The Rajasthan government launched the Jan Soochna Portal (JSP) on Friday. This portal will provide access to details on various ongoing schemes run by 13 government departments. This will include information on the beneficiaries of such schemes and programmes, the authorities in charge of them, their progress, and all this would be real-time. This would help citizens assess the governance of the state.
The JSP would cover information of all the tiers of governance within the state of Rajasthan, district, blocks and panchayats. This means that people would now be able to access updated information about government activities and their implementation.
Access to real-time benefits and progress of government activities would bring transparency in the governance. Under the RTI Act, citizens have to wait for their reply after filing RTI. Apart from this, they get information on what they inquire about only. Although citizens can access public information, the task is not as prompt as it would be in the case of JSP. Thus, along with transparency and speedy access to real-time information, JSP will also bring accountability to the state government concerning its performance in the state.
With the central government’s initiative to digitalize India, there has been the launch of several government portals under e-governance covering different schemes and programmes. But with the JSP, we also get the systematic showcasing of information at one place which will facilitate citizens to do extensive study and better analysis of the state government’s performance.
This portal is a milestone in strengthening the democracy of India and such a move by Rajasthan should be set as an example for other states to learn and inculcate. However, there are challenges for its successful implementation which needs to be taken into consideration. The department of Information Technology, which will serve as nodal department for this portal, along with various other departments, will have to ensure the uninterrupted supply of information on this system. The digitalisation of various government records is necessary. Establishment of grievance cells is important for ensuring the accountability of the state government. Lastly and most importantly, educating the citizens to access the information on such digital portal is vital for its success.