Topic No. 5:  SMART Governance - Simple, Moral, Accountable, Responsive, Transparent

          Should be Economical. Huge amount is wasted in dogmatic paper work along with digital encryption of the same. Practical feasibility of accountability of various aspects should be considered before implementation. Regular vigilance updates and checks are necessary for efficient and un-corrupt functioning and implementation of the rational administrative approach.

          It should have a scope for innovations also. Traditional ways of Governance are alright but there is a need to modify them with time to keep up with the pace of Development, otherwise it will lead to a huge gap in the beneficiaries and the facilitators. And there should not be any such gap in the Smart Governance. Smart Governance has to be implemented with a Top Down approach, otherwise it would become a one of those many Govt. reforms.

          I personally think that smart governance is somehow lacking in Himachal Pradesh. Shimla has turned into a concrete jungle. Unplanned constructions, narrow lanes, bad roads, water problem etc. Countless number of policies have been formulated to sort water problem over long period of time. However, everything is on paper. Parking is one of the worst nightmares that one can have in the capital.

          In himachal most of institute are from either NIIT or from jetking etc. But they are limited to their subjective knowledge only. Better you consult some technical people from metro city like INT, WIPRO, HP etc. who can tell government that what IT is all about. Because most of the institute in HP are just for spoofing our innocent youths only and having fake commintment for job assurance and etc. But still IT rating in Himachal is Zero in comparision to Delhi/Bangalore and other metro city. So government should encourge other IT enable to compnies to start their valuable service etc.

          There are some thing missing in these sites like these sites shold be updated weekly bases, the latest news or current events should be updated with date mentioning thereon. I again thank the HP Govt. to provide us this site which makes the every thing transparent even from Vidhan Sabha.

          No office to whom I sent complaint through Email has replied to me, hence, in my opinion email tranparency is a flopshow.

          Where is the talk of smart governance, when there is no accountability in deptments like Transport Dept. In spite of having proper documents (when I came on transfer), I am not able to get a new Reg. No. for my vehicle (car). These public Depts. need to have certain response time and should acknowledge the receipt of papers. Even the information shown by Transport Dept. as per RTI Act shows only PIOs list and no other information is available.

          All Govt. Depts. should be online. Govt doing well in this field but process is very slow. Our IT education ratio is Comparatively very low. Most of the institutes in HP are just for spoofing our innocent youths only and having fake commintments for job assurance etc. So Government should encourge other IT companies to start their valuable services etc.

          Every Himachali should have good knowledge of IT Sector. But there is no good way to get IT Eduction. Because the institutes imparting IT education in Himachal have no value in other States. The franchisees of institutes like NIIT, Jetking, IHTN etc. have no good faculty and experienced persons. Their one and only motive is to make money and not to spread the light of education.

          The one line translation of SMART Governance is in fact is very true in meaning. I want to illustrate every word in my thoughts as under:
Simple: When heirarchy of governing people is simple and is fit in the eyes of people for whom result of governance is meant, than only it is meaningful.
Moral: Governing people should be high in moral values. It is only inner moral value that inspire indiviual to do a justified job, which is essential for people looking towards them for justice.
Accountable: As per management principle accountability is more with more authority/power. Hence people sitting on every stage concerned with governance should give direction with feeling of accountabilty towards the result of action.
Responsive: People appointed for governing others have to responsive in action. Their action should be immediate and at the time of need, because something denied at the time of need is useless, if later given. It wipes the faith of people.
Transparency: Transparency is like a mirror in administration which always show other the good and bad point, needs to be clarified or appreciated which are otherwise hidden in nature.
In continuation to above one more thing I would like to add is that it should be innovative in nature of good to very good and very good to outstanding and outstanding to super.

          In the present fast changing world our govt. should act faster to social issues and other issues. For example, every week, we hear about road accidents, this is because of untrained drivers who just bought licences and there is no vehicle fittness testing system in place. Govt. should come up with strict rules to control this and check for drivers without a valid driving licence.

          Our system of Governance is opted from outside regime which required very sincere efforts to make it what is shown in the topic title. We are responsible to make the goverance accountable to our welfare. Mostly knowledge of public compels the Goverance to do the work in the right direction. Information Technology will help us to seek the Smart Governance in the entire country.

          Despite technological upgradation, our officials still believe in pen and paper work, even for information. Government organisations website is in place for long time. E-mail accounts has also been formed. But still our officials do not know the use of mouse and key board. Computer training should be imparted to our officials and use of their nic e-mail accounts should be made mendatory. I mailed to atleast 25-30 officials in their official e-mail address, but to my surprise none responded back.

          Smart governance to me means coming closer to the People. People feel concerned motivated and being cared. What matters are results not only the efforts being put in. Publishing in print media will not really contribute to States progress, rather Smart Governance has to inculcate, with in us by its deeds. We should set an example to others.

          Administrative reforms to wipe out the red tapism are the need of hour. Imperial designed system should be made people friendly. In this era of IT, correspondence through e-mail should be allowed where officials must be made accountable to check mails and reply. It will make system more transparent and accountable. Moreover, the people working at different locations keep roaming in Government offices for several queries during the working hours, this time will also be saved.

          Smart Governance should take the initiative of making accountable every ciitizen of the state by taking note of the implentation of the policies through Soochna Sampark programmes and by giving the responsibilities to the elected members of the Punchayats and Nagarpalikas etc. Elected members should be provided a motivational initiative to do the minimum targetted programme by the Govt. Help desks should enlist the common minimum programmes to every beneficiary.

          If we act on above five actions, we would become number one in the world.

          Much is yet to be done to achieve the desired SMART Governance. We have to change from governing attitude to serving attitude. There by achieving SMART governance automatically.