| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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Once there was an agreement on the need to have a comprehensive, centralised system, the next step was to design a model. The team of National Informatics Centre which provides technical assistance to Government on all Information Technology related matters, started working with the team of DARPG. A proto type of the design to be hosted was developed and discussions were held with Departments for their views and suggestions as to the feasibility of the design. Once this was done, the final design emerged. The next step was to (a) train the government employees to operate the portal and (b) inform and publicise to the prime clients i.e. the citizens about the portal and the way to use the same. This was done in parallel. A set of guidelines/module was developed and a set of Master trainers were readied to begin with. Following this, training given to Public Grievance Officers in around 90 Ministries/Departments of the Government of India. Incidentally, this is still continuing and DARPG hosts training programs for all the users of the portal. These training sessions threw up many ideas and working details which were fixed as the system started to roll out. Access protocols for Ministries/Departments as well as to senior officers in these organisations developed and shared with all.
The other critical step was information dissemination. Media campaign to bring about awareness on the CPGRAMS undertaken. Advertisements were issued in the print media. State Governments were requested to share details about CPGRAMS with the field functionaries.
Yet another critical component was the staff of Ministries/Departments who not only are to receive grievances but also to redress and monitor them. In the initial phase, a massive outreach program was held with all the Ministries/Departments to explain the features of CPGRAMS, how to use it, how to track it and how to analyse data available on the portal. In certain pockets there was resistance to begin with and in some quarters there was scepticism. In order to address the same, the team from DARPG-NIC did physical demonstration of the functioning of the portal and did immense handholding of user departments. This was backed by regular meetings with Ministries/Departments as well constant communication at multiple levels, so that there was comfort in using the new system. Suggestions/feedback received were ploughed back into fine tuning the portal. Another problem encountered was the frequent transfers of the operational staff. This meant that those who were given training did not stay in those seats for long and the next incumbent was not trained in use of the new system. This was when it was decided to make the training broad based and universal. DARPG organised training programs for multiple levels of employees so that knowledge is institutionalised. Periodic refresher trainings were organized to enable the users have complete knowledge.
It is also important to mention here that several State Governments desired to adopt CPGRAMS customised to their requirements. To this effect, support was given to develop regional language-enabled modules for those States which were customised for the particular State’s requirements.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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The main stakeholders involved the implementations were as follows:
Citizens: They are the primary clients and Government/Departments exist to serve them. Providing them with an interface to lodge their grievances and track their redress/closure is the backbone of good governance.
Ministries/Departments of Government: Each government entity is mandated with provision of a set of services to the people, directly or indirectly. Some government departments have a larger public interface than the others. Nevertheless, each government entity is bound to delivery services in time, of a certain standard to the citizen. Having a comprehensive Grievance redress and monitoring system meant that the government entities were closer to their clientele for whom their services are meant.
DARPG: This department has a unique mandate which is twofold. It deals with Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances. Both are interlinked. Reforms are the medium/long term solution to improvement in service quality and concomitant reduction in grievances. DARPG hence, would greatly benefit by having a system like CPGRAMS which allows capture the profile of grievances, analyse them and suggest systemic reform to address the root cause of grievances.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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The new initiative necessitated physical and human resources. Physical resources included the hardware and software for the new system. This was sourced from the NIC and DARPG out of the internal budgetary allocation. To devise the system, NIC put together a core team of its own employees and those hired from the market (who were paid by the DARPG). After the system was in place, human resources were involved in imparting training to employees, actually run the system, disseminate information etc. This was managed by the DARPG’s own staff. The cost of all this was borne by the DARPG except in some cases where the user departments picked up the cost of training. Similarly, where State modules were developed, DARPG supported developing the modules as well as training.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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From the citizens point of view, the system allowed for an easy and accessible interface to lodge his/her grievance. It allowed the citizen to track the grievance till it is brought to a logical conclusion. It meant that the citizen could now question in the event any government functionary did not acknowledge or act on his grievance. This is a great tool for empowerment and placed the citizen on the centre stage.
From the governments’ point of view, it ensured accountability. Gone were the days when some government functionaries could get away with the excuse of nonreceipt of post/physical paper. The fact that grievances were now received online meant closer and better tracking mechanism. On the other hand, the new system also became a tool for analysis and information for the government departments. The nature and profile of grievances received indicated the areas of service delivery which required attention and correction. For example, every government entity is now sensitised to the fact that entitlements due to retired government employees forms a major portion of the grievances received. This area has now received a lot of focus and steps are being taken to address the issues at the source level itself so that it does not necessitate the employee to resort to grievance at a later date.
The fact the entire cycle is in the electronic mode has led to drastic reduction in the time taken in the entire process of receipt to redress/closure of grievance. The time taken for postal transmission, sending onward to the Ministries/departments concerned and then further on to the sub-offices, is all due on the e-mode now. Similarly once action on the grievance is complete, intimation to the citizen is done on the e-mode and through a text message, where applicable.
The figures reflect the status above. From inception till date over 11.61 lakh grievances have been received and monitored through the CPGRAMS portal. Out of these, 11 lakh have been disposed. Regular monitoring is done and the turn around time of redress has decreased from 200 days to 60 days. Similarly through the CPENGRAMS, the Department has so far handled 71315 grievances out of which 68099 grievances have been disposed of leaving behind a balance of mere 3216 grievances.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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Devising and introducing a new system was half the challenge. The other half was to put in place a system to monitor and evaluate the roll out, get feedback from users and fine-tune system factoring in the same. DARPG held regular meetings to monitor and assess the progress of development of the portal. Discussions were held with the NIC core team working on CPGRAMS . Once the portal was ready, necessary approvals were taken from the Secretary, DARPG and then rolled out. The next step was to have an awareness training of all nodal officers along with NIC team. In order to ensure the portal was actually used, log-in statistics was monitored so that those who did not use the system were spoken and gradually convinced to use the new system. Use of CPGRAMS became the most important discussion point in the internal meetings of the department as well as in the meetings held with other government entities.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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Government departments did have a mechanism for receiving and monitoring grievances, even if it was rudimentary. What CPGRAMS did was to bring all of them under a standardised design. This meant that all government entities, who were otherwise receiving and monitoring grievances in the conventional way and through server based system, had to reorient their staff to the new system. The mindset and the commitment were lacking initially. Employees were not sure how the new system would work and there was fear of technology in some quarters. Awareness campaign and hands-on training played a large part in mitigating these initial difficulties. It was also a conscious decision to make the training a demand driven one so that employees feel comfortable migrating and using the new system.
Another problem encountered was the frequent transfers of the operational staff. This meant that those who were given training did not stay in those seats for long and the next incumbent was not trained in use of the new system. This was when it was decided to make the training broad based and universal. DARPG organised training programs for multiple levels of employees so that knowledge is institutionalised. Periodic refresher trainings were organized to enable the users have complete knowledge. Telephonic/email support is also provided to clarify the doubts at any point of time.
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