Civic Compass: A Cross-Continental Effort
You may have seen the prototype of Civic Compass that AN built to help citizens identify the right offices for essential services like electricity, water, ward offices, and police stations for their area. Abhik, Priti, Nishit, and Renee scaled this early version into a full-fledged tool. Please give it a spin and share your feedback!
This was a cross-continental effort across India, the UK, and the US. We’ve shared what worked, and what didn’t, while pulling off this remote volunteer collaboration here.
Quiet Collaboration with the Government
This month, we set up a more structured working relationship with the Government in Karnataka to collaborate on documenting processes more clearly. It’s not a formal partnership, but we’ve mutually agreed to support each other’s efforts.
We kicked things off with a guide on obtaining a certified copy.
We’re now working together on confronting the heartland of petty corruption: property registrations. Stay tuned.
Status of RTI Application on Sakala Rejections
We received a response to our RTI request seeking data on reasons for rejection of Sakala appeals – these are appeals Karnataka citizens can file if government services aren’t delivered within the guaranteed time frame.
Our goal was to identify which services have the highest rejection rates and understand why appeals are getting rejected. That insight would help us spot common pain points and develop practical workarounds to include in our service guides.
The response came within the 30-day deadline. Unfortunately, the data we received is incomplete, so we’ve filed a first appeal. For instance, when we looked into rejected appeals for Encumbrance Certificates, the “reason for rejection” field was left completely blank. There’s also no clarity on why an appeal was marked as “closed”; was the service eventually provided, or was the appeal dismissed?
That said, the Additional Director for the Sakala Mission, Ms. Pallavi Akurathi, has been responsive and helpful. We’re currently working with her team to get a more complete dataset.
Messaging – New Content
This month, we put together a few articles to better articulate our philosophy:
Who we exist for
Principled Challengers. We also serve ‘Resigned Pragmatists’ and ‘Cost Conscious Resisters’ – (We need more simple and conversational labels! :D)
Why we’ve chosen to remain unregistered – For Now
The administrative burden of registration does not seem worth the effort
What Practical Content Looks Like
No, we don’t need a selfie of you outside your Taj Mahal
Guiding Principles for Volunteering with Us
Candor matters; Commitments shift, Just keep us posted; Assume good intent; We’ll check in, but contributions must be self-driven
A Powerful Testimonial
This month, we received a powerful testimonial from @Nitin2183 that reaffirms the value we’re creating. Grateful to the team for making this possible. I’d reached out to this user to thank them for following us on Twitter, and got this in return.
Incidentally, our X account has since been suspended for no clear reason, and it looks like an uphill battle to get it reinstated.