A milestone in greater transparency, accountability (The Hindu)

Mains Paper 2: Governance
Prelims level: Jan Soochna Portal
Mains level: Significance of the Jan Soochna Portal

Context

• The Jan Soochna Portal launched by the government of Rajasthan is a remarkable achievement in furtherance of RTI, especially Section 4 of the RTI Act that deals with proactive disclosure of information.

Importance of Transparency and Accountability

• Transparency must be accompanied by accountability.
• JSP places the power of making the State government accountable to everyone who accesses the information made available on the portal.
• A National Judicial Data Grid was launched keeping transparency in the justice delivery system in mind. This gave information about all pending cases across the country.
• A year-wise break up of pending cases was given on the grid and it was found that more than 70,000 cases were pending for over 30 years.
• The justice delivery system was asked to account for the enormous delay in such a large number of cases.
• Chief Justices and Registrars in many courts appreciated the fact that they needed to answer questions relating to such enormous delays.
• Many courts have begun to concentrate on the disposal of old cases with considerable success.
• This is a good example of transparency accompanied by accountability brought about by civil society.

About JSP

• It details of every activity of the government such as availability of food grains and ration shops and their distribution, implementation of various schemes and their beneficiaries and a variety of other information are available on a real-time basis.
• It is a virtual Janta Information System.
• The portal has been arrived at through a regular and rigorous consultative process between government officials, IT professionals and civil society.
• Since the information is available on the Internet, every citizen, right down to the municipal ward and panchayat, has access to the information. For example, if identified persons in a particular area had not availed themselves of any rations, they can be easily contacted.
• The portal gives the details of every farmer in every bank branch whose loans have been waived, along with the amounts.
• Another significant piece of information is about mining leases. This portal gives the list of mines in every district, provides geographical coordinates, and the area where mining has been permitted, including the land deed identifiers. It also provides details about pollution and environment clearances.It provides details of production and royalties and taxes paid.
• This kind of information can facilitate a progressive partnership between the government and citizens for a cleaner society.
• With the use of technology and digitisation of records and information, this information is made freely available on the JSP.
• There is no need for anyone to take recourse to the RTI Act and await a response.

Key challenges

• There are huge challenges with regard to maintenance issues and ensuring that there is no let-up in the availability of information.
• The draft guidelines have been framed for the development and maintenance of the JSP. Once implemented, this will ensure that the information system continues uninterrupted.
• Various departments of the government of Rajasthan, called Line Departments, have been given a set of obligations that they are expected to fulfil.
• In addition, the Department of Information Technology will serve as the nodal department for the development, operationalisation and maintenance of the JSP.
• This department has been informed of its obligations, which includes adherence to the norms and standards laid down by a digital dialogue advisory group.
• To ensure that the responsibilities are carried out, the advisory group will be the monitoring agency.
• Grievance redressal officers will be appointed so that citizens can make the State government truly accountable.

Training for citizens

• The government of Rajasthan has also taken steps to train citizens so that they are aware of the facilities available.
• This by itself may not be enough.
• Therefore, it has been decided to host the JSP in decentralised locations, right down to the municipal ward and panchayat levels.
• They will have access to welfare schemes, revenue activities such as mining, and other service delivery issues such as health and education.

Conclusion

• It would be wonderful if all other State governments follow the Rajasthan government’s initiative, which aims to make people, including the marginalised sections, a part of the governance process.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) The Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project (KLIP) of Telangana is on the River-
a) Godavari
b) Krishna
c) Bhima
d) Tungabhadra

Answer: A
Mains Questions:
Q.1) How the Jan Soochna Portal is significant to access the right to information?