New Delhi: The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh released the Department of Administrative Reforms and Grievances (DARPG)’s Grievance Study Analysis of 20 Ministries here today.
Addressing on the occasion, Dr Jitendra Singh said that under the leadership and encouragement of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, various good governance initiatives have been undertaken. He said that under PM’s awards, young officers are now vying for excellence in implementation of priority programmes. He said that the number of grievances lodged has increased 5 fold in the last three years, from 2 lakh grievances in 2014 to 11 lakh grievances now. He said that this increase is due to the quick response given by the Government to the grievances. He further said that now the average time taken to dispose the grievance has been reduced to one week.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that the Government is sensitive towards the demands of pensioners also. He also talked about the Government’s initiatives for pensioners such as Anubhav and Sankalp. He said that Mobile App for pensioners is an example how the technology is being optimally utilised for good governance initiatives. He said that all ministries/departments will switch over to e-office by the end of this year. The state governments are being persuaded to follow these initiatives, he added.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri C. Viswanath, Secretary, DARPG said that currently 28 ministries/departments are on e-office and steps are being undertaken to bring all ministries/departments on e-office by this year end. He also said that department is also developing Development Goal Manual and Good Governance Index.
He also said that for the PM awards to be presented on Civil Services Day 2018, the following four priority programmes have been identified:
• Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana
• Digital payment (digital payment under digitization)
• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban and Rural)
• Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana
He also said that efforts are being made to enlist all districts this year. He said that the focus will be on the quality of implementation of programme.
Elaborating on the initiatives of the Department of Pensions, Shri C. Viswanath said that GPF rules have been liberalized. He also said that a committee has been constituted to make recommendation on the National Pension System which is applicable to the young officers who joined after the year 2004. He further said the officers will be rewarded under the ‘Anubhav’ initiative. He also talked about setting up of Pensioners Adalat to quickly resolve the issues of pensioners.
The “Grievance Analysis & Systemic Reforms” Study was conducted for 20 ministries in the year 2015. As a result, 65 reforms have been introduced which has a positive impact on governance. Study has been undertaken for 20 more ministries in 2017 and 180 reforms have been suggested.
Some key reforms undertaken by the Ministries/Departments are e.g. in Ministry of Petroleum, delay in obtaining LPG connections has been reduced due to introduction of online LPG registration on mylpg.in. In Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, sub-optimal CGHS services due to unavailability of doctors and staff has been addressed by introducing Aadhaar linked biometric in all CGHS units, in Ministry of Urban Development, delay in construction plan approval due to manual process has been reduced by introducing online process to obtain clearance mechanism and in Ministry of Railways, delay in ticket refunds has been reduced by introducing automatic refunds for confirmed/waitlisted e-tickets on cancellation of trains, among others.
Reforms have been suggested for the next 20 Ministries/Departments e.g. in Department of Rural Development, for poor quality of roads constructed, payment to contractors is based on checklist of quality parameters under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. In Ministry of Women and Child Development, as rape complaints are sometimes overlooked by police, it has been suggested to sensitise male cops on gender equality through training sessions. In Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, to address poor quality of drinking water in rural areas, it has been suggested that all Gram Panchayats are given field testing kits for water quality testing. In Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, for Digital Locker login issue in case of mobile loss, it is suggested that there may be a Provision of ‘recovery password’ through alternate email (E.g.: GMAIL).
Steps have been taken to identify focus issues and arrive at the root cause of grievance so as to enable systemic reforms to be put in place to alleviate the root cause. A Project Management Unit has been set up for monitoring these reforms in consultation with concerned Ministries/Departments. A dedicated team has been engaged who conduct intensive deliberations with the concerned Ministries/Departments for identifying the reforms that have been implemented and draw up the monitoring metrics indicating impact of these reforms.
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