10 Questions 

TT: Why did you conduct a survey on government websites?

SV: The government is spending a lot of money and using technology to curb corruption. We wanted to know how effective these websites were 

Your findings?

People know of government websites like the ones for passport, Aadhaar, income tax and railways. But, usage is barely 50 per cent

What were the parameters of the survey? 

Usefulness and ease of use  

What about the Jharkhand government website? 

We concentrated on the home page. Gujarat’s website is far better. State governments spend lots of money, but end up with a website that’s not even attractive  

What stood out between the two? 

Several things like use of colour and design. People aren’t interested in policy updates and statistics on the home page. The focus must be on people’s needs  

What about technical issues of the Jharkhand website?  

We are now planning a detailed experimental behaviour analysis of people visiting Pragya Kendras. This will tell us what the state needs to do on digitisation 

Will XLRI apprise the government on the findings? 

Yes, both the Centre and the state. I would like to meet government officials personally and give them suggestions. After all, if services for the people are under-utilised, they are meaningless 

The sample group for the Maxi Fair study was from Jamshedpur. Would XLRI conduct similar studies in other cities? 

Of course, but that would enlarge the scope in which case we may seek the help of governments  

Is XLRI doing anything on Jharkhand? 

We are trying to profile Jharkhand residents. For instance, if we can get real-time access to restaurants and retail outlets through billing systems and collate them, we can have a near perfect profile and lifestyle analysis of the state 

The Maxi Fair profiled Jamshedpur. What do you need to scale up to Jharkhand?  

Funds. More data will help the industries and business houses invest 
in the state.