I am extremely honoured for having given this opportunity to present the initiatives taken by Uttar Pradesh, to achieve the vision of Good Governance.
The vision of “अन्त्योदय” as propounded by our respected father of the nation, Mahatma Gandhi jee and also respected Deen Dayal Upadhyaya jee envisaged that administration and service delivery must reach to those who are at the bottom of the pyramid. The theme of this year’s celebrations “प्शासन गाँव की और ” perfectly echoes this vision. Uttar Pradesh Government has taken all necessary steps to make this week long celebration successful. Subsequently, the momentum will be carried forward in the day to day administrative activities. It was very encouraging for us, when the results of the Good Governance index were published last year on 25th December. State of UP was the leader in the criteria of overall incremental improvement in performance.
This achievement is a result of sustained efforts undertaken by the Government, which I would now like to briefly highlight. Expeditious and qualitative redressal of citizens, grievances is one of the cornerstones of Good Governance. Under the leadership and guidance of our hon’ble Chief Minister, the State has developed a very robust Integrated Grievance Redressal System popularly termed as IGRS or जनसुनवाई समाधान प्णाली . The CM Helpline is at the heart of this system. Common citizens can register their grievances through this toll free number(1076), which is backed by a call centre staffed with 500 strong work force. The IGRS also integrates the references received from Government of India’s PG portal ( CPGRAMS) as well as those received in various offices like the hon’ble Governor’s office, the Chief Minister’s office down to the districts/tahsil and police stations.
The status of disposal of complaints/grievances is being monitored by the office of Chief Minister along with around 55,000 supervisory officers at various levels. One of the features of this system is the facility provided to the citizens, through a mobile app, to register and track the status of their grievances and also provide feedback on the quality of disposal. A very robust system of analysing the quality of disposal has been put in place. The call centre personnel take feedback by randomly selecting cases disposed. If the citizen is not satisfied with the quality, the grievances are reopened and officials who have disposed the reference are made accountable. In addition, supervisory officers are also required to undertake verification of at least 30 disposals every month. The performance of all offices, including that of department and head of the departments on IGRS are ranked every month and communicated to them. The impact of the IGRS has been highly positive. On an average, 80 lakh public grievances are being received and disposed of every year through this system. Receipt of large number of grievances or references from the citizens reflects their growing confidence on the system and the enhanced credibility of administration. The average disposal time has been reduced drastically. The second pillar of Citizen-Centric Good Governance is use of technology to expand the e-services delivery to the citizens.
The number of services that have been brought under digitized platform has risen to 419. These services have been notified under the जनिहत गारंटी अधिनियम, wherein specific timelines have been fixed for the service delivery. Penalties are imposed on officials responsible for delayed delivery of services. The delivery of services is monitored through the Darpan Portal established at the Chief Minister’s office. The portal provides service-wise references disposed off and cases pending beyond the stipulated time limits. This system has enabled delivery of services with minimal human interface and also fostered accountability in the service delivery agencies. One of the positive impacts of this initiative was evident when UP was ranked second in the Ease of Doing Business. The third important pillar of Good Governance, which is also a prerequisite for achieving the vision of प्शासन गाँव की और, is the filling up of posts of various departments at the grassroots level, through a transparent, fair and citizen-friendly recruitment process.
Extreme care is taken to ensure that persons with impeccable integrity and proven track record of service delivery are selected as Chairpersons and members of the State Public Service Commission (UPPSC) Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission and the Subordinate Services Commission. The examinations of the UPPSC are also conducted in a very strict time schedule.
The internal processes have also been reformed to ensure objectivity. This has resulted in the quick filling up of vacant posts at Group B and Group C gazetted levels. The reforms initiated by Government of India have been implemented in the State for non-gazetted recruitments being undertaken by Subordinate Services Commission. While the interviews were dispensed within the year 2017, the two tier exam system has been successfully implemented from the year 2021 onwards. Last year, more than 18 lakh candidates participated in the Pre-Eligibility Test or the PET.
The performance of candidates in PET is being used for conducting second tier exam for final selection of suitable candidates on merit.
The second PET was conducted in October this year, in which more than 25 lakh candidates participated. The glitch free conduct of these examinations has resulted in developing a huge confidence among the youth of the State, on the recruitment process. It has also contributed in expeditious filling up of posts at the grassroots level. These posts were lying vacant for a very long time, severely jeopardizing the effectiveness of administration. Reforms in recruitment process have been followed up with implementation of policy of transparent transfer and postings. An online merit based transfer and posting system has been implemented. Postings of fresh recruits as well as in-service personnel is on merit and choice based. For fresh recruits, their first posting is based on merit as decided at the time of recruitment. Vacancies on offer are determined keeping in view the priorities associated with aspirational districts and aspirational blocks. For in-service personnel, those having longest tenures are identified for shifting.
The opportunity of pick and choose is minimised. Merit is decided based on objective criteria that incorporates personal issues like serious illness, divyangta, posting with spouse and superannuation. More and more departments are opting for the online system, which has resulted in enhanced employee satisfaction and reduction in complaints.
The fourth and last pillar is improvement in service delivery and enhanced welfare achieved through innovations at the grassroots level. These innovations have been undertaken by the young and energetic officers working in the field.
Several innovative practices have been the recipient of the PM awards for excellence in Administration and E-Governance awards. Some notable ones are:
(i) District Chandauli for Black Rice
(ii) District Sidharthnagar for ODOP- Kala Namak rice
(iii) Varanasi district for Swamitva Yojana
(iv) Mines and Mineral Management System
UP is one of the first States where the DARPG’s initiative of District Good Governance Index is being implemented. IIPA is providing the technical support in this endeavour. The first Good Governance rankings of districts are in final stages and are likely to be published by the year end.
The officers are being encouraged to innovate and make service delivery citizen-centric. At least 3 to 4 innovative practices adopted at the district or divisional level are presented in the weekly Video Conference of Chief Secretary.
The echo-system of innovation has been developed primarily due to stability of tenures provided by Government. Average tenures of officers on key posts like Principal Secretaries/Secretaries, District Collectors, etc have increased significantly in the last five years. I conclude my address thanking DARPG for providing an opportunity to speak about the initiatives taken by Uttar Pradesh. I also assure that all necessary measures will be undertaken to make the Good Governance week successful
