Confab on good governance adopts ‘Behtar Nizam-e-Hakumat: Kashmir Aelamia’
Srinagar: The two-day regional conference on ‘Replication of Good Governance Practices’ in Union Territory of J&K concluded here Friday with the adoption of ‘BehtarNizam-e-Hakumat: Kashmir Aelamia’ resolution.
The valedictory session was chaired by LG’s Advisor Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, who also released ‘Behtar Nizam-e-Hakumat: Kashmir Aelamia’, in presence of Secretary DARPG, Sanjay Singh; Additional Secretary DARPG, V Srinivas; Joint Secretary DARPG NBS Rajput and DG IMPARD, Saurabh Bhagat.
In his valedictory address, Advisor Bhatnagar said that this conference will be setting an agenda for effective administration and good governance in J&K. He added that there are very important takeaways and many more positives encapsulated in the Kashmir resolution.
According to an official press release, he also asserted that lot of good thoughts and practices are already available but the thing is to adopt or replicate such practices for the larger good of the people of the country.
Bhatnagar called on the young officers to adopt problem-solving approach while dealing with the day-to-day issues and grievances of the people and added that efficient delivery of public services and effective feedback mechanism are the touchstones of good governance.
Advisor Bhatnagar said “under the able leadership of Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha several path-breaking initiatives have been taken in J&K which transformed the good governance scene in the region”.
He requested visiting DARPG team to provide platform to young officers of J&K in rest of country while organising such conferences.
Secretary DARPG, Sanjay Singh said that this conference had unique, credible, implementable principles and themes which were deliberated by speakers during these two days. He added that these deliberations will be valuable in forming policies and their effective implementation on the ground.
The conference later on unanimously adopted several deliberations in the form of resolution titled ‘BehtarNizam-e-Hakumat: Kashmir Aelamia’ which was read out by Additional Secretary DARPG, V.Srinivas on the occasion.
The main highlights of the resolution are:
- The DARPG shall collaborate with Government of Jammu & Kashmir in developing a District Governance Index on the lines of the National Good Governance Index based on outcome and output indicators for improving the efficiency of Good Governance across Districts.
- The DARPG shall collaborate with Government of Jammu & Kashmir for conducting capacity building programs for 2000 civil servants in Governance practices.
- The DARPG shall collaborate with Government of Kashmir to conduct one National level conference and one Regional Conference in the period 2021-22.
For the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, it resolves:
- To strengthen the sustained efforts to develop the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir as a model of administrative excellence using digital technology in implementation of welfare state programs.
- To continue the sustained efforts for transparent accountable efficient and people-centric administration in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir by promoting ‘Jan Bhagidari’.
- To refine, consolidate and document the successful good governance initiatives of the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir like Back to Village scheme and JK-IGRAMS for national dissemination.
- To replicate the innovations and best practices in successful national governance so as to improve the ease of living and provide a clean and transparent people centric government to the UT of Jammu & Kashmir.
- To continue the efforts for promoting e-Governance by use of e-Office and adopt version 7. 0 and move towards paperless Secretariat in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir.
- To continue the efforts for capacity building and personnel administration by formulating mid-career training programs and specific need-based training programs for officials of the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir by collaboration between the National Centre for Good Governance, IMPARD and the Indian Institute of Public Administration, J&K regional branch.
- To enable enhanced efficiency in decision-making in Government of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir by process re-engineering, improved skill base and using technology as a force multiplier.
Earlier during the morning session, Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Medical Education, Atal Dulloo in a presentation on the implementation of Ayushman Bharat PMJAY/PMJAY SEHAT Scheme in J&K and COVID-19 Pandemic Management in the UT, said that universal health coverage was extended to the people of J&K through PMJAY-SEHAT Scheme in terms of free-of-cost treatment in government/empanelled hospitals across the UT.
While talking about the COVID-19 Management, he provided the comparisons of Covid data vis-a-vis infection rate, cases per million, recovery rate, mortality rate, positivity rate, etc.
He informed that the epidemic curve was three times higher in second Covid wave than the first wave and added that J&K increased the capacity in terms of beds, supply of medical oxygen, ICU beds and other logistics.
Principal Secretary PDD, Rohit Kansal, in his presentation on Back to Village (B2V) programme, remarked that B2V could be a role model for the rest of country wherein this unique initiative of J&K can be replicated across the country to strengthen grassroots democracy.
Kansal gave a description of three phases of the programme and added that the need of the programme was to strengthen and facilitate Panchayats across J&K, besides getting feedback and bridging gap between the administration and the public.
He also highlighted the contours of three versions of B2V, saying that the Phase-I was exploratory while Phase-II was PRI related programme and Phase-III of B2V was “action driven”.
He also maintained that the brand of uniqueness of the programme was that officers starting from top-most level visited a village and spent one night and two days there and interacted with public on developmental aspects of their areas.
In the second technical session of the morning, presentations on Aspirational Districts were presented by former District Magistrates of Baramulla and Kupwara districts of J&K and District Magistrate of Goalpara district of Assam. This session was chaired by Mission Director, Aspirational Districts Programme of NitiAayog, Rakesh Ranjan.
The two day regional conference was inaugurated by the Union Minister of State, PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Dr Jitendra Singh in presence of Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha yesterday.
The conference was organized by Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Government of India in collaboration with the Government of Jammu & Kashmir.
More than 700 delegates and officers from 10 States and Union Territories participated in the two day conference — both in person and through virtual mode.
Committee constituted for rolling out District Governance Index in J&K
In order to carry forward the decisions taken in “Behtar Nizam-e-Hakumat Kashmir Aelamia”, a meeting was chaired by V.Srinivas, Additional Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Government of India here today to rollout District Governance Index in Jammu and Kashmir.
The meeting was attended by Saurabh Bhagat, Director General IMPARD, Dr.Qayoom Hussain, Vice-Chancellor Cluster University and other representatives from Universities, Deptt. of Economics and Statistics and was also attended on-line by the representatives from NCGG, New Delhi and Centre for Good Governance, Hyderabad.
The implementation of District Good Governance Index will improve the quality of governance and ensure outcome based governance in the districts, an official communiqué issued after the meeting said.
It said that the Index would be prepared in collaboration with DARPG, National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG), Gol, New Delhi, J&K IMPARD and some Universities, including Kashmir University, Central University, Kashmir, Cluster University, Kashmir and Directorate of Economics and Statistics, J&K on the pattern of Himachal Pradesh and some renowned experts of National / International repute.
“In this regard, a committee has been constituted of all the stakeholders who would first study and analyse the data of various priority sectors/indicators which shall be weighed and ranked. This data base would be provided by the Department of Economics and Statistics J&K and will form the basis for development of District Good Governance Index,” said the communiqué.
It was also decided that four districts of J&K Union Territory, two each from Kashmir and Jammu divisions shall be taken in the first phase for rolling out of this initiative. J&K IMPARD has been detailed for coordination between various organizations in Jammu and Kashmir for this purpose.
