Citizen Charter

Relevance: Mains: G.S paper IV: Ethics

Citizen Charter is based on the promise that Citizen is “King” and government organisations

exist not to rule but to serve the citizens. It is an instrument which seeks to make an

organisation transparent, accountable and citizen friendly. Broadly it states Vision and Mission statement of an organisation. This gives the set of outcomes desired and strategy to achieve these goals and outcomes.

Seven Step Model by ARC

1.Define all services and identify clients.

2.Set standards and norms for each service.

3.Developing capability to meet standards.

4.Perform to achieve standards.

5.Monitor performance against the set standards.

6.Evaluate impact through independent mechanism.

7.Continuous improvement based on monitoring.

How should it be framed

• KISS (Keep it Simple Silly)
• It must only be framed by senior experts but should involve field level staff
• Merely announcing charter will not change the way we function.
• Statement of services offered should be accompanied by remedies if these services are not met.
• A structure for obtaining feedback from citizen must be in place.
• Awareness campaign both within the organisation and among public.
• Adopt best practices. Trains in Europe provide compensation for late running.
• One size doesn’t fit all approach.
• Holding officers accountable for results.

Problems in Citizen Charter

• Not formed through consultative process. End users and NGO are not consulted.
• Service providers were themselves not familiar with goals of the organisations and principles contained in Charter.
• Adequate publicity has not been given. No funds earmarked for awareness generation.
• Poor design and content. Most of them are verbose.
• Charters are not updated. It has become a onetime exercise frozen in time.
• The needs of senior citizens and disabled are not considered.
• Resistance to change.
• Lack of interest shown in their implementation.
• No time frame or user charges mentioned. Standards of delivery are seldom defined. It becomes difficult to assess the whether the desired level of service has been achieved or not. There is no mechanism to compensate the citizen for lack of delivery of services.
• Overlooks local issues. The charter of Parent Organisation is copied in all offices.

Sevottam model

It is a Service Delivery Excellence Model. It was felt that Citizen Charter would not alone lead to desired results. It works as an evaluation mechanism to assess the quality of service delivery.

It involves: –

1. Citizen Charter
2. Public Grievance Redressal

Citizen Participation

Paradigm shift from “top down” to “bottom up”. Increasing decentralisation. Transforming representative democracy to participatory one. Citizens are no longer considered passive beneficiary but they are seen as equal stakeholder in the development process. It is a democratic right.

Citizens Involvement

1. Seeking information: RTI
2. Giving suggestions: Listening to the voice of citizens not only during elections but making it a continuous process. Citizens are in the best position to indicate their priorities and possible solutions.
3. Demanding better services – Simple Suggestion Box
4. Holding service providers accountable – Citizen Report Card (Bengaluru)
5. Making citizen part of policy formulation and decision making – Communitisation of services in Nagaland. It is a partnership between the government and the community for sharing responsibility in management of public institutions and services.
6. Social Audit. E.g. Bhagidari – Citizen Partnership in Delhi.
7. Enabling Women Participation and Disabled.

Benefits: –

1. Ensures accountability and makes governance efficient and responsive.
2. Makes government services more effective and sustainable.
3. It enables poor and marginalised to influence public policy.
4. It helps promote healthy grassroot democracy.

Citizen Engagement:

It has 4 broad dimensions:

1. Information dissemination: Access to info helps in better participation, better judge the quality of services and know how to seek redressal if the quality is unsatisfactory. Citizen charter and RTI provide such framework.
2. Capacity Building and community mobilisation: Citizen participation depends upon the efficacy with which needs are identified, prioritized and presented. This is achieved by capacity building and community mobilisation.
3. Grievance Redressal: It is necessary for the citizen to believe that their participation is leading to the desired change, without any undue costs being imposed upon them. Make it possible to report any deviations or non-compliance that may have been observed or perceived. Provide for sanctions or penalties against the concerned individuals. Protect the interests and welfare of those who report such grievances.
4. Institutionalisation: Refers to the formal procedures and provisions that facilitate citizen engagement and satisfaction. Such institutional support provides incentives for widening the scope of participation. It includes measures such as social audit, participatory planning and budgeting, expenditure tracking surveys, citizen report card.