Kollam: Sakarma to turn government institutions transparent

KOLLAM: The local self-government institutions in Kollam will now be more transparent and efficient with the implementation of decision support system software – Sakarma. In the first phase, the block panchayats of Kottarakkara and Chittumala have got the software installed which will give online access to the public into the governing council meetings held in the respective LSGDs. The software has been developed by the State-run Information Kerala Mission. "Sakarma is tool relying on recording agenda notes for meetings, as well as minutes, mapped to a series of keywords based on which precedences and best practices in decision making could be identified and shared across local governments," it says.

With this, the proceedings of council meetings will be registered online which citizens can cross-check. The implementation is also an enforcement of Panchayat Raj Act directives. The secretaries, other staff, and the people’s representatives under each LSGD could log in on to this software to include information to the scrutiny of individuals. The software will facilitate recording the decisions of the standing committees and the local body meetings and follow-up actions based on decisions, and query past decisions. The district will also have nine more block panchayats equipped with Sakarma before July end, said V. Sudesan, assistant development commissioner (general).