Citizen Charters are standards of service,
laid down by the government for public and
private sector bodies to which organizations
have to confirm, while delivering service to the
citizens. The basic objective of the Citizens’
Charter is to vest into the hands of the citizen
an instrument by which he could extract
accountability from the State for the nature and
quality of public service he receives from the
State. The Citizen Charter movement is in itself
a result of the accountability which the citizens
enforce over the State vis-á-vis the public services
offered by the State. Therefore, both the reason
as well as the consequence of the Citizens
Charter movement is accountability and is thus
inseparable from it.
The important aspects to be discussed in this
section are as to what are the founding pillars of
the Citizens’ Charter movement and whether the
citizens’ charter movement is working as per the
expectations, if not what are the areas in which
improvements should be incorporated so as to
ensure that it continues to remain an effective
instrument to hold the executive accountable for
its actions .
The Citizens’ Charter movement as originally
framed, is based on six principle attributes:
(i) Quality: Improving the quality of
services;
(ii) Choice: Wherever possible;
(iii) Standards: Specifying what to expect
and how to act if standards are not met;
(iv) Value: For the taxpayers’ money;
(v) Accountability: Vis-á-Vis individuals
and organisations; and
(vi) Transparency: Vis-á-Vis rules, procedures,
schemes and grievances.
The Citizen Charter movement was
pioneered in UK in 1991 when they were first
formulated under the Conservative regime of the
Prime Minister John Major, with the above
mentioned goals as its guiding force. These
charters were to include first, standards of
services as well as time limits that the public
could reasonably expect for service delivery,
avenues of grievance redress, and a provision
for independent scrutiny through the
involvement of citizens and consumer groups.
A committee headed by John Major and certain
other distinguished personalities from across the
society, was responsible for operationalizations.
The PMO was to monitor the progress and
submit a report to the parliament. The PMO’s
report contained comparative estimates and
checkmark awards for personnel. If the
standards were not met, punishment in form of
monetary compensation (5 to 75) pounds was
imposed. On the same lines similar initiatives
were conceived in other countries as well for
example: ‘The Citizen Now Not Later’ campaign
by Philippines Civil Service or the Malaysian
Administration Modernization and Management
Planning Unit (MAMPU) in Malaysia under which
the client charters were made and penalties were
imposed on failures. By and large all these initiatives
approximated the UK model with some or the
other modifications. A comparison however of the
major Citizens’ Charter initiatives show that the
service quality approach is embedded in them in
different degrees. Once a decision is taken to make
public services citizen-centric, the customer focus
of the Total Quality Management (TQM) variety
cannot be far behind. In fact, the Citizens’ Charter
approach has several things in common with
TQM. Both begin by focusing on meeting
customer/citizen requirements. Other key
common elements are conformance to standards,
stakeholder involvement and continuous
improvement.
In case of India, in the Conference of Chief
Ministers of various States and Union Territories
held on 24 May, 1997 in New Delhi, presided
over by the Prime Minister of India, an “Action
Plan for Effective and Responsive Government”
at the Centre and State levels was adopted. One
of the major decisions at that Conference was
that the Central and State Governments would
formulate Citizens’ Charters, starting with those
sectors that have a large public interface (e.g.
Railways, Telecom, Posts, Public Distribution
Systems). These Charters were required to
include standards of service and time limits that
the public can reasonably expect, avenues of
grievance redress and a provision for
independent scrutiny with the involvement of
citizen and consumer groups.
Department of Administrative Reforms and
Public Grievances in Government of India (DARPG)
initiated the task of coordinating, formulating and
operationalizing Citizens’ Charters. Guidelines for
formulating the Charters as well as a list of do’s and
don’ts were communicated to various government
departments/organizations to enable them to bring
out focused and effective charters. For the
formulation of the Charters, the government
agencies at the Centre and State levels were advised
to constitute a task force with representation from
users, senior management and the cutting edge staff.
A Handbook on Citizen’s Charter has been
developed by the Department and sent to all the
State Governments/UT Administrations.
However the importance of ascertaining
whether the citizen’s charters were working as per
the vision of their conception was realized and as
a result an evaluation exercise had to be carried
out which would identify the shortcomings and
their reasons, following which steps could be taken
to overcome them.
In the same reference in the year 2002-03,
DARPG engaged a professional agency to develop
a standardised model for internal and external
evaluation of Citizens’ Charters in a more effective,
quantifiable and objective manner. This agency
also carried out evaluation of implementation of
Charters in 5 Central Government Organizations
and 15 Departments / Organizations of States of
Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
This Agency was also required to suggest methods
for increasing awareness, both within the
organization and among the users, and to suggest
possible methods for orientation of management
and the staff in the task of formulating and
deploying Charters.
As per the report of evaluation carried out
by the Agency, major findings were:-
(i) In majority of cases Charters were not
formulated through a consultative
process;
(ii) By and large service providers are not
familiar with the philosophy, goals and
main features of the Charter;
(iii) Adequate publicity to the Charters had
not been given in any of the Departments
evaluated. In most Departments, the
Charters are only in the initial or middle
stage of implementation; and
(iv) No funds have been specifically
earmarked for awareness generation of
Citizens’ Charter or for orientation of
staff on various components of the
Charter.
Key recommendations, inter alia, include:-
(i) need for citizens and staff to be consulted at
every stage of formulation of the Charter, (ii)
orientation of staff about the salient features and
goals/objectives of the Charter; vision and
mission statement of the department; and skills
such as team building, problem solving,
handling of grievances and communication
skills, (iii) need for creation of database on
consumer grievances and redress, (iv) need for
wider publicity of the Charter through print
media, posters, banners, leaflets, handbills,
brochures, local newspapers, etc. and also
through electronic media, (v) earmarking of
specific budgets for awareness generation and
orientation of staff, and (vi) replication of best
practices in this field.
Following the recommendations of the agency
and with the objective of generating awareness
among the citizens as well as government
functionaries of the commitments of various
organizations enshrined in their Citizens’ Charter,
the Department of Administrative Reforms and
Public Grievances brought out a Compendium of
abridged versions of all Citizens’ Charters in
Government of India in a book as well as in CD
form on 14 May, 2003. The Compendium
contains the operative standards and quality of
services proposed to be provided as also the public
grievance redress mechanism as committed in the
Citizens’ Charters. The Compendium also
contains the names, addresses, telephone
numbers, and e-mail addresses of nodal officers
for Citizens’ Charters in Central Government
Ministries/Departments/Organizations and also
the list of website addresses of concerned
Ministry/Department/Organization.
The Compendium shall not only be useful to
the citizens for ready reference, but will also enable
them to critically review the functioning of these
organizations. This would also help the
organizations to compare the standards set by
them, vis-à-vis, those set by other organizations.
Further, four Regional Seminars on Citizens’
Charters were organized during the year 2001-02,
with a view to bring national and state level
organisations along with other stakeholders
including NGOs, intelligentsia, media, etc. on the
same platform and to share experiences in
formulation and implementation of Citizens’
Charter. These seminars were organized at
Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad,
Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of
Administration, Mussoorie, R.C.V.P. Noronha
Academy of Administration, Bhopal and Assam
Administrative Staff College, Guwahati. In all, 24
State Governments/UT Administrations and 15
Central Government Departments/Organizations
participated.
On the basis of the feedback received and
experience gained in these seminars, it was decided
to organize separate Capacity Building Workshops
with specific focus on (i) formulation of Charter
(ii) effective implementation of Charter and (iii)
enhancing the capacity of trainers available at State
Administrative Training Institutes/Central Civil
Services Staff Colleges. Further, Information and
Facilitation Counter (IFC) were set up by selected
Central Government organizations to provide
information to citizens about their programs/
schemes, rules and procedures, etc. as well as status
of cases/applications. An IFC also acts as a nodal
point for redress of public grievances.
In India, the DARPG identified a professional
agency to develop an appropriate Charter Mark
scheme. This scheme will encourage and reward
improvement in public service delivery with
reference to the commitments and standards
notified in the Charter. The ‘Charter Mark’ is
proposed to be awarded after assessment by an
independent panel of judges. This would not only
give a sense of achievement to the organization
awarded the Charter Mark but also promote a
spirit of competitiveness amongst various
organizations that have issued Citizens’ Charter
and generating awareness among citizens. A
prototype has been developed by the professional
agency and is in the process of validation in
identified Departments/Organizations.
Further, the second ARC has also given its
recommendations in the same lines prescribing
for the blanket application of the Citizens
Charter scheme however tailor cut to the needs
of the independent unit in consultations with the
civil society and subject to independent periodic
evaluations so that accountability of the civil
servants is ensured through the process of
citizen’s participation. The implementation of
Citizens’ Charter however is an on-going exercise
because it has to reflect the extensive and
continual changes taking place in the domain of
public services. Especially, after the passage of the
Right to Information Act, 2005 (already discussed
in development administration) the instrument of
Citizen’s Charter has assumed a renewed vigour
as the two of them in combination can go a long
way in enforcing the accountability of not only
the executive but the entire state apparatus vis-á-
vis public interests.
laid down by the government for public and
private sector bodies to which organizations
have to confirm, while delivering service to the
citizens. The basic objective of the Citizens’
Charter is to vest into the hands of the citizen
an instrument by which he could extract
accountability from the State for the nature and
quality of public service he receives from the
State. The Citizen Charter movement is in itself
a result of the accountability which the citizens
enforce over the State vis-á-vis the public services
offered by the State. Therefore, both the reason
as well as the consequence of the Citizens
Charter movement is accountability and is thus
inseparable from it.
The important aspects to be discussed in this
section are as to what are the founding pillars of
the Citizens’ Charter movement and whether the
citizens’ charter movement is working as per the
expectations, if not what are the areas in which
improvements should be incorporated so as to
ensure that it continues to remain an effective
instrument to hold the executive accountable for
its actions .
The Citizens’ Charter movement as originally
framed, is based on six principle attributes:
(i) Quality: Improving the quality of
services;
(ii) Choice: Wherever possible;
(iii) Standards: Specifying what to expect
and how to act if standards are not met;
(iv) Value: For the taxpayers’ money;
(v) Accountability: Vis-á-Vis individuals
and organisations; and
(vi) Transparency: Vis-á-Vis rules, procedures,
schemes and grievances.
The Citizen Charter movement was
pioneered in UK in 1991 when they were first
formulated under the Conservative regime of the
Prime Minister John Major, with the above
mentioned goals as its guiding force. These
charters were to include first, standards of
services as well as time limits that the public
could reasonably expect for service delivery,
avenues of grievance redress, and a provision
for independent scrutiny through the
involvement of citizens and consumer groups.
A committee headed by John Major and certain
other distinguished personalities from across the
society, was responsible for operationalizations.
The PMO was to monitor the progress and
submit a report to the parliament. The PMO’s
report contained comparative estimates and
checkmark awards for personnel. If the
standards were not met, punishment in form of
monetary compensation (5 to 75) pounds was
imposed. On the same lines similar initiatives
were conceived in other countries as well for
example: ‘The Citizen Now Not Later’ campaign
by Philippines Civil Service or the Malaysian
Administration Modernization and Management
Planning Unit (MAMPU) in Malaysia under which
the client charters were made and penalties were
imposed on failures. By and large all these initiatives
approximated the UK model with some or the
other modifications. A comparison however of the
major Citizens’ Charter initiatives show that the
service quality approach is embedded in them in
different degrees. Once a decision is taken to make
public services citizen-centric, the customer focus
of the Total Quality Management (TQM) variety
cannot be far behind. In fact, the Citizens’ Charter
approach has several things in common with
TQM. Both begin by focusing on meeting
customer/citizen requirements. Other key
common elements are conformance to standards,
stakeholder involvement and continuous
improvement.
In case of India, in the Conference of Chief
Ministers of various States and Union Territories
held on 24 May, 1997 in New Delhi, presided
over by the Prime Minister of India, an “Action
Plan for Effective and Responsive Government”
at the Centre and State levels was adopted. One
of the major decisions at that Conference was
that the Central and State Governments would
formulate Citizens’ Charters, starting with those
sectors that have a large public interface (e.g.
Railways, Telecom, Posts, Public Distribution
Systems). These Charters were required to
include standards of service and time limits that
the public can reasonably expect, avenues of
grievance redress and a provision for
independent scrutiny with the involvement of
citizen and consumer groups.
Department of Administrative Reforms and
Public Grievances in Government of India (DARPG)
initiated the task of coordinating, formulating and
operationalizing Citizens’ Charters. Guidelines for
formulating the Charters as well as a list of do’s and
don’ts were communicated to various government
departments/organizations to enable them to bring
out focused and effective charters. For the
formulation of the Charters, the government
agencies at the Centre and State levels were advised
to constitute a task force with representation from
users, senior management and the cutting edge staff.
A Handbook on Citizen’s Charter has been
developed by the Department and sent to all the
State Governments/UT Administrations.
However the importance of ascertaining
whether the citizen’s charters were working as per
the vision of their conception was realized and as
a result an evaluation exercise had to be carried
out which would identify the shortcomings and
their reasons, following which steps could be taken
to overcome them.
In the same reference in the year 2002-03,
DARPG engaged a professional agency to develop
a standardised model for internal and external
evaluation of Citizens’ Charters in a more effective,
quantifiable and objective manner. This agency
also carried out evaluation of implementation of
Charters in 5 Central Government Organizations
and 15 Departments / Organizations of States of
Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
This Agency was also required to suggest methods
for increasing awareness, both within the
organization and among the users, and to suggest
possible methods for orientation of management
and the staff in the task of formulating and
deploying Charters.
As per the report of evaluation carried out
by the Agency, major findings were:-
(i) In majority of cases Charters were not
formulated through a consultative
process;
(ii) By and large service providers are not
familiar with the philosophy, goals and
main features of the Charter;
(iii) Adequate publicity to the Charters had
not been given in any of the Departments
evaluated. In most Departments, the
Charters are only in the initial or middle
stage of implementation; and
(iv) No funds have been specifically
earmarked for awareness generation of
Citizens’ Charter or for orientation of
staff on various components of the
Charter.
Key recommendations, inter alia, include:-
(i) need for citizens and staff to be consulted at
every stage of formulation of the Charter, (ii)
orientation of staff about the salient features and
goals/objectives of the Charter; vision and
mission statement of the department; and skills
such as team building, problem solving,
handling of grievances and communication
skills, (iii) need for creation of database on
consumer grievances and redress, (iv) need for
wider publicity of the Charter through print
media, posters, banners, leaflets, handbills,
brochures, local newspapers, etc. and also
through electronic media, (v) earmarking of
specific budgets for awareness generation and
orientation of staff, and (vi) replication of best
practices in this field.
Following the recommendations of the agency
and with the objective of generating awareness
among the citizens as well as government
functionaries of the commitments of various
organizations enshrined in their Citizens’ Charter,
the Department of Administrative Reforms and
Public Grievances brought out a Compendium of
abridged versions of all Citizens’ Charters in
Government of India in a book as well as in CD
form on 14 May, 2003. The Compendium
contains the operative standards and quality of
services proposed to be provided as also the public
grievance redress mechanism as committed in the
Citizens’ Charters. The Compendium also
contains the names, addresses, telephone
numbers, and e-mail addresses of nodal officers
for Citizens’ Charters in Central Government
Ministries/Departments/Organizations and also
the list of website addresses of concerned
Ministry/Department/Organization.
The Compendium shall not only be useful to
the citizens for ready reference, but will also enable
them to critically review the functioning of these
organizations. This would also help the
organizations to compare the standards set by
them, vis-à-vis, those set by other organizations.
Further, four Regional Seminars on Citizens’
Charters were organized during the year 2001-02,
with a view to bring national and state level
organisations along with other stakeholders
including NGOs, intelligentsia, media, etc. on the
same platform and to share experiences in
formulation and implementation of Citizens’
Charter. These seminars were organized at
Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad,
Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of
Administration, Mussoorie, R.C.V.P. Noronha
Academy of Administration, Bhopal and Assam
Administrative Staff College, Guwahati. In all, 24
State Governments/UT Administrations and 15
Central Government Departments/Organizations
participated.
On the basis of the feedback received and
experience gained in these seminars, it was decided
to organize separate Capacity Building Workshops
with specific focus on (i) formulation of Charter
(ii) effective implementation of Charter and (iii)
enhancing the capacity of trainers available at State
Administrative Training Institutes/Central Civil
Services Staff Colleges. Further, Information and
Facilitation Counter (IFC) were set up by selected
Central Government organizations to provide
information to citizens about their programs/
schemes, rules and procedures, etc. as well as status
of cases/applications. An IFC also acts as a nodal
point for redress of public grievances.
In India, the DARPG identified a professional
agency to develop an appropriate Charter Mark
scheme. This scheme will encourage and reward
improvement in public service delivery with
reference to the commitments and standards
notified in the Charter. The ‘Charter Mark’ is
proposed to be awarded after assessment by an
independent panel of judges. This would not only
give a sense of achievement to the organization
awarded the Charter Mark but also promote a
spirit of competitiveness amongst various
organizations that have issued Citizens’ Charter
and generating awareness among citizens. A
prototype has been developed by the professional
agency and is in the process of validation in
identified Departments/Organizations.
Further, the second ARC has also given its
recommendations in the same lines prescribing
for the blanket application of the Citizens
Charter scheme however tailor cut to the needs
of the independent unit in consultations with the
civil society and subject to independent periodic
evaluations so that accountability of the civil
servants is ensured through the process of
citizen’s participation. The implementation of
Citizens’ Charter however is an on-going exercise
because it has to reflect the extensive and
continual changes taking place in the domain of
public services. Especially, after the passage of the
Right to Information Act, 2005 (already discussed
in development administration) the instrument of
Citizen’s Charter has assumed a renewed vigour
as the two of them in combination can go a long
way in enforcing the accountability of not only
the executive but the entire state apparatus vis-á-
vis public interests.
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