Learner’s Submission: Case Study on Decentralization in Karnataka (India)

“It was introduced by Janta Dal which won the 1983 elections and gained the control of the State government. The elected councils were created at two levels, viz. the District and the Mandal. The Mandal Council covered a group of adjacent villages with a population of between 8 and 12 thousand and consisted of around 30 members directly elected. In all, 2536 Mandals were established. The size of the Mandals was very small in relation to the much larger and far more powerful District Councils. There were in all 19 District Councils consisting of members between 23 and 64 all directly elected by territorial constituencies with an average population of 28,000. The District Councilors elected a President and a Vice-President, the former with a status of a junior minister and the latter that of a deputy minister in the state government. They controlled a sizable staff of senior administration headed by a Chief Secretary belonging to the IAS, all deputies by the State government. The District Councils were responsible for every field of development. The substantial funds related to theses programmes of development were transferred to the district councils.

In April 1982, the Union Government deposed the State government and imposed direct rule from New Delhi. The December 1989 elections brought Congress party to power. The Congress

Government was hostile to the scheme of decentralization introduced by the Janta Dal Government. It lost no time in undermining the powers of councils and imposing cuts on the funds released to the District Councils. This was a sad end to a radical programme of democratic decentralization in Karnataka which had achieved considerable success.” – Vivek Kumar Singh – Bihar, India

Learner’s Submission: Online Public Service in India

“There are various procedures and services online in my country and I am using many of them frequently as per my need. Here I would like to share my experience of using online public reservation system and online service to pay income tax.

In India, Indian railways is very popular public transport system across country.  Reservation of berth between any of two stations can be done through online reservation system. This is the one of the very popular online public system in India. I am a very frequent user of this online railways ticket reservation system. This online system provides flexibility regarding selection of type of berth, train, stations etc. It also provides options for priorities/preferences/quota to customer segments like ladies & senior citizens. This system also accepts information reading choices (e.g. vegetarian, non-vegetarian) of food habit during the journey so that the same type of food can be provided at customer seat. This online system also provide choices of online payment like Credit Card, Debit Card, internet banking of approximately all popular banks of India. The payment transaction through this online reservation system is highly secure and reliable.

Along with booking of the journey ticket, this online system also provide flexibility to cancel the booked tickets either completely or partially. After cancellation of ticket, passenger can get refunded  the amount automatically in the bank account through which payment has been made. Another interesting feature of this online reservation system is that on each transaction through this system, the user gets details on provided mobile number along with a unique PNR (Passenger Reservation) number. On the basis of this PNR number, the status of ticket can be traced any time. Along with this online reservation system Indian railways support this with 24/7 services. This online reservation system also book waitlisted reservation tickets which can be confirmed as per the cancellation of booked ticked. In case of wait listed ticket, if it remain in wait listed till last time of reservation, then that waitlisted ticket automatically get cancelled and refunded into the concerned bank account. By this way, this system prohibits the travel of waitlisted passengers. In order to apply online, every user has to register an account on the website for getting userID and password. This system also charges a nominal amount for every booking and cancellation of ticket.

Here, I would also like to share my experience of payment of income tax which I paid through online service provided by the Government of India. Online tax payment service provides income tax payment services to the citizens of India. Every citizen of Republic of India can submit online income tax through concern website. This online tax payment facility helps to submit the tax through online transactions by selecting internet bank account. This online tax payment facility also provides flexibility & options regarding income tax payment to government. After filling online tax, system generates a barcode on the filled form that can be sent through postal mail to the tax department. By this facility even a person who is not computer savvy can submit their tax online with the help of any internet/computer operator. This online income tax payment system is getting popular among new generation technocrats due to flexibility & time saving. This is the fastest and most convenient way to pay income tax in compare to the traditional method.

Since I am also associated with e-Governance project, I realize the many scopes and challenges ahead of all the e-Governments. I feel there is much need to integrate e-Governance elements People, Process & Technology in much better way for its success.” – Ashutosh P. Maurya – New Delhi, India