THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR, DELHI

‘Misinformation campaign’ being spread about various issues related to ‘Public Delivery of Services’ : LG
Comparison with Pizza delivery and E-Commerce misplaced. Unlike documents, Pizza cannot be downloaded : LG
Advice was to take digitization ‘end-to-end’ i.e. from application to delivery stage : LG
Twin benefits in the alternate model – corruption to be removed by elimination of human interface and employment to the young unemployed : LG
What would promote corruption : an unnecessary army of thousands of ‘mobile sahayaks’ collecting ‘facilitation fee’ or a scheme with 100 % digital delivery with no human interface : LG
Unfortunate that despite well structured prescribed mechanism for consultation, issues sought to be settled through media and rhetoric : LG
There appear to be a number of media reports on the issue of ‘Public delivery of Government Services’. Unfortunately, many of them seem to be based on ‘misinformation’ spread intentionally or unintentionally.

A wrong impression is being conveyed obliquely that the matter was delayed in the office of the hon’ble Lt. Governor. The factual position is that the file on the subject was received in the office of the hon’ble Lt. Governor through the Hon’ble Chief Minister on 18.12.2017. The file was returned on 26.12.2017 with an advice to reconsider the matter. In any case, the department concerned had already gone ahead and floated the tender.

A misplaced parallel is being drawn between the current proposal and E-Commerce. There is no technology so far to download Pizza and many other E-Commerce products, whereas most of the proposed services in the Government proposal can be and are already being delivered online. Moreover, delivery of Pizza and most of other E-Commerce products can also not be compared with the documents proposed to be delivered through the ‘mobile sahayaks’ as the latter would involve sensitive personal information. Further, unlike E-Commerce, which is a B2C (Business-to-Consumer) transaction, Government has to be more sensitive and responsive to safety and security concerns in the proposed system which would be a G2C (Government-to-Consumer) transaction.

Further, nowhere did the hon’ble LG mention that mere digitization is enough. The advice of hon’ble LG was to have ‘end-to-end’ digitization i.e. the services should be applied online and also received online. This would eliminate human interface and discretion totally and would be the most effective tool against corruption.

There have also been media reports that despite having majority of the services already on-line, there are queues outside the offices. That there are still queues outside departments despite online availability of services, is precisely the reason why the Hon’ble LG has advised to plug gaps in the online delivery system and increase ‘access’ by facilitating setting up of internet kiosks by unemployed youth.

There have also been misleading claims in the media that Home Delivery of services would ensure digital delivery, whereas 100 percent digital delivery model means that there is no need for any human interface. The proposed system of delivery through thousands of ‘mobile sahayaks’ who will collect ‘facilitation fee’ will only introduce an unnecessary layer with all its attendant complications including chances of corruption. Human interface is what breeds corruption, discretion and delays.

The alternate model of complete end-to-end digital delivery would ensure that there would not be any requirement of another layer for citizens who are digitally equipped. For those who need to be facilitated to have internet access, the advice given by hon’ble LG was to facilitate them by setting up of “Internet Kiosks” by unemployed educated youth. For this purpose, Hon’ble LG has advised that GNCTD could consider a scheme to provide loans to educated unemployed. This would also promote entrepreneurial spirit and generate employment.

In an earlier era before the advent of mobile phones, if kiosks or PCOs could provide spread of telephony, why a similar model of kiosks cannot provide digital delivery of documents!

It is reiterated that the Hon’ble LG had NOT rejected the proposal of the elected government, but had merely advised to reconsider in view of the potential challenges and had suggested an alternate model. The constitutional scheme for governance of NCT of Delhi provides a well-defined mechanism for resolution of differences beginning with a formal consultative process with the Hon’ble Minister concerned.

It is unfortunate, that rather than taking up the consultative route and considering a well intentioned advice, the matter is sought to be resolved through media debates and rhetoric.