Delay creates hurdles in plugging governance gaps
*Objective of timely performance analysis stands defeated
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Mar 31: Though the Financial Year 2024-25 came to an end today yet the Government of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has not come up with the Annual District Good Governance Index (DGGI) Report of the Financial Year 2023-24 and inordinate delay is creating hurdles in quantifying the performance of all 20 districts under different sectors and allowing them to identify and suitably plug the local governance gaps.
The districts being basic unit of field administration and governance are implementing various programmes and innovative projects for the well-being of citizens as such measuring their performance becomes imperative for proper assessment and planning which will lead to the holistic development of the districts and the region as a whole.
Keeping this aspect in mind, the District Good Governance Index was launched in all the 20 districts of Jammu and Kashmir in the year 2021 with the aim to judge the performance of each district in different areas, schemes and programmes announced by the Government from time to time for the well-being of the people.
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The first report of the District Good Governance Index was released in the month of January 2022 and districts were ranked as per their performance vis-à-vis certain sectors and selected indicators. The objective behind this was to bring about healthy competition amongst the districts in the quest to provide citizen centric administration and governance.
Further, the step was aimed at providing guidance to the UT and district administration and other stakeholders in their efforts to address existing gaps, plan to bridge these gaps and aid as decision making tool.
The Annual District Good Governance Index Report 2.0 released in October 2022 focused on the year 2021-22 and assessed the performance of the districts across 10 governance sectors and 58 indicators. Likewise, the Annual District Good Governance Index Report 3.0 was released in June 2023 highlighting the performance of the districts during the year 2022-23.
Though Financial Year 2024-25 came to an end today yet the Annual District Good Governance Index Report 4.0 (2023-24) has not been released, official sources told EXCELSIOR, adding “the performance of the districts on the fixed parameters during the year 2023-24 was supposed to be shared with the concerned authorities well in time in order to facilitate them in bringing improvements wherever needed during the Financial Year 2024-25”.
“Releasing the District Good Governance Index for the Financial Year 2023-24 after the completion of Financial Year 2024-25 will not serve any purpose”, sources said, adding “had the report been released well in time the districts would have in a position to improve performance on the parameters which witnessed poor results during the year 2023-24”.
The inordinate delay in releasing District Good Governance Index 4.0 is notwithstanding the fact that the quality of governance mechanism at the district level can be judged only by how well the district administration function and deliver the outcomes expected from them. Moreover, the DGGI helps in locating the gaps between targets and achievements, sources said.
When contacted, officers in Economics and Statistics Department, which functions under the administrative control of Planning, Monitoring and Development Department and has been entrusted with the task of preparation of District Good Governance Index every year, admitted inordinate delay in release of District Good Governance Index 4.0. However, they cited several reasons behind the same like holding of elections and subsequent formation of political Government in the Union Territory.
“The report 4.0 awaits approval of the political Government”, they said while expressing inability to specify time-frame for release of District Good Governance Index Report for the Financial Year 2023-24.
It is pertinent to mention here that apart from boosting good governance competition in every district of the Union Territory, the DGGI is also a tool to judge the performance of district level officers of all the departments as well as Deputy Commissioners.
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