Information Technology for ‘Citizen-Government’ Interface: A Study of FRIENDS Project in Kerala ______
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 IT, Government and Citizens
Of the many technologies of our time, the progress made in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is believed to be a revolution with profound influence on economic development. The rapid advancements in ICT are making it economically feasible to collect, store, process and transmit information at breathtaking speed, reduce cost, particularly, the transaction cost, raise productivity and increase economic welfare. While the nature of some of these advantages are debated, there is a popular feeling that this new technology is an example of the third industrial revolution taking place in the world economy.
The developed countries are already in the process of taking advantage of the revolution. The developing countries, as well, are showing keen interest in evolving policies and allocating the highest priority for investment of their scarce resources for the development and diffusion of ICT. These countries believe that ICT can provide them a short cut to prosperity by allowing them to bypass some phases of development in the conventional stages of structural transformation from agrarian to industrial and ultimately to knowledge-based service sector. India is one among the bandwagon of those developing countries. India has already crossed a few milestones in the development of the software export segment of the ICT industry.
However, there is a growing fear that the growth of ICT will follow existing lines of social and economic inequality and possibly even intensify prevalent patterns of social exclusion. While acknowledging that the rapid development of ICT represents a revolution in the making, the World Employment Report 2001 points out that disparities in the diffusion and use of these new technologies risk widening the already serious ‘digital divide’, between technological haves and have-nots. This would call for an active intervention by the state for induced diffusion of the technology.
In this context, it would be interesting to examine the attempt for ‘citizen-government’ interface through IT in the state of Kerala, India. The FRIENDS project, as this interface is called, in Kerala cannot be highlighted as a hi-tech technology solution but probably as an appropriate technology solution based on citizen needs. This probably has been the reason for
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the popularity of the project. However, no scientific study has been done to identify the problems and prospects of the project, nor its cost benefits.
The current study examines the working of FRIENDS centres in Kerala based on the satisfaction level of citizens and responses from within Government, especially the participating departments and personnel. It also undertakes a cost benefit analysis of the system. The study documents the lessons learned through the project as a specific case study of IT implementation in Government in developing countries and further analyses the areas that warrant attention.
1.2 FRIENDS Project in Kerala
The State of Kerala declared a comprehensive IT Policy in 1998 with a specific focus on popularizing the use of Information Technology among the masses. The initial e-governance mandate of the Information Technology (IT) Department of the state was to identify the government departments that have a high level of public interface and to introduce Information Technology to ensure effective delivery of citizen services. Accordingly, 34 departments were identified for introducing IT in the first phase. On attempting system studies, it became clear that for any meaningful IT implementation, substantial administrative reforms would have to precede the same. For instance, it was found by the Administrative Reforms Committee of the Government that a single file would have to be handled by as many as 60 people before a decision is taken on the same. In the above context, it became obvious to the department that simple automation of existing processes would not be an effective solution. However, since administrative reforms generally takes substantial time, the benefits of utilising ICT in governance would also take considerable time to reach the citizens. It was hence decided by the Government to adopt a two-pronged strategy – a long term IT implementation strategy concurrent to administrative reforms and a medium term strategy involving high visibility People Oriented Projects.
FRIENDS (Fast Reliable Instant Effective Network for Disbursement of Services) is one such People Oriented IT Project initiated by the Government of Kerala. The basic idea was taken from the e-Seva project in Andhra Pradesh. However, considerable changes were brought in to suit the local needs as well as to ensure easy replicability throughout the state. The credit for conceiving this project goes to Mr. M. Sivasankar, an officer in the civil service who was working as Mission Coordinator in the IT Mission, the executive agency of the Department
______2 Information Technology for ‘Citizen-Government’ Interface: A Study of FRIENDS Project in Kerala ______of IT, Government of Kerala. Ms. Aruna Sundararajan, Secretary to Government in the Department of Information Technology spearheaded the implementation team. The project was got implemented through the Centre for Development of Imaging Technology, an agency under the Government of Kerala.
Like in all other Indian states, there are a number of departments collecting taxes and utility bill payments. Individual citizens are expected to pay the tax or the utility payment at the office of the department or the agency concerned. This means that every citizen has to personally visit at least seven offices and stand in queues waiting their turn to pay the taxes and other payments due to Government. Some efforts were earlier made to facilitate payments through the banking network. However, given the fact that many banks and government departments/agencies were not computerized, this effort only led to delayed collections and reconciliation problems. Moreover, only 2 to 5 percent of the population used this facility. It was in this background that the one stop IT enabled payment counter project, FRIENDS, was conceived.
FRIENDS is a “single window scheme” where citizens have the opportunity to pay all the taxes and other dues to Government. FRIENDS seeks to extend the benefits of full fledged computerisation of individual departments to the citizens, even before the whole backend computerization is completed. The salient feature of the project is the effective integration of IT and logistics for citizen services. The project was launched in the capital city of the State - Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, in June 2000 and was replicated in thirteen district (out of a total of fourteen districts) headquarters of the state in the 2001. The date of commencement of each centre is given in Table 1.1. The participating departments were given the freedom to maintain payment counters in their office premises as well.
The centres work from 9 am to 7 pm on all days including Sundays, except national holidays. The counters are equipped to handle around 1000 types of bills (in various combinations) originating out of various departments, as listed below. Utilities 1. KSEB (Power) Bill 2. KWA (Water) Bill 3. BSNL (Telephones) Bill
Local Body 4. Property Tax 5. Professional tax 6. Traders License Fee
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Revenue Department 7. Building Tax 8. Basic Tax 9. Revenue Recovery
Civil Supplies 10. Fee for new ration card and various certificates 11. Fee for trade licenses – 11 types
Motor Vehicles 12. One time vehicle tax 13. Motor Vehicle tax – 105 types 14. Fee for Licenses from Motor vehicles Dept – 20 types 15. Fee for permits from Motor Vehicles Dept - 142 types 16. Registration fee for Motor vehicles – 37 types 17. Fee for Fitness Certificate of Motor Vehicles
University 18. University exam fee – 352 types 19. Fees (general) – 96 types
The personnel required for operating the counters are deployed from the participating departments and no additional recruitments/inductions were made. Ten junior level officers each from the participating departments were initially identified for the purpose. All of them were given the common designation of Service Officers; irrespective of their position in their parent department and were allowed to draw their salary and other benefits from their parent departments.
The selected personnel underwent weeklong orientation training at Institute of Management in Government. The training was divided in two phases. In the first phase, they were given general training on behavioral aspects - personality development and public relations- for better interaction with the customers. In the second phase, general computer awareness training was provided. It is interesting to note that none of the staff identified had any previous exposure in computers.
The auxiliary work associated with the FRIENDS centres are undertaken by Kudumbasree units attached to each centre. Kudumbasree units are self-help group of women who come from ‘below the poverty line’ families. The unit is in charge of cleaning the office, delivering the receipt scrolls to the offices of participating departments and preparing tea and snacks for officers as well as public.
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Ever since the project has been operational, there has been a gradual increase in the number of users and total collection made at each of these centres (see tables 1.2 and 1.3 for details). It may be noted that the variation in collection across different months is also on account of the differences in payment schedules followed by various departments. The same department might follow different schedules for different activities and the schedules include monthly payments, bi-monthly payments, quarterly payments, half yearly payments and yearly payments. While, on the one hand there has been substantial increase in the collection of money, there is a feeling that people from all walks of life are not utilizing the services yet. In this context, one needs to investigate the level of satisfaction of the citizens who avail services from these centres, the type/segment of citizens that approach these centres, the reasons why some people still keep away from these centre, etc. Moreover, the attitudes of participating departments and the views of service officers need to be carefully studied. It is also critical to undertake a cost-benefit analysis of the project.
As was pointed out earlier, prior to FRIENDS, citizens had to ply between a number of departments to make their monthly tax/utility payments. The solution to this problem lies essentially in undertaking drastic administrative reforms aimed at dismantling departmental empires and bringing in citizen friendly service focus within Government. However, FRIENDS does not do away with the existing system. To that extent, it can at best be seen only as a solution to the symptom and not to the real problem. Moreover, the fact remains that without comprehensive backend computerization, it really does not become a full- fledged IT based delivery mechanism. However, one could probably look at FRIENDS as a strategy of IT implementation in Government with a citizen focus and it goes on to show that unlike conventional thinking, front-end computerization could be viewed as a first step to IT diffusion in developing countries.
The study tries to examine the FRIENDS project mainly from the perspective of four specific agents associated with this project – the Public, the Service Officers, Kudumbasree women and the Participating Departments. A detailed evaluation of overall satisfaction of public who have used the services of the centre has been attempted. This is important since any analysis of the benefits in this case cannot be captured through quantitative economic benefits alone. Further, the profile of the non-users of the service is to be examined with a view to identify the reasons behind their not availing the service. The participating departments would be studied from the point of view of their attitude to this centralized project. The views of the
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Service Officers would be evaluated with the specific purpose of understanding the impact of technology and training on the overall performance and citizen friendliness of the officials. The views of the Kudumbasree units would capture the sentiments of people belonging to lower strata of society apart from their own gains and problems in associating with the project.
1.3 The Objectives
The specific objectives of the present study are:
1. To assess the profile and level of satisfaction of the citizens availing the services from FRIENDS centres 2. To identify the profile of non-users and the reasons for not availing the services of FRIENDS. 3. To evaluate the impact of IT implementation on the working of Government employees in the FRIENDS counters. 4. To assess the attitude of participating Government Departments to this centralized project and to determine the impact of this front-end computerisation on their backend IT implementation programme. 5. To document the learning experience from the implementation of this project and to identify the areas that warrant attention.
1.4 Methodology
1.4.1 The Approach
The research methodology employed for the study is a blend of quantitative and qualitative methods. The Surveys were done with the help of NORMA, a social science research agency based in Thiruvananthapuram. Primary surveys were the main source of collecting data. Gathering of required information and data were done through five different field surveys, using as many questionnaires, among the following groups:
1. Interview among the targeted population (users and non-users of FRIENDS) 2. Interviews among the Service Officers of FRIENDS 3. Interview among Kudumbasree employees at FRIENDS 4. Interview among the employees of participating departments 5. Interview/Discussion with Heads of the participating departments.
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Secondary data sources also were used for specific purposes including the status of collection, status on the number of visitors, selection of random samples of targeted customers, etc.
1.4.2 Sampling Design
For all the surveys, except with heads of participating departments, two centres each from south, centre and north of Kerala were selected. As was pointed out earlier, there are fourteen districts in Kerala and except in one of the districts (Idukki); the centres are operational in all the other 13 centres.
For the survey among targeted customers, two wards from the target area of each centre were selected; one in which FRIENDS centre is located and the other one which is away from the FRIENDS centre by at least 3 kilometers. Five percent (5%) or 125 customers of the targeted customers, whichever is higher, was selected as samples, by strict random sampling process, from each ward. Total sample size was one thousand five hundred and thirty seven (1537).
For survey among Service Officers, all the officers from the selected centres were included. The total size of sample for this survey was one hundred and thirty seven (137). Survey was also conducted among all the Kudumbasree employees attached to the selected FRIENDS centres. Size of the sample turned to be fifty-one. All were personally interviewed by the investigators and gathered for a group discussion to get more views.
Survey among employees of participating departments was done by including samples from various departments. Half the number of service officers at each FRIENDS centres was taken as the sample size. A total of seventy employees constituted the sample. All the heads of departments/department representatives of the participating departments were interviewed to understand their perceptions and views about the project.
The details of the sampling design are presented in Table 1.4.
1.4.3 Data Gathering Method
Personal interview and group discussions were the method for primary data collection. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used to gather information. Data collection was done by specially trained investigators using structured questionnaires.
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Table 1.4 Details of Field Survey Customers Sl. Service Dept. FRIENDS Centre Ward Targeted Sample Kudum No Ward Name Officers No. Customers Size Employees basree 29 Palayam 3119 125 1 Thiruvananthapuram 40 20 9 6 Akkulam 2597 125 Andamukkam 3752 18 125 2 Kollam Kureepuzha- 2047 18 9 9 5 125 Kanimel 44 Kaloor 4402 132 3 Ernakulam 21 11 6 32 Palarivattom 5150 155 18 Civil Station 987 125 4 Palakkad 16 8 10 20 Poolakkad 684 125 Puthiyara 30 1891 125 5 Kozhikode Medical 19 10 9 17 1750 125 College 2 Temple 788 125 6 Kannur 23 12 8 16 Chovva 603 125
6 Centres 12 Wards 27,770 1537 137 70 51
1.4.4 Data Entry and Analysis
Data were fed into the computers using double point entry system to avoid errors. MS Access software was used for data management. Sophisticated statistical tools and statistical software packages were used to analyze the data.
1.5 Chapter Scheme
The research report is organized into five chapters.
Chapter 1 gives the introduction to the report explaining the context and objectives of the study. The methodology followed to execute the research project including the approach, sampling design, data gathering method and data analysis are explained in detail.
Chapter 2 titled “Assessment of FRIENDS by Targeted Customers” draws a picture of how citizen as customers evaluate the scheme. Starting from the profile of targeted customers, analysis is attempted to look into their awareness about FRIENDS, details of their visit, payment of bills, cost and time involved in making payments, their rating of the location and accessibility to the FRIENDS centre, interaction with the officials and an overall rating of the
______8 Information Technology for ‘Citizen-Government’ Interface: A Study of FRIENDS Project in Kerala ______entire system. All these analyses are done in comparison to the conventional payment counters at the Departments. Suggestions on different aspects of the functioning of FRIENDS from the citizens are analysed and presented.
Evaluation of the system by the personnel who run the counters is attempted in Chapter 3 titled “Evaluation by Personnel at FRIENDS Centres”. Beginning with an examination of the profile of Service officers at FRIENDS, the study assesses their opinion on their selection and training processes, service environment and conditions and their overall rating of the system, mostly in comparison with the systems in their parent department.
Chapter 4 “Evaluation by the Employees of Participating Departments” concentrates on the same issues as in Chapter 3, but concerns the employees who are presently working in the participating departments. Chapter 5 titled “Summary and Conclusions” provides a macro picture based on the total study and against the background of the economic scenario in the state. The Chapter also discusses issues relating to sustainability of the centres and suggests some actions that need to be taken.
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Chapter 2
ASSESSMENT OF FRIENDS BY TARGETED CUSTOMERS
2.1 The Target
FRIENDS centers were started in 13 out of a total 14 district headquarters in the state, with a view to serve citizens within the corresponding Corporation/ Municipality (urban local self governing institutions in the state) limits. Table 1.4 presents the total number of targeted customers in all the wards included in the present study. The total number includes households, shops and other establishments.
2.2 Profile of the Sample of Targeted Customers
The profile of the customers was examined mainly on the basis of, (a) their status - household or shop (b) status of respondent (c) education (d) occupation and (e) monthly income.
Among the total sample of 1537 customers, 79.8 percent were households while others (shops, institutions etc) constituted 20.2 percent. The distribution of the samples across districts and wards is given in Table 2.1.
In the present study, information was predominantly collected from the head of the households. On the aggregate, the respondents included head of households (46.7 percent), spouses (15 percent), family member (15.8 percent), servants (10 percent) and shop owners (12.5 percent). Distribution of the respondents across the wards is given in Table 2.2.
With regard to the educational qualification of the sample, it was found that majority belonged to the category of ‘SSLC’ (Secondary School Leaving Certificate) holders’ (22.7 percent) closely followed by ‘Below SSLC’ group (21.5 percent) and ‘Degree holders’ (20.6 percent). The distribution is presented in Table 2.3.
Observing the sample from the point of view of occupation, it is observed that majority of the head of households belonged to the class of ‘unemployed’. ‘Shop owners’ constituted 20.2 percent and ‘private sector employees’ around 15.2 percent. Occupation wise distribution of samples is presented in Table 2.4.
It was found that 30.3 percent of the customers belonged to the income class (monthly) of Rs. 1000 to 3000. However, the distribution is not uniform across the different centers. In
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Thiruvananthapuram, Palakkad and Kannur majority are in the category of Rs. 1000 to 3000, while the majority in Kozhikode and Kollam fall under the category of Rs. 3000 to 5000. In Ernakulam, the majority are in the class of Rs. 7000 to 10,000. The distribution is presented in Table 2.5.
2.3 Awareness about FRIENDS
One of the most important questions put to the customers was about their awareness about FRIENDS. On the aggregate, only 31.1 percent of the targeted customers, in the wards covered, have been availing services from FRIENDS. A marginal set of people (1.6 percent) have availed the service at least once but discontinued later, due to various reasons. Moreover, 24.9 percent of the sample have heard about FRIENDS, but have not availed its services.
It is interesting to note that 42.4 percent of the people have not yet even heard about this system. In all the districts, except Ernakulam and Kannur, the percentage of customers who have not even heard about FRIENDS outnumber the people who have at least heard about the system. Table 2.6 presents the distribution of customers according to their awareness of FRIENDS.
No definite systematic pattern in the awareness of FRIENDS among the customers by their educational qualification was observed from the study. It is seen that people having SSLC qualification were the majority of FRIENDS beneficiaries (23.8 percent). Degree holders come next (21.7 percent). Table 2.7 presents the details.
Occupation wise distribution shows that the major beneficiaries of FRIENDS are shop owners (27.7) while the least users are the labourers (1 percent). It is also to be noted that out of the total shop owners 42.6 percent use FRIENDS for making their payments to Government. Among the government employees only 27.1 percent use this system.
Newspapers have been the major source of information about FRIENDS. Out of the total beneficiaries of FRIENDS, 40.3 percent came to know about FRIENDS through newspapers. Newspapers have been the major source of information for those who know but remains non- users of FRIENDS, as well. It may be noted here that the Department of IT has not employed any another media for advertisement and as such the above can at best only be treated as an analysis of the success of the strategy that was followed.
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Among the customers who know about FRIENDS, only 51.6 percent are aware of the fact that the system works on Sundays also. Moreover, only 51.3 percent are fully aware of the working hours of FRIENDS. Details of these observations are given in Table 2.10 and 2.11.
2.4 Details of Visits to FRIENDS
Most of the customers (62.3 percent) visit FRIENDS once in two months. Distributions of customers by different income classes reveal that there is no significant difference on account of income status on the frequency of visit to FRIENDS. However, the highest income class is observed to visit FRIENDS once a month. Table 2.12 presents the details.
It is interesting to note that 35.6 percent of the customers have the habit of making payments only on the last date while 35.8 percent have that practice occasionally. Together, this class constitutes 71.4 percent of the total customers at FRIENDS. Moreover, it is observed that this behaviour changes by income category. Among the lower income group, it is seen that majority (75 to 54 percent) of people wait till the last date while among the middle-income group, the majority practices ‘last date payment’ occasionally. It was seen among the higher income group members that majority of people do not wait till the last date, for making payments. These are explained in Table 2.13.
Among the occupation groups, it is observed that businessmen and the group categorized as ‘not in labour force’ are the categories that wait till the last date to make their payments. At the same time, majority of the private sector employees, labourers and the unemployed prefer not to wait till last minute. It may specifically be noted that the quantum of money remitted by the business/businessmen far exceeds the latter. It may also be noted that the category ‘not in labour force’ also includes state/central government pensioners and people who were earlier working outside. Table 2.14 presents the details of the behaviour by occupation classes.
With regard to the payment of utility bills at FRIENDS, Table 2.15 shows that majority of lower and upper income classes have the practice of making the various utility payments (like power charges, water charges, etc.) together at FRIENDS, while majority of middle class does so only occasionally. The major reasons cited for not making the payments together at FRIENDS are the following:
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1. Bills are issued by participating departments to the customers at different times 2. There are not more than one or two bills to be paid. 3. A small percentage of the customers are not aware of the possibility of paying the bills together.
2.5 Details of Payment of Bills
At FRIENDS, there are arrangements for making payments to eight different departments and the counters are equipped to handle around 1000 types of bills (in various combinations), as stated before.
The different reasons given by the customers who know about this facility, but do not make use of it, are given below: (See Table 2.16) 1. The most important reason cited is distance to FRIENDS. 2. Certain FRIENDS centers do not accept payments to certain departments. 3. Personal contact at the conventional department counters make payments easier for some customers at those counters. 4. Uneasy accessibility to FRIENDS centers prevent some of the customers from availing the services
The examination of the preferred time of payment for those who make payments at FRIENDS and at department counters shows similarities. For all the utility bills, the most preferred time period is 10 AM to 1 PM. At FRIENDS, this time period is preferred by 52.3 percent of the payees while at department counters the same time period is preferred by 74.9 percent of the payees. Tables 2.17, 2.18 and 2.19 give the details.
Occupation wise preference of the time period also shows similar results. Except for labourers, all others prefer the time period of 10 AM to 1 PM. Majority of labourers prefer the time period 9AM to 10 AM. Shop owners and government employees are the groups who prefer the time period 5 PM to 7 PM. Occupation wise time preferences for the payment of utility bills are given in Table 2.20, 2.21 and 2.22.
Another important aspect with regard to the payment of bills is on account of the profile of the person who makes the payment. Table 2.23 shows the sex composition of payees at the payment counters. It shows that among the users of FRIENDS, most of them have/ had been
______13 Information Technology for ‘Citizen-Government’ Interface: A Study of FRIENDS Project in Kerala ______using the department counters also. The percentage of women payees is 11.3 percent at FRIENDS, while it is only 3.1 percent at department counters. It is also interesting to note that with regard to 9.1 percent of the payees, where men were making the payments earlier at department counters, this job has now been assigned to the women in the house.
A number of reasons are cited for the popularity of FRIENDS among the women. The major ones are: 1. There is no delay at FRIENDS 2. Presence of a proper queue system 3. Friendly attitude of service officers; and 4. The single window system at FRIENDS
Table 2.24 shows a clear preference of women towards FRIENDS compared to the department counters. 80.7 percent of respondents who knows about FRIENDS prefer it. Those who do not prefer using the FRIENDS counters have the following reasons:
1. There are certain FRIENDS centers that are not easily accessible. 2. The present system at department counters does not create major problems for them. 3. Distance to FRIENDS centers.
2.6 Cost and Time in Making Payments
Table 2.25 shows the monthly average cost involved in the payment at department counters as well as at FRIENDS. It is observed that costs on all accounts are significantly lower at FRIENDS compared to the departmental counters.
With regard to the time involved, 80.9 percent of FRIENDS beneficiaries say that they do not have to wait at all for making a payment. Only 3 customers (0.6 percent) have reported that they had to wait considerably at the counters.
This picture is different with respect to department counters where 61 percent of the customers have the opinion that they have to always wait. However, 13.3 percent opined that they do not face any delay at department counters. The difference in the time involved in making payments at the counters feature one of the most interesting aspects of the FRIENDS system. Details of this are presented in Table 2.26.
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The average time spend for waiting at FRIENDS centers was estimated to be 5.16 minutes while the same at department counters is 23.18 minutes. This pattern is systematically present all throughout the sample centers of FRIENDS. Table 2.27 presents these average values.
The savings in time because of FRIENDS is more than the savings in waiting time alone. The average time saved is estimated to be 42.25 minutes, on the aggregate. The center wise savings in time is given in Table 2.28.
2.7 About the Location and Accessibility of FRIENDS
Majority of the customers who know about FRIENDS are satisfied with the current location of FRIENDS. 65.3 percent of customers are very satisfied and another 15. 7 percent is somewhat satisfied. But Kozhikode centre remains an exception, where 45.2 percent of the customers are dissatisfied and 7 percent somewhat dissatisfied about the current location. Details are presented in Table 2.29.
About the accessibility to FRIENDS offices, 62 percent of the total customers who know about FRIENDS have found it easily accessible, whereas 3.8 percent have the opinion that they are very difficult to reach. Again, in Kozhikode, none are of the opinion that the office is easily accessible and 76.2 percent have the opinion that it is either ‘very difficult’ or ‘difficult’ to access. Details are presented in Table 2.30.
2.8 Interaction with Officials
The quality of interaction with the officials was examined from the perspectives of friendly attitude, personnel attention, efforts in clearing doubts and issuing of error free receipts.
The average score for friendly attitude estimated on a 5 point Likert scale shows that the score is significantly higher with FRIENDS (4.48). The corresponding value for rating officials at department counters was found to be 3.16. This difference in pattern is observed in all the FRIENDS centres. Moreover, the difference is found to be statistically significant at zero percent level. The average scores are reported in Table 2.31.
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The average score on account of personal attention for FRIENDS officials was found to be 4.45 whereas the score for department officials is 2.81. Here again, the pattern remains almost the same through out the sample centers. Scores are presented in Table 2.32.
With regard to clearing of doubts, FRIENDS officials were given an average score of 4.26 whereas the counterparts at department counters got a score of 3.19. Table 2.33 gives the details of the scores.
In issuing error free receipts to the customers, though there is a statistically significant difference in the services of FRIENDS and department staff, the average scores do not exhibit much difference. The average score for FRIENDS is 4.48 and the same for departments’ is 4.20. It is to be noted that in Thiruvananthapuram the difference is against FRIENDS. Here, customers are of the opinion that department counters (3.81) are better than FRIENDS (3.68) in issuing error free receipts. The scores are presented in Table 2.34. One observation for this pattern is that Thiruvananthapuram was the pilot project and that errors were occurring only in the initial phase.
2.9 Overall Rating of FRIENDS
A direct question was asked to all customers who have used FRIENDS at least once, to state their preference for FRIENDS in relation to Department counters. Out of the 502 customers, 489 (97.4 percent) showed their liking for FRIENDS, while only 13 customers opted for department counters. It is interesting to note that out of these 13 customers, 9 were from Kozhikode. The centre wise details of preference for FRIENDS are given in Table 2.35.
2.9.1 Factors of Attraction
The reasons for preferring FRIENDS, as ranked by the customers are analysed in Table 2.36. For analysis, we have considered the distribution of the percentage of customers who have given first five ranks against cited reasons. It is seen that the major factors of attractions of FRIENDS are (1) Single window system of operation (2) Convenient time schedule (3) Working on Sundays and (4) No delays in transaction.
2.9.2 Factors of Dejection
Please recall that there were 383 customers who knew about FRIENDS but have never availed the services of FRIENDS and 25 customers, who have availed the services but
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stopped it later on. Together, they constitute 26.54 percent of the total customers. Reasons for their dejection with FRIENDS services as ranked by them are presented in Table 2.37.
Here again, for analysis, we have looked into the distribution of the percentage of customers giving first five ranks to different reasons. Also, an examination of the total percentage of customers who have given ranks to a particular reason is taken.
Results clearly indicate that the most import reason is the physical distance to FRIENDS. 66.4 percent of the non-users have cited this as the most important reason. Other important reasons for not availing the services of FRIENDS are: (2) Not many payments to be made in a month (3) personal contact in department counters and (4) uneasy accessibility to FRIENDS.
An interesting observation is that 35 customers have stated “ignorance to computers” as their reason for not availing the services from FRIENDS.
2.9.3 Problems Faced at FRIENDS
As a part of the overall assessment of FRIENDS, the study also probed the problems that customers faced from participating departments after the payment was made at FRIENDS. This examination was done specifically for the utility bills i.e., Electricity, Telephones and Water Supply.
The data does not seem to indicate any serious problems on this account. Fourteen customers reported problems from Electricity department, while twelve customers faced problems from Telephone department and two customers faced problems from Water authority. All the problems arose from non-accounting of the payments done at FRIENDS by the respective departments. It is to be noted that it is from Kozhikode that most of the cases were reported. The details of these are presented in Tables 2.38, 2.39 and 2.40.
Apart from understanding the problems faced after payments were made at FRIENDS, enquiry was also made to understand the problems that customers faced at different FRIENDS centres. Table 2.41 shows the details.
Out of 502 customers who were having transactions through FRIENDS, only 30 customers (6 percent) have reported problems at FRIENDS. Observations show that 13 customers have complained about non-functioning of computers and; it may be noted that all these customers
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are from Palakkad. Another complaint is about the unfriendly attitude. Here again, out of the total eight customers reporting this problem, seven are from Palakkad.
2.9.4 Relative Assessment of FRIENDS and Department Counters
As part of an overall assessment, citizens were requested to compare FRIENDS offices to their counterpart Department counters. The parameters for comparison were (1) absence of corruption (2) travel facility to reach the offices (3) provision of equal opportunity to male and female customers (4) proper queue system (5) office environment (6) friendly attitude in dealings and (7) overall satisfaction.
The responses were recorded on a 5-point Likert scale and analysis was done based on the mean value of the responses for each parameter for FRIENDS offices and Department counters. Mean values were calculated for each FRIENDS centres separately.
The results indicate that the customers were clearly in favour of FRIENDS. For all the parameters, and across all the centres, FRIENDS have higher mean values. Moreover, these were statistically found significant as well. The details are given in Table 2. 42.
2.10 Opinion on using IT for delivering Citizen Services
Public opinion is a matter of great importance for projects that try to bring technology to the people. Success of the project depends to a great extent on the opinion and perception of the people, who are the end beneficiaries of such projects. In the study, an attempt was made to understand the public perception about the application of information technology in enabling better citizen services.
Table 2.43 shows the opinion of the customers, who have seen FRIENDS in operation, on the query that “Having seen FRIENDS, do you believe that Information Technology can be used to give better citizen services”. The responses are classified according to different income classes. Majority (80.1 percent) of customers, after seeing the successful working of FRIENDS, feel that IT could act as an efficient tool for providing better citizen services. This could be seen as a major impact of the project on future e-governance in the state. Another 6.6 percent have opined that they knew about the advantages of using IT even before seeing FRIENDS. However, 13.3 percent of the customers do not believe that IT can be used for providing better citizen services.
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Only 18 percent of customers who are aware of FRIENDS have the opinion that Government should have used the money spent on FRIENDS for other welfare activities. 68 percent customers strongly believe that Government has made a wise investment in FRIENDS. From Table 2.44., it is observed that the lower income classes are more supportive to Government investment in FRIENDS. Higher the income group, customers are of the opinion that government should have used the money for some other welfare activities rather than FRIENDS. This opinion also stems from the fact that the higher income class makes use of an agent for remitting money (both at department counters and at FRIENDS) and hence do not experience any difference when FRIENDS counters were started.
2.11 Suggestions for Improvement
The study also tried to find out the suggestions that the citizens had for improving the system. The following aspects were probed in detail - (1) spreading of FRIENDS services to sub district levels (2) introducing a service charge at FRIENDS centres (3) possibility of payments through internet and (4) other general suggestions.
Table 2.45 shows the classification of responses to the idea of spreading FRIENDS centres to sub district levels. Cutting across centres, there was a clear majority of customers who welcomed the idea of spreading FRIENDS to more sub-district level, since it would make them more accessible.
The idea of introducing a service charge to maintain the present quality of service offered by FRIENDS was, however, treated with opposition from the majority. While, 64.7 percent of the customers stated that they are not prepared to pay any service charge, 21 percent were ready to pay a token charge of Re 1 per transaction. 8.1 percent of the customers were willing to pay 1 percent of the bill as service charge, 3.8 percent were willing for 2 percent of the bill, 0.6 percent each were ready to pay 3 and 4 percent of the bill and 1.1 percent were ready to pay 5 percent of the bill as service charge. Table 2.46 gives the details of willingness to make service charges.
Only 5.7 percent of the respondents have expressed favorably about the idea of making payments through Internet. While 54.7 percent were negative to the idea, 39.6 percent stated that they did not have access to Internet. Table 2.47 gives the details. A detailed probing
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showed that lack of awareness regarding Internet based financial transactions and associated security concerns were the reasons for the opposition.
2.12 Conclusion
The chapter provides a detailed analysis of the perceptions of citizens regarding the services offered through FRIENDS. The analysis has been done in a comparative framework to bring out the differences to be the service offered by conventional department counters and FRIENDS.
While it is noted that FRIENDS has been able to provide much better overall service on all accounts, the lack of proper awareness has restricted its use to about one-third of the targeted population. Apart from awareness creation, it is equally important to roll out the centres at the sub-district level. This would help solve issues of distance and accessibility, which were the major constraints highlighted by non-users. However, a detailed cost benefit analysis needs to precede such an attempt. It was learned during the study that the Government is planning a roll out immediately
Overall, the study clearly highlights the fact that citizens are extremely happy about the project. It is also interesting to note that the participation of women in making payments at FRIENDS is higher than in department counters. Moreover, the project has shown that with good and appropriate skill imparting and better working environment, government employees can provide good services. The project has also been able to demonstrate to the common man the possibilities of ICT in governance and has thus been able to gather support of the general public for future e-governance projects in the state.
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Chapter 3
EVALUATION BY SERVICE PERSONNEL AT FRIENDS CENTRES
3.1 Importance of Employee Response
The degree of participation by the serving employees of the FRIENDS centres was an important aspect considered in the study. Their active participation in the project was found to be the most critical reason for the success that the project has achieved. It has also had an impact on the employees in Government, since IT was for the first time seen as a friendly tool for their operations.
The employees of FRIENDS include Service Officers, who provide the services over the counter and a Project Manager as their leader. A self-help group of women of the Kudumbasree project of the Government of Kerala provide the necessary auxiliary help for the centres.
Interviews were done using separate structured questionnaires to service officers as well as Kudumbasree women. The results of the survey are discussed under the following headings.
3.2 Evaluation by service officers at FRIENDS
All the personnel required for operating the counters are deployed from the participating departments and no additional recruitments/inductions were made. All of them are given the common designation of Service Officers, irrespective of their position in their parent department and are allowed to draw their salary and other benefits from their parent departments.
The selected personnel undergo weeklong orientation training at Institute of Management in Government, the institution that undertakes training for government personnel. The training is divided in two phases. In the first phase, they are given general training on behavioural aspects - personality development and public relations with a view to improve their skills for better interaction with the customers. In the second phase, general computer awareness and package specific training is provided. It is pertinent to note that none of the staff identified had any previous exposure to computers.
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3.2.1 Profile of Service Officers
The profile of the service officers at each FRIENDS centres examined by their average age, sex, marital status, occupation of spouse, educational background and monthly family income is provided below.
Tables 3.1 and 3.2 show the age wise distribution and average age of Service Officers at different FRIENDS centres respectively. 44 percent of the Service Officers are in the age group of 30 to 40. This pattern is uniform all throughout the centres except Kollam, where the majority falls in the age group of 40 to 50. In total, 68 percent of Service Officers are below 40 years of age. The average age of Service Officers was found to be 36; the lowest being in Ernakulam (33.57 years) and the highest in Kannur (38.13years).
Sex composition of the Service Officers is presented in Table 3.3. 82.5 percent of the Service Officers are male and only 17.5 percent are female. The bias towards male officers is visible in all the centres. At Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam centres, female representation is slightly better with 25 and 23.8 percent respectively.
Marital status of the Service Officers is presented in Table 3.4. It is observed that 8.1 percent of Service Officers are married. Ernakulam has the highest number of unmarried officers, where the average age also has been found to be the lowest.
Out of the married Service Officers, 44 percent have their spouses employed in government services. This is as high as 67 percent at Kozhikode centre. 16 percent of the spouses are employed in private sector and 30 percent remain unemployed. Details are presented in Table 3.5.
Table 3.6 gives the distribution of Service Officers by their educational qualification. Majority of Service Officers have a ‘Degree qualification’ (43.1 percent) followed by post graduates (16.1) percent. It is to be noted that 59.1 percent of Service Officers had their education from rural area and 40.9 had it from urban settings. The pattern is the same for all the centres except for Ernakulam, where 61.9 percent had their education from urban area. Table 3.7 presents the details.
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Table 3.8 gives the distribution of Service Officers by their monthly family income. It can be observed that majority of belongs to the income class (monthly) of Rs. 5000 – 7000. The pattern of distribution is same through out the centres except for Kozhikode where majority belongs to the income group Rs. 3000 - 5000.
3.2.2 Selection Process
The Service Officers surveyed in the FRIENDS centres have come from eight different departments. Their distribution, according to the parent departments is given in Table 3.9. Employees from University are employed only in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode centres. The Service Officers include officers having different designations in their parent departments. Their designations include:
1. Block Development Officer 2. Village Officer 3. Public Relations Officer 4. Section Officer 5. Revenue Inspector 6. Rationing Inspector 7. Cashier 8. U D Clerk 9. Senior Assistant 10. L D Clerk 11. Assistant Grade I 12. Junior Health Inspector 13. Junior Assistant 14. Maintenance Assistant and; 15. Typist
Combining these many designations to one particular level was a major experiment in Government. It may however be noted that the selection to FRIENDS was made from younger generation of employees, majority of them having their length of service below five years. While 43 percent have service tenure of less than 5 years in government, three persons have more than 25 years of service. Distribution of Service Officers by their service length is presented in Table 3.11.
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The length of service of Service Officers at FRIENDS is presented in Table 3.12. 73.7 percent has more than one years of service to their credit. The pattern is uniform throughout the centres. Majority of Service Officers (87.6 percent) came to know about FRIENDS through the official channel only. 8.8 percent came to know FRIENDS through informal cannel (half of this percentage is from KSEB) and the remaining 3.6 percent (mainly officers from Land Revenue department) got information through various other sources. Details are given in Table 3.13.
It is interesting to note that 72.3 percent of the total Service Officers joined FRIENDS voluntarily. The rest (27.7 percent) were officially deputed to FRIENDS by their parent departments. But this composition is not uniform throughout the FRIENDS centres. In Kannur, only 43.5 percent voluntarily joined FRIENDS. In Palakkad also, this percentage is low (56.3). Table 3.14 gives the centre wise distribution.
For majority of Service Officers, better office environment has been the main attraction to join FRIENDS. However, it is interesting to note that this majority opinion differs from centre to centre. While Service Officers at Ernakulam say it is the better office environment attracted them, officers at Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode say it is their interest in computers that prompted them to join FRIENDS. But the majority at Kollam, Palakkad and Kannur find “better service conditions” as the attraction factor. Table 3.15 gives the details.
3.2.3 Training Program
At the time of introduction of FRIENDS, there was a need to provide adequate computer skills to the Service Officers. It was also identified that the personnel should be provided behavioural training to equip them to interact with the citizens in a more effective manner.
61.3 percent of the Service Officers are of the opinion that they have got adequate training before joining FRIENDS. Except for Ernakulam centre, where the majority feel that training was inadequate, in all other centres, a clear majority felt that the training was adequate. However about 30.6 percent were of the opinion that the training they got was inadequate or most inadequate. Table 3.16 gives the distribution.
With regard to the number of days required for training, 28.5 percent of Service Officers were of the opinion that a week’s training is adequate, 27.7 percent opined that two weeks is
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required and 22.6 percent were of the view that three weeks of training is required. Only 16.8 percent have the opinion that the training period should be one month. Only 6 officers have opined that the training period has to be more than one month. The details are presented in Table 3.17.
A clear majority of Officers in all FRIENDS centres have the opinion that their training on computers was very effective or somewhat effective. Same opinion was expressed about the behavioural/communication training programme. Yet, 48.2 percent of the total Service Officers feel that they need more training on computer application, while 24.1 percent see hardware training more important. 15.3 percent have expressed the need to have more training in customer management. The very fact that officers are proactively asking for more training, in itself, is something generally unheard of in Government. The details of the topics on which Service Officers have asked for more training are presented in Table 3.18.
Majority (52.6 percent) of Service Officers are of the opinion that the training programme is to be repeated once every year. 32.8 percent have pointed out that the need to have more intense training schedule, once in six months. Table 3.19 gives the details.
3.2.4 Service Environment
It is a well-recognised fact that good environments are a prerequisite to tapping the full potential of employees to deliver better services.
3.2.4.1 Physical Conditions
Physical conditions in the service environment have been defined from the location of the centre to the seating arrangement and basic amenities at the FRIENDS office.
It is seen that majority (59.1 percent) of the Service Officers are very/somewhat satisfied with the present location of FRIENDS. But when we look at centre specific data, this observation does not hold good regarding Kollam and Kozhikode. In these two centres, large majority was found to be against the present location of FRIENDS. Details may be seen in Table 3.20. Majority (61.3 percent) agrees to the opinion that FRIENDS offices should not be located along with other government offices. Table 3.21 provides the information.
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For 38.7 percent of the Service Officers, their FRIENDS centre is of the same distance from their home as to their parent department office. But for 32.1 percent, the centre is near or very near. For 29.1 percent, FRIENDS is far or very far from home compared to their earlier office. Table 3.22 gives the distribution. 61.3 percent of the Service Officers use bus as their mode of conveyance while 25.5 percent have two wheelers to reach office. 5.8 percent depend on the railways.
With regard to the parking facility, 43.1 percent are very/somewhat dissatisfied and another 30.7 percent are neutral in their opinion. Thiruvananthapuram has the largest number of Service Officers dissatisfied with the parking facility, while Palakkad has the majority of Officers who are satisfied with this facility.
Within the office, 70.1 percent of the Service Officers are satisfied with their seating arrangements while only 16.8 percent are dissatisfied with the system provided. Others remain neutral in their attitude and opinion. Details are in Table 3.23.
About the number of computers available at FRIENDS centres, 69.3 percent of Service Officers expressed the opinion that they had enough numbers. 6.6 percent have the opinion that the numbers are more than enough. 21.2 percent felt that the numbers were just enough and only 3 officers opined that the existing computers were not enough. Table 3.24 gives the details.
On the existing software, 68.6 percent were of the opinion that it is somewhat friendly or very friendly. 26.3 percent kept a neutral attitude and only 7 officers registered their disapproval about the software. Table 3.25 gives the details.
With regard to the basic amenities at office, 59.1 percent of the Service Officers have a positive opinion while 21.2 percent stated their negative opinion. Another 19.7 percent maintained neutrality in their response. It may be noted that at Ernakulam, the majority and at Kollam, a sizable percentage, have negative opinion regarding the basic amenities provided. Table 3.26 reveals the opinion.
3.2.4.2 Interaction with Colleagues
One of the most important features of FRIENDS has been the interaction among the Service Officers. It is interesting to note that 32.1 percent of Service Officers feel that their
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colleagues at FRIENDS are friendlier compared to their colleagues in the parent departments. Another 46.7 percent feel that the colleagues in FRIENDS are friendly. However, 19.7 percent have the opinion that it is more or less the same in the department and at FRIENDS. Only two officers at Ernakulam (One from KSEB and another from KWA) have indicated that the relations are unfriendly in FRIENDS.
A notable majority (75.9 percent) of Service Officers have the opinion that providing a common designation (Service Officer) to all employees has helped FRIENDS in better- coordinated services. 79.5 percent believe/strongly believe that the interactions with Service Officers from other departments had a positive impact on their view about government. These observations are tabulated in Tables 3.27, 3.28 and 3.29.
3.2.5 Service Conditions
In a bid to impart more citizen-oriented services, FRIENDS has tried to set its service conditions more rigorous than conventional government office. It is hence worth probing as how these conditions are welcomed by the Service Officers.
It is interesting to note that 66.4 percent of the Service Officers welcomed the setting of the number of working days of FRIENDS. It is to be remembered that Sunday is also a working day for FRIENDS. 73.7 percent support the idea of keeping Sunday as a working day. At the same time, there is a small number of Service Officers at Kollam, Palakkad and Kannur who are opposed to this setting.
With regarding to the working time, majority of Service Officers (40.9 percent) kept neutral attitude in their response. 51.8 percent have expressed that they are happy/very happy about the timings. Only 10 officers have expresses displeasure about the present working time.
It is to be noted that 79.6 percent of Service Officers are of the opinion that they are to be provided special incentives. However, 20.4 percent believe that working in FRIENDS itself is an incentive. It is at Kollam, that this percentage is the highest. 38.9 percent of Service Officers there feel privileged to be with FRIENDS and are ready to see it as an incentive. Details are given in Tables 3.30. 3.31, 3.32 and 3.33.
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Table 3.34 shows the distribution of Service Officers by average time taken to deal with a customer, across different FRIENDS centres. It is observed that 93.4 percent of Service Officers take between 0 to 5 minutes to deal with a customer.
On an average a Service Officer deals with 906 customers in a month. This average is highest (1226) in Thiruvananthapuram and the lowest (608) in Kozhikode. Table 3.35 gives the details. Service Officers are of the opinion that the customers make suggestions to them only rarely or at times
3.2.6 Overall Satisfaction
Against the direct enquiry regarding their overall satisfaction of FRIENDS, 26.3 percent of Service Officers replied that they were very satisfied, 50.4 percent opined that they were somewhat satisfied and 13.1 percent were neutral. Only 14 officers, have replied negatively. Table 3.36 gives the details.
Tables 3.37 and 3.38 show the centre wise and department wise distribution of Service Officers by their plans to go back to their parent department. It is observed that 11.7 percent of Service Officers ‘often’ think about going back while about 29.9 percent ‘sometimes’ think about going back. Rest of the officers have never thought of going back. Those who ‘often’ think of going back are from Water Authority, Motor Vehicles, Local Body and Civil Supplies. Their primary concern arises from the fact that they may not get promoted in their parent department.
It may be observed from Table 3.39 that majority of Service Officers make their own payments at FRIENDS itself. Only 15.3 percent of the officers make payments at department counters. They do so mainly because of the fact that they are residing outside the target area covered by FRIENDS.
The comparative assessment of FRIENDS to department counters done by the Service Officers shows that, on all criteria, the average scores for FRIENDS are higher than those of department counters. The averages were calculated out of the scores given by the Service Officers against each criterion in a 5 point Likert scale. The average scores are given in Table 3.40.
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3.2.7 Suggestions for Improvement
Conviction among officers regarding the effectiveness of IT as a tool for improving government services was essential for the success of FRIENDS. 86.1 percent of Service Officers believe/ strongly believe that IT can be a real effective tool for providing citizen services. Only 5 officers recorded a negative response while 10.2 percent preferred to remain neutral towards the impact of IT. Table 3.41 gives the details.
More than fifty percent (50.4) of the Service Officers ‘strongly agree’ and another 37.2 ‘agree’ to the suggestion that FRIENDS centres have to be extended to sub district levels. Only 4.4 percent were against the idea. 8 percent remained neutral. Table 3.42 presents the distribution.
On the issue of charging a service charge from the public, the majority of the Service Officers expressed their opposition. While 38.7 percent of Service Officers felt that it is ‘absolutely inappropriate’, 8.8 percent felt that it is ‘partly inappropriate’. 17.5 percent each have the opinion that it is ‘partly appropriate’ and ‘absolutely appropriate’. 17.5 percent of Service Officers preferred not to give any opinion. Details are given in Table 3.43.
3.3 EXPERIENCES OF KUDUMBASHREE UNIT MEMBERS
As pointed out in Chapter 1, Kudumbasree units are self help women’s group who come from ‘below the poverty line’ families. Kudumbasree means prosperity of the family. It is a poverty eradication programme launched by the State government in association with Central government and NABARD. Kudumbasree project, carried out through organisations of women below poverty line aims to eradicate absolute poverty from Kerala in a decade. Kudumbasree aims at women empowerment through micro enterprise promotion, micro finance operations etc.
Each unit, comprising of an average of ten women, is given permission to work with each FRIENDS centre and they are given different duties at FRIENDS office. The unit is in charge of cleaning the office, delivering the receipt scrolls to the offices of participating departments and preparing tea and snacks for officers as well as public.
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Discussions with the Kudumbasree unit members across the sample centres give us a clear picture about their perception, participation and their benefits from the FRIENDS project.
3.3.1 Profile
It is may be remembered that Kudumbasree units include only female employees. The age composition of these employees is given in Table 3.44. It shows that the majority falls in the age group ‘above 35’. The average age of Kudumbasree employees was estimated as 31.35 years. Marital status of the employees is given in Table 3.45. It is seen that majority of the women are married (64.7 percent). Distribution of the employees by their monthly family income shows that majority belongs to the income category (monthly) of Rs 500-1000. But the pattern is not uniform through out the centres. There are 11 employees (21.6 percent) belonging to the income groups Rs. 3000-5000. Table 3.46 gives the details.
3.3.2 Awareness and Joining Process
Table 3.47 gives the sources of information about FRIENDS to Kudumbasree employees. It may be observed that 86.3 percent of the employees came to know about FRIENDS through their unit/fellow members. It is to be noted that only 12 employees had a job before joining FRIENDS. The jobs were as tuition teachers, social workers, etc.
3.3.3 Service Environment
3.3.3.1 Physical Conditions
All the Kudumbasree units were working in a separate setting attached to the FRIENDS offices. Table 3.48, 3.49 and 3.50 show the satisfaction levels of these women regarding their seating arrangements, basic amenities and service environment respectively.
68.6 percent of the employees are ‘very satisfied’ with the seating arrangements available to them. With regard to the basic amenities, 35.3 percent employees have responded positively. However at Ernakulam and Kozhikode centres, all of them are dissatisfied with present arrangements. Regarding the overall service environment, 56.9 percent are ‘very satisfied’ and 35.3 percent are ‘somewhat satisfied’.
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3.3.3.2 Interaction with Officials
The employees were asked to rank their interactions with the officials on a five point Likert scale. It was done in a comparative frame work to capture their interactions with the officers in FRIENDS as well the officers in the participating departments, where they deliver the daily scroll. Results show that in all the FRIENDS centres, the average scores are higher for FRIENDS officers. Both the level of interaction and the friendliness in interaction are better with FRIENDS officers. The average scores are presented in Table 3.51.
3.3.4 Service Conditions
As stated earlier, only 12 persons were employed before joining FRIENDS. Among them, only four persons could get any remuneration in cash. Their remuneration ranged from Rs.250 to 1000 per month. Now, all the employees are receiving a monthly remuneration from the unit and it ranges from Rs.480 to Rs.1000. The distribution of employees by their monthly income is presented in Table 3.52. Majority have income in the range of Rs.500 to Rs.600. Except for one woman, all the employees who had jobs earlier felt that the present job is more satisfactory. With regard to the time schedule, 92.1 percent of the employees felt that they were either ‘very satisfied’ or somewhat satisfied’. Details are presented in Table 3.53.
It was observed that the only thing that bothers them is the delay happening in the delivery of scrolls to the departments. There are different centre specific reasons for the delay. Lack of adequate transport facility is, however, the main problem. At Ernakulam, the departments are geographically scattered and this has made the job difficult. But in Kozhikode, the delays by participating departments are the major problem. Details are presented in Table 3.54.
Another difficulty reported is with regard to the purchases that they need to make. For most of the purchases, they do not get any advance payments, which in certain situations creates financial problems.
3.3.5 Overall Satisfaction
Majority (64.7 percent) of the women feel that their standard of living has improved after they joined FRIENDS. However the women attached to the Kozhikode centre have denied this statement. Details are presented in Table 3.55.
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Majority have the opinion that the job with FRIENDS and its time schedule does not make any difference in the time they had previously been spending with their family. Table 3.56 narrates the details.
The intensity by which the employees are linked to FRIENDS was clearly visible from the response they give to the question that “will you drop your job with FRIENDS if you get another job with the same payment?” Table 3.57 gives the details of the responses. 56.9 percent of employees say “definitely would not” while 15.7 percent opined, “probably would not”. 7.8 percent were indecisive and 10 persons are very sure that they would drop the job.
It is, however, to be noted that out of this 10 persons, 9 are from Kozhikode, i.e., all the employees at that centre. It is primarily the problems associated with the location and the access to the centre that has been a reason of dissatisfaction for the women there.
3.4 Conclusion
This Chapter portrayed the profile of Service Officers and Kudumbasree women and highlighted their perceptions regarding the project. It is interesting that for an innovative integrated project of this nature, majority of the Service Officers had joined voluntarily. However, it may also be noted that the level of participation of women among Service Officers is quite low. The training programme offered and the decision to have a common designation seems to have had a major impact on the very success of this project.
The general message arising out of the study is that majority of Service Officers are extremely happy about their work in FRIENDS. The positive perception of the service officers highlights the fact that with better service environment and appropriate motivation, Government employees can provide much better services than what is presently provided through conventional mechanisms. It may be noted that the major reasons cited by the minority dissatisfied group are generally centre specific and have little to do with FRIENDS as a system. The enthusiasm of the Service Officers may, however, be seen in the background of the large proportion of them having joined on a voluntarily basis. Hence it is vital that proper timely interventions are undertaken to sustain such levels of enthusiasm, as the project continues and replacements happen.
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The project has successfully created employment opportunities outside Government, for women belonging to below the poverty line. An important positive implication on account of this has been the opportunity provided to these women in associating with Government systems and thereby developing a high degree of networking with employees in Government. The project could very well be considered as a unique and successful PPP (Public Private Partnership) model where the Citizens, Service Officers and Private partner have benefited.
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Chapter 4
EVALUATION BY THE EMPLOYEES OF PARTICIPATING DEPARTMENT
4.1 Introduction
The evaluation of FRIENDS by employees of participating departments (who have not come over as Service Officers) is important to understand the perceptions about FRIENDS among these employees. The survey included employees from all the participating departments. The sample size was about half the number of Service Officers in FRIENDS. Employees were personally visited by the investigators at their office and the information was gathered through informal discussion.
4.2 Profile of Employees
The employees were included from the following departments and authorities:
1. KSEB – Electricity Department 2. KWA – Water Authority 3. BSNL – Telephones Department 4. Civil Supplies 5. Motor Vehicles 6. Local Body (Corporations) 7. Revenue and 8. University The sample included employees with the following designations:
1. Senior Superintendent 2. Cashier 3. U D Clerk 4. Senior Assistant 5. Junior Superintendent 6. Revenue Inspector 7. L D Clerk and; 8. Public Relations Department
The average years of service in government was estimated to be 10.82 years. The centre wise average is given in Table 4.1. The average age of the employees surveyed is about 38 years
______34 Information Technology for ‘Citizen-Government’ Interface: A Study of FRIENDS Project in Kerala ______and the sex composition in the total employee sample is of the ratio 74:26. District wise average age and sex composition are given in Tables 4.2 and 4.3 respectively. Out of the total sample employees, 81.4 percent are married.
Majority of the employees have their spouse also in government service. Thiruvananthapuram is the only exception, where it was observed that the majority of spouses were unemployed. The distribution is given in Table 4.4.
The education wise distribution of employees shows that majority are degree holders. In Ernakulam, majority have post graduate degree. Table 4.5 gives more information in this regard. Majority (64.3 percent) had school education from rural area, the only exception being Palakkad and Kollam. Table 4.6 gives the details.
Majority of the employees falls in the income class of Rs. 5000 to 7000. Palakkad and Kozhikode have more employees in higher income groups. Table 4.7 gives the income class wise distribution of employees.
4.3 Comments on the Selection Process to FRIENDS
Majority of the employees came to know about FRIENDS through formal channel. Table 4.8 gives more information. It is to be noted that of the total employees, one third (33 percent) were not aware of the selection process to the post of Service Officers at FRIENDS. Among those who did not know about the selection process, 43.5 percent were ready to offer their services to FRIENDS. Details of the distributions are presented in Tables 4.9 and 4.10.
There have been a few suggestions from the employees with regard to the selection process to the post of Service Officers at FRIENDS. These suggestions included: • In the selection process, the overall ability and track record should be considered along with the educational qualifications. • Only the ‘willing’ officers may be appointed • Selection should be through a test and interview after inviting applications from all eligible officers
4.4 Training Program
It is interesting to note that only fifty percent of the employees feel that they need training for their current job. 20 percent is doubtful about the need for more training and 30 percent
______35 Information Technology for ‘Citizen-Government’ Interface: A Study of FRIENDS Project in Kerala ______employees feel that they certainly / probably do not need training. Table 4.11 presents the details.
More or less equal number of employees believes that the training so far imparted to them is ‘not at all enough’, ‘not enough’, ‘it would have been better if there had been more days’, and ‘enough’. But it should be noted that there are clear differences among different departments. Table 4.12 gives the details. Table 4.13 explains the demand for training as perceived by the employees.
4.5 Service Environment and Conditions
It was observed that only 11.4 percent of the employees are very satisfied with their seating arrangements in the conventional departments, while 50 percent are somewhat satisfied. The pattern is found to be similar through out the departments. 20 percent are dissatisfied with the arrangements and the rest remain neutral in their opinion. Table 4.14 gives the distribution.
It was observed that around half of the employees do not use computers for their jobs. Department wise information on the usage of computers is given in Table 4.15. Majority (69.4 percent) are of the opinion that the software that they use is friendly. Majority believes that there aren’t enough employees in the offices. Table 4.16 and 4.17 gives more details.
With regard to the over all working environment and time schedule, majority is ‘somewhat satisfied’. Tables 4.18 and 4.19 explain the details. On the aspect of average time taken to deal with a customer, it is interesting to note the department wise variation. Though majority (54.3 percent) claims that they take only 0 to 5 minutes, there are references to the practice of 45 to 60 minutes per customer in the departments like Motor Vehicles. Table 4.20 gives the picture.
Asked about the overall satisfaction with the present job, only 8.6 percent have opined that they are ‘very satisfied’. Another 71.4 percent are ‘somewhat satisfied’ and 11.4 percent are neutral in their opinion. 8.6 percent opined that they are very dissatisfied or somewhat satisfied. Table 4. 21 explain these variations in detail.
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4.6 The Concept of IT Enabled Citizen Services
It is interesting to note that the employees believe that opening up of more counters and simplification of procedures are more vital for improving citizen services rather than IT implementation. It may, however, also be noted that these employees have very minimal exposure to computers and hence aren’t in a real position to comment on the advantages/disadvantages of IT. However, their perceptions are a matter of great interest. The suggestions to reduce customers’ queue, are classified in Table 4.22. Only 18.6 percent of the employees have suggested IT implementation as a solution for large queues. 34.3 percent of the employees believe that more number of counters is essential and 22.9 percent believe that simplification of procedures will solve the issue.
4.7 Opinion on the Concept and Practice of FRIENDS
Out of the total employees, 70 percent ‘strongly believe’ or ‘believe’ that FRIENDS is a very good initiative from the Government’s part. Only 14 employees have a negative thought in this regard. Table 4.23 explains the details.
Similarly, majority (74.3 percent) believe that FRIENDS is more equipped than their own office to give better citizen services. 41.4 percent of employees are of the opinion that because of FRIENDS, the queues before their immediate office counters have become considerably shorter. 17.1 percent have the opinion that their work load has come down due to FRIENDS. However, 40 percent of the employees opined that there is no particular advantage to them because of FRIENDS. Tables 4.24 and 4.25 explain the details.
Though majority of employees recognize that FRIENDS is more equipped than their office, only 24.3 percent of them would like to accept an offer to serve at FRIENDS. Reasons arise mainly on account of personal advantages like proximity to home and fear of new environment and technology.
4.8 Suggestion for the Improvement of Present System
Table 4.27 shows that 84.3 percent of employees strongly support FRIENDS as a single window system for citizen services. It is interesting to note that employees are generally suggesting more FRIENDS centres rather than ‘FRIENDS like counters’ in their own offices.
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Table 4.28 shows the distribution of employees according to their opinion on extending FRIENDS to sub district levels. 80 percent of employees ‘strongly agree’ or ‘agree’ to the proposal to extend FRIENDS to sub district levels. Only 7 employees have registered an opposite opinion.
On introducing service charge at FRIENDS, employees have expressed their disagreement. Table 4.29 gives the details. While 52.9 percent of employees are totally against introducing any sort of service charges, 38.6 percent opined that a token service charge of Re.1 per transaction could be levied. A small number of employees expressed the view that 1 to 4 percent of the total bill amount may be collected as service charge.
4.9 Conclusion
This Chapter clearly brings out the perceptions of the officers/employees of participating Departments who are not serving as Service Officers in FRIENDS. It is interesting to note that FRIENDS is accepted by the large majority of these employees as a major positive initiative of the Government, in spite of the fact that the centers have systematically curtailed some of the authority vested with these employees. What is more remarkable is the fact that a large majority supports FRIENDS as a single window for citizen service rather than arguing in favour of FRIENDS like counters attached to their office.
Further, a large majority is also in favour of extending FRIENDS to sub district levels. Those employees who are reluctant to join as Service Officers on account of the fear of having to move away from their base station might see an opportunity once this plan materialises. It may be noted that the study has clearly identified the need to have a transparent mechanism for selection of Service Officers. The general mood expressed by the employees suggests that they very clearly support the FRIENDS project and that they believe that the potential benefits to them outweigh the potential risks/costs.
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Chapter 5
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
5.1 Kerala – at the cross roads of Development
This chapter draws heavily from the analysis undertaken in the other chapters and the views and comments of Head of participating Departments and officers associated with the FRIENDS project. The chapter also provides details regarding the cost and benefit due to this project on various actors of the society.
However, the discussion on FRIENDS would not be complete with out a clearer understanding of the economic scenario in the state. Many international studies have looked at the unique development experience that Kerala has undergone. The initial wave of enthusiasm on Kerala studies, as is now widely known, had its origin in the mid 1970s, when some important studies like the one undertaken by the Centre for Development Studies for the United Nations highlighted certain key development achievements of Kerala, especially in health and education. What engaged the scholars and students of development was the paradox that a third world region like Kerala could achieve high physical quality of life for its people, in spite of sharing almost all signs of underdevelopment especially in its commodity producing sectors, with other such regions. In fact, in the process, Kerala came to be hailed as an inexpensive model of development (The Kerala model); a model for ensuring reasonably high quality of life for people in poor regions without having to wait for reaching higher stages of economic growth and development.
However, certain signs of vulnerability were visible even as the initial statements on Kerala model were being made. The development crisis of the state, set in during the mid 1970s, manifested as a long drawn out stagnation of agricultural and industrial sectors of the economy. The critics of Kerala’s experience and “Kerala model” of development have highlighted that the poor growth performance of commodity producing sectors like agriculture and industry has resulted in the slow down in the rate of growth in employment and income generation within the state. It also has reduced the rate of growth in government revenue and thereby state investment in economic sectors and expenditure on welfare programs.
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All these have tended to threaten the sustenance of the achievements already made in health, education and other human development spheres and the further efforts to improve the quality of life and capability of the people. There is increasing expectation in Kerala, on the prospect of ICT as an enabler of the region’s economic development and as a growth engine to provide solutions to some of its most important problems like high unemployment and low income generating capacity. The state is showing interested not only in becoming a major player in ICT production, but also in the use of the new technology in various sectors of the economy
Apparently, Kerala can be considered as a strong contender for a region that has all the prerequisites for the development of ICT as well as the development through ICT. Kerala has had a good record in terms of the Physical Quality of Life Index indicators (PQLI). About 37% of the total annual expenditure of the State is earmarked for health and education. It has a large network of health infrastructure with 961 primary health centres and 5094 sub centres. Kerala is the only state in India, which has a 100 per cent literate population. The human resources capability of the state, in terms of both general stream and technical stream, provides an ideal situation for the state to utilise ICT in various sectors of its economy.
In terms of physical digital infrastructure required for ICT based development, Kerala has a strong base. All the telephone exchanges in the state are digital, covering 14 district headquarters and 63 taluk headquarters in the state. Ninety eight percent of the telephone exchanges are connected by fibre optic cables (OFC) to the National Internet Backbone (NIB). The state also has the highest telephone density in the country of 7 per 100, which is India’s target for 2005. It also has the highest rural telephone density in the country with 5.1 per 100, which is India’s target for 2010. Moreover, submarine cables like the SEA-ME-WE- 3 and SAFE have their landings at Kochi and are capable of providing connectivity at 15 gigabytes per second.
It is in the above context of strengths and financial weaknesses of the state that the success and sustainability of FRIENDS centres have to be further probed and discussed.
5.2 The customer profile
It was found from the study that the FRIENDS centres are utilised primarily by the upper middle income, middle income and lower middle income groups/families in the state. The highest income group as well as the lowest income group are the least attracted sections to
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FRIENDS. Since the highest income group have been using the help of agents for remitting payments for many years, the existence of FRIENDS have not made any substantial difference to them yet. This is evident from the fact that it is this section that strongly believes that the money spend on FRIENDS should have been used by Government for some other welfare activities. The lowest income group do not avail the services of FRIENDS primarily because of the lower number of payments to be made by them, making the travel to FRIENDS not very economical for them now.
5.3 Direct Cost Implementation for Government of Kerala
As stated earlier, the Government of Kerala established the first Friend Centre in Thiruvananthapuram as a pilot project and then further extended it to the other districts. In the case of Trivandrum centre an amount of Rs. 4 million worth of capital investment was made. In all the other centers, the average Government investment was about Rs. 2.33 million. The Trivandrum centre has 20 counters while the average number of counters in other centres is 10. The expenditure cited are one-time expenses incurred at the beginning of the project.
The salaries for the Services officers are provided by the participating government department. Given the stand taken by the Government that no employee would be retrenched and also considering the fact that these Service Officers would have got their salaries if they continued in their parent department, one could easily see that there is no additional expenditure on salary incurred by the Government in terms of salary payments, due to FRIENDS. There is however two major kinds of recurring expenses that each of these centres incur. These are on account of
1. Annual maintenance charges for the hardware equipments. 2. Amount spent on account of rent, electricity, stationary, amount paid to Kudumbasree units and other related material.
An amount of Rs. 5.6 million is spent as annual maintenance charges for the 13 centres (at an average of Rs. 0.43 million per centre) and an amount of Rs. 4.45 million (at an average of Rs. 0.35 million per centre) spent on the second category noted above.
The total expenditure by the government starting from this financial year until further hardware replacement/acquisition decisions are taken would come to a total of Rs. 10.15
______41 Information Technology for ‘Citizen-Government’ Interface: A Study of FRIENDS Project in Kerala ______million per year (for all the 13 centres). This amount to an expenditure of Rs. 0.85 million per month on all these centres. This also means that the revenue expenditure incurred by each centre per month comes an average of Rs. 65,000/-. The above described are the direct expenditure incurred/being incurred by the government of Kerala for running these centres.
As stated earlier an amount of Rs. 6 per transaction is provided by BSNL (Public Telecommunication company) to FRIENDS on account of Friends receiving payments on behalf of BSNL. The BSNL collection through FRIENDS centres were introduced from November 2001 only. The average monthly income to the FRIENDS centres on account of this income comes to Rs. 12,000.
It is interesting to note that the authorities concerned have not yet tried to utilise the centres as point of purchase (payment) advertisements spots. It seems that the revenue expenditure incurred by these centres can be recouped through advertisement income. While the support to the introduction of FRIENDS centres among the public is overwhelming, 64.7 % of the respondents had indicated that they are not ready to pay any additional service charge at FRIENDS.
While one could argue from the details available through the study that since the transaction cost involved is much lower in the case of FRIENDS compared to conventional counters, the citizen would be ready to provide an appropriate service charge. It may, however, specifically be noted that cost of collection is supposed to be already discounted in the charges levied and hence an amount over and above the charges prescribed is not welcome by the citizens.
5.4 Benefits to the citizens and government.
While attempts have been made to capture the benefits in a quantitative framework, satisfaction of citizens and Service Officers, as is evident from the various parameters studied also need to be considered while drawing a comprehensive picture.
It was found from the study that, compared to the cost involved in making payments at department counters, citizens needs to spend an average of only about 35% of this in making payments at FRIENDS. This amounts to an average citizen’s gain of about Rs. 46.21 monthly. It was also found that, on an average, citizens save about 42.25 minutes every month when they utilise the FRIENDS counters. The level of comparative satisfaction can be gauged from the fact that 97.4 % of users prefer FRIENDS to Department counters. The
______42 Information Technology for ‘Citizen-Government’ Interface: A Study of FRIENDS Project in Kerala ______increased participation of women customers could also be seen as a positive contribution of the project. One important benefit that the Government has gained is that the project in itself was able to convince 80.1% of the users about the importance and possibilities of Information Technology in better providing citizen services.
The project highlights the fact that Government has partially succeeded in utilising IT as an administrative tool in undertaking some basic administrative reforms within the system. It may, however, be noted that due to the lack of appropriate backend computerisation, the citizens are not able to retrieve data or payment details. Government is also undertaking an inefficient system of redundant parallel accounting in two places in the same geographical location.
One key benefit of the project has been the human resource capitalization and capacity building within Government. The project was able to demonstrate to the common citizen that with appropriate training and skill upgradation, the very same government officers who were considered as arrogant and customer unfriendly, could be turned to play the exact opposite roles. The enthusiasm of these officers seems to have been on e of the major reasons for the success, however limited it may be, of the project. It is to be noted that the average age of the Service Officers was found to be 36 years and hence the enthusiasm and energy exhibited could very well be on account of the age factor. This raises questions about the sustainability in enthusiasm over the next few years. It is also disturbing to note that only 17.5 % of the Service Officers are females.
5.5 Sustainability of the centres
The sustainability and growth of the FRIENDS centres would depend on the following five important factors (1) possibilities of self support (2) wider geographical coverage (3) wider service range (4) maintaining quality service and (5) backend computerisation and web enabling.
As pointed out earlier, each centre on an average spends Rs. 65,000 as revenue expenditure every month. This is in addition to salary payments made by the participating Departments. The only revenue generating activity of the centre is the commission obtained from BSNL. The authorities are now thinking of adding more services including those from the private sector, with a view to generate a healthy revenue stream. Considering the historic resistance that people in the state has shown towards service charges on any public good, one would
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ideally expect such a resistance from the public. This was evident during the study also. However, considering the acceptance of FRIENDS and the displeasure that most people have regarding conventional department counters, it is felt generally that a reasonable service charge might be finally accepted by the public. However, the fact remains that cost of collection is a factor inbuilt into the charges collected from the citizens and as such does not warrant an additional service charge. One important internal income-generating stream for all FRIENDS centres is the revenue that can be collected from offering hoarding and advertisement space within the centre to corporates.
The benefits to the citizens can be increased primarily through providing better access and accessibility to the FRIENDS centres. To this effect, it was learned that the authorities are planning to introduce these centres in all the 140 assembly constituencies in the state. In fact, the sustenance of the project based on internal income accrual would become even more critical once this plan is implemented. Once the proposed plan is implemented, any citizens in the state would have access to a FRIENDS centre, located at a maximum distance of 2 kms away. Head of Departments do not seem to be very supportive of this decision, primarily on account of the resistance from the staff of participating departments. The employees believe that the relevance/power of their department might be lost due to common interface centres. It is also important that the extension of these centres are undertaken in association with the private sector/citizen associations (like residence associations) and allowing them to run the facility management centres on a self sustaining basis within a broad and predefined framework formulated by the Government.
A wider service range for the centres are required from the point of view of providing better services and from the point of view of possible earnings. It has been seen in the study that the quality of service offered in FRIENDS is much higher than the quality of service offered although conventional department counters. It may, however, be noted that no specified quality norm/citizen’s charter are prescribed in these centres. It is very important that the services offered are standardized and quality standards predefined before the rollout of FRIENDS to the assembly constituencies are undertaken. Though the success of FRIENDS relies very much on the fact that it undertook front-end computerisation before completing backend computerisation of departments, the project would become a complete success only when the backend department computerisation is also completed. The next stage in extending the front end right up to the customers’ desktop is to web enable the service. The study has
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shown that there aren’t many takers for a web enabled payment mechanism. This attitude seems to have arisen from the fear of technology, lack of Internet access and usage, etc. However, there are certain sections of the society that has shown keen interest in making payments through the Internet.
5.6 FRIENDS and its impact on the future ICT diffusion in the state
Most of the Indian state governments have announced that their primary e-governance goal is to provide a better citizen delivery mechanism. The reach of the programmes in various states have been different and are dependent on the specific strategies followed. Kerala has also given special focus on citizen services delivery as the main priority of its e-governance initiatives. FRIENDS project provides evidence to the fact that the state attempted front-end computerisation efforts in the first phase itself, when the backend computerization of individual departments was still in its infancy and has been trying to use the project to drive the back-end computerization programme.
The action plan envisaged for E~governance by the state is based on the assumption that citizens interact with government for three specific purposes. The interactions stated by the department are the following reasons.
(a) Making Payments – Repetitive with more or less certain regularity (b) Seeking Information – Repetitive with uncertain regularity (c) Getting entitlements – Less repetitive and less regularity
FRIENDS counters are being positioned to take care of the above first interaction point. The Government believes that as soon as the rollout of the project to sub-district levels is undertaken along with adding more services through each centre, the Government would be able to take care of all the payment related issues in toto. While effective steps needs to be taken for the sustainability of these centres, the argument that payment counters are important from the point of view of regularity of interaction seems logical.
Another critical area of citizen-government interaction is in is in getting entitlements including certificates, land record details, etc. The state Government expects that once the backend department computerization programme is completed and the shared central database is structured with linkages to individual department databases, it will be possible to provide a comprehensive range of entitlements through electronic channels. But the argument
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made by the Government is that though entitlements are vital for citizens, the number of transactions undertaken by an individual citizen would be limited and hence the efficiency improvement impact on the citizen would also be limited. For example, an average citizen might apply for his caste/income certificate or apply for a birth/death certificate possibly once or twice in a lifetime.
The third critical area identified is in addressing the information needs of the citizens. The content creation as described by the Government does not purely mean putting details on web pages, but the creation of an intelligent information depository that could evolve to a knowledge base through appropriate human intervention. The argument here is that, while the underlying technology could be complex, the delivery of information needs to be critically user friendly. To this extent, the Government is currently planning to adopt a Call Centre approach to providing information based on the above structured database to citizens.
This concept of a call centre approach to information dissemination against the conventional approach of a web-based system arose from the success that FRIENDS project offered. The department believes that appropriate people friendly front-ends are the most critical aspect in the success of any e-governance effort.
5.7 Areas for further research
The present study tried to evaluate the performance of the FRIENDS centres from the point of view of front-end computerization strategy and the satisfaction levels of the participating agents. The study has also looked in to the direct and indirect cost implications and the sustenance of the project. The study has also been able to determine the user profile and document the learning experience. The attitudes and suggestions of the Government employees and heads of departments was analysed in details and the prospects of IT in Government evaluated.
The sustainability of the project from the point of view of continued support from the employees and departments need to be evaluated. A risk analysis of the political and economic situation also needs to be undertaken. Further, revenue models required for the facility management centres also need to be formulated and studied.
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