A Step Towards the Goal of Good Governance
As a mark of respect on the birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna recipient and former Indian Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, India celebrates the Good Governance Day. V Srinivas, secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), walks us through the mega celebration of Good Governance week
Sushasan Diwas or Good Governance Day is celebrated to commemorate the birth anniversary of Bharat Ratna recipient and former Indian Prime Minister, late Atal Bihari Vajpayee, on December 25 every year. In 2021, the Government of India celebrated ‘Sushasan Diwas’ to mark the conclusion of week-long events conducted under Sushasan Saptah – Prashasan Gaon ki Aur, which was observed between December 20 and 25, 2021, as a part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, a celebration of 75 years of India’s Independence.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah along with Union Minister of State (MoS) (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS in the Prime Minister’s Office, MoS in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, MoS in the Department of Atomic Energy, MoS in the Department of Space, Dr Jitendra Singh addressed the Sushasan Diwas 2021 event held at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. Several state chief ministers participated in Good Governance Week events. Senior officials of the ministries and departments of the Government of India, along with senior government representatives from more than 700 districts of India participated in the week-long events.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi extended his best wishes for the success of ‘Sushasan Saptah’. The Prime Minister said, “In the Amrit period of Independence, we are marching ahead rapidly to create a transparent system, efficient process and smooth governance to make development all-round and all-inclusive. The Government of India is committed strengthening good governance that is pro-people and proactive governance. Guided by the ‘citizen-first’ approach, we remain untiring in our efforts to further deepen the outreach of our service delivery mechanisms and make them more effective.”
The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) is the nodal department in the Government of India for the Good Governance Week events. It translated the vision of PM Modi for ‘Next Generation Administrative Reforms’ during the Amrit Kaal period by successfully conducting the ‘Sushasan Saptah’ across India. An exhibition titled ‘Shasan ki Badalti Tasveer’ curated by DARPG at BHIM auditorium, New Delhi, presented the strides made by the nation in the areas of administrative reforms and good governance with the participation of 25 ministries and departments of Government of India.
The ‘Sushasan Saptah’ witnessed a nationwide campaign for the redressal of public grievances and improving service delivery across all districts, states and Union Territories of India. Over 700 district collectors participated in the campaign and visited tehsils and Panchayat Samiti headquarters. The progress of the Good Governance week was monitored on a dedicated portal, www.pgportal.gov.in/ggw.
The district collectors uploaded progress on the portal, documented good governance practices and posted video clips. The DARPG encapsulated the progress made and the best practices of Good Governance was made into a film titled ‘Sushasan Saptah 2021’, which was released on this occasion. The film is available on DARPG’s official portal www.darpg.gov.in.
‘Sushasan Saptah’ saw several Grievance Redressal Digital Platforms functioning in unison – grievances received on the Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) portal were redressed with grievances received on state portals. Six lakh public grievances were redressed in the week-long period and 240 lakh applications for service delivery were addressed. The scale, magnitude and reach of the campaign benefitted millions of citizens.
The Good Governance Index 2021 (GGI) was released by the Home Minister on this occasion, reflecting the progress the nation has made in the field of Good Governance covering 10 sectors and 58 indicators. Twenty states have improved their composite Good Governance Index scores in 2021. Gujarat topped the composite ranking, followed by Maharashtra and Goa, while Delhi topped the Union Territories category composite ranking. Uttar Pradesh registered an 8.9 per cent improvement and Jammu & Kashmir registered a 3.7 per cent improvement in GGI indicators in the period 2019-2021.
For the first time in 75 years, the Government of India conducted a national campaign at the tehsil level to address Public Grievances and Improving Service Delivery. The drive, ‘Prashasan Gaon ki Aur Abhiyan’, was extremely successful in depicting the nation’s governance model of “Maximum Governance – Minimum Government” and created a national movement for good governance that will inspire future generations.