“Merely announcing Citizen’s charter will not change the way we function. Its important to create conditions for a responsive climate. “ Discuss the above statement in the context of Indian Administration. (200 Words)
- In majority of cases, the CCs are poorly drafted. They are not formulated through a consultative process. Critical information that end-users need to hold agencies accountable are simply missing from a large number of charters.
- By and large, the staff of the departments is not completely familiar with the philosophy, goals and main features of the Charter. The CCs are largely neglected by them and considered mere a formality.
- Dissemination of the goals has been rare in the behaviour of the staff.
- The Charters are only in the initial or middle stage of implementation.
- Most Charters are verbose and reflect the aspirations of the organization.
- The CCs are rarely updated on regular basis and have become a one-time exercise,
- frozen in time.
- Many CCs forget to include the needs of senior citizens or disabled.
- Adequate publicity to the Charters has not been given in many of the public service Providers.
- Lack of sufficient funds for awareness generation of Citizens‘ Charter or for orientation of the staff on various components of the Charter is yet another problem in Indian Administration.
- Internal restructuring should precede Charter formulation.
- The stakeholders should be consulted at every stage of formulation of the Charter which must be followed by orientation of staff about the goals and philosophy of the Charter.
- The Charter must be precise with firm commitments and must be customized to the needs of different groups.
- Charters should be a decentralized activity with the head office providing broad guidelines.
- Enhancing awareness of the general public through media, ICT etc is important.
- Specific funds should be earmarked for awareness generation and orientation of staff.
- Most importantly, a mechanism for redressal of grievances in case of default must be put in place for Charters to be effective.
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Change in attitude. Inculcate public service attitude. Compassion. Commitment towards customers and organisations goal.