Feature

Ministry of Personnel Public Grievances and Pensions/ Republic Day 2015

 

 

Abolition of affidavits and adoption of self certification

 

DARPG endeavours to simplify administrative procedures and make governance citizen-centric. In this context, the central Ministries/Departments and States/UTs have been requested to review the existing requirement of documents attested by Gazetted officers or affidavits in various forms in a phased manner, wherever feasible. This is to be replaced by self-certification.

 

As a result of constant efforts by the Department, 24 State Governments/UTs and 41 Central Ministries/Departments have reportedly taken appropriate action already.

 

 

The Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances and United Nations Development Programme joint collaborative project “Strengthening Public Administration and Governance”:

 

(i)         The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme is implementing the joint collaborative project “Strengthening Public Administration and Governance” for the period 2013-2017 under Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP).    The Project aims to address the following development challenges or gaps:

 

(a)    The changing environment, rising aspirations of the people, to seek greater accountability and improved efficiency and effectiveness and changing role of the Government necessitate administrative reforms in India, in tune with the rapid development of the country.  There is also a need for associated simplification of rules and procedures, business process re-engineering and change management.

 

(b)   While Indian states and district governments have come up with innovative solutions and have implemented best practices in public service delivery and public administration, including through the use of ICT and e-governance, these experiences have not been documented in a systematic manner. As a result, states don’t benefit and learn from such experiences of other states.

 

(c)    Currently, there are hardly any analytical studies that attempt to highlight factors responsible for poor service delivery that impinge on development and social indicators for the marginalized people. Similarly, there is no documentation or analysis as to why some best practices that were rewarded or recognized a few years back have disappeared, or have degenerated without making any permanent impact on administrative productivity.

 

(ii)        The Project conceives the following strategies for addressing the above mentioned challenges / gaps described in the Project document:

 

·         Changes in attitudes and access to decision making through awareness raising, brokering, convening.

·         Changes in policies, plans, budgets and legislation through support to national assessment, planning, budgeting, policy making.

·         Changes in the lives of individuals and communities through implementation for inclusive development.

 

(iii)       The specific strategies to be adopted to achieve the targets are as below:

 

·         Carrying out cross-sectoral studies on the desired goals in government programmes with a view to improve outcomes and to suggest measures that would improve the targets in such programmes, especially in UN-focussed.

·         Evidence-based national and International best practices are available to GOI and State Governments for strengthening public administration and governance.

·         Adaptation and replication of best practices within states and in other states.

·         Demonstrating innovative e-governance and m-governance initiatives that enhance efficiency in public administration and management.

 

(iv)       The possible improvements in the capacities of institutions, individuals and systems that will occur as a result of this Project are:

 

·         Improve capabilities of institutions and individuals responsible for public administration and governance

·         Deeper understanding of administrators on factors that contribute to success or failure of service delivery under government programmes

·         Increased cooperation in the area of Public Administration globally including the South-South Context.

 

(v)        As part of this on-going Project, an “International Symposium on Excellence in Public Service / Public Administration” was successfully conducted in New Delhi during 7-9 October, 2014.  The major objectives of the International Symposium were (i)  to foster spirit of excellence in Public Administration;  (ii) to acknowledge, disseminate and learn from the innovative practices and extraordinary achievements in improving public administration and governance. Around 23 countries participated and made presentations on Award winning best practices in international public administration reforms and best practices in governance, including e-governance and m-governance.

            Around 200 Indians have also participated in the same.

 

(vi)       A Case Study Workshop was also organised from 21^st to 23^rd August, 2014 followed by concluding session on 31^st October & 1^st November, 2014.  The objective of the Workshop on Case Studies was to build capacity in developing / teaching case studies and develop case studies of international standard on some of the award winning best practices in India, to facilitate its replication. An eminent expert in Public Policy and Government at Georgetown University, Prof. R. Kent Weaver, had been engaged for this purpose.  Five cases have been developed in the Case Study Workshop.

 

(vii)      The Annual Work Plan, 2015 is under finalization.

 

Public Grievances

 

            The front end of PG portal for lodging grievances by citizen has been improved by providing more options to the petitioner who can now upfront select whether it is public or pensioners grievances. Grievances relating to subject matter handled by Directorate of Public Grievances can be directly lodged to them by the petitioner on the pgportal. The petitioner in case he or she is not aware of the authority to whom it should be forwarded can now select NOT KNOWN (earlier it was in dropdown) upfront and by default it would come to DARPG.

 

“e-Office” Mission Mode Project

(i)         INTRODUCTION

            The Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DAR&PG) has been entrusted the role to promote e-Governance activities in consonance with the overall national objectivities and priorities. This task mainly involves conceptualization and overall coordination for governance related issues in collaboration with Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITy) for technical expertise.                                   

            DARPG has prepared and circulated reports to all Central Government Ministries on Change Management for eGovernance projects and Business Process Re-engineering for eGovernance projects.

            DAR&PG has formulated a generic document on Business Process Reengineering named GPAF as envisaged in National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) and 11th report of 2nd ARC. Government Process Architecting Framework (GPAF) provides a detailed systematic guide for conducting Business Process Reengineering in Central Government Organizations and optimize delivery of services.   

            DAR&PG had also issued Government of India Guidelines for Government Websites (GIGW) in 2009. In line with new developments,  DAR&PG is updating the same.

            NeGP (since merged with Digital India Programme) was approved by Cabinet in May 2006. E-Office is one of the Mission Mode Project (MMP) under Central Government category of NeGP jointly formulated by DEITY and DARPG. , DAR&PG is the Line Department (Nodal Department)  for  e-office Mission Mode Project(MMP). NIC is the technology partner.

         ‘e-Office’ aims at creating an office environment that minimizes the use of paper documents and files, and by streamlining office workflow helps reduce process delays.  Its main objectives are:

• To improve efficiency, consistency and effectiveness of government responses
• To reduce turnaround time and to meet the demands of the citizens charter
• To provide for effective resource management to improve the quality of administration
• To establish transparency and accountability
• To provide cost effective e-storage facility
• To make office environment friendly and eco-friendly

 

(ii)           e-Office product developed by NIC presently consists of the following:

• File Management System(eFile) - Automates the processing of files and receipts.
• Knowledge Management System (KMS) - Acts as a centralized repository of various documents such as acts, policies and guidelines.
• Leave Management System (eLeave) - Automates the leave application and approval process.
• Tour Management System (eTour) - Automates employee tour programmes. 
• Personnel Information System (PIS) - Manages employee records.
• Collaboration and Messaging Services (CAMS) & ndash for internal collaboration & messaging. 

 

            The ‘eOffice’  project was launched in 2011-12 in  phases with Phase-I started in 12 Ministries/Departments. Phase-II was started in 2012-13 and implemented in 5 Ministries/Departments. Phase-III was launched in 2013-14 and being implemented  in 7 Ministries/Departments.

             DAR&PG has prepared the Master e-Governance Training Plan (MeTP), which has been implemented in NeGP implementing Ministries/ Departments in 2013-14. Master e-Governance Training Plan (MeTP) intends to build the capacity of central government employees for implementing e-Governance projects. Major proficiency tracks covered are Business Process Re-engineering (BPR), Project Management, Change Management, etc. Training of     Group-1(SO/Asst and equiv), Group-2(US/DS/Director and equiv) and Group-3(JS and equiv) levels are  being conducted by National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT) and NIC.

             Digitization of records has been undertaken on priority and more than 700 files have been digitized in DARPG.

            DARPG has already implemented e-Office programme. The Department has switched over to e-Leave, e-GPF application, File Tracking System(FTS) and Knowledge Management System(KMS).

*With inputs for Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions

 

(PIB Features)

Email: - featuresunit@gmail.com

himalaya@nic.in

 

 

SS-281/SF-281/ 3.02.2015

YSK/ Uma