The Bihar Right to Public Services Act, 2011

• Passed: April 2011
• Implemented: 15 Aug 2011
• The RTPS in Bihar is first such law in the country directed at tackling corruption, inefficiency and lack of transparency in the conduct of government affairs.
• Aim: To enable citizens to demand services from the state government and its agencies within a stipulated time frame.
• Implementation:Done utilising ICT tools in the form of a service delivery and monitoring software (Adhikar), an Interactive Voice Response System, various application tracking tools, a help line (Samadhan) for dealing with citizens' queries about their entitlements and services covered under the Act, and an on line application and service delivery system.
•  The RTPS currently covers 30 services in 10 key departments that include Registration, Transport, Commercial Taxes and General Administration Department. On receipt of the application, the applicant is given a Unique ID and acknowledgement slip that serves as authentic proof for filing the First and Second Appeals.

 Defaulting Designated Public Servants (DPSs) can be penalised INR 500 to 5,000 for failure or delay in service delivery.

Shakshar Mahila Samooh (SMS) Project, Haryana

• Formed by Department of Women and Child Development, Chandigarh
• Aim: To create awareness in the village on social issues such as declining sex ratio, education, health and nutrition, women’s economic empowerment, sanitation and environment.
• Shakshar Mahila Samooh (SMS) works as a voluntary organization in every village in Haryana for the advancement of the village society.
• This organization used tools such as rally, organized monthly meetings with the Panchayat and other community-based networks to create awareness amongst the grass root society on social and development issues.
•  They have also taken innovative measures in lessening the problem of domestic violence through self-help groups in the community.
• The members of SMS have taken capacity building training from the Department of Women and Child Development and have built partnerships at the block, district and state levels to raise consciousness about social issues in the rural society.

Project Arrow

• Launched: 2008
• Department: The Department of Posts
• Aim: To completely transform the postal service in India by upgrading key postal operations such as mail delivery, remittance and banking services.
• Under the project, the exterior and interior of the post offices have undergone a transformation. Service delivery has been upgraded through information technology-enabled procedures.
• The fear of late delivery of mails is a thing of past under Project Arrow as all the letters including registered, speed posts, ordinary mails are delivered the same day.

Also money transactions have become simpler and faster between post offices through instant money order.

Nivesh Mitra

• Launched: 2011
• Uttar Pradesh has launched a web based online facility —Nivesh Mitra— for entrepreneurs desirous of setting up an enterprise in the state.
• State government’s investment promotion agency— Udyog Bandhu— is acting as a nodal agency for implementation of this project. 
• In the first phase, this system has been introduced in 18 districts and 12 government departments have been roped in the system.
• This user- friendly, entrepreneur centric web application enables existing and prospective investors and entrepreneurs to get online clearances from concerned department with ease and minimal “running around”.
• Nivesh Mitra provides the facility of online submission and updating of all forms required for various approvals by the entrepreneurs.
• Entrepreneurs can make payments towards processing fee of applications online by using Credit and Debit Cards; through Internet Banking or by offline payment at specific bank branches.
• It also provides online monitoring facility for seeking the status of application within the stipulated time limits. 

Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA)

• Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) is a national design evaluation rating system for buildings and its construction, operations, maintenance processes are ranked from the perspective of energy efficient technologies.
• The construction developers/owners are to register their buildings online to get it rated under GRIHA benchmarks.
•  The evaluation system has been designed by GRIHA expert evaluators, in compliance with Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC), National Building Code 2005 (NBC) and Environment Impact Assessment. They are ranked on the basis of using renewable energy, recycled resources, rain water harvesting and other such techniques.
• There are certain benefits for GRIHA certified building owners as getting 50% rebate on premium by developers, rebate on property tax for five years and 90% of registration fee refund if all conditions are met and finally GRIHA rated buildings are ensured to have 30-40% reduction in operation cost with negligible impact on project cost.
• Till date, 108 projects with 10 crore square feet have registered with GRIHA. Under private institutions/corporations FORTIS Healthcare, Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), Welcome group were covered. Under national government institutions, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Ministry of Health are some examples.

Digital Green

• Launched: 2006by Microsoft Research India's Technology for Emerging Markets team
• Digital Green combines technology and social organization to improve the cost-effectiveness and broaden the community participation of existing agricultural extension systems.
• Digital Green records live demonstrations of agricultural practices by experts, transmit them to a large database and distribute them on DVDs to local organizations for dissemination among small and marginal farmers.
•  Digital Green uses low-cost and portable technology viz. camcorders, TVs and Pico projectors for the production and dissemination of videos. Videos are based on content identified by the community, feature local farmers, are created in local dialects, and are duly checked for accuracy by agricultural experts. These screenings are mediated by an expert to help farmers adopt the practices as well as monitor their status after adoption.
• Currently, it is operating in 5 states and partners with 7 organizations. With more than 1650 videos in its database and a reach over 58,000 farmers, Digital Green today is ten times more effective, per dollar spent, in converting farmers to better farming practices than traditional approaches to agricultural extension.

Trash to Treasure

• Trash to Treasure is a CHF International's initiative to strengthen waste industry by regular collection, sorting and recycling processes. Efforts are also made to give recognition to waste pickers’ role in keeping the city clean.
• The Cooperative Housing Foundation (CHF) International introduced a decentralised model of waste management to improve facilities and support livelihoods.
• Funded by: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Caterpillar to revamp the waste management and recycling industry in Bengaluru.
• The project has two implementation models.
• One is a traditional approach where waste is collected directly from 2000 households in Rajendranagar and Ambedkarnagar area, and taking it to a facility centre to sort them for recycling purposes. These centres are known as Parivarthana meaning ‘change’.
• Second model includes collection of waste from BBMP employees in Kasa Rasa centre. The centre is managed by Saahas, CHF’s partner specialised in waste and recycling management. Saahas supervises the centre’s staff, manages the operations and manufacturing of compost heap in organic waste convertor machines and finally sell it to recycling entrepreneurs.

Udyogini

• Launched: 1992with a focus on micro enterprise management training
• Udyogini provides training to poor women and NGOs in remote and backward areas of India build micro enterprises and become entrepreneurs.
• Udyogini works in regions that are backward and ‘enterprise starved’ and mainly in sectors where there is a concentration of women workers.
• Focus areas:gender and poverty, market-oriented capacity building for producers, catering to both subsector and multi-sector business service requirements, bringing about innovation, learning and change in business services content and delivery mechanism, and knowledge-sharing through documentation.
•  It provides business development services to NGOs, government, donors etc. These services include three core products- micro enterprise training and handholding, value chain development (with special emphasis on gender inclusion), and market linkages.

Project Stree Shakti

• Project Stree Shakti is a joint collaboration effort of the Government of Delhi, community-based organisations and NGOs to empower women, especially those belonging to economically weaker sections of society.
• The initiative comprises integrated capacity building to strengthen the ability of women to participate equally in the mainstream of society.
• In the first instance, the project has prioritised three areas that significantly impact the process of empowerment namely health, literacy and income generation.
• The proposed objectives are met through a Gender Resource Centre. Its activities include the maintenance of a documentation centre and data bank on women’s issues; and dissemination of the data directly and through grass root level NGOs to the target groups. The centre would also act as a bridge between service providers and the community members.The Bell Bajao campaign
• Launched: 2008
• Founder: Malika Dutt
• Motto: Bring human rights home
• The Bell Bajao campaign spreads awareness to stop domestic violence against women. It utilizes the power of media and community mobilization tools to create a gender sensitive society.
• In 2008, global human rights organization Breakthrough launched a 360 degree ‘cultural, organizing and media ‘campaign, Bell Bajao (Ring the Bell), to bring an end to domestic violence against women.
•  The Bell Bajao campaign focuses on breaking the notion that domestic violence is a private affair and seeks to mobilize young men to take a stand against violence.
• The campaign has two main components – a) media and edutainment (entertainment designed to educate) development and b) community mobilization through trainings and local partnerships.
•  The media campaign runs throughout the country while the community mobilization initiatives run in seven districts each in the states of Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.

Radio Ujjas

• Radio Ujjas is a successful community radio initiative that works to sensitize the people of Kutch on local issues, particularly on matters related to women.
• Launched: 1999 by the Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan (KMVS)
• Radio Ujjas arose out of the need to overcome the barrier that illiteracy poses to people's access to information. Moreover, Kutch is a large and disaster prone area that makes it difficult for any constant and reliable source of information and entertainment to be available to the people. 
• Radio Ujjas works at the grassroots to identify concerns specific to the people of Kutch, and involves the community members extensively in mobilising resources and in programme production.
• The programme themes are very diverse and include education, handicrafts, fishing, panchayat, girls' rights, environment, natural resource management and such like. The overarching aim of all these programmes is to give a space to women to voice their concerns related to these issues. 
• For its first radio show aired in 1999, titled 'Kunjal Paanje Kutchi', Radio Ujjas was awarded the Chameli Devi Jain Award in 2000.

Rythu Bazar

• Started in 1999.
• Rythu Bazar, established with the intention of eliminating middlemen, allows consumer to directly purchase good quality produce from farmers.
• Rythu Bazars have been established in the major cities of Andhra Pradesh to create direct linkages between farmers and consumers for the sale and purchase of agricultural produce. 
• Due to direct marketing, farmers not only making profits but are also safe from the harassment of the middlemen. The government has fixed the prices in a Rythu Bazar 25 percent above other wholesale market prices to motivate farmers to opt for Rythu Bazars. However, at the same time, the prices are beneficial for consumers as it is still at least 25 percent lesser than the retail shops.
• An online market information system is developed to help keep consumers aware about the produce and respective prices.

SABRAS

• SABRAS is a social enterprise which aims to improve lives of salt producing community by enhancing their access to market and utilizing solar technology.
• To increase overall efficiency and profitability of small workers in salt production business, Saline Area Vitalization Enterprise Ltd. (SAVE) has established a social enterprise called SABRAS Processing and Marketing Pvt. Ltd. in the Little Rann of Kutch region of Gujarat.
• SABRAS provide procurement, processing and marketing services to small-scale salt workers. It directly buys salt from them at a significantly higher than market price, and then sells the salt in bulk to processors and network of distributors.
•  Additionally, SABRAS provides environment friendly and long term cost effective solar water pumps to reduce the dependence of salt workers on inefficient diesel pumps during the salt production process.
• Salt workers are shareholders in the company; implying that they also share the risks and profits of the company.
•  In the SABRAS model, the salt workers use their skills and hard work to provide the salt while SABRAS uses its experience to provide access to market, credit and technology. 

Janamanas

• Launched: 2007
• Janamanas, a community healthcare service, works in collaboration with municipalities and local communities to make mental healthcare more accessible and sustainable.
• Anjali Mental Health Rights Organisation implemented Janamanas programme to address the concerns of inadequate mental healthcare and to ensure inclusion of mental health in the mainstream healthcare services of the government.
•  Major motivation in introducing this programme is to de-institutionalise mental health services to make it affordable and accessible to the marginalised section of the community.
• The programme works closely with the municipalities to ensure optimal use of available resources, to alter practices of oppressing treatment and to introduce innovative therapies.
• Janamanas seeks to create informed and sensitive citizens through a range of awareness camps and workshops. Dissemination of relevant and updated information pertaining to mental health queries, rights and service delivery remain the major focus of these endeavours.

Operation Asha

• Launched: 2005
• Founded by:Dr. Shelly Batra and Sandeep Ahuja
• Operation Asha is the largest NGO in India focusing on Tuberculosis (TB) treatment in urban slum areas.
• Operation Asha is treating Tuberculosis in urban slum areas through the use of local counselors to spread awareness and technologies to observe patients on a regular basis.
• It has been addressing TB-related problems through counseling for patients that have been discriminated against and who are largely ignorant about the disease. Counseling is provided by local community members who are trained to treat patients and regularly monitor the spreading of TB.
• Operation ASHA also creates jobs or augments the income of people from disadvantaged communities. Young men and women from slums and villages receive training and a salary from Operation ASHA to serve as counselors.
• Operation Asha has also set up treatment centres to monitor patients with a biometric attendance system.

Tele-ophthalmology programme, Tripura

• Launched: 2007
• The government of Tripura has implemented an ICT facilitated eye care service to extend the benefits of advanced medical science to its rural population.
• The government of Tripura has utilised Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to overcome the acute shortage of eye care infrastructure and specialists in the state.
• Tripura Vision Centre combines the advances in medical science and ICT to connect the state's only public sector hospital, IndiraGandhiMemorialHospital to 40 blocks in rural Tripura through these vision centres.
• The project has not only decentralised eye care in the state but also reduced the burden from secondary health care system.
• Majority of eye care patients suffering from refractive errors were treated in the Vision Centres itself. Only those with cataract surgical requirements are referred to secondary eye care service hospitals after video consultation from the Vision Centres.
• Tele-opthamology has improved the access and quality of service delivery by structurally integrating the primary, secondary and tertiary eye care in the state. Regular supervision of the service delivery and cross verification through MIS generated data enable accurate measurement of the quality and effectiveness of the programme.
• On 12th of February, 2009; The Tele Ophthalmology Project was given a national award for ‘Special Healthcare e-Governance Award for 2008-2009’ by the Govt. of India.
• The successful implementation of this project in Tripura has inspired the Planning Commission of India to incorporate the tele-ophthalmology programme in the 12th Five Year Plan of the country.

GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES

• The State Government should incorporate provisions in the Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act (PESA) that would enable proper resettlement of tribals and prevent future displacements.
• Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs had been initiated a separate scheme for promoting education of ST girls at primary levels in areas that had low female literacy level. It also provided cash incentives for sending girl children to residential schools. Special provisions were made for the empowering STs that included lending funds and providing rights to MinorForest Produce.
• The Biodiversity Act has been enacted to protect the traditional knowledge of the tribals with regard to herbal/biological products.
• In the "development offensive" against the Maoists, the Panchayat’s (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA) is the crucial weapon, but the states affected by leftwing extremism are doing precious little to implement this law – so little that an exasperated centre has shot off one more letter to these states asking them to comply with the PESA rules and regulations.

What needs to be done?

• Activate Gram Sabhas in a Mission Mode and enable it to exercise its powers & functions including in relation to planning & implementation of Central/State schemes, grant of UCs and dispute resolution.
• Ensure that complete information about the land to be acquired and impact of the proposed project, is placed before the Gram Sabha and its recommendations are generally followed.
• Mandate SEC to delimit villages.
• Incorporate definition of MFP, as provided in the Forest Rights Act, 2005, in all laws and rules. Undertake management of MFP with the consent of the Gram Sabha and in case MFP is collected by an outside agency, the net income should go to the people.
• Enable the Gram Sabha, particularly women, to take decisions regarding the opening and continuance of liquor shops, sale of intoxicants, etc.