SWAGAT, says UN to Gujarat CMO’s initiative

In the din of the controversy over the advertisement picture showing Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and the Bihar CM Nitish Kumar together, an important development went virtually unnoticed. On June 23, the chief minister's office (CMO), Gujarat, won the prestigious 2010 United Nations Public Service Award (UNPSA) for innovative use of information technology to address public grievances.

Gujarat has developed an elaborate system named, 'State-Wide Attention on Grievances with Application of Technology (SWAGAT)', through which citizens can vent their grievances regarding public services provided by the government. SWAGAT, which means 'Welcome' in the local language, gives citizens an opportunity to meet the CM personally (if required) to present their case.

This is how this unique system works. A citizen with a complaint goes to the CMO where he is given a form in Gujarati. The citizen has to fill up the form to register his complaint.

Based on this complaint, supporting documents are sought and, as soon as it is clear that the grievance appears to be genuine, all the documents are scanned and entered into the SWAGAT system. A unique id is generated for the complaint. The complaint then goes to the heads of the relevant departments in the taluka/district of the complainant in real time.

The administrative system in the taluka (or district) concerned is linked to SWAGAT. Responsible officers are expected to give their comments on the complaint at the earliest. In addition, the SWAGAT officer in the CMO also calls up the official concerned to bring the matter to his notice. What Gujarat does through SWAGAT may not be radically innovative insofar as use of technology is concerned.  

What is noteworthy, however, is the government's willingness to carry out this otherwise mundane function with diligence and regular follow-up to ensure implementation. Modi's personal intervention ensures that the system works effectively. In most administrations, public grievance cells are usually ignored or treated indifferently.

The UN award has brought to public attention the functioning of this IT-enabled system which has been in place since 2003. In fact, Gujarat is the only state in the country where public grievances receive such attention and follow-up action. Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have recently replicated the model.

Much of the credit for the success of SWAGAT goes to the efficient working of the CMO. Few people know that Gujarat's CMO is the only one in the country that acquired an ISO certification for its processes in January 2009. The certification was renewed in January 2010 as per the latest standards.

For the ISO certification, the functioning of the secretariat and the public relations office, the CMO's general administration, training of staff, human resource, Jan Sampark ('public interaction' where SWAGAT comes in) and, lastly, information technology infrastructure were overhauled. Special software called, SWAGAT Lok Fariyad, was developed so that complaints could be uploaded in real time.

"The mandate is clear - carry out all functions effectively, with the optimum use of available resources and technology," says secretary to CM, AK Sharma.