J&K tops country’s citizen-centric online services: LG

Srinagar/Jammu: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha Tuesday said that Jammu and Kashmir was at the top spot in the country’s citizen-centric online services.

An official spokesman in a statement issued here said that the LG formally announced the landmark achievement of reaching 1016 citizen centric services being provided in online mode making J&K first amongst all states and union territories in the number of e-services being provided to the citizens.

He said that it was a milestone achievement in tune with the commitment and resolve of the J&K administration to provide ease, convenience, and accessibility of services to the common man, ushering in a new era of digital governance.

“J&K creates a new benchmark in e-Governance Service Delivery with 1016 services now made available online. Digital transformation of J&K is guided by the principle of people-first and our aim to empower the common man. This historic achievement is testimony to our commitment to transform the social landscape and enhance citizen’s satisfaction, ensure transparency and accountability in the system and empower the aspirational and talented youth and women,” the LG said.

He said that J&K had overtaken Madhya Pradesh to become number one amongst the states and union territories in the country in the number of online services provided to citizens.

“Under the Digital J&K programme launched in mission mode last year, the number of online services has increased exponentially from 174 services in July, 2022 to 1016 services as on date with nearly 500 percent increase in just one year,” Sinha said.

He said that the remarkable digital journey of J&K and the resultant transformation from a laggard status in e-governance to a leading position in such a short span of time was unprecedented.

“This has brought about a paradigm shift resulting in increased transparency, accountability and efficiency at all levels,” the LG said.

“As a result of purposeful and focused action, J&K has witnessed an exceptional increase in volume and uptake of e-services which has transformed the government-citizen interface as never before.  There has been a palpable reduction in corruption and increase in citizen satisfaction, which is being regularly monitored through a citizen feedback mechanism,” he said.

Sinha said that it was the adoption of a robust model of e-Governance – not just automation but citizen-centric approach by the J&K government, which had resulted in an exponential rise in the number of online services and availability of services 24x7x365.

“Integration with systems like Digilocker, Aadhaar, e-payment, and SMS Gateways has enhanced the ease of living and convenience of citizens obviating the need to visit government offices,” he said.

The LG said that the seriousness of the government’s resolve could be gauged from the fact that the Public Services Guarantee Act (PSGA), 2011 had been amended to bring online services under its ambit.

“Around 300 services have been brought under the auto-escalation mechanism for ensuring time-bound delivery of services and penalties for delays in service delivery,” he said.

Sinha said that taking a leap forward in mobile governance, the recently launched mobile application ‘Mobile Dost’ provides all online services through mobile phones and has a bilingual interface.

“Moving towards digital inclusion, another landmark initiative is the launch of ‘Digi-Dost’- a mechanism for doorstep delivery of citizen-centric services by leveraging the ubiquitous presence of Common Services Centres (CSC),” he said.

The LG commended the efforts of all departments of the J&K government for developing, designing, and deploying online services and particularly the IT Department, JaKeGA, and NIC for spearheading the Digital J&K mission.

He stressed upon the need to ensure proper assessment of citizen feedback and to continually monitor the quality of services.

Speaking on the occasion, Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta exhorted the officials to identify the areas where online services should be developed for citizens for bringing about social transformation and transparency.

He directed that an intensive IEC campaign be launched to inform the public about the digital initiatives and for greater uptake of the online services.