Internet) with simple custom made software, is very easy to replicate whenever and wherever required within short span of time. Till now, JJSK has been successfully replicated in, - Housing Development Board, Uttar Pradesh Government. - Cantonment Board, Jhansi - Jhansi Development Authority, Jhansi - Some districts have suo-moto replicated the JJSK for same purpose and work is in progress in Local Bodies, Office of Chief Information Commissioner, Uttar Pradesh. Sustainable As JJSK uses the available manpower, available resources, technical support from NIC Jhansi with the latest commonly used ITC tools, it has successfully bridged the digital divide and communication gap and has restored the common man faith and confidence in Administrative setup, thus making it sustainable over a period of time. There is an inbuilt system of sending the SMS at predefined time daily and also there is a regular monitoring , meeting by District Magistrate / Chairman Jhansi Jan Suvidha Kendra. He himself reviews all the default and pending grievances on weekly basis and also personally crosschecks the quality of the disposal in the concerned meeting. Security  JJSK is being hosted on an independent website. The important/ personal data is password protected
 
(h) Elaborate on the scalability of the programme/project/initiative.
The JJSK activities/performance/results can be accessed in terms of public satisfaction, restoring public faith in Govt. delivery system, bridging the digital communication gap. As this project is linked with the Lokvani which is a internet(on line) based grievance registering and disposing system(which is in place in almost all the Districts of Uttar Pradesh State, India) wherein each grievance registered is charged a nominal user charges. And the amount thus collected is used for day - today activities of JJSK. As the Government of Uttar Pradesh is spending money on computerization of the public grievances (received through daily public meeting, official meetings, tahsil diwas, thana diwas etc.). This alloted money can be effectively used to sustain and furthering the objectives of this project. JJSK is a registered society under Societies Act and it has its Executive Board members who have contributed for the kitty as a membership fee and also some of the NGOs, social activists, professionals and business men have shown keen interest in this project and have helped by arranging various resources to this society in the public interest. In future the services provided through JJSK may be charged nominally through premium call & SMS charges or similar kind of system and these user charges can be used for sustaining and further development of this project. Chief Secretary, U.P. Government, Chairman Board of Revenue, U.P. Government, Chief Information Commissioner, U.P., Principal Secretary (I.T.) and Principal Secretary (Revenue), U.P. Government and several other digniaries has shown keen interest in this project and has appreciated our initiative in this domain. As of now the status of grievances registered and disposed. The detailed status of registration and disposal of grievances as on 03.06.2010 is :- Total Complaint received 15800 Total disposed 14768 (93.47%) Total pending 443 ( 2.80%) Total default 572 ( 3.62%) Thus, Jhansi Jan Suvidha Kendra (JJSK) has benefited 14768 families in a spam of less then a year.

Courtesy: http://www.eindia.net.in