Rajasthan government launched Jan Soochna Portal :

1. In a pioneering step, the first-ever public information portal was launched in Rajasthan promising to provide information about government authorities and departments suo motu to the public in the true spirit of the Right To Information Act. The portal has brought yet another distinction to Rajasthan, where the RTI movement had started in 1990s.

2. Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot inaugurated the portal at B.M. Birla Auditorium. The State government has collaborated with the civil society groups to develop the portal, the first of its kind in the country, initially giving information pertaining to 13 departments on a single platform. With different sections divided into districts, blocks and panchayats, the portal empowers the common people with access to useful information.

3. The new web portal, named the Jan Soochna Portal-2019, would ensure compliance with Section 4(2) of the RTI Act mandating the public authorities to disclose information in the public domain, so that the people need not file applications under the law to obtain information.

4. The portal would eventually turn out to be an effective medium for “digital dialogue” with the people as well as a strong instrument for ensuring transparency in governance.The State government's action to combine technology, justice and information and said the civil society would take the RTI movement to the masses.

5. The State government will set up information kiosks in village panchayats and self-service e-mitra centres in the towns to enable the people to access the information useful for them. Initially, the information pertaining to 13 government departments such as the number of beneficiaries of schemes, works undertaken in different areas, land records and social security pensions will be available on the portal.

6. At present, the portal has information about 23 government schemes and services from 13 departments which the public can access with just one click on their computers, mobiles or kiosks installed in villages.

7. The portal aims to create a streamlined system for public information to prevent anomalies and corruption. Information about several schemes such as Ayushman Bharat Mahatma Gandhi Rajasthan Swasthya Bima Yojana, 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. Earlier, the previous government’s flagship scheme Bhamashah Swasthya Bima Yojana had witnessed many cases where higher expenses were falsely shown by hospitals.

8. The effort to create a centralised information database for the public in Rajasthan started last year when civil society members interacted with the government and gave their suggestions on policy issues as part of an initiative known as Digital Dialogue.This initiative converts a culture of secrecy into a culture of openness.

9. The launch of the portal is likely to result in centralising information about government schemes on one website and prove beneficial to the public by obviating the need to go through a tedious RTI application process to know more.