Janaagraha Urban G2C Awards launched to benchmark citizen-centric urban e-Governance in India
In a first-of-its kind initiative in India, Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, a premier Bangalore-based NGO focussed on urban transformation launched the Janaagraha Urban G2C Awards program to benchmark citizen-centric e-Governance of city governments in India.
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In a first-of-its kind initiative in India, Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, a premier Bangalore-based NGO focussed on urban transformation launched the Janaagraha Urban G2C Awards program to benchmark citizen-centric e-Governance of city governments in India. The Jury for the G2C Awards is led by Sam Pitroda, Special Adviser to the Prime Minister of India on Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations and has other eminent members on the panel.
The entire initiative which would soon culminate into the first edition of the Janaagraha Urban G2C Awards, is a pathfinding move to measure and benchmark the quality and the extent of urban e-Governance in India and thereby envisions catalysing a vibrant, transparent and participative e-Governance culture in urban India.
The G2C Awards Jury would evaluate and rank websites of the top 28 cities of India along with 7 international cities as global peer benchmarks and consequently recognise city governments that have outperformed their peers in delivering high quality governance to their citizens using their websites as a channel. The parameters that the Awards Jury would use comprise Transparency and Accountability, Online services, Citizen Voice and User Experience. This effort recognises the trend that globally, websites and online media have become customer/citizen-centric and in many instances assumed the avtar of social networks.
Mr. Ramesh Ramanathan, Co-Founder, Janaagraha said, "The Janaagraha Urban G2C Awards has a vision of emerging as a benchmark of reference for urban e-Governance in India. The entire G2C Awards program has been conceptualised from a citizen's perspective and therefore is an evaluation of city e-Governments seen through a citizen's eyes. We are lucky to have a stellar Jury that is helping us pick the winners".
Chair of the Awards Jury, Mr. Sam Pitroda said, "Information is emerging in its own right as a pillar of democratic governance and the Awards seek to measure the efficacy with which city governments are using their websites as a medium for a healthy 2-way communication between Governments and Citizens. Essentially, the G2C Awards are about benchmarking the use of technology in strengthening not only citizen-centric urban service delivery but also democratic governance."
The curtain-raiser of scores of international cities placed New York at 82, London at 80 and Sydney at 74 on a scale of 100. Unveiling the scores, Ms Swati Ramanathan, Co-founder, Janaagraha and Chairperson, India Urban Space Foundation remarked, "The relative comparison of global cities with Indian cities could carry significant learnings for urban e-Governance in India and vice versa. Further, given the unique challenges of Urban in India and the existing deficit in service delivery, there is even a case for Indian cities to harness their websites above and beyond their global peers".
Jury members Dr M Ramachandran, Former Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, and Mr. Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Founder and Executive Vice-Chairman, Info Edge (India) Limited (of naukri.com fame) were also present at the event.
Whilst the Government of India and various State Governments are making big-budget spends on ICT and e-Governance through initiatives such as the National e-Governance Plan, the G2C Awards stand out as a program that doesn't just reward or recognise innovation and superlative efforts but instead the real outcomes of such spends and efforts on the lives of urban citizens. By including international cities in its ambit, the Awards also lends itself as a platform for sharing of global best practices in urban e-Governance. The G2C Awards 2012 function and release of the Janaagraha G2C Awards Report 2012 is likely to be scheduled during March-April 2012.
Notes to Editor
About Janaagraha
Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy is a non-profit organisation based in Bangalore, India. It works with Governments and Citizens with a mission to transform the Quality of Life in Indian cities and towns. Founded in 2001 by Ramesh Ramanathan and Swati Ramanathan, Janaagraha started as a movement to enable citizen participation in public governance and has since evolved into a robust institution for Citizenship and Democracy. Its guiding principle to define Quality of Life and bring about changes in public governance is a comprehensive framework called REED, an acronym for four defining aspects of urban governance -Regional perspective to urban issues, Empowered citizens and local governments, Enabled citizens and local governments and Direct accountability of the government to the people.
Today Janaagraha operates a wide range of programs focussed on urban transformation spanning Urban electoral rolls (Jaagte Raho!), Community Policing, Civic education in schools (BalaJanaagraha), an online anti-corruption initiative (www.ipaidabribe.com), a social change network (www.ichangemycity.com), a public disclosure and accountability initiative (PROOF) and Urban Capacity Building.
In a decade of being founded, Janaagraha has achieved notable success in executing campaigns some of which include the Jaagte Raho campaign on voter enrolment, inclusion of the Community Participation Law and Public Disclosure Law in the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) and significant policy breakthroughs in urban planning and land reforms. Many of Janaagraha's programs have been recognised and adopted as national/international best practices.