Tag: Public Grievances

Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances

 -Shashikant Nishant Sharma

Ministry of Panchayati Raj, encouraged by the resounding success and transformative outcomes of the previous editions of Special Campaign, is all set to act as an active partner during Preparatory Phase (15–30 September, 2023) and Implementation Phase (2–31 October, 2023) of Special Campaign 3.0 steered by Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG).The Special Campaign conducted in Ministry of Panchayati Raj primarily focuses upon encouraging clean and pro-environment workplaces for its officials and staff–members and welcoming reception areas for visitors. The major outcomes of perpetual Best Practices adopted by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj under the Special Campaign for a conducive work environment are as follows:

✅Execution of 100% file work through e-Office

✅ Efficient management of office spaces

✅ Enhancement and productive use of office spaces

✅ Environmental friendly Practices

✅ Maintaining a clean and hygienic workplace at all times

✅ Ensuring 100 % electronic scrape disposal

✅ Zero Pendency of Public Grievances

Additional Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Dr. Chandra Shekhar Kumar chaired a meeting with Divisional Heads on 11th September, 2023 to discuss the Work Plan/ Action Plan for the Special Campaign 3.0 to be organized from 2ndOctober, 2023 to 31st October, 2023 under the aegis of Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Government of India. Emphasizing the importance of institutionalizing Swachhata and minimizing pendency in Government offices, Dr. Chandra Shekhar Kumar advised all the Divisions to work in a concerted and collaborative manner for the best results as per the parameters identified by DARPG for Special Campaign 3.0, which is a campaign having an overarching goal to promote Good Governance through Swachhata.

In view of the importance of the Special Campaign 3.0, Dr. Chandra Shekhar Kumar suggested that senior officers in the Ministry may provide leadership in implementing Special Campaign 3.0 activities effectively. The meeting was attended by Joint Secretary, Smt. Mamta Varma, Joint Secretary, Shri Alok Prem Nagar,Economic Adviser, Dr. Bijaya Kumar Behera, Director,Shri Ramit Maurya, Director, Dr. Sriramappa V. and representatives of other Divisions/ Sections in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj.

Dr. Bijaya Kumar Behera apprised that efforts are on to raise awareness, mobilize officials and ensure their active participation in making Special Campaign 3.0 a grand success by the way of making Swachhata “everyone’s business” and “a way of life”. Citing some remarkable results in respect of cleanliness campaigns, space freed, files weeded out, revenue earned by scrap disposal and public grievances disposed of during the period from December 2022 to July 2023, Dr. Behera made a reference of 5541 public grievances spreading over all States and UTs redressed during December 2022 – July 2023, and stated that State-specific engagement of Nodal Officers and dedicated Public Grievances Redressal Cell helped in disposal of public grievances within a month’s time and thus there was no pendency.

The discussions during the meeting were focused on various activities and aspects of Special Campaign 3.0 and it was centered around conducting special cleanliness drives and mobilizing the government functionaries to streamlining processes and procedures to strengthen grievance redressal mechanism to ensure fast disposal of grievances at all levels. Special Campaign 3.0 in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj will focus on creating healthier workspaces, keeping workplace tools in working order, increasing efficiency / improving productivity i.e. speed and quality of work and boosting the morale of the employees / staff-members (regular, contractual and outsourced) through a clean, tidy and organized work environment. Clean Desk / Clean Office / Clean Corridor / Clean Workstation and other best practices will be promoted through social media on regular basis.

Ministry of Panchayati Raj will organize a mini-workshop with the record officers for their capacity building on record keeping and helping them for categorization of files for preservation, distribution and retention etc. as per Record Retention Schedule. Necessary action will be taken to give feel-good environment by placing flower pots, sapling pots etc. in both the office premises of Jeevan Bharati Building and Jeevan Prakash Building. Special emphasis will be given on behavioural / attitudinal changes towards cleanliness and sanitation for tackling workplace hygiene issues considerately along with disposal of pending matters such as references from Members of Parliament, Parliamentary Assurances, References received from State Governments, Inter-Ministerial Consultation, Public Representations/ Grievances, better record management, review and weeding out papers on regular basis as we move towards a more sustainable future for everyone.

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9 years of Modi government

 Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today said that StartUp avenues unfolded in 9 years call for change of mindset.

The Union Minister said, the nine years of Narendra Modi- led government have been, without any doubt, youth centric but what is required is the change of mind set for optimum utilization of avenues and various initiatives provided for the youth of this country.

Dr. Jitendra Singh was addressing Y20 (Yuva Utsav) with the theme India@2047 organized by Nehru Yuva Kendra at Kathua in Jammu.

While addressing a large gathering of the youth, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, with plethora of opportunities knocking at the doorsteps of the youth of this country, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi led government is steadfast and dedicated for providing a level playing field for the youth at different levels. The best example being the abolition of interviews for the non-gazetted posts, more than 2000 rules scrapped many of which were hurdles for the youth of this country to grow, Dr. Jitendra Singh added.

Dr. Jitendra Singh said, under PM Narendra Modi, the start-up ecosystem in India is now ranked third in the world with more than 100 unicorns has been possible only because of the youth of this nation who has aspirations but earlier did not have the right kind of milieu and aspirational environment as provided under PM Narendra Modi.

Dr. Jitendra Singh said, the Aroma Mission is attracting Start-ups whose birthplace is J&K as thousands of persons have been trained and several and huge amount of farmers’ revenue generated so far throughout the country. The youth of Jammu and Kashmir must see Aroma Mission as one of the best opportunities in terms of start-ups knocking at their doors as the purple revolution in J&K offers attractive start-up avenues for the youth of J&K, Dr. Singh added.

Dr. Jitendra Singh today said, youth are catalysts of change and India’s future will be driven by the youth power as India is a youthful nation whose strength lies in its Yuva Shakti.

The Minister said, the image of India has changed due to the bold leadership of the prime Minister Narendra Modi, adding the Prime Minister has emerged as the tallest leader of the world, capable of handling any challenge through stable governance and administration.

Dr. Jitendra Singh said, before 2014, there were 145 Medical Colleges in the country and 265 more were added in the last nine years. Similarly, there were 725 universities in the country and 300 new universities were added. Road length of seven lakh kilometres was added in the country under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna in the last nine years and Mudra loan of Rs. 23 lakh crore has been provided to the beneficiaries in the last nine years under Mudra Loan Scheme.

Dr. Singh further said, Jammu and Kashmir is on the path of renewed growth and development and successful culmination of G20 Meeting in Srinagar is a testament to this change as the Government is committed to transforming Jammu and Kashmir.

 

DARPG adopted the Mantra of Reform, Perform and Transform

Union Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Dr. Jitendra Singh has launched the e-booklet on DARPG achievements for the period May 30, 2019 to May 30, 2020 on the occasion of 1st year of Modi Government 2.0. Dr. Singh complimented the Department for being the first one to present its achievements to the people and interacted with senior officials through video-conferencing.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that the DARPG had lived upto Prime Minister’s vision of Good Governance and adopted the mantra of Reform, Perform and Transform in letter and spirit. He highlighted the fact that DARPG had provided immense impetus to e-Governance in Indiaby

  1. Intense pursuit of implementation of e-Office in the Central Secretariat and States and
  2. The conduct of the 22nd and 23rd National e-Governance Conferences at Shillong and Mumbai in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

Further Dr. Jitendra Singh recognized that DARPG had undertaken significant reforms in handling Public Grievances by pursuing CPGRAMS reforms in several Ministries and Departments.

Dr. Jitendra Singh said that success of the systemic reforms undertaken by DARPG was witnessed in the COVID 19 pandemic period where in several Ministries/ Departments could work from home without disruption in work by using e-Office and timely redressal of 0.87 lac COVID 19 Public Grievances in a record average time of 1.45 days/ grievance.

Dr. Jitendra Singh complimented the DARPG’s engagement with Government of Jammu & Kashmir in conducting a series of Regional Conferences and Capacity Building programs which were participative and innovative in taking forward Government’s agenda for good governance in J&K.

Dr. Jitendra Singh commended DARPG for bringing out 3 important publications – the Good Governance Index (GGI) 2019, the National e-Services Delivery Assessment 2019 and the Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure 2019. These publications were rich in their academic content and provided immense inputs for taking good governance forward like enabling the march towards a digital central secretariat.

Looking at the future, Dr. Jitendra Singh said DARPG has a massive responsibility in meeting new challenges of providing timely grievance redressal by improving its tool kit with feed-back call centers, upgraded software solutions and taking forward the Government’s good governance agenda with focus on e-Governance and e-Services. He also urged the DARPG to expedite putting in place an effective work from home policy.

Secretary DARPG, Dr. KshtrapatiShivaji, Additional Secretary DARPG V.Srinivas, Joint Secretaries Smt. Jaya Dubey and N.B.S.Rajput along with senior officials of the Department participated in the event which was conducted through video conferencing facility.

Please click here to see the DARPG e-booklet-