Highlights of Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances
Highlights of Department of Administrative Reforms
& Public Grievances
The Department of Administrative Reforms
& Public Grievances has taken various initiatives
during the year 2015. Following are the highlights of the activities:
1. Replication/Adoption
of award winning initiatives of PM Award for Excellence in Public
Administration and National Awards on e-Governance.
The Government of India has instituted Prime Minister’s Awards for
Excellence in Public Administration to recognize extraordinary and innovative
work done by officers of the state, elected local bodies and central
government. Award is given by the Prime Minister on the occasion of the Civil
Services Day, i.e 21st April every year.
During Civil Services Day, 2015 celebration, the Prime Minister directed
for replication of awarded initiatives. Accordingly, the Department has
requested Chief Secretaries of all the States/UTs to identify 5(five)
initiatives and send a team of 4-5 officers to study the initiatives. On
return, the study teams will present their findings to the State Govt. for
possible ways of replication. The State Govt. would then deliberate and
explore the possibility of replicating/ adopting the initiative in their own
state. 16 States have identified initiatives for replication and
are in the process of studying the initiatives.
Similarly, Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances
(DARPG) has been recognizing outstanding e-Governance Initiatives taken by
Central/State Government, Public Sector Undertakings, Non-Governmental
Institutions and individuals. On the same lines, to strengthen
e-Governance in India, it has been decided to develop 10 (ten) case
studies for replication by the Central/State Governments out of 22 e-governance
initiatives which have been awarded in the year 2015.
The replication and adoption of these awarded initiatives across
the country would immensely help in providing Public Services at the
doorstep of citizens, improving service delivery and digital empowerment of
citizens as well as usher in new government processes (administrative reforms)
for cost and time efficient as well as effective delivery of public services to
citizens. This would be in-tune with the PM’s call of Digital India and
its true fulfillment.
2. Civil
Services Day celebration and presentation of PM Awards for Excellence in Public
Administration
Unlike previous years this
year, the Civil Services Day, acquired new dimensions and it was two days
celebration on 20th and 21st April, 2015. Total 5 Panel
discussions, the Social Sector (Nutrition, Education, Health), Housing, Employment
Skills and Entrepreneurship, Farmer & Agriculture and Context and the
Challenges of the Civil Services were held. The Prime Minister presented the
Award for the year 2012-13 and 2013-14 on 21st April, 2015.
3.
Adoption of Self-declaration and Self-attestation
Affidavits are required in support of facts given by the applicants for
issue of various certificates, (residence etc.). Affidavits impose their own
cost on the citizens ‐ buying stamp paper, locating a deed writer,
payment to the Notary for attestation and, of course, the time and efforts
consumed in these processes. On the other hand, affidavits have no
particular sanctity in law unless specifically ruled by any statue. The
information can be given by way of self declarations. Affidavits, therefore,
can be replaced by self declaration, which is adequate for the purposes of
law. Similarly attestation by the Gazetted officers also can be replaced
by self-certification. The applicant/signatory continues to be responsible for
the statement made. Thus practice of self declaration/certification needs to be
adopted in place of affidavits/ attestation by Gazetted Officers to the extent
possible.
In this background, the DARPG has persuaded Ministries/Departments of
the Government of India and the State/UTs to review the requirement of
Affidavits and Attestation by Gazetted Officers in various application forms.
About 51 Ministries/Department of the Central Government and majority of
the States have already abolished requirement of Affidavit and Attestation by
Gazetted officers except where it is required under a statute. DARPG is
pursuing with the Ministries/Department of Government of India and the
State/UTs, which have not adopted this practice through meetings/letters at
highest level, so that citizens at large could get the benefit from the
Government’s initiative. Even in the case of 51 Ministries who have adopted the
processes, efforts would be made to widen and deepen the process across the
Ministries/Departments concerned. Abolition of requirement of Affidavits
and Attestation by Gazetted Officers in various services across the country
would save the money, time and would definitely establish trust between
Government and the Citizen.
4.
IT based redressal and monitoring system of Grievances.
The online system known as Centralized Public Grievance Redress and
Monitoring System (CPGRAMS), which was launched by the Department in June 2007
was further reviewed to make it more user friendly. For easy entry of
grievances, clear menu option and drop down choices have now been provided to
the petitioners. The pensioners’ portal has also been integrated with the PG
portal for lodging of public grievances and for avoiding duplication. The
Common Service Centres (CSCs) portal have also been integrated with the CPGRAMS
so that the petitioners not having access to computers can lodge their
grievances through the CSCs all over the country. The trial has been
held in 8 States and it is proposed to be extended to all the States.
Also for lodging of grievances through mobile phone, the mobile app has been
tested. A QR Code has been provided on the PG portal which can be scanned on to
the smart phone after which grievances can be sent from the smart phone
directly on to CPGRAMS.
The categorization of grievances have also been reviewed to enable generation
of proper analytical reports so that systemic reforms for addressing the root
cause of grievances can be introduced. The Department is holding regular
trainings on CPGRAMS every Tuesday which has been kept as Open House for all
the Ministries/Departments for taking up their issues relating to
CPGRAMS. A scheme for implementation of delivery of services and redress
of grievances is under consideration for which comments have been invited from
all the Ministries/Departments.
5. International
Cooperation
A six member visited Singapore from 19-20 January, 2015 to participate
in 2nd Joint Working Group Meeting between India and Singapore
under the MoU on cooperation in the field of Personnel Management and
Public Administration signed between the two countries on 11h November,
2011. Both sides agreed on a Plan of Action with targets and
milestones to achieve a concrete outcome in improvement of the systems of
governance and service delivery.
Shri Devendra Chaudhry, Secretary (AR&PG) had a meeting with HE Mr.
Obed Mlaba, High Commissioner of South Africa in India and HE Mr. Tovar de
Silva Nunes, Ambassador in India and other officers of the South Africa and
Brazil Mission and MEA on 14thSeptember, 2015 to finalise the
programme for the India Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) 8th Joint
Working Group meeting on “Cooperation in Public Administration and
Governance” to be held in Cape Town, South Africa.
India-Malaysia
3rd Joint Working Group Meeting on Public Administration and
Governance was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia during 28-30 September, 2015 to
carry forward the implementation of MoU signed between the two countries on 26th November,
2013.
In consonance with multi-dimensional changes, there is presently great
emphasis by the Prime Minister on the goal of ‘Minimum Government with Maximum
Governance’. In furtherance of this aim, Department of Administrative Reforms
and Public Grievances, has signed a MoU on 11thNovember, 2015 with
the Cabinet Office, Her Majesty’s Government of the United Kingdom (HMG), for
‘Cooperation in Public Administration and Governance Reforms. The main
objectives of the MoU is to strengthen and promote bilateral cooperation
between the two countries in public administration and governance
DARPG is
exploring the possibility of having MoUs with various foreign countries in the
field of Public Administration and Governance. Secretary (AR&PG) had
taken the matter with the Foreign Secretary and Indian Missions in 16 countries
(i.e. USA, Canada, France, Netherlands UK, Spain, Germany, Italy, Australia,
Singapore, New Zealand, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, China, Japan and
Finland).
6.
Documentary Films on Best Practices: The following six documentary
films were produced in 2014-15:-
(a)
Affidavit Free Regime in Punjab – Good Governance Initiative of Punjab,
(b)
Control Office Application (COA) – Centre for Railway Information System,
Ministry of Railways
(c)
Automated Building Plan Approval System (ABPAS), Urban Development Department,
Indore (MP)
(d)
SAND-System for Attumanal Neutral Distribution, District Administration,
Thrissur (Kerala)
(e)
Conduct of Panchayat Elections in Jammu & Kashmir.
(f)
Cervical Cancer Screening Initiative, Chennai (TN)
The Department initiated the process of production
of six documentary films on Best Practices which were conferred PM Award for
Excellence in Public Administration through Doordarshan in financial year
2015-16.
8. Regional
Conferences:- Regional Conferences are organised on specific themes in
association with various State/Union Territory Governments with a view to
bring National and State level organizations along with other stakeholders
including NGOs, intelligentsia, media etc. on the same platform to share
experiences in the formulation and implementation of good governance practices.
Two Regional Conferences, i.e. in the month of January, 2015 at Raipur, Chhattisgarh
and on 14th&15th December, 2015 at Bengaluru, Karnataka were
held.
9.
National Workshop: The First 2-Day National Workshop on
Good Governance Initiatives in Citizen Centric Governance was held on 10-11
September 2015 at Vigyan Bhavan. It was inaugurated by the MOS (PP) and
Additional Principal Secretary to the Hon’ble PM graced the Valedictory
Session. It was attended by around 300 participants comprising of officers from
Central/ State Governments, Training Institutions, Academia etc.
10. Book
on Best Practices: A Book titled, “Tomorrow is Here” containing articles on
8 National e-Governance Awarded initiatives, published by the Department of
AR&PG, was released by the Hon’ble PM on 21st April 2015
(Civil Services Day).
11.
Publication of ‘Minimum Government - Maximum Governance’ – A Quarterly Journal.
Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances was
bringing out a quarterly journal “Management in Government’ (MIG) since
1969 in order to provide forum for frank exchange of views and opinions
among administrators, academicians, scholars and other interested in public
administration and public sector management. The focus of journal is on
application of management techniques to practical solutions of public
administration as well as on conceptualization of principles of good management
based upon experience of live situations.
The Department of AR&PG has now renamed and launched first
e-Book (Departmental Magazine) with the name of “Minimum Government-Maximum
Governance” on 22.10.2015. The first issue of the e-Book is based on the best
practices which were conferred PM award for Excellence in Public
Administration.
*********
ACC Appointments
The Appointments Committee of the
Cabinet has approved the following:
(i) Shri Sanjay Mitra, IAS (WB:1982), posted in his Cadre as Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways vice Shri Vijay Chhibber, IAS (MN:1978) on his superannuation on 31.12.2015.
(ii) Ms. Rashmi Verma, IAS (BH:1982), Special Secretary, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance as Secretary, Ministry of Textiles vice Shri Sanjay Kumar Panda, IAS (TR:1980) on his superannuation on 31.12.2015.
(iii) Shri Neeraj Kumar Gupta, IAS (UP:1982), Special Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises, Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises as Secretary, Department of Disinvestment, Ministry of Finance vice Ms Aradhana Johri, IAS (UP:1980) on her appointment as Chairperson, National Authority for Chemical Weapons Convention.
(iv) Ms. Aradhana Johri, IAS (UP: 1980), Secretary, Department of Disinvestment, Ministry of Finance as Chairperson, National Authority for Chemical Weapons Convention.
(v) Shri Sanjay Kumar Srivastava, IAS (UT:1980), Secretary (Coordination),Cabinet Secretariat will continue to hold the additional charge of the post of Secretary (Security), Cabinet Secretariat till the appointment of a regular incumbent or till further orders , whichever is earlier.
(vi) Shri Amitabh Kant, IAS (KL:1980), Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry will hold additional charge of the post of CEO,NITI Aayog consequent on completion of tenure of Ms. Sindhushree Khullar, IAS (Retd.) (UT:1975) on 31.12.2015, till the appointment of a regular incumbent or till further orders , whichever is earlier.
(i) Shri Sanjay Mitra, IAS (WB:1982), posted in his Cadre as Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways vice Shri Vijay Chhibber, IAS (MN:1978) on his superannuation on 31.12.2015.
(ii) Ms. Rashmi Verma, IAS (BH:1982), Special Secretary, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance as Secretary, Ministry of Textiles vice Shri Sanjay Kumar Panda, IAS (TR:1980) on his superannuation on 31.12.2015.
(iii) Shri Neeraj Kumar Gupta, IAS (UP:1982), Special Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises, Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises as Secretary, Department of Disinvestment, Ministry of Finance vice Ms Aradhana Johri, IAS (UP:1980) on her appointment as Chairperson, National Authority for Chemical Weapons Convention.
(iv) Ms. Aradhana Johri, IAS (UP: 1980), Secretary, Department of Disinvestment, Ministry of Finance as Chairperson, National Authority for Chemical Weapons Convention.
(v) Shri Sanjay Kumar Srivastava, IAS (UT:1980), Secretary (Coordination),Cabinet Secretariat will continue to hold the additional charge of the post of Secretary (Security), Cabinet Secretariat till the appointment of a regular incumbent or till further orders , whichever is earlier.
(vi) Shri Amitabh Kant, IAS (KL:1980), Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry will hold additional charge of the post of CEO,NITI Aayog consequent on completion of tenure of Ms. Sindhushree Khullar, IAS (Retd.) (UT:1975) on 31.12.2015, till the appointment of a regular incumbent or till further orders , whichever is earlier.
Post a Comment