e-Jaalakam

Dr Nirmala Padmanabhan

Associate Professor

Department of Economics

St. Teresa’s College, Ernakulam, Kerala

nirmalap1@gmail.com, 0484 4020303

Taking e- Governance to the masses

By Department of Economics,St. Teresa’s College, Ernakulam, Kerala

with technical support from, Kerala State IT Mission & State e-Governance Mission Team-Kerala

•Project for promoting social/ gender inclusion in e-

Governance

•Enhances people’s capability to live in an e-society.

•Generates demand for e- Governance services promoting

measurable, accountable and responsible governance.

What is e–Jaalakam ?

Why e-Jaalakam?

•Kerala has put in place various e- governance initiatives

but Public unaware of most of these

•Even if aware , do not which reliable site to access and

how to access services

•People still go to Village/ other Govt office and queue up

to get services .This process excludes the disabled, elderly

and women who have constraints on mobility.

• Kerala women lag far behind in autonomy and decision

making.e-Jaalakam intended to open an e- world beyond

facebook, gmail and information search to girls and

empower them to be self reliant

Three phasesand

Various Citizen Engagement Tools

Phase 1- Genesis of e-Jaalakam

September 2012- June 2013

a) A workshop on e-Governance

b) Assessment of awareness of e-Governance services among students

c) Trial awareness sessions in St. Teresa’s College

a) Workshop on e- Governance

• 2 day Workshop on e- Governance, Sept 19-20, 2012

• Sponsored by KSITM

• Training by State e- Governance Mission Team-

Shri M.B.Jayachandran, Principal Consultant and Head,

Vinod Raj & Krishnakumar, Consultants

Programme Management, SeMT-Kerala

Grooming of 20 e- Governance Master Trainers

2 day Workshop on e- Governance, Sept 19-20, 2012

b) Brief Assessment of awareness of e-Governance services

• Analysis of implementation of Sevana in Kerala-despite wide implementation very few people accessed. 5,25,185 and 5,22,345 birth registrations in 2011 and 2012 respectively, corresponding downloads 11,037 and 11,222 (http://www.infokerala.org )

• a small study undertaken to assess awareness of e-Governance among a sample of 70 students studying in first year bachelors programmes in St. Teresa’s College.

using the net only for social networking and educational purposes

c) Trial awareness sessions in St. Teresa’s College

• Databank of relevant sites- expanded to cover many suggested by Shri Sheikh Pareed, IAS, District

Collector, Ernakulam

• Life Cycle approach as advised by Mr Josius Benny Kittan, Manager e- Governance, KSITM

• Pamphlet providing URL of almost all important Govt sites

• Databank of relevant sites- expanded to cover many suggested by Shri Sheikh Pareed, IAS, District

Collector, Ernakulam

• Life Cycle approach as advised by Mr Josius Benny Kittan, Manager e- Governance, KSITM

• URL of sites facilitating easy access

• Pamphlet providing URL of almost all important Govt sites

Phase 2e- Jaalakam

July-December 2013

Campus to Community Phasein association with Federal

Bank Ltd

Training sessions for 15 civic groups covering

around 1000 people

Shared databank with various civic groups through training sessions

Sessions organized for diverse groups - higher secondary students belonging to both Kerala State and Central Board streams, undergraduate and research students in colleges and universities, professionals, housewives and elected representatives of local bodies

Federal Bank & St. Teresa’s CollegePresents

With technical support fromKerala State IT Mission and State e-Governance

Mission Team-Kerala

e- Jaalakam

Service Cycle for an e-citizen

15

• School Admission• Scholarships• E-Learning• Examination results• Professional Admissions

• Birth certificate• Health care

• Pension• Health insurance• Health care• Death certificate

• e- district• Taxes• Marriage certificate• Court Case status• File search• Agriculture• Utility services• Police

• Employment & Empowerment• Driver’s License• Passport/Visa• Travel• Aadhar• Ration card• Electoral Roll

Provides citizens with information and services of Panchayats, Muncipalities and Corporations. Services provided online include

• Birth certificates

Local self government

http://lsg.kerala.gov.in/htm/main.php

e-Jaalakam Pamphlet

Sl. No NEEDS NAME URL Purpose/Service

1 HOUSEHOLD UTILITY Kerala State Electricity Board http://kseb.in/ Electricity bill payment, complaint booking

Kerala Water Authority http://kwa.kerala.gov.in/ Online payment, view bills

Akshaya e Pay https://www.e-kendra.org Payment of bills(electricity, water, telephone). Provides services of Aadhar cards.

Gas Connection http://www.ebharatgas.com/http://www.indane.co.in

Online booking, preferred time delivery, new LPG connection

BSNL Portal http://portal.bsnl.in/ Pay landline/mobile bills, view bills online, SMS alerts, online recharge.

BSNL Mail http://mail.bsnl.in/ View bill online

BSNL Dataone http://dataone.in/ Internet services

BSNL Portal-Usage http://selfcare.sdc.bsnl.co.in Customer care portal

Your Bill Buddy http://www.yourbillbuddy.com/welcome.do Bill payment/ recharge

India Post http://indiapost.gov.in Postal services

e-District http://edistrict.kerala.gov.in/ Can download 23 certificates approved from official websites

2 EDUCATION Higher Secondary Admissions www.hscap.kerala.gov.in AnnouncementAllotments

School listcourse list

Launch By Shri P. H.Kurian , IAS, Principal Secretary, IT Department, Kerala, Shri Hibi Eden, MLA and Shri Sheik

Pareeth IAS, District Collector

Panampilly Nagar Welfare Association 19th July 2013

GOVERNMENT HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL, EDAPALLY, 2.08.2013

Representatives of Ernakulam District Residents Association Apex Council, Thiruvankulam Branch

3.08.2013

Providence College Calicut 23. 08.2013

St. Dominic's College Kanjirapally19th September 2013

Representatives of Various Panchayatsat Ernakulam Social Service Society, Kacherippady,

Sept 19, 2013

Feedback on training session

• Feedback collected from a sample of 100 persons from among them

• asked to rate the e- Jaalakam databank using a three point rating scale

• 60 % reported that they found it very useful while the remaining 40% rated it useful.

Percentage of information in training session that was unknown to participants

Percentage of information in e- Jaalakamthat was new to the participants

Percentage of respondents

Above 80% 40

60-80% 29

40-60% 27

20-40% 4

< 20% 0

Source : primary data

Public Demand

For written instructions which will enable access when needed

Vivara Nidhi-A Citizen’s Handbook on e- Governance

• literally handholds the public while accessing e- Governance services

• all steps detailed in simple flow charts which even a layman can follow easily

HOW TO ACCESS BIRTH CERTIFICATE ?

Click on your web browser (eg: Internet Explorer, Mozilla

or Google Chrome).

Type www.lsg.kerala.gov.in

on your browser.

Choose the language(English/Malay

alam)

Click on 'Civil Registrations(Birth,Deat

h,Marriage)'

The site will go to 'sevana' link. Click on 'Certificate Search '

option

Select the district, local body type, local body

and submit.

Select 'Birth Registrations' option on

left side.

Fill in the neccessary details. [Date of Birth, # Mother's

Name, Gender]

Type the verification code and Submit.

Certificate will be generated. Print the

birth certificate.

Release of Vivara Nidhi by Shri KapilSibal, Union Minister of Communication

and Information Technology, Government of India

Public demand for a handbook in Malayalam

• Only 3- sites or so available in Malayalam

• Aadhar site- not available in Malayalam

• Vanitha commission -first page is in English

• Have communicated citizen’s demand to the Government

• Slow evolution into a true citizen engagement group- a minute step towards transformation of citizens from mere acceptors of services to demand generators who strive to influence the type and quality of services

Phase 3e- Mithram and

e- Jaalakam@School2014

e- Jaalakam@ school

• Project to educate 12, 000 students in class ten in 86 Government and State aided schools in Ernakulam Educational District

• In association with IT@School, Department of General Education, Government of Kerala

• Completed in January 2014

Incorporated learning of Phase two

1) Universal tool not suitable for all age groups- Developed separate handbook for students

2) Difficulty in getting internet connection at the timing of training sessions- Training module which captured various sites with screen capture software

Release of e- Mithram- students handbook on e- Governance

Government Girls High school , Ernakulam

Government Higher Secondary School

Government High chool PanampillyNagar

LMCC High School

St Mary’s High School

SRV High School Ernakulam

St Alberts School

St Augustines

St. Thomas Perumanoor

Achievements of e- Jaalakam1) Various Citizen Engagement Tools

a) e- Jaalakam databankb) e- Jaalakam pamphletc) Vivara Nidhid) e-Mithrame) e – Mithram training module

2) e- Governance literacy to around 1000 people/ families in second stage

3) Emergence of a Citizen Engagement Group4) Creation of e-jaalakam chapters in three districts5) e-Jaalakam @ School imparted e- Governance literacy to

around 12000 students / 12000 families / indirectly reaching out to 48000 people

Recognition From Outside The State

• National e-Governance Division, Department of Electronics & Information Technology

• Being considered for replication in Karnataka and Lakshwadweep

• Administrative Training Institute. Mysore

• Centre for Innovations in Public Systems (CIPS)

• Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, New Delhi

• Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai

Findings and Lessons learnt

• Potential benefits of many e- Governance services to citizens remain unrealized due to lack of public awareness and capability to access these

• The gender divide or age divide often cited in a digital world was not apparent in access of e- governance due to the fact that all were generally ignorant about these initiatives.

• Public have a keen interest in learning such initiatives since they perceive benefits to themselves

• Citizen engagement tools which demystify method of access and inspire confidence have inherent potential in promoting citizen participation in services

• Different engagement tools need to be designed to meet the needs of diverse age and social groups

• Availability of web pages and engagement tools in local language will go a long way in increasing usage of e- governance services

Hurdle Strategy adopted

• Lack of well defined content and difficulty in choosing among many services

• Lack of financial resources

• Tendency of educational institutions to confine activities to own campus

• Tendency of people to forget demonstrations due to infrequent nature of usage.

• Difficulty in sustaining interest of diverse age groups with a single handbook

• Life cycle approach

• Corporate Social Responsibility funds

• Leverage the emphasis given to Social Outreach by UGC and NAACC

• Design of a handbook which furnished methods of access in simple flow chart form

• Design of different handbook for students as compared to the general one for citizens

Hurdle

• Ensuring utility to people not well versed with

English language

• Ensuring access to the

public

• Frequent developments/

modifications in services

• Scalability

Strategy adopted

• Translation of the handbook to Malayalam

• Handbooks and pamphlet have been uploaded on the webpage

• Citizen watch group will monitor make changes and upload on web pages periodically

• Linkage to established programme- IT@School Project, Government of Kerala

Future Challenges

• Vertical and horizontal reach out

• Institutionalization

Strategy for reach out- diverse strategies for varied social groups

• High school and higher secondary school students

• College/ university students

Mode of Access• state wide roll out through

IT@School project –network of resource persons –material handbook

• popularization through Social media- face book

• - popularization through Women Resource Centers existing in colleges

• -popularization through Social media

• Social Outreach programmes

Target Population

Civic groups

• Residents Association networks-

• Professional organizational networks

• Community Service Centers in Kerala- Akshaya

Mode of Access

• Material handbooks in both English and Malayalam

• Awareness sessions in all 14 districts

• Awareness sessions by e-Jaalakam chapters in various districts

Target Population

Institutionalization

Inclusion in IT syllabus- people to get familiarized at an agewhen they have the time and maximum learning capacity.

School students,- IT@School Executive Director as well as theDirector of Public Instruction, Kerala were approached whohave given the assurance that, they shall consider inclusion ofe-Governance as a chapter in the IT syllabus of high schoolstudents

College students- Similarly, Kerala State IT Mission has beenapproached to include it as a part of the IT syllabus taught atvarious Women Resource Centers they have established incolleges.

Future Plans

• Creation of a chain of e- Governance Master Trainers in higher educational institutions throughout Kerala

• Periodical workshops for updating them – in e and m-Governance

• Creation of a website to put all information in Public domain

• Creation of short animation films for each service which will further simplify acess

• Radio sessions to answer public queries related to accessing various services

THANK YOU