Elucidate the the basic principles of citizens’ charter movement and its importance.
Citizen’s Charter is a document which represents a systematic effort to focus on the commitment of the organisation towards its citizens in respect of standard of services, information, choice and consultation, nondiscrimination and accessibility, grievance redressal, courtesy and value for money. This also includes expectations of the organisation from the citizen for fulfilling the commitment of the organisation.
The concept was first articulated and implemented in the United Kingdom by the conservative government of John Major in 1991 as a national programme. The basic objective of the Citizen’s Charter is to empower the citizens in relation to public service delivery.
It was first articulated and implemented in the UK in 1991 as a national programme. The basic objective of the Citizens’ Charter is to empower the citizen in relation to public service delivery. Six principles of the Citizens’ Charter movement as originally framed, were: (i) Quality: Improving the quality of services; (ii) Choice: Wherever possible; (iii) Standards: Specify what to expect and how to act if standards are not met; (iv) Value: For the taxpayers’ money; (v) Accountability: Individuals and Organisations; and (vi) Transparency: Rules/ Procedures/ Schemes/Grievances.
It has been recognised the world over that good governance is essential for sustainable development, both economic and social. The three essential aspects emphasised in good governance are transparency, accountability and responsiveness of the administration. “Citizens’ Charters” initiative is a response to the quest for solving the problems which a citizen encounters while dealing with the organisations providing public services. The concept of Citizens’ Charter enshrines the trust between the service provider and its users.
Challenges in realising the spirit of Citizen’s Charter:
- Absence of legal backing to charters: The Citizen’s Charter is not legally enforceable and, therefore, is non-justiciable in a court of law.
- Devoid of participative mechanisms: In majority of the cases, the end-users, civil societies, NGOs etc are not consulted while formulating the charter.
- Poor design and content: Lack of meaningful and succinct Citizen’s Charter, absence of critical information that end-users need to hold agencies accountable.
- Lack of public awareness: Only a few end-users are aware of the existence of the Citizen’s Charter since effective efforts of communicating and educating the public about the standards of delivery promise have not been undertaken.
- Charters are rarely updated: The review and updation process of the Citizen’s Charter are rarely done, making it a one-time exercise.
Road ahead
- Citizen’s Charter should be formulated based on decentralised method with each independent unit preparing its own citizen charter under the overall umbrella of the organization’s charter.
- There should be extensive consultations within the organization followed by a meaningful dialogue with civil society while formulating the citizen charter.
- Periodic evaluation of Citizen’s Charters, effective grievance redressal and end-users feedback mechanisms should be in place.
- Along with these, drawing from best practice models such as the Sevottam Model (a Service Delivery Excellence Model) can help Citizen’s Charter becoming more effective and citizen centric.
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