State Wide Attention on Grievances by Application of Technology (SWAGAT), India
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The SWAGAT program in Gujarat, India provides a systematic process for citizens to file and track grievances against the government from the village level up to the state level. Over 334,878 applications have been filed through SWAGAT since 2003, with 94.22% resolved. The program is coordinated through an online portal and videoconferencing network that connects local, district, and state government offices. It helps activate local administrations to resolve issues and brings transparency by allowing the Chief Minister and senior officials to directly review cases and monitor redressal in real-time meetings.
State Wide Attention on Grievances by Application of Technology (SWAGAT), India
- 1. People with Grievances Attended Solved Chief Minister’s Office Government of Gujarat, India SWAGAT State Wide Attention on Grievances through Application of Technology Functional since April 2003 1
- 2. SWAGAT, Winner of 2010 United Nations Public Service Award Improving Transparency, Accountability and Responsiveness in Public Service The UN Public Service Award, since 2003, recognizes the creative achievements and contributions of public service institutions that lead to a more effective and responsive public service administration in countries worldwide. Through an annual competition, the UN Public Service Awards promote the role, professionalism, and visibility of public service. 2
- 3. In the local language SWAGAT means Welcome First and foremost, it denotes that citizens are welcome to the Forum named SWAGAT 3
- 4. Gujarat State Profile • Population: 62.5 million • Land mass: 196,000 sq.km • Villages: 18,000 • Towns: 225 • Districts: 33 • Sub Districts: 248 4
- 5. …and listening to that voice is the key test of Good Governance” “People’s voice is the key driver of a democracy… Smt. Anandiben Patel, Chief Minister of Gujarat, India5
- 6. SWAGAT – the concept • Citizens do have grievances of all kinds. Genuine expectations from the Government, not duly met, become grievances • Grievance redressal is the key to Good Governance; more so in a democracy. Efficiency, transparency and the speed in redressal is the key to citizen satisfaction oAn expectation should ideally be met duly oIt should not convert into a Grievance oIf it does, it should be redressed at the local level oIf it is not, the buck must stop at the highest level oAccountability must be fixed 6
- 7. SWAGAT – the concept • The top functionaries of the State can not redress all the grievances on their own o Moreover, the citizens need not come to the Head of State for their routine grievances o Such grievances should be redressed at the level they belong to or they originate at • Hence, accountability at all levels of administration particularly the local levels is a must 7
- 8. Overall mandate of SWAGAT 1. Attention on grievances to strengthen good governance • Analysis of the nature of grievances submitted to Government at all levels • Attention on the quality of redressal at all levels 2. Activate Administration to solve public grievances at State, District and Sub District Level • Monitoring the quality of grievance redressal by local administration 3. Solving the grievances from the top when they need such intervention 4. To make demonstrative effect, to fix accountability 8
- 9. Before SWAGAT Public grievances were not handled systematically Paper-based process was cumbersome & lengthy Not transparent: Officials had no fear of being exposed Common person has no access to higher levels No system for monitoring or follow-up 9
- 10. 4 levels of SWAGAT Cover the whole of Gujarat State State SWAGAT every 4th Thursday of the month held at the State Capital Gandhinagar District SWAGAT every 4th Thursday held at 33 District Offices Sub-District SWAGAT every 4th Wednesday of the month held at 248 Sub District Offices Gram SWAGAT From 1st to 10th of every month available at 13,695 Gram Panchayat Offices The Four levels are well integrated 10
- 11. Public Awareness Success of SWAGAT in resolving public grievances was promoted through local media to increase awareness of the facility to all 11
- 12. Systematic SWAGAT State SWAGAT every 4th Thursday of the Month 9:00-12:00 grievance applications registered online at SWAGAT Office: details immediately available to concerned Officers 12:00-15:00 Officers enter responses and information online 15:00 Hon CM & Senior Officers interact with applicants. District and Sub-District Officers attend the program through video-conferencing Cases are redressed on the same day or in time-bound manner. All directions given by Hon CM are formally recorded on the same day 12
- 13. Systematic SWAGAT State SWAGAT Forms for Applicants 13
- 14. Format for online application All grievances & redressal information (State, District & Sub District) are fed into the same system, through an online portal 14
- 15. Applications registered in 3 categories Policy Matters: where a limitation or gap in the policy requires attention Long-Pending: where the case has remained unresolved after at least 6 months after initial application First-Time: such cases are first referred to the concerned lower office for attention 15
- 16. State SWAGAT Session 23th May 2014 Video conferencing with District & Sub District Secretariat Level Senior Officer Hon Chief Minister Case Information on screen Applicant Senior Officers and SWAGAT Administration Team 16
- 17. Information viewed by Hon. CM during State SWAGAT Sessions 17
- 18. Integrated from State to Sub District & Village Analysis of January 2011 SWAGAT cases Impact across all sectors for all areas: at monthly State Sessions: Hon. CM reviews District and Sub District cases for: 1. Quality of redressal 2. Understanding the nature of problems at local level 0 5 Industries and Mines Rural Development Revenue Department Home 0 100 200 Home Urban Development Revenue Department Panchayat and Rural… 0 500 1000 1500 2000 Water resources Urban Development Rural Development Revenue Department 5 of 5 State: 13 cases District: 557 cases Sub District: 4116 cases Cases attended at SWAGAT session, 27th January 2011 18
- 19. SWAGAT: ICT Infrastructure - GSWAN District Centres (25) Sub District Centres (239) BSNL 10 to 34Mbps 19
- 20. SWAGAT operates on Gujarat State Wide Area Network (GSWAN) • Connects all 33 Districts to State Data Centre with 10Mbps to 34 Mbps connectivity • Leased circuits provided by BSNL, Reliance and Tata Tele Services • Interconnects 8,496 District and Sub District Offices • 23,017 user-IDs created for Government Officers • Video conferencing centres at: – 26 Department Offices – 33 District Offices – 248 Sub District Offices • Platform: – Microsoft Dot Net 2.0 as front-end – SQL server 2005 as back-end – Unicode fonts for regional language support (Gujarati) 20
- 21. SWAGAT live multi-conferencing across Gujarat State Wide Knowledge sharing as all 33 District and 248 Sub District Offices are present through live video-conferencing at all Sessions 21
- 22. SWAGAT IMPACT 94.22 of 334,878 applications have been resolved Most grievances are resolved at local level April 2003 to August 2014 (31/08/2014) State Wide Attention on Grievances by Application of 1457 Technology (SWAGAT) Applications Made Applications Resolved 65927 182366 105653 1395 65760 178609 89114 State Swagat District Swagat Taluka Swagat Gram Swagat 22
- 23. SWAGAT IMPACT • Public accountability strengthened • Systemic changes as decisions lead to policy reform • Citizen’s satisfaction when grievances attended at highest-level • Monitoring system focuses attention on unresolved cases • Access to all guaranteed through proximity of local offices 23
- 24. SWAGAT IMPACT • Total Transparency as all stakeholders are present in real-time • Administration activated as Hon CM is directly reviewing cases • Inputs from all allow fair decisions: citizens, key Officers and elected members • Highest-level authority gain awareness of nature of problems at local levels and awareness of practical issues of local administration 24
- 25. SWAGAT cases 2003: Result after long struggle • Session: State SWAGAT with Hon CM 22nd May 2003 • Case: farmer had not received entitled Government compensation of Rs.19,000 after losing cattle in flash floods of 1997. The Farmer had made repeated efforts over 6 years to obtain the compensation at local offices, without success. • Result: farmer received Rs.19,000 compensation 2004: Policy Impact • Session: State SWAGAT with Hon CM 22nd July 2004 • Case: the accused was extorting money after making false claims for land in Ahmedabad. The litigation process was mis-used to harm people’s interests • Result: accused was dealt with the rule of law and was imprisoned. A Special Investigation Team (SIT) was established to investigate it and any other such cases. The SIT is still functional. 25
- 26. SWAGAT case 2005:Giving disadvantaged their rights • Session: State SWAGAT with Hon. CM 28th July 2005 • Case: Homeless Tribal families were waiting for 42 houses to be built through a Government scheme. Payments to the contractor had been made but construction work was not completed. • Result: construction of all 42 houses was completed. Nodal officers were reprimanded. Contractor was black-listed so as not to gain any future contracts. 26
- 27. SWAGAT case 2006: Justice to common people • Session: State SWAGAT with Hon. CM 28th September 2006 • Case: Below-Poverty-Line (BPL) disabled agricultural labourer was given a Government Plot and Building. The Local elected member (Sarpanch) and Officer (Talati) accused the applicant of encroachment and they then had the building destroyed. • Result: a house was built on the same land and penal action was taken against the local elected member and officer. 27
- 28. SWAGAT case 2007: Case resolved after 36 years • Session: State SWAGAT with Hon. CM 26th April 2007 • Case: 48 plots of 9 x 4.5 metres were purchased by low-income people in 1970 through auction sale by local Government Prant Office. Following completion of sale the land title was not given. After 36 years the case was brought to attention of Hon CM, after 26 of the original purchasers had deceased. • Result: within one month the land was measured and land titles given and possession given to the 48 purchasers or relatives of the deceased. 28
- 29. SWAGAT cases 2008: Relief for Physically challenged Case: a physically challenged man of 25 years had submitted a form for a Government loan to open a General Provisions Store in his village. The applicant had no other source of income, and waited for a year for the loan. The applicant was illiterate and came across difficulties in following up the case until he visited SWAGAT Office Result: after case details were communicated to the Department, the Department acted instantly and brought a cheque for Rs.39,245 to the SWAGAT session of the same day and presented to the applicant. 29
- 30. SWAGAT cases 2009: Result after long struggle • Session: State SWAGAT with Hon CM 22nd January 2009 • Case: as per a new Government Policy to reduce electricity theft awards 5% of payments to an informant who gives details of non-payments. The local officers received information from the applicant and would not then pay the required 5% sum • Result: on direction of Hon. CM the payment of Rs.20,664 was made to the applicant within one month (9th February 2009) 30
- 31. SWAGAT cases 2010: Strict Action • Session: State SWAGAT with Hon. CM on 27th May 2010 • Case: citizen had paid a bribe of Rs.700 to Police Officers after being harassed by them • Result: formal complaint against the police officers was filed • Transfer of the police officers within 24 hrs was ordered 31
- 32. SWAGAT cases 2011: Ensuring citizens their due • Session: State SWAGAT with Hon. CM on 28th July 2011 • Case: Applicant’s Husbands death accidental insurance claim Cheque was retained illegally by her lawyer. • Result: The Cheque of Rs. 15,76,925/- was received by application within a month (i.e. 25/08/2011) 32
- 33. SWAGAT cases 2012: Galvanizing administration into action • Session: State SWAGAT with Hon. CM on 26th April 2012 • Case: Applicants problems regarding pending claims, ration card, electricity connection and harassment from anti social elements. • Result: The amount of pending claim Rs. 1,01,250/- issued on same day. Other issues were sorted out within no time. 33
- 34. SWAGAT cases 2013: Sympathetic Action • Session: State SWAGAT with Hon. CM on 28th March 2013 • Case: Unpaid claim of accidental death of Farmer Insurance since 01/06/2011. • Result: Applicant Shri Girvatsinh’s father Parvatsinh Pagie’s death occured by accident on 01/06/2011. The insurance claim was denied by Director of Insurance due to technical reason. After careful consideration, the claim amount of Rs. 1.00 lac was paid to applicant on dtd. 01/07/2013 34
- 35. SWAGAT cases 2014: Quick Action • Session: State SWAGAT with Hon. CM on 23th May 2014 • Case: A minor girl was abducted by an adult youth on 12th may 2014. Father of the girl requested to lodge police complaint and take necessary action immediately. • Result: The girl was traced at Bangaluru, a team of Police Officials brought back her to Ahmedabad, the youth was arrested and the girl, after being given the medical treatment, was handed to her guardian. 35
- 36. Applicants are given a unique ID through which applicants can access their case details and status online - anywhere TOTAL TRANSPARENCY 36
- 37. Lessons Learned • Focus on outcomes has driven the system to ensure positive outcomes. • Chief Minister interacts personally so there is greater attention to resolving cases successfully. • Systemised process ensures administration is organised and prepared • Activates local level administration by the system requiring local level grievance resolution before consideration to escalate to State level • Analysis of policy issues through compilation, classification and analysis of data has brought to fore many policy issues which have been resolved • State-wide Administration interaction as Officers of all Districts and Sub Districts view and participate in the SWAGAT sessions. 37
- 38. Financial & Human Resources • SWAGAT has not required additional financial or human resources, as it has been developed from the previous Jansampark Grievance redressal system • Existing resources have been utilised with greater efficiency through training the team and strengthening the software system at all levels. • Software and Web-Based Application has been developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) without charges to the Government of Gujarat 38
- 39. Sustainability and expansion • SWAGAT was extended from 33 Districts to 248 Sub Districts in September 2013 • SWAGAT has been replicated by other States of India in different forms • Gram SWAGAT was launched on 1st February 2011 to take SWAGAT to 13,695 Gram Panchayat Offices. – Villages are already connected with broadband through E gram – Once SWAGAT can be accessed at village level – people will not have to travel to Sub District Offices 39
- 40. Chief Minister’s Office ISO 9001:2008 Certified Organization 40
- 41. Chief Minister’s Office National Award for e-Governance, 2010-11 41
- 42. Chief Minister’s Office CXO Awards 2011 Using IT implementation to improve public services 42
- 43. Thank You http://swagat.gujarat.gov.in/ www.gujaratindia.com 43