Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Dr. Jitendra Singh, inaugurated a seminar on ‘Transparency and Accountability’ here today. Addressing the seminar, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the present Government had taken over with a pledge to ensure “Good Governance.” The Minister said it was a matter of satisfaction that the Department of Administrative Reforms had during the last three months not only taken major initiatives in the direction of ensuring good governance but had also evolved mechanisms to ensure that the governance was not only good but was also simplified.While e-governance has been the major plank of the new Government and will also continue to be so in the months to come, Dr Jitendra Singh said, during the last three months, a number of workshops and interactive sessions were held where Secretaries and Directors of different States dealing with Administrative Reforms, Pensions and Grievances were brought together on a single platform in order to update their abilities for improved deliverance.
On this occasion, a report on Research and Evaluation Study commissioned by Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG) was released by Dr. Jitendra Singh. The report contains ten select best practices cover a perse range of areas in governance such as primary education, health, rural development, gender equality, etc.
While releasing the report, Dr. Jitendra Singh mentioned that the objective of the study was to evaluate the present state of each initiative at the field, and to do research on how to further improve and replicate them. In this report, each of these initiatives is discussed in-depth and findings are given based on the spot study and stakeholder consultation. The Minister reiterated the pledge of “Good Governance” and stated that the measures taken by the Government include process simplification, focusing on e-Governance, single window system and self-attestation. Dr. Jitendra Singh said that in an era of documentation, this book will serve as a written record for reference on good governance practices and the multi-pronged approach to accomplish them.
Distinguished functionaries from multilateral agency/public sector / private sector like World Bank, State Bank of India, Delhi Railway Metro Corporation, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited and Tata Consultancy Services participated in the seminar. Shri Nandan Nilekani anchored the discussion. The seminar was organised by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances in which Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances and Department of Pensions and Pensioners` Welfare, Shri N. Ravi Shanker and Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training, Shri Sanjay Kothari were present.