Jan Soochna Portal – Free PDF Download

INTRODUCTION

• On September 13, Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot launched a “Jan Soochna Portal”
• The portal has been created by the Department of Information Technology and Communication(DoIT&C) in collaboration with civil society.
• It is aimed at easing the access to information for the beneficiaries of welfare schemes

. SECTION 4(2) OF RTI

• JSP realises the true intent behind Section 4(2) of the RTI Act of 2005.
• In essence, this section requires public authorities to proactively — that is, suo moto — disclose information.
• So that beneficiaries do not have to run from pillar to post trying to figure out what went wrong and how to set it right.

ORIGIN OF JSP

• The effort to create a centralised information database for the public in Rajasthan started last year.
• State government started an initiative known as Digital Dialogue.
• Then civil society members interacted with the government and gave their suggestions on policy issues as part of this initiative.

AIM OF THE PORTAL

• The portal aims to create a streamlined system for public information to prevent anomalies and corruption.
• Information about several schemes such as Ayushman Bharat, which provides free health insurance to beneficiaries has been uploaded.
• To ensure that there is no mismatch between the amount listed as an expense by a hospital while treating a patient and the money it actually charges.

BENEFITS OF THE PORTAL

• It is likely to result in centralising information about government schemes on one website.
• Hence, prove beneficial to the public by obviating the need to go through a tedious RTI application process to know more.
• At present, the portal has information about 23 government schemes and services from 13 departments.

 EXAMPLES

• One can get land records and documents from the portal that earlier could only have been accessed through patwaris.
• Similarly, for mining, a sector where widespread corruption has been unearthed in past instances such as the Rajasthan mining scam of 2015.

HOW TO ACCESS?

• The state currently has a network of around 68,500 e-mitra kiosks in villages.
• The government is developing a mobile app and will install in these kiosks.
• So that people can access the Jan Soochna Portal easily.

CHALLENGES

• To ensure that the information flow remains unhampered over time.
• It is important to educate the citizenry about the use of data on the portal.
• While digital connectivity and literacy have increased over time, these have not adequately translated into digital knowledge of public affairs.

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