Delhi govt's doorstep public service plan needs more than just home visits

The project is yet to make the final strides towards completely eliminating the need for a visit to government offices

When Pranav Anand (name changed on request) got married in February this year, he knew he would need to register his marriage soon after to avoid a fine. But nearly seven months went by before he got around to filling the form for it. And then, when he tried to create a login online, the marriage registration website kept showing an error related to his Aadhaar number. “Just as I was about to put the process off, I read about this service and decided to try it,” he says.

Anand is talking about the Doorstep Delivery of Public Services, a Delhi-government initiative that aims to facilitate such procedures at home so that residents are not compelled to make a visit to government offices.

For instance, getting a driver’s licence requires an applicant to fill out an online form, visit the specified regional transport office, get a photograph clicked and submit biometric information. Under the doorstep delivery scheme, the entire process would ideally be carried out at home. Besides doing away with the hassle of standing in queues, and the associated confusion that touts thrive on, eliminating corruption is also a strong motive behind the initiative.

As of now, 40 services are offered across the revenue, social welfare, transport, food and supplies, and labour departments of the Delhi government and the Delhi Jal Board. The government hopes to offer 100 services by the end of this year. Services such as ration cards and pension schemes are particularly aimed at helping senior citizens and those with limited legal literacy.

“I’m a lawyer, so I know a lot of rules and the paperwork that is required for something as straightforward as a marriage certificate. But there are a lot of people who have no idea how to get an affidavit made,” says Anand. “This is where the 1076 helpline should actually help. This definitely needs some more attention,” he adds.

The process to book a slot for a doorstep appointment begins with a call to the 1076 helpline, from where one chooses the department that the service comes under. A customer service executive then tries to answer the queries. If the issue can be resolved over phone, the call is completed. If not, a booking for the doorstep service is logged. An applicant has to pay a nominal fee of Rs 50 once the visit is made, besides the official charges for the service being sought.

When this helpline was launched on September 10, it was flooded with phone calls — nearly 21,000 on the first day — and several of those were missed. The government has since increased the number of operators at the call centre from 40 to 600. The number of operational lines has also been increased to 300.

Once an appointment is booked over the helpline, the “case number” is allocated to a “mobile sahayak (assistant)”, who travels to the applicant’s home armed with a mobile phone and a Samsung tablet.

Pankaj Khanna, a mobile sahayak, reaches Anand’s home in Old Rajinder Nagar 15 minutes before schedule. Once seated, he explains the form to Anand, who has already prepared a comprehensive docket with photographs, proofs of residence, age and the all-important Aadhaar card. Not all visits are as smooth to begin with, though.

“Sometimes, people keep us waiting. Or, despite knowing what documents are required, they are not ready with it,” says Khanna. In Anand’s case, despite his preparedness, the delay in getting his parents’ PAN card number halts the process for about 20 minutes. “Unless I fill in all the details, I cannot even go to the next page. It has to be done step by step,” says Khanna.

His visit begins at 9.30 am and it takes nearly two hours for the work to be done. The marriage registration form is a particularly tedious one, as is the process of clicking photographs of the documents, renaming them in the tablet and then uploading them on to the Delhi government portal. “Internet connectivity can also be an issue at times,” says Khanna.

Though there are no such issues at Anand’s home, the process still takes long. “At this stage, this service is essentially doing what I can do myself, provided the government website works properly,” says Anand. His wife and their two witnesses would still need to visit the sub-divisional magistrate’s office to complete the registration process. “But their [Anand’s] case is different. There are a lot of people who don’t know or understand how to follow these procedures,” says Khanna.

It seems like a rather roundabout way to help spread digital and legal literacy, though. Khanna completes Anand’s form and is able to book the family’s appointment to visit the SDM’s office for next week. When it comes to the payment, Anand wants to pay by cash, but Khanna politely suggests using a debit or credit card. A cash transaction would mean that Khanna would then have to upload the payment through his own dedicated account.

Khanna, a resident of Tilak Nagar, used to sell insurance policies. His friend suggested he take up a job with this Delhi government project. “I underwent a two-day training, but I was already comfortable filling these forms on the tablet. After all, we’ve all done this online for our own families,” says the 27-year-old. 

He is at once confident and hesitant. Anand’s awareness about the legal procedures has shaken his confidence a bit, but he soldiers on with a smile. He asks Anand details that need to go into the form, sometimes without understanding what they mean. “I think they need more training. There are questions in this form that are too jargonised for a layperson to understand. Perhaps the mobile sahayaks will get better with experience,” says Anand.

Khanna has to take on four or five appointments a day. His workday starts at 8 am in Kirti Nagar, the office where he has to report for duty, and ends at 10 pm. He says that once the call volumes increase, mobile sahayaks may even work shifts. He feels his salary now is more stable than what he was making as an insurance agent.

The mobile sahayak side of the operation has been tendered out to VFS Global, which offers outsourcing and technology services. VFS has, in turn, roped in Matrix Processing House, a Delhi-based technology and manpower solutions provider, to employ and train the sahayaks.

Kailash Gahlot, Minister for transport and administrative reforms, Delhi

The project is funded under a hybrid model, where the user pays Rs 50 to VFS and the Delhi government meets the remaining cost. “As long as the demand for the service remains in line with expected volumes, we feel it will continue to be feasible for all stakeholders,” says Debkumar Bandopadhyay, head of business for VFS Global’s identity and citizen services vertical in South Asia. The Delhi government has set aside Rs 100 million for this project, which falls under the administrative reforms department.

Currently, all mobile sahayaks are men. VFS’s two-day training modules involve extensive soft skills training in customer service as well as process training to familiarise the teams on how to operate the tablet, navigate the government website and manage the payment applications. Though the call centres are operated by the Delhi government, batches of call centre executives are also being trained in soft-skills and customer service.

To qualify for the job, a mobile sahayak should have passed Class XII and should be familiar with operating a computer. He must also have a valid driver’s (two-wheeler) licence as well as vehicle insurance and registration. “On being hired, all sahayaks go through a thorough background and police verification process,” adds Bandopadhyay.

The scheme is the brainchild of Kailash Gahlot, the minister for transport and administrative reforms in the Delhi government. During a review meeting he found that annually about 2.5 million requests are made for these public services. “There were also repeated complaints from Delhi residents about the travails of visiting a public interfacing office,” he says. “We then thought that everyone comes to the government for help, so why not take the government to the people instead.”

An ambitious project, it is yet to make the final strides towards completely eliminating the need for a visit to government offices. For instance, the mobile sahayaks are not yet authorised to record biometric data or digital signatures. Once that final link is made would the real difference to an average Delhiite be visible. “This is the first time for us, too,” says Gahlot. “We are learning each day. We’ve already exponentially improved the number of operators and the number of calls that are attended to — despite all efforts to sabotage this operation through bogus calls.”

Anand, though, feels that a lot more can be done. “It is definitely a start, but it will be a while before this makes any real difference to the process — and to our lives.”

Khanna smiles and collects his tablet before leaving Anand’s home. There’s another appointment on his calendar.