Union Minister of State Dr Jitendra Singh
Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India]: Centre will train 20,000 Jammu and Kashmir government officials in grievance redressal, and the task will be undertaken by the Department of Administrative Reforms, Union Ministry of Personnel, announced Union Minister of State (IC) Ministry of Science and Technology; Minister of State (IC) Ministry of Earth Science; MoS of Prime Minister’s Office and Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Jitendra Singh on Monday (May 17).
The announcement came while inaugurating a two-day Regional Conference on the theme “Bringing Citizens and Government Closer – Through Administrative Reforms” at SKICC Srinagar.
The Regional Conference is being organised by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), GoI, in collaboration with UT of Jammu & Kashmir. The conference is being held in the backdrop of the replication of good governance practices in the Union Territory of J&K. 16 PM Awardees presented their innovations during the 2-day event.
Singh informed that the Jammu and Kashmir grievance system had already been integrated with the Central Grievance Portal in October 2020, thus making it the first Union Territory of India to have its district-level grievance offices integrated with the Central Government Portal of CPGRAMS (Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System).
Describing it as a success story of the first-ever experiment to integrate the District Portal with State and thereof with the National Portal, the Minister hoped that more States and Union Territories would also emulate this mechanism.
Singh said that Jammu and Kashmir became the first UT in the country to have a Good Governance Index and was also the first to launch the District Good Governance Index for 20 Districts of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir in January this year. He said the Index represented a major administrative reform in benchmarking good governance at the District level and a significant step for timely collation and publication of statistics at the State/ District level.
The Union Minister said that governance reforms must be taken to the next level, and he proposed the idea of Aspirational Blocks on the lines of Aspirational Districts based on 41 scientifically evolved indices and aimed at bringing districts lagging in certain parameters at par with the best performing districts.
Singh said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has prioritised bringing the overall development to Jammu and Kashmir.
“The Prime Minister’s objective scientific approach even in designing, structuring and planning in administrative reforms has worked to a great benefit as it is based on very objective parameters,” he said.
Citing examples of Baramulla and Kupwara being under the Aspirational District Program (ADP), he lauded the Central Government’s initiative, which he called a dynamic approach based on real-time evaluation.
Speaking during the meeting, Union Minister said that Central Government is committed to raising the living standards of its citizens and ensuring inclusive growth for all. He said that ADP closely focuses on improving people’s ability to participate fully in the developmental economy.
Talking about reforms in governance, he said that it becomes imperative to reform rules that have become obsolete over time. Keeping pace with the contemporary time is the need of the hour. Such reforms are an example of minimum government and maximum governance and reform perform and transform slogan, he said.
These are not only governance reforms which are being spoken about but also huge social reforms which are meant to carry India on the path to becoming a part of the global world, added Singh.
Secretary, DARPG, V Srinivas, said that the conference is an effort to bring the Government and Citizens closer through various administrative reforms at the centre, state and district levels. This is being enabled by the use of digital technology, pursuing next-generation reforms and innovations with the policy objective of “Maximum Governance, Minimum Government”, entailing Government process Re-Engineering, Universal access to e-services, excellence in digital Initiatives at the district level and excellence in adopting emerging technologies and use of ICT Management.
While addressing the inaugural session of the Regional Conference, Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary UT of J-K, informed about the various reforms around good governance and effective implementations of schemes and initiatives over the recent past. (ANI)
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