The Government of Gujarat has been triple-awarded in the National e-governance awards this year given by the Government of India. The awards highlight, once again, that Gujarat has exemplary and path-breaking e-Governance initiatives that guarantee the citizens excellent service delivery.
The Chief Minister’s Office, Government of Gujarat was awarded the Gold Award for SWAGAT programme
The Chief Minister’s Office, Government of Gujarat was awarded the Gold Award for SWAGAT programme for its outstanding performance in citizen-centric delivery through the State Wide Attention on Grievances with Application of Technology. Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi complimented the entire team of CM office which is responsible for the SWAGAT programme. SWAGAT has been running systematically for over 7 years resulting in 96% cases being resolved to date. Taluka-level SWAGAT was launched 2 years ago and now over 4,000 cases are being submitted every month. Gujarat Chief Minister extended the SWAGAT programme up to village level in the name of Gram SWAGAT on 1st February 2011, to extend the access of grievance resolution sitting at the village level. In just nine days, GRAM SWAGAT has received 9000 applications. In 2010, the SWAGAT programme was internationally recognized by the United Nations through Public Service Awards for improving transparency and accountability in public service. SWAGAT is a key system for empowerment that allows voices of citizens to be heard and ensures the response is transparent , effective and time-bound.
Gujarat’s Integrated Water-Shed Management Program (IWMP) won Silver Award
Gujarat’s Integrated Water-Shed Management Program (IWMP) won Silver Award for innovative technology usage in e-Governance. Gujarat is the first state to apply Satellite GIS to fully plan, implement and monitor watershed management. The GIS Satellite imagery is used to transparently identify watershed boundaries and most needy areas. GPS and mobile software are used to feed data and create maps to plan and to monitor progress. Gujarat State Watershed Management Agency (GSWMA) has used technology to benefit 1,048 villages, 7.08 lakh hectares, and 2.5 Lakh farmers.
Rajkot Municipal Corporation e-Governance won Bronze Award
Rajkot Municipal Corporation e-Governance won Bronze Award for innovative technology usage in e-Governance. All of Rajkot’s civic services have been covered with ‘M-Governance’ Mobile Governance. Over 1 lakh SMS alerts were sent for Property Tax, Birth registration, Awas Yojana instalment and other services. Over 49,000 SMS alerts were sent for out-standing dues and Rajkot Municipal Corporation’s dues have doubled to 320 Crore. A 24x7 Call Centre registers complaints through phone, SMS and website. Since 2009, citizens have sent more than 1.6 lakh SMS complaints to the call centre. Over 55,000 Vaccination SMS alerts were sent for timely immunization coverage.
These three awards come as a result of Gujarat Government’s commitment to e-governance for easier and effective governance.
The awards are administered by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DAR&PG) and the Department of information Technology in the Government of India. Awards were handed out on 10th February at the 14th National Conference on e-Governance in Aurangabad, Maharashtra. The Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi congratulated all the functionaries involved in these award winning initiatives.
- Outstanding performance in Citizen-Centric Service Delivery
- GOLD AWARD
- State Wide Attention on Grievances by Application of Technology (SWAGAT)
- Chief Minister’s Office, Government of Gujarat
When genuine expectations of a citizen from the government are not met, it becomes a grievance. Before SWAGAT was launched there was not a transparent system for grievance redressal and citizens did not know when their grievance would be redressed. Officers and Ministers did not have a mechanism to track the progress of redressal: there was no pressure to resolve cases and no mechanism that fixed accountability. The result was citizens suffered and those who suffered the most were the poorest, the least educated and the remotely based.
From April 2003 the Chief Minister’s Office in Gujarat is operating an ICT based program for effective, transparent and speedy redress of the grievances of citizens at various levels of the Government, including at the highest level by direct interaction with the Chief Minister.
Online applications, a data management system for case records, robust tracking and live multi-video conferencing have ensured transparency, accountability – and most importantly positive outcomes for the people. SWAGAT is accessible through Gujarat’s 13,000 E-gram village-level centres and at over 300 offices at Sub District and District level. Over 4,000 applications are received each month and to date 96% have been resolved. The Chief Minister holds monthly review and analysis of the cases with all District and Sub District officers in attendance through multi-video conferencing, this ensures rapid solutions, activates the administration and informs policy making. The SWAGAT e-governance system is empowering the people of Gujarat by allowing their voices to be heard and responding with transparent decision making to resolve cases positively
