A survey by the National Council’s Special Committee has found most housewives and farmers in the country to be unaware of the government’s G2C services.
The survey on the Assessment of Access to and use of G2C Services was carried out earlier in the year to understand the efficiency as well as the effectiveness of public service delivery by government agencies. It looked at 120 G2C services.
The Special Committee presented the findings in today’s session. The committee reported that 28 per cent of the total respondents were not aware of the online G2C services being offered. Of that, more women compared to their male counterparts were unaware of the e-services.
Also, the survey revealed that of the 120 G2C online services offered; only seven are commonly availed by the people. Based on this, the Special Committee Chairperson called for an increased public awareness on the G2C services.
While a lot of users have rated the online services satisfactory, there were others, such as housewives and farmers, who were not even aware of the existence of the services. “The government should upgrade, enhance, promote and upscale their awareness programme to make sure every Bhutanese knows about the G2C services,” said MP Jigmi Rinzin, the Chairperson of the Special Committee.
Security Clearance, birth registration, household information and rural timber permit were the most popular G2C services availed by the public in the past one year. The survey also found that most respondents learned about the G2C through BBS advertisements and community centres.
As for the challenges and opportunities of G2C Service Centres, the survey cited network problem and system breakdown as the major challenges, followed by lack of adequate human resource and training.
Following the presentation of the survey findings, the National Council recommended the government to launch a series of awareness programmes, using both mainstream and social media, to improve the use of e-services.
The house also recommended the government to equip Community Centres with reliable network connectivity and trainings for the operators by the concerned agencies.
