The Government reluctantly ordered a lock down, and not without reason. A lock down means a hard stop and includes economic activity. Economic activity, that means a lot for a huge section of the population not just daily wagers but even business that have loans to repay. A business may stop salary or not buy raw material but it still has to service the loan, pay minimum charges for water, electricity, house tax etc.
Lockdown also means that most Government offices are hardly working, citizens have to run pillar to post and many important jobs gets delayed. Can the Government use this pandemic to leverage our technological prowess in IT and ITES to address issues in such a way the citizens benefit while government employees are not forced to expose themselves. After all it is possible that such lock downs will be the new normal going forward.
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Consider, the website www.parivahan.gov.in, it allows a citizen to access a host of services related to the RTO. It is well designed and easy to use. One can apply for renewal of their driving licence from the comfort of their home and even pay the fees online, even during a lockdown. This is for any State in the Union. One has to take a printout of the documents generated and the site tells you the counter one has to go to in the local RTO office to complete the formality. It means you have to spend considerably less time than the old physical system. Perfect? Once you go to the local RTO, they will tell you that since an address change is applied for, one has to make a physical application to the Asst Director of Transport and attach all the documents again. Is it not a waste of time and defeating the logic of the online process? The Adhaar card used can be e-verified as is done in case of passport applications, online and in an instant, so one does not need to attach a copy.
It is a case of right hand not knowing what left hand is doing. If left to the departments, a change will not happen, can the State or Central government mandate an option to e-verify the Adhaar card and if done, no need to submit a physical application additionally. This can be done for all other departments requiring physical applications. “Goaonline”, the Goa Governments online interface with citizens is a great platform and has to be leveraged further. Maybe include the RTO permissions too.
Moving on, we saw people struggling to find beds, ventilators and oxygen, many died in the process. Can we use technology to design a system similar to what aggregators like Ola or Swiggy use. All the beds available are uploaded to a portal, those looking can search for what they require based on their location, rather than moving from hospital to hospital. This can be also done for ambulances, GPS enabled, there will be no issue of overcharging or not available etc. As the Government prepares for the third wave, many step up hospitals are planned. These can be connected to the hospital portal and those who require can be easily moved to available beds in the correct hospital. This system will surely ensure that everyone has a fair chance at getting a bed. This system is already in use at Kochi, they have a COVID-19 War room, so that no one has to run around for a bed. They even track oxygen supply to ensure no stock out.
The private players have all moved to WFH, why is this facility not considered by Government. The employees are paid. They can be given access from home computers or provided with laptops so that daily issues are not hampered by their non appearance at work. The Government should study all points where interactions can be shifted online. For e.g. paying any kind of government dues should be made online and “Mahiti Ghars” can help those who do not have internet facilities at home. This will be a very small population because today almost everyone is on WhatsApp, meaning internet connectivity is very high.
Zoom has become the default term for video conferencing (VC), there are many such apps available. Industry has migrated almost 100% to video conferencing and face to face meetings are avoided unless absolutely necessary. The technology is easy to access and almost free. Can government officers give VC appointments to those who have to visit an office for some work. The Government Officer can SMS or WA appointments with a link. At the appointed time, the citizen can login and discuss his issue, the officer can be at home or office.
Based on the discussion the citizen can follow up, this meeting with submission of documents on line. They can email the documents and applications and responses also can be on email. This would avoid a silly procedure followed by say GIDC. All applications are put in a box for a cooling of period of 24 hrs, surely this just adds to the delay as then you have to factor 50% attendance so more delay. If is was submitted online, it would not have to wait and can be attended immediately.
Recently taxicars were stopped by the police at the entrance of Junta house, they wished to meet, Asst Director Vaz, some did not have proper masks. They met Vaz, but in a corridor. Unprofessional and surely not safe. Vaz could have given them a VC link it would be safe and convenient. Vaz asked them in typical bureaucratic style, for their grievances in writing. This could have been emailed. The meeting would have got recorded for future reference.
The Government will to do well to prioritize digitizing citizen interface services quickly, so as to improve delivery quality.
(The author prefers to write rather than chat in a balcao.)
