The Concept

"Bhagidari", the Citizen's Partnership in Governance -

•  is a means for facilitating citywide changes in Delhi,
•  utilises processes and principles of multi-stakeholders (citizen groups, NGOs, the Government...) collaboration,
•  applies the method of Large Group Interactive Events
•  aims to develop 'joint ownership' by the citizens and government of the change process.
•  facilitates people's participation in governance

The Background

Since the days of Mahatma Gandhi, our leaders have striven to involve the common man in governance. Gandhiji talked of giving power to the people. Then came the various experiments with decentralisation and involving people in governance � the experiments with the Community Development Projects in the 1950�s, the Panchayati Raj Movement of the 1960�s. Late Shri Rajiv Gandhi had painstakingly got the 73rd and 74th amendment to the Constitution passed by the Parliament that ensured democracy at the grass-root levels in our Panchayats and Municipalities.

Our Philosophy of Governance

In line with this ideological heritage, on assuming power in December 1998 this Government outlined a philosophy for governance � responsive and participative. This has specifically stemmed from the belief that Government must work in partnership with the people. Citizens must feel that successful and meaningful governance cannot be achieved without their involvement and without their role. In view of this the concept of �Bhagidari� : The citizen � government partnership was evolved and the �My Delhi � I care� drive initiated.

Evolution of the Bhagidari Concept

Any new initiative receives a mixed response. While some accept the change willingly and voluntarily, others resist, mistrust or remain apathetic. Herein lies the challenge of successfully managing the change process. So the need was to identify or develop a model that helps the citizens and government officials meet, sit together, interact, overcome their inhibitions, and develop a real dialogue, to act together and solve problems together. This would help involving the citizens in governance.

To evolve a mechanism for putting the concept of Bhagidari into practice, wide consultations were initiated with various citizen groups-the Resident Welfare Associations (RWAs), the Market and Traders Associations (MTAs) and other NGOs. Discussions were also held with Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Delhi Development Authority, New Delhi Municipal Council, Delhi Vidyut Board, Delhi jal Board and Delhi Police and the Department of Environment and Forest. These departments subsequently became the participating Departments in the Bhagidari Programme.

Issues Taken Up

The issues that have been taken up are simple and common issues that impact on a citizen�s everyday life. These are issues that are amenable to simple solutions. The idea is to build up on these first successes and to take the movement forward to addressing more complex matters.

For Delhi Jal Board (DJB)

•  RWAs to be made aware of water saving/waste conservation
•  Payment and collection of water bills to be done by RWAs
•  Distribution of water through water-tankers
•  Replacing old/leaking pipelines
•  Water Harvesting-involving RWAs
•  RWAs role in internal colony sewage system
•  Desilting of sewers
•  Awareness against using water from Hand Pumps for drinking purposes.

For Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) *

•  Load shedding information will be given to RWAs/MTAs
•  DVB will establish Complaint Cell specially for Bhagidars.
•  Information will be provided to RWAs by DVB staff posted in their respective areas
•  Electricity meter reading will be done by RWAs and officials of DVB
•  Load enhancement to be made easy
•  Meter name change in co-operation with RWAs
•  Revenue enhancement and its re-investment- involving the RWAs
•  Replacement of �Low tension wires� and �faulty meters�.

* Delhi Vidyut Board has now been unbundled into five companies as a part of power sector reforms. The Generation Company and the Transmission Company are Government owned whereas the three Distribution Companies are in private hands (two owned by BSES and one by Tata Power). The private distribution companies are also now participating in Bhagidari.

For Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD)

•  House tax collection by interested RWAs
•  Maintenance of community parks through RWAs
•  Management of community hall through RWAs
•  Sanitation services to be supervised by RWAs
•  Information on Sanitary staff to be given to RWAs
•  Imposition of fine on littering in co-operation with RWAs
•  Desilting of nallahs
•  Removal of stray and dead animals from colony
•  Maintenance of Roads and Back Lanes on regular basis

Sanitation

•  Solutions on community bins
•  RWAs role in internal colony sewage system
•  Overseeing the work of sanitary staff by RWAs
•  Door to Door collection of Waste/Garbage
•  Generation of public awareness on sanitation

For Department of Environment and Forests (E&F)

•  Plantation and maintenance of saplings
•  Greening of the colony
•  To discourage use of plastic bags

For Delhi Police (DP)

•  Crime prevention through involvement of RWAs
•  Neighbourhood watch scheme
•  Verification of antecedents of domestic help
•  Prevention of encroachments
•  Regulation of traffic through colonies
•  Prevention of illegal sale of liquor

For Delhi Development Authority (DDA)

•  Solutions to prevent encroachment
•  Maintenance of community parks
•  Prevention of encroachment
•  Maintenance of common areas
•  Parking inside the colony

Issues exclusively for MTAs

A) Weights and Measures

•  Weights and measurements used for commercial purposes
•  Indigenous and imported package commodities
•  Sale of beverages, ice creams, mineral water bottles at MRP
•  Registration of packers and importers
•  Inspections and challans

B) Sales Tax

•  Strengthening communication channels for disseminating Sales Tax information.
•  Better communication channels for reviewing feedback on Sales Tax from dealers.
•  Joint detection of bogus and unregistered dealers.
•  Interface between sales tax field officers.
•  Grievance handling.

C) Industries Department 

• Handing over of the estate / maintenance services to MCD in a time-bound manner � procedural aspects only.
•  Uninterrupted Power supply metering, billing and changes in rules / regulations.
•  Adequate and potable water supply �No Supply, No Billing� principle.
•  CETP � a) Costing of Plants, b) escalation and govt. to bear escalation, c) Responsibility of maintenance, d) Cost of maintenance.
•  Clearance of encroachments in parks, and on roadsides and pavements within industrial area / estates.
•  Provision of streetlights in the Industrial Estates.
•  Removal of Slums / JJ clusters, encroachments on approach roads and pavements, etc.
•  Rain Water Harvesting.
•  MCD factory license � one time fee � no renewal-permission for industries on floors (as flatted factories).
•  One-window service concept.
•  Inspection methods and procedures.
•  Conversion to freehold plots and shed � procedures / modalities.
•  Allotment of land to associations for administration of estate and provision of P.O., Bank, Fire Station (on TOP priority where land already allocated), R&D centre, tool room, etc.
•  Categorisation of units by DPCC (Green Orange, Issue of consent in time-bound manner).
•  Industrial waste / solid-waste disposal.

Implementation Mechanism
(Monitoring and Evaluation)

In consultation with the Asian Centre for Organisation Research and Development,(ACORD), a professional body, the �Large Group Interactive Events� (LGIE) was devised as an appropriate model to train citizen-groups and government officials ( of all levels) to sit together, to discuss their viewpoints on common problems and build up consensus for solutions and their implementation. This model envisages the following steps:

 1. Workshops with citizen groups be held where representatives of citizen groups discuss the selected issues with officials of Public Utility Departments, viz. Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Delhi Development Authority, Delhi Vidyut Board, Delhi Jal Board, Delhi Police, Sales Tax Department and the Department of Environment and Forests.

2. Each workshop of three days duration will have the participants seated in a tablewise arrangement. Each table has 4 citizens (2 each from 2 citizen groups, viz. Residents Welfare Association or Market Traders Association) and 5-6 officials of Public Utility Departments. Care is taken to seat area officials of Public Utility Departments at the table where representatives from citizen groups of their area are sitting. In a workshop around 30-35 such table arrangements are made.

3. Each table group works on issues selected by the Design Team. The group discusses and builds consensus on solution of issue-based problems. Each stakeholder�s (including the citizen�s) role and responsibilities are identified and committed.

 4. After the workshop, the RWA/MTA wise list of solutions is sent to concerned departments and Deputy commissioner (Revenue) offices. They hold regular meetings to implement and monitor solutions.

 5. The Area Officers ensure a fortnightly meeting with their area RWAs. The District Officers of the public utilities monitor and co-ordinate the working of these Area Officers.

 6. Monthly reviews are taken by the Heads of Departments and the Deputy Commissioners.

 7. Quarterly reviews are taken by the Chief Secretary and the Steering Committee headed by Chief Minister.

 8. We have got the evaluation of the programme done by way of a Mid Term Impact Assessment through our consultant firm, i.e. ACORD. The report of this assessment has indicate that people have by and large appreciated the programme but the Government officials are required to sensitised further.

List of Bhagidari function/Mela/Utsav.�    Image Gallery (Sankalp Utsav-2009)

Sources and Quantum of Funding

The Bhagidari Programme envisages voluntary participation of the citizens. Efforts have been made to make it well structured and sustainable. We gave institutional support by creating the �Bhagidari Cell� in the Chief Minister�s office and by designating the General Admn. Deptt. as the Nodal Department to provide financial and administrative support. The �Bhagidari Cell� has been coordinating the activities covered under Bhagidari as well as in conducting workshops.

To make it a sustainable programme, my Government has come up with a detailed plan scheme of �Citizen-Government Interface�. This covers Bhagidari Workshops, various activities with citizen groups, documentation of the process, printing of monthly newsletter and award scheme for best citizen groups including MTAs & RWAs.

Decentralisation of Bhagidari

Initially, the entire interaction with citizen groups, resource mobilisation, etc. was being done centrally by the Bhagidari Cell in the Chief Minister�s office. Although the programme was succeeding even beyond our expectations, it was also evident that some changes were required in our approach to involve more people across the length and breadth of the state. To ensure a spatial spread we decentralised the programme at the Revenue District level with the Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) as the district co-ordinator. This has helped us to successfully involve more than 2000 citizen groups in the programme. Requests keep coming in everyday from new associations and NGOs to join the movement.

 Major Initiatives

 Major initiatives under �Bhagidari� have been taken up by the Government since January, 2002 :-

 1.����� Water Conservation and Water Harvesting by Delhi Jal Board & Urban Development Department

• Water is an essential civic commodity. Delhi has limited water resources. We are mainly dependent on neighbouring States for supply of raw water to quench the thirst of our vast population (1.25 crore) and also the migratory population, i.e. people visiting Delhi everyday for business/job.
• As against present demand of 800 MGD ONLY 650 MGD potable water is available. So we sought intensive involvement of people / citizen groups in water conservation and water harvesting programme.
• Delhi Jal Board (DJB), an autonomous body under Urban Development Department has been identified as Nodal Agency for this purpose. It has taken following steps :-

1. Nominating 500 Water Wardens and 1500 Assistant Water Wardens from amongst citizen groups. They will be imparted specialised training to check and rectify water leakage through supply lines.
2. Intensive advertisement campaign to create awareness about need and means of water conservation.
3. To provide technical and financial assistance to Group Housing Societies and individuals taking up rain water harvesting projects in their buildings. This would help to recharge ground water table. 150 such work have been completed and 35 are in progress at present.

2.�������� Vidyalaya Kalyan Samiti

����������� The Vidyalaya Kalyan Samiti (VKS)-School Welfare Committee is introduced in more than 600 schools, offers a mechanism for the local community to be actively involved in the governance of educational institutions run by the government. Representatives of Residents� Welfare Associations (RWAs), NGOs, and Parent-Teacher Associations are members of the VKS. They collaborate to help improve not just the academic, but also the extra-curricular and infrastructural aspects of the school in question. These committees will advise in matters of school administration cleanliness, petty repairs, etc. for which they have been given required administrative and financial powers. These Committees have been given powers to recommend expenditure upto Rs. 10,000/- per month for proper upkeep of school infrastructure.

3.�������� Stree Shakti Programme

����������� Started in 2002, the Stree Shakti programme seeks to empower poor women through initiatives in health, literacy, and income generation. At the heart of the programme is a Stree Shakti camp that is typically attended by as many as 1000 women in the course of one day. Before the camp, local NGOs, in partnership with government, identify women from household�s belongings to the �Below Poverty Line� category who can benefit from attending the camp. Representatives from the NGOs and government pay house visits to explain to the women the purpose, and to invite and motivate them to come to the Stree Shakti Camp.

4.�������� TaSSKS

����������� The Directorate of Training and Technical Education is running various it is and Polytechnics where different types of courses (Certificate/Diploma/Degree Level) in various Non Engineering Trades/Branches are being imparted to the students. In an institution the work pertaining to the maintenance of various Civil, Electrical and other types of work is attended by the PWD. However maintenance by the PWD involves a lengthy process including the completion of the tendering even for a small work due to which the Institute suffers a lot. Maintenance works of immediate nature can effectively be completed locally at institute level with oversight of such maintenance works through various stakeholders. The Institutional mechanism that provides for such local level maintenance is the Kalyan Samiti/Welfare Committee for each institution under the Directorate of Training & Technical Education. Therefore constitution Takniki Shiksha Sansthan Kalyan Samiti in all 23 Technical Institution has been envisaged to address various immediate needs of the Institution i.e., Polytechnic and ITIs

5.�������� Corporate Bhagidari (Hunger Free - Delhi Campaign �Aapki Rasoi�)

��������� In order to eradicate hunger from the streets of the city, Delhi Government in cooperation with Business and Corporate Houses has started �Hunger Free Delhi Campaign�-Aapki Rasoi� campaign under �Bhagidari� programme. In this programme, Corporate and Business Houses have been requested to adopt one of the sites for providing one square meal to the destitute. The preparation and distribution of food has been left to the Business and Corporate Houses only and there is minimal intervention from the Government side in the whole campaign. The spots for the distribution of food have been identified near night shelters where there is sufficient space for the distribution. So far, 9 Business and Corporate Houses have been associated in this campaign. The following centres of �Hunger Free Delhi Campaign�-Aapki Rasoi� have been started till now:-