Good Governance and RTI Activists

 

Good Governance and RTI Activists

-Dr. Lalit Kumar Setia

Mobile Governance – A New Revolution

If a citizen wants to know the nearest police station, he can just go to google for finding it out. The birth certificate is being tracked using online applications and messages on mobile. The farmers are getting information of the status of availability of fertilizers with its location, on mobile using SMS. If the electricity bill is required to be paid, no need to go anywhere, just use an app and pay it, the receipt is also provided on the spot.

If a person applied for a license or there is a need to receive the RC of vehicles, the SMS alerts are making the work easier. The apps are also making it easier to lodge complaints and track the status of complaints. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the doses are well managed with the help of registration in mobile apps and tracking of stocks of the vaccines in the easiest way. The mobile alerts are used to aware the citizens of various services, the status of complaints, tracking of orders making work convenient and easy. This is really good governance using mobile phones known as mGovernance.

Easy Way to Good Governance

No Complex procedures to follow, hassle-free mechanisms using web portals and mobile apps, single window system is facilitated using information technology. The potential of technology makes life easier. The e-Governance initiatives of Government in India, in almost all states and districts of the country making things possible to implement instead of large population and geographical areas. We are more connected with greater coverage of networks, the revolution of telecom changed the lives of millions.

Cost-effective working

The operations of bringing good governance are not only easier but also cost-effective and 24 hours x 7 days, it is possible to use the services now. With parameters of efficiency and transparency in delivering the services, the work of accessing land records is possible today which was never so easier earlier.

Boost in Primary Sectors of Economy  

The agricultural functions of farmers are improved a lot. The children in the villages are smarter and help parents and grandparents to perform the agricultural activities with knowledge of weather, soil type, availability of fertilizers and seeds, and also schemes of the Government to facilitate the agricultural operations.

Students life changed drastically

Gone are the days, when students were using the books for photocopying the material. Now everything is available in the form of eBooks and can easily be accessed by zooming the text on computers and mobiles. The job applications are processed online and the examinations and tests are also attempted in the online form. The apps are maintained by each government and private college to facilitate the students. The status of certificates, the marks obtained, and call letters for interviews, everything is coming without postage. Electronic means changed the whole life of students.

e-Payments promoting Governance

The registration fee, bills of utilities, payment of each payee using RTGS, IMPS, and mobile apps of the third party, etc. promotes the Governance with the help of e-payments.

Emergency Services using Mobiles

The apps also transformed the emergency services, the rescue calls to the police, hospitals, and others is easier with the use of mobiles. Just one number for the particular service changed the way of living with confidence. The women security by dialing 1091 and the WhatsApp messages in groups and broadband messages improved the lifestyle of people.

Why RTI Activists are facing problems?

On the other hand, the Right to Information (RTI) act which is considered an effective tool for realizing information, is being misused most of the time. The public interest sometimes becomes hard in realizing the desired information because it is difficult to differentiate between a real information seeker and a fake information misuser.

Problems to PIOs and Applicants

The public information officers (PIOs) face various difficulties in determining whether the demanded information should be provided under the RTI act or not. The applicants are also feel harassed when desired information is not provided within the stipulated time of the RTI Act. The key objective of RTI i.e. to promote transparency and accountability; is not perfectly achieved due to various reasons including wrong intentions of applicants as well as public information officers. The role of appellate authorities and information commissioners has also been affected in the case of disclosing information related to big scams. In Haryana, now it is mandatory to provide identity proof with the RTI application so that only genuine information seekers seek information using the RTI act.

RTI Activists are dying

The news of 16^th February 2021 was shocking which intimated that at least 16 activists were killed and 36 cases of assault have been recorded (https://thewire.in/rights/maharashtra-dubious-distinction-highest-attacks-rti-activists-chri-report). The attacks on RTI activists, are giving signals to take initiatives for safeguarding the citizens seeking RTI information relating to frauds and embezzlements. On 24^th February 2021 when Sh. Premnath Jha was riding to his home in Mumbai, several bullets were fired at him from a revolver (https://scroll.in/article/987740/as-attacks-on-rti-applicants-continue-authorities-do-little-to-bring-perpetrators-to-justice). In Bihar, Sh. Bipin Agrawal was shot by unidentified assailants on a motorcycle just because he sought details on Government land encroachment. (https://indianexpress.com/article/india/bihar-rti-activist-sought-details-on-government-land-encroachment-shot-dead-7531686/). Only 1-2 cases referred, for example, there are hundreds of cases, can be explored by google search engine. About 20 RTI activists were killed in Bihar over the past decade. (https://indianexpress.com/article/india/bihar-rti-activist-sought-details-on-government-land-encroachment-shot-dead-7531686/). 

*Copyright © 2021 Dr. Lalit Kumar. All rights reserved. 

This article is written by Dr. Lalit Kumar Setia; a renowned author and trainer. He completed his Doctorate in Commerce from Kurukshetra University Kurukshetra and MBA in Information Technology from GJU, Hisar. He also wrote two books, 15 research papers, and organized more than 200 Training Courses during his working period since 2006 in Haryana Institute of Public Administration, Gurugram. The article was firstly published on 3rd November 2021 and last updated on 3rd November 2021. The writer can be contacted on lalitkumarsetia@gmail.com 

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Linking Aadhaar Number

Linking Aadhaar Number 

By Dr. Lalit Kumar Setia |  @drlalitsetia  |  drlalitsetia@gmail.com 

The Aadhaar has been widely accepted as bio-metric identity all around the world. It has become a tool to restrict the corruption in case of Public Distribution System, award of scholarships, providing subsidies to the right beneficiary and ensuring access of ‘Below Poverty Line’ people to the monetary benefits to be provided by the Government. However, instead of government’s instructions and orders of Supreme Court, the implementation of Aadhaar as bio-metric identity in India, is still a challenge. Every citizen should be aware about 'for which purposes, Aadhaar Seeding is mandatory and for which, it is not mandatory'. 

Linking Aadhaar for Governance in Public Services:

As per the orders of Supreme Court, the Aadhaar is mandatory to be linked with Permanent Account Number (PAN) so that the problem of people having two PAN can be sorted out. A person should be eligible to get only one PAN and in case, any person has two or more PAN, it is strictly illegal and action is required to be taken. Secondly, the Aadhaar is must to be linked with the schemes of Government in order to ensure the accessibility of right beneficiaries as per the terms of the scheme. It has been noticed that sometimes the beneficiary’s identity is used by other people and linking of Aadhaar will make it impossible.

Linking Aadhaar for Strengthening Public Distribution System:

The rationing system under Public Distribution System is strengthened after linking the Aadhaar with the Depot holders. Now in addition to signatures or thumb impression in register, it is mandatory to record the bio-metric presence of beneficiary with a device. It has stopped the illegal distribution of ration to be provided to the beneficiary.

Linking Aadhaar with the Sim Card of Mobiles:

In January 2018, Supreme Court of India passed an order to link Aadhaar Number with the Sim Card of Mobile and re-verified it at the earliest otherwise the mobile number will be deactivated by the telecom operators. The new sim cards whenever issued to the subscribers will require bio-metric identity of the subscriber and without bio-metric identity, the Sim card will not be issued. It is ordered to ensure the right person to get the connection of mobile number. It has stopped the bogus connections in others’ name with others’ identity. This also helps in enforcing the legal controls.

Procedure for linking old Sim Cards with Aadhaar:

However, the Supreme Court has ordered the it is not mandatory to link the mobile number with Aadhaar but in case, the subscriber required to link it with the mobile number, then there are two ways to link Aadhaar with the sim card. 

(a) With the help of store or retail outlets: 

The shopkeepers (store or retail outlets) relating to selling recharges, mobile accessories have been authorised to link the Aadhaar with Mobile Number. The linking Aadhaar with mobile number require visiting to telecom operator’s outlet or store with self-attested copy of Aadhaar card. The store executive will enter the Aadhaar number and mobile number in a device and the subscriber will receive a One Time Password (OTP), after providing OTP to store executive, it will be required to provide fingerprints. A confirmation message will come on the mobile number and it will be required to reply with ‘Y’ to complete the e-KYC process. 

(b) With the help of IVR facility of telecom operator: 

The subscriber calls on operator’s toll-free number and follows the IVR instructions and select option to link Aadhaar with mobile number. Thereafter the 12-digit Aadhaar number is entered and confirmed. The mobile number is linked and also re-verified. A confirmation message is also received on the mobile number on successful verification.

But even after linking the Aadhaar, a person would like to re-verify whether the Aadhaar has been linked with the mobile number or not. The Supreme Court also directed to re-verify the linking of Aadhaar with Mobile Number. Here, it is explained how can a person easily re-verify the linked mobile number in order to avoid the deactivation of mobile number:

Method to re-verify Aadhaar Linking: 

The mobile number which is required to be re-verified; dial 14546 from that number. It will ask whether you are Indian or Non-Resident Indian. Select the exact option; then it will be asked to give consent for re-verification of Aadhaar by pressing 1; press 1 thereafter, enter the 12-digit Aadhaar number followed by confirming with pressing 1 again. The network will generate an OTP and send to the registered mobile number. Thereafter, it will be required to give consent to the telecom operator by accessing name, photo and DOB from UIDAI. The IVR will read out the last 4 digits of the linked mobile number. If the digits are accurate then enter the OTP received and press 1. The linking of Aadhaar is re-verified. It is mandatory to re-verify the linking of Aadhaar card with mobile number.

Aadhaar Verdict in December 2018 and Aadhaar Not Mandatory for:

The Supreme court of India declared that it is not mandatory to link the Aadhaar with Sim Card, Bank Accounts, Online Wallets, Admission and Examination of Students etc. However, in order to get subsidies of Government and filing of Income Tax; the Aadhaar is still mandatory. As per the decision of the Supreme Court, the Aadhaar is not mandatory for examination purposes like in NEET, JEE, UGC, CBSE etc. The companies, schools, banks and other organizations cannot insist the citizens to disclose their Aadhaar identity and no linkage is mandatory for the citizens to their services. The Department of Telecom (DoT)’s circular to mandate linking of Aadhaar with mobile number is illegal and unconstitutional.  

What to do if the bio-metric identity has been provided to companies, banks, and telecom operators?

The Supreme Court’s verdict asks not to disclose the bio-metric identity to companies, banks, and telecom operators but in case the citizens have already transferred their bio-metric identity then what can be done now. Since the seeding of Aadhaar with the Sim card is declared unconstitutional because such seeding is not in the interest of national security. In case of accessing social services, subsidies and other benefits, the seeding of Aadhaar is in national interest so that such benefits cannot be transferred to the other persons than the beneficiaries.

However, the already seeded Aadhaar data with the companies, banks, or telecom service providers is still dangerous as the data can be utilized for purposes harmful for the persons. The Supreme Court strike down the Section 57 partially and restrict private entities to use Aadhaar for authentication of a person’s identity. The entities cannot force citizens to provide or show Aadhaar as a proof of their identity. The entities already received Aadhaar related information should not share such information of the people with others, however, instructions are not issued in this regard.  

*Copyright © 2018 Dr. Lalit Kumar. All rights reserved.

Dictatorship Negatively Affects Harmony

Dictatorship Negatively Affects Harmony

By Dr. Lalit Kumar Setia |  @drlalitsetia  |  drlalitsetia@gmail.com

The countries are not self-sufficient to meet the requirement of their citizens. The Governments decide to import and export various types of goods and services and the decisions are also taken to impose the duties and taxes over imported goods and services by each country. The imposition of duties and taxes depends upon the harmonious relationship among the countries. More the harmonious relationships, lesser the duties and taxes, easier the way of importing and exporting goods and services by the businessmen. In July 2019, the United States imposed 25% tariffs on imports from China and similarly, China imposed extra tariffs on imports from United States. Due to lack of harmony between these two countries, the growth rates of both the countries reduced by nearly 0.5 percentage points. During last three years, from 2017 to 2020; the business confidence and equity prices of the stocks / shares have also been dampened. 
Due to trade war between these two countries, the harmonious relationships among the other countries have also been affected and in result, the global growth have also been affected badly.
Intention behind Free Trade Agreements (FTAs):

The ‘Free Trade’ agreements to ensure smooth import and export among a few countries, are generally imposed to promote the trade. Due to Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), the taxes and duties imposed on exporters and importers are relaxed so that the trade among the nations can easily be promoted. The entrepreneurs, industrialists, farmers, professionals are offered a lot of benefits because their role in economic development of the nation cannot be ignored. The rich countries led by prime ministers and presidents with foresightedness, offer subsidies to farmers, incentives to entrepreneurs, economic benefits to industrialists, and special appointments to experts on administrative posts. The so-called Free Trade Agreements most of the times become the tools of richer nations to enforce conditions in their interests including patent laws, foreign investment related provisions etc. Due to such provisions, the poor and underdeveloped nations become the victim of less economic progress instead of Free Trade Agreements.

Dictatorship of Rulers Negatively Affects Harmony:

In December 2018, the President of United States expressed his views to have total separation from Mexico by sealing the U.S.-Mexico border. It is worth to mention here that the Canada, Mexico and the United States have NAFTA agreement to have free trade among the economies. Such decisions or expression of views increase the un-certainty among the traders, for example, after such expression of separating Mexico, the car manufacturers of United States started to plan shifting of their factories from the Mexico. The autocratic decision of a single ruler can negatively affect the harmonious relationships among the traders, professionals, and people of different nations being affected with the decision. The countries with lack of capital and economic resources suffer more due to such autocratic decisions showing dictatorship.

The countries against the United States and other rich countries cannot easily borrow money from International Monetary Fund (IMF). The autocratic decisions of rulers led to rise in economic inequalities followed by increasing crime, terrorism, and naxalism.

Governance is affected badly from the decision taken in Autocratic Leadership Styles:

Each country is ruled with its political system and the government is formed to ensure governance by keeping democracy alive. However, there are greater chances of taking strict/hard decisions in dictatorship without disclosing the need of such decisions. It is well known that dictatorship is a form of government in which one person with a few people in his group, uses his powers to rule the public. Indirectly, the dictators resort to force or fraud to gain political power using intimidation and terror. The autocratic decisions taken in self-interest by the rulers of developed nations, no doubt increase the economic growth of their nations but negatively affects the prosperity of whole world. The overall economic growth of poor countries benefit the poor people, bring fiscal discipline for safeguard of economies, and establish good relationships. 

In India, the All India National Congress  (INC) has become weak due to escape of majority of the opposition leaders to the ruling party i.e. Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP). This makes the ruling party enough strong to take strong autocratic decisions without facing any resentment of leaders. 

Misusing powers for own benefit:

Mostly, the elected presidents and prime ministers use their powers and capture the entire system by suppressing the opposition. In Germany during 1933 to 1945; Adolf Hitler, an Austrian-born politician ruled with dictatorship. In 1922, Joseph Stalin led the Soviet Union after being appointed as general secretary of the central committee. During 1922 to 1943, In Italy, Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini as leader of the National Fascist Party ruled the country as Prime Minister. Thereafter, Mao Zedong, governed republic of China using dictatorship in 1949 and Pol Pot, captured Phnom Penh and became leader of Cambodia in 1975.

The dictator Saddam Hussein ruled as President of Iraq in 1979 and in 1994, Kim Jong-il became the supreme leader of Republic of Korea (i.e. North Korea). And now-a-days, whole world is witness to the dictatorship of Kim Jong-un (son of Kim Jong-il), the supreme leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The Kim reportedly removed the senior officials, inherited from his father’s regime. It is under dictatorship of Kim Jong-un that North Korea has continuously testing its weapons. The North Korea is telling through media reports that the regime of expanding nuclear capabilities will be continued and there is potential to have war with the United States. Such happenings are a major threat to harmony and peace in entire world.

Threats from Autocratic Decisions of Dictators:

The dictatorship style of Pervez Musharraf as the tenth President of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008 made the country face war from India.

At present, the 34th Prime Minister of Cambodia i.e. Hun Sen is also a leader using dictatorship and he has served for more than 25 years which made him the longest serving head of government of Cambodia. 

In next decade, it is expected that there will be greater use of technology in war among the countries. Recently, in December 2017, the United States’ administration stated that the North Korea has been found as a source of powerful computer virus WannaCry, affected approximately 230,000 computers worldwide.

The Pakistan, China, United States, Cambodia after having influence of dictatorship, there is potential of India being affected from dictatorship. The vote banks in favour of dictators sometimes raised as a trouble. The dictators become popular when they take fast decisions to sort out problems. They equip themselves with a team of experts and try to misuse public resources very intelligently.

Conclusion:

The powers in the hands of a team sometimes proved negative because power made the persons blind, behave aggressively and take decisions leading to dictatorship. However, the faster and harder decisions may also have proved beneficial in long run but the immediate affects reduce the harmonious relationships. The Free Trade Agreements with more provisions in interest of rich countries, provides unfair wages to the poor labour of affected underdeveloped countries. The unions and associations are framed to raise the voice of affected poor people and the level of harmonious relationships between employees and employers, citizens and government reduced significantly. Due to Free Trade Agreements, the rich countries become successful in selling their capital-intensive products with charging high prices and at the same time, they procure the labour-intensive products of poor countries at low prices; and such transactions led to more ‘Current Account Deficit’ for the poor countries. The rulers of rich countries always took such decisions to ensure maximum benefit to their citizens and the approach led to reduce the peaceful environment among the traders of the economies.

In other words, the dictatorship is harmful for the harmonious relations and the rulers should ensure the interest of weaker countries by offering products at cheaper prices as per the economic status of the citizens.

(The views expressed in article are belonged to Author and not written to harm the feeling of others.)

*Copyright © 2017 Dr. Lalit Kumar. 

You might be interested to reading the following: 

1. Financial Terminology for Finance Officers      

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4. Questions on Commerce - Most Important 

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Employees-Friendly Governance can reduce Corruption

Employees-Friendly Governance can reduce Corruption

-Dr. Lalit Kumar Setia*

The Human Capital is the most valuable asset to a nation. India requires initiatives to retain talent. Indians are leading whole world except Indian Companies... why? 

What can be done to improve the situation? 

In last three decades after implementing initiatives of Globalization and liberalization, the governments in both states and union territories of India gave more emphasis on reducing the benefits to the employees working in Government organizations. It had been tried to reduce the financial burdens in the form of salaries, retirement benefits, bonuses etc. The Governments also worked to encourage incorporating private players in various sectors of Indian economy. No doubt, the economic growth and progress happened as per expectations but one thing which had been overlooked and also in present days affected the system, has been increasing that is corruption and black money.

The initiatives of Demonitization and promoting use of digital transactions are not enough to contain economic problems of India. The entry of various corporates being handled from other economies and directly or indirectly getting support from the top-most offices of Government; originated a position beyond control of Reserve Bank of India and Finance Ministry.

The supreme court, high courts, Lokayuktas, Police Commissioners had been playing great roles than the Enforcement agencies of Government in restarting mal-practices in Governance system.

The out-sourcing and Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) may be financially beneficial but the leakage of confidental government information and the increasing number of Cyber Crimes made us convinced to rethink upon adoption of employees-friendly governance. It is required to satisfy the Government Officers, employees, and upcoming IT-professionals to not leave government organizations in the greed of higher salaries being offered by Multinational Companies. The talent retention has become the key challenge. Around the world, Indian talent is being leaked and other countries are taking benefits by being ruled by talented Indians born in India but adopted citizenship of their country. If we view at major causes of corruption then one cause which may be 100% true for the developing economies is "Giving less salaries and fixing higher responsibilities of employees working in Government organizations". 

Recently in February 2019, the Anti-Corruption Bureau caught officials working in Secretariat of Telangana Government red handed for taking bribe. It is also found that the officers i.e. Assistant Section Officers, Section Officers, Deputy Directors possess lands worth of crores and they also have investments in Multinational Companies  (MNCs). The excess leverage with employees friendly environment may lead to excess corruption. 

The Niti Aayog should work towards talent retention in Government Organizations by adopting employees-friendly Governance so that the employees working in Government Organizations not only to protect the privacy but also to motivate employees for working sincerely in the interest of Government Organizations.

Jai Hind - Jai Bharat

*Copyright © 2017 Dr. Lalit Kumar. All rights reserved. 

You may also like:

1. Role of Clerks in Financial Administration

2. All about Cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin

3. Corruption and Public Financial Management

4. Effective Administration of Accounts - A solution to get rid of Economic Crimes

5. Economic Problems of the United States

6. Public Sector Reforms : Solution for Revival of Public Sector Undertakings

7. Duties of a Clerk in Government Departments or Public Sector Entities