The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions is organizing a two-day National Workshop on Public Service Delivery being held in Jammu from November 11-12, 2016. The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh will address the audience on the second day of the workshop. On the first day of the Workshop, Secretary, DARPG, Shri C. Viswanath will address the workshop. There will be presentations by various states on the topics related to Public Services, Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) and implementation of Right to Services Act etc. Smt. Usha Sharma, Additional Secretary, DARPG and Professor Ashok Aima, Vice-Chancellor, Central University of Jammu will also address the workshop. During the workshop, Minister of State Dr Jitendra Singh will release a book on Key to Success – Research and Evaluation of Prime Minister Awarded Best Practices.
A Panel discussion on Citizen Centric Service Delivery – Challenges and Way Forward will also be held during the workshop. Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Haryana will participate in the panel discussion. During the two-day long workshop, Senior Officers from various States will be making presentations on the status of implementation which will be followed by Panel Discussions. Around 20 States will be sending their representatives to the Workshop. The proceedings of the Workshop will be documented by the Administrative Staff College of India and will serve as important input for States which may consider implementing the Right to Services Act and to the Central Government where a Scheme on the subject is under consideration. As far as Central Government is concerned, it has taken several measures for improving Public Service Delivery. Some of them include online system for lodging of Public Grievances known as Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) through which a grievance regarding deficiency in public service delivery can be lodged 24x7 to the concerned Department. Action can be tracked by the petitioner. It has provisions for detailed report for monitoring purpose. Regular review meetings are held in the Department for monitoring. The System has been further improved through integration with PMO and Pensioners' portal which avoids duplication. It has also been integrated with Common Service Centres for grassroots access. Dashboards have been created for monitoring at the top most level and more detailed analytical reports can be generated.
The Department has issued instructions to all the Central Government Departments to ensure that their Citizens' Charter containing the list of services along with service standards including timelines and grievance redress mechanism in case of failure in public service delivery, are formulated, updated and uploaded on their respective websites. The volume of grievances has increased more than 3 times after the present Government took over. It is a measure of high expectations that the citizens have from the present Government. A Grievance Analysis Study had been conducted by DARPG in respect of top 20 Organisations receiving maximum grievances. The Study identifies the grievance prone areas, root cause and recommends systemic reforms for reducing grievances, thus, improving Public Service Delivery. The reports have been circulated to the concerned Ministries/Departments. Some important reforms have been carried out by CBDT, CBEC, Health and Family Welfare, etc. for improving their services. Now, the Income Tax Refunds are being sent expeditiously. A Project Management Unit has been set up for further monitoring systemic reforms. Grievance Analysis is also being done for next 20 Ministries/Departments receiving maximum grievances. Another important initiative worth mentioning is self-attestation of documents which simplifies the procedure and is a testimony of the trust that the government imposes on the youth of this country.