NEW DELHI: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said today that the Modi Government has walked the talk on governance reforms.
Responding to a series of questions in the Lok Sabha today, Dr Jitendra Singh said, soon after this government came in May 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had declared the commitment to “Maximum Governance, Minimum Government”. Looking back today, he said, it can be reasonably claimed that this government has walked the talk.
One of the earliest decisions taken by the Modi government within a few months of being sworn-in in 2014, said Dr Jitendra Singh, pertained to the abolition of the rule to get the documents and certificates attested by a government officer or legal functionary, which was a legacy of the British Raj. Instead of this, he said, the government allowed the provision of self-attestation and thereby also sent out a message that here was a government which had the capacity to trust the youth of this country.
Over the last over six years, Dr Jitendra Singh pointed out that as many as around 1500 rules have been done away with, which had become obsolete with the passage of time and were no longer relevant in the present point of time. All this, he said, was done to bring in ease of governance, which in turn is also essential to seek ease of living for the citizens.
Dr Jitendra Singh also informed the House that most of the Ministries in the Central Government have turned to e-File and e-Office. The result of this was that even during the COVID pandemic and lockdown, the practice of “Work from Home” proved to be so successful that the official work did not get interrupted even for a single day. He narrated an anecdote where one of the functionaries in the Personnel Ministry told him that “Work from Home” had resulted in “Maximum Output with Minimum Attendance”.
A number of steps have been taken to expedite the office work and the file movement, said Dr Jitendra Singh. He said, the website of the Ministry of Personnel is so vibrant and prompt that even the ACC orders get uploaded on the site much before the copy reaches the concerned officer. He said, as a result, many of the officers expecting empanelment or promotion, access the website for information, even before they receive the official copy of the same.
For the benefit of government functionaries as well as pensioners, Dr Jitendra Singh referred to the recent introduction of “Digi Locker” which stores all the documents and certificates digitally without any risk of getting misplaced and which can be retrieved immediately as per the requirement. Even the Pension Payment Order (PPO) is available in the “DigiLocker”, he said.
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