Questions/Answers

Last mile delivery and accountable public institutions are crucial to achieve the SDGs. The Government of Bihar empowered its citizens and made its public institutions accountable through a legal right to grievance redressal. The objectives of the Bihar Right to Public Grievance Redressal Act (BRPGRA) were to ensure that 44 departments and several hundred institutions under their aegis were made accountable for probity and service delivery and citizens’ complaints were redressed. Citizens could demand their rights, with complaints legally defined as a petition for due benefit or relief apart from reporting delay or denial of service. Through this law, the government ensured that there was no slip between the cup and the lip. Provision of legal rights to hearing and redress of citizens’ grievances ensures that no one is left behind in any of government’s promises. A ‘whole-of-government’ mechanism, that is independent and quasi-judicial, conceived to ensure issues such as poverty and access to education, health, employment, etc. are addressed. In addition, this initiative ensures the government’s credo of ‘Development with Justice’, combined with the best experience a citizen could hope for in service delivery by following the principles of ‘Universal & Easy Access’, ‘No-wrong Door’ and ‘One-Stop Solution’.

BRPGRA holds to account 44 Departments (and hundreds of institutions under their aegis) for redress of citizens’ grievances. ‘Hearing’ by independent Public Grievance Redressal Officers provides power parity between the complainant (an individual, an institution or a group) and the public authority. Digitized data available at http://lokshikayat.bihar.gov.in makes the entire system transparent. Anyone can monitor the performance of public institutions; a three-tier appeals mechanism further strengthens accountability. Inter-departmental issues are resolved jointly. Monitoring is done at the highest levels of government. Continuous capability building of public authorities and redressal officers is one of the pillars that has produced remarkable successes.

Successful redressals over the past about 30 months indicate that the contribution of BRPGRA to the SDGs 2030 agenda is indeed quite significant. Successful redressals include land to the landless, employment on compassionate grounds, provision of food and fuel rations, education scholarships, provision of electricity, drinking water, toilets, etc., support to self-employed persons, complainants satisfied with elimination of rent-seeking public authorities, etc. This initiative covers at least the following SDGs: 1 (Poverty), 2 (Hunger), 3 (Health), 4 (Education), 5 (gender), 6 (Water and sanitation), 7 (Energy), 8 (Economic Growth), and 16 (Accountable and Inclusive Institutions).

Despite its disadvantages of being land-locked, prone to annual floods, and with a rural to urban ratio of 88:12, the Government of Bihar over the past decade has promoted development resulting in Bihar being one of the fasted growing states in India. Bihar is slowly but steadily proceeding to deliver on SDGs. Bihar has a dedicated vision, mission and plan for three years to move towards achieving the localised SGDs. The government’s credo is Development with Justice, and the goals are to be met by the successful implementation of over 500 schemes, programs and services. A number of these are specifically targeted at the weakest, poorest and most excluded. While a citizen’s right to information and public service delivery for over 50 notified services have existed, many areas were not covered. In trying to redress complaints that arose outside the coverage of RTI and RTPS, the government understood that the weakest and excluded could be guaranteed results only if they had a legal right to hearing and redress. This redress had to be provided by a class of officers independent of the public authorities representing the 44 departments and institutions under their aegis. Power parity was, thus, seen as essential.

Right to/Freedom of Information and Citizens Charters/Right to Public Services legislation had become common by the beginning of this decade. However, further attempts to empower citizens were weak, not only in India but across the globe. A Government of India Bill to redress of public grievances lapsed. Rajasthan state’s Right to Hearing law did not guarantee redressal and Hearing Officers were those from the same institution that failed to provide the service in the first instance. The Bihar Right to Public Grievance Redressal Act is a pioneer in empowering citizens with a legal right to hearing and redressal of grievances.

BRPGRA is original and has moved redress beyond the silos of public institutions. Moreover, its features include: i) Comprehensive geographic and sectoral coverage; ii) citizens can file any grievance; no application can be rejected; a grievance can be denied only after at least one hearing; iii) No-wrong Door policy means that you can submit an application regarding any issue through a single window; iv) it provides a One-stop solution: all grievances are redressed in the public grievance redressal offices; v) It has ensured Power Parity between the Citizen and the Public Authorities by vesting redress with an independent quasi-judicial officer.

BRPGRA’s potential for transferability is recognized. Presentations on this innovation have been made to probationer officers covering the entire country in the National Academy of Administration and to 13 States of the country invited by the Indian Government. An article and a case study on BRPGRA have been accepted for publication by the Academy. Because it can be transferred, in 2018 it has won the Kalam Innovation in Governance Award, Skoch Award for Governance and CAPAM Certificate of Distinction for Citizen-focused Innovation. Realizing the potential for replication by other countries, the OECD-OPSI has published the case study at https://oecd-opsi.org/innovations/empowering-citizens-through-a-legal-right-to-public-grievance-redress/

i) Infrastructure: 140 physical Receipt-cum-Facilitation and Delivery Centres have been set up. The reach of e-Centres is comprehensive and can be accessed from anywhere in the world. Multimodal accessibility ensured by toll free number, website (http://lokshikayat.bihar.gov.in), Email, Mobile Application and Post. ii) Human Resources: 161 Public Grievance Redressal Officers and about 1,230 support IT staff selected and specially trained. iii) Information Technology: A strong IT infrastructure that connects all PGRO), key public authorities, appellate and reviewing authorities. iv) Financial (in USD [at 72 INR to 1 USD]; million): One-time cost: 1.25; Annual Recurring Costs: 5.30; Medium Term Contract Costs: 0.15

The BRPGRA does not create any social disruptions or displacements such as an infrastructure project might do. It ensures development with justice by providing an avenue for the excluded citizens to approach the government through an independent agency to make public authorities and institutions effective and accountable. We believe a more inclusive development would indeed have a better impact on social justice and a more equitable overall development of Bihar. The total cost of this initiative is in the range of $6 million USD per annum, in comparison to a State GDP of about $ 80 billion in 2017-18 and a state expenditure in 2017-18 of $22,234 million USD. The expenditure on this initiative is a meagre 0.02% of the annual state expenditure of the Government of Bihar and would be economically easily sustainable. The Government of Bihar has taken due care by formulating a Vision, Mission and 3-year Plan document based on Sustainable Development Goals and Agenda 2030. Environment sustainability would be under no threat from implementation of the BRPGRA. If anything, BRPGRA’s implementation would ensure that environmental sustainability is even more assured as citizens’ grievances and their redressal would surely demand an eco-friendly approach to development.

Yes

The chosen third-party evaluator was the Administrative Staff College of India (ASCI), Hyderabad. They have vast experience in such evaluations over several decades and are currently involved in a joint programme with the Department of Administrative Reforms, Pensions and Grievances (DARPG), Government of India to replicate the right to public service laws. The ASCI used an eclectic methodology to evaluate the BRPGRA that included quantitative and qualitative assessments. A two-professor all-women team from ASCI interacted with all stakeholders, studied secondary data and documents, did primary research and visited 6 out of 38 districts and 5 of 9 Divisions of Bihar.

1. Key Result Area - The relevance of BRPGRA Indicator - Perceptions of key stakeholders 2. Key Result Area - Effectiveness of the process of implementation of BRPGRA Indicator - Preparedness in terms of infrastructure, HR and Technology 3. Key Result Area - Addressing power parity Indicator - Is the citizen empowered vis-à-vis the Public Authority? 4. Key Result Area - Service Delivery channels: Indicator - Grievance redressal through digital means: Online, telephone, mobile applications 5. Key Result Area - Performance management Indicator - Analysis of total number of grievances received, the timely redressal of grievances, etc. Analysis on sustainability of the Act 6. Key Result Area - Monitoring, Evaluation and Feedback Indicator - Is there a robust monitoring system for results? Citizens (Complainant) feedback for decision making 7. Key Result Area - Learning Indicator - Are the Act and its implementation replicable elsewhere?

The summary evaluation by ASCI on a 5-point Scale (5 being maximum and 0 being minimum) is as follows: Relevance of BRPGRA: 5 Efficiency: 4 Effectiveness: 4 Uniqueness: 5 Impact: 4 Sustainability: 4 Overall: 4 Excerpts: 1. There is political accountability (citizens hold elected government to deliver promises made), bureaucratic accountability … and legal accountability … 2. Integration of different touch points ensures that there is “no wrong door” for citizens… 3.(Citizens) have found the hearings conducted in a cooperative and proactive manner by the PGRO… creating a feeling of “ACTIVE” government. There was also a feeling that this process has helped in substantially reducing corruption.

Summary: A system of public grievance redressal was therein existence since 2005. Later the practice of public hearings was introduced, for example “Chief Minister in the People’s Court”. Feedback from these hearings were taken seriously. It was discovered later that ‘disposal’ did not mean ‘redressal’. Citizens/Civil Society’s Contribution through Feedback:  Redressal as a right  Register complaint anywhere
  Prompt Government Acknowledgement  Principle of natural Justice: “Voice Heard”  Clear reasons provided  Action within a reasonable time period
  Transparent system which keeps her/him informed Political Executive’s Contribution through policy Decision:  A Legal Right would be provided  Power Parity must exist between citizens and public institutions  Public Institutions must be held accountable for effectiveness and inclusiveness Bureaucracy’s Contribution through design of the system:  Selection of PGROs through a stringent process  Preparation of infrastructure, HR and ICT to ensure fail-proof implementation  Capability building of PGROs and Public Authorities to infuse the new philosophy and train them on the new system  PGROs’ contribution through exercise of an independent mind and recording reasons for their decisions  Public Authorities response to the new system and resort to actual redressal, not just disposal.

1. Important reforms cannot be treated projects; they are continuous processes. 2. Reforms should focus on the needs of citizens in tandem with government processes. Business process re-engineering that is revolutionary, founded on radical re-design, has dramatic effects/results, and targets process improvements is a must for this. 3. Metrics monitoring alone is not sufficient in ensuring accountability. Quality control parameters should include qualitative issues. 4. Top level commitment to results are crucial. 5. Improvements based on direct feedback from stakeholders is a must. 6. Revolutionary break from a business-as-usual paradigm, even if successful, takes longer to advocate and replicate.