Is e-governance enough?

This year a number of e-governance projects are ongoing in India. Apart from just the smart-card program, the Government of Rajasthan has implemented other e-governance interventions such as the designing of a web-based monitoring system for the Below Poverty Line Census in the state. The Department of Rural Development started this project with NIC (National Informatics Centre) to make the census easily available at a central location and introduce more transparency in the system.

The project aimed at computerization of BPL Census 2002 data, which was based on 13 socio-economic parameters. Such a system makes the data viewable by the public as well as other government departments. It was done in the view to have an online monitoring system to enable the updating of the list from time to time. The BPL list is now subject to change through a process of appeal where the names of the ineligible persons can be deleted if the public files an appeal against such an addition. Earlier, the list once prepared remained applicable for the next 5 years and it was impossible to update it. The last survey was done in 2003 based on the parameters defined in 2002. This was for all the rural households the number for which turned out to be more than 92 lakhs for Rajasthan. Due to some legal issues this project was realized only in 2006.

Supposedly, now the list is dynamically updateable and is sustainable for use by all departments. Government says that anyone can visit the portal and update it. Also, that the concerned department frequently verifies the database to ensure that correct and updated data is available on the portal.

Although the project shows great potential, I am not convinced about how well it can or is able to monitor the updating of the BPL Census Database and ensure transparency. Below, I have substantiated this with my experience working in the field.

I worked as a field executive for BASIX on the Bhamashah project in the months of July and August 2008 ( I had posted another blog on this). This was another e-governance initiative taken by the government of Rajasthan to issue smartcards to a targeted set of beneficiaries, which included BPL families, small and marginal farmers and selected set of SCs/ STs. It also aims at providing the BPL beneficiaries with medical insurance under the RSBY. The first phase of the project was to execute financial inclusion through opening of bank accounts for the beneficiaries. For this camps were set up at different panchayats in all districts where we had our team (customer enrollment agents-CEAs who we had recruited) filling out forms and clicking photographs of the beneficiaries. I worked in Jaisalmer as a camp supervisor. My job was to monitor and supervise these camps as well as train the CEAs. There were times when our work was interrupted by certain field-related issues, which I consider to be quite crucial.

These issues arose in the village of Delasar (Panchayat) on 29^th July 2008 that stalled the work of CEAs.

There were around 50 people of Delasar who completely opposed the implementation of the enrollment process. They claimed that the given list of BPL beneficiaries was incorrect and that the survey conducted in 2002 was faulty. According to them, many ineligible names were still on the list (who over the years had crossed the BPL line) while; several others who were eligible were not included in the list. They said that this had repeatedly been happening for the last two surveys and all the benefits that are given to the BPL families by the government go to the same families over and again, these families should not be considered BPL in the first place. They further asserted that the gram sevak and the patwari were aware of this but were too scared to take any action towards it, as the non- BPL beneficiaries (whose name was on the list) were very powerful.

We informed the Block Development Officer (BDO) about this situation. He sent the SDM and the Tehsildar to look into the matter. The SDM told the people that the BPL survey was re-conducted in 2006 because many people had opposed the 2002 survey in the past (for the same reason). He also said that he would help the actual beneficiaries with the application procedure but could not guarantee that they will become a part of the list; meanwhile the implementation of the enrollment process should be allowed.

Though work got started, people seemed highly dissatisfied. It was apparent that this kind of problem had risen a few times before as well and government was aware of it. Such a situation was encountered in 2 other villages. Also, many times people had come to us individually with their problem of not being included in the BPL list in spite of having applied a month or a few months ago. When we conveyed this to the government officials we were told that it takes time for the application to be processed so that the name can be included in the list. This might take months- meaning the name would show only on the next list.

Witnessing this whole episode raised several questions in my mind. What is the use of having a web-based online monitoring system for computerization of BPL Census data if it is not in fact being upgraded regularly? Especially, this updating becomes even more important when the data is being used for implementing other government schemes (in this case bhamashah). I know one can say that the allegations made by the villagers might have been incorrect. But why would so many people lie at once and why would this take place repeatedly? Does this reflect carelessness and inefficiency in operations on part of the government? These questions troubled me a lot. I thought to myself that the whole of purpose of projects like web-based monitoring of BPL Census and Bhamashah gets defeated if surveys are not conducted properly.

Moreover, when the government says that anyone is allowed to access the BPL list on the portal and update it. Is it really “anyone’? The illiteracy rate in Rajasthan is only so high, let alone being computer–savvy. People are not even aware of how and when the survey is done. The surveyors most of the time take the lists directly from the patwaris or the gram sevaks. Villagers don’t even know how to appeal against or apply to be on the BPL list.

I also recently visited Sambalpur, Orissa as a part of my training process. While there I interacted with fellow blogger Dan Kopf and his colleagues who are working on a malaria and microfinance study, I learnt that similar situation was seen in some of the villages in the western parts of Orissa.

We being researchers really need to give these things a deep thought and perhaps can start by ensuring that the surveys supervised under us are of high quality. Meanwhile, I think before the Department of Rural Development introduces new projects, the NSSO needs to improve their quality of work.

by Akshi Khandewal