SHILLONG: Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Jitendra Singh said today in Shillong that after more than a decade of administrative reforms and the removal of nearly 2,000 obsolete rules, India is entering the next phase of governance transformation through Next Generation Administrative and e-Governance Reforms.
Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for a “Reform Express” during the Government’s third term, the minister said future reforms must integrate Artificial Intelligence, cybersecurity, digital public infrastructure and citizen-centric service platforms to build an agile, technology-driven governance ecosystem capable of meeting the aspirations of Viksit Bharat@2047.
Jitendra Singh was inaugurating the two-day National Conference on Next Generation Administrative and e-Governance Reforms, jointly organised by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) and the Government of Meghalaya in Shillong.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma, DARPG Secretary Nivedita Shukla Verma, Meghalaya Chief Secretary Shakil P. Ahammed, DARPG Additional Secretary Puneet Yadav, senior officers from the Centre and the states, district collectors and delegates from across the country attended the inaugural session.
Describing administrative reforms as the backbone of India’s development journey, Jitendra Singh said governance has undergone an unprecedented transformation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi through the principles of transparency, accountability, digital empowerment and outcome-oriented administration.
He said the Government has steadily moved from regulation to facilitation while placing citizens at the centre of policy making and public service delivery.
Recalling that national conferences on governance reforms are now being organised across different regions of the country instead of remaining confined to New Delhi, the minister said this approach has strengthened collaboration between the Centre and the states while enabling wider sharing of successful governance practices.
Shillong, he said, occupies a special place in this journey, and he expressed confidence that, like the earlier Shillong Declaration, the present conference would culminate in a “Shillong Declaration 2.0” to carry the reform agenda forward.
The minister said the Northeast has emerged as one of the biggest beneficiaries of Prime Minister Modi’s development vision. He noted that the Prime Minister has visited the region nearly 80 times, reflecting the unprecedented priority accorded to the Northeast.
Referring to the Prime Minister’s recent appreciation of Meghalaya’s Living Root Bridges in Mann Ki Baat, Jitendra Singh said the state has become a model for community-led development and innovative governance.
He also appreciated the Meghalaya Government’s initiatives, including the New Shillong Administrative City, which combines modern infrastructure with digital governance and long-term administrative planning.
Highlighting India’s digital governance journey, Jitendra Singh said more than 56 crore Jan Dhan accounts, Aadhaar-enabled service delivery, Direct Benefit Transfer and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) have fundamentally changed the relationship between citizens and the Government.
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He said UPI now processes more than 18 billion transactions every month, making India a global leader in digital payments.
The minister said the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances has transformed the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) into one of the world’s largest technology-enabled grievance platforms.
He said annual grievances have increased from around two lakh in 2014 to nearly 25 lakh today, reflecting growing public trust in responsive governance. The platform is now supported by Artificial Intelligence through multilingual chatbot services while retaining a human interface at the final stage of grievance disposal to ensure both efficiency and empathy.
Jitendra Singh also referred to several governance innovations introduced over the past decade, including Digital Life Certificates based on facial recognition technology, e-Office, Prashasan Gaon Ki Ore, State Collaborative Initiatives and the National e-Services Delivery Assessment, all of which have strengthened transparency, efficiency and last-mile service delivery.
Speaking on administrative reforms, the minister said governance systems must continuously evolve with changing technologies and societal needs. He said many outdated regulations had continued merely because they were never revisited.
The Government has therefore repealed nearly 2,000 obsolete rules and compliance requirements that had outlived their relevance, replacing them with citizen-friendly and contemporary governance practices better suited to a modern welfare state.
Jitendra Singh cited several examples where outdated procedures affecting citizens, pensioners and government employees were replaced by simpler and more humane systems.
“Technology is advancing rapidly, but our thinking must evolve at the same pace,” he said, stressing that future-ready governance depends as much on institutional behaviour as on digital innovation.
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The minister also highlighted the nationwide Special Campaign for Disposal of Pending Matters and Cleanliness, launched in 2021, which has evolved into a major administrative reform initiative.
The campaign has generated more than Rs. 4,000 crore through the scientific disposal of scrap and obsolete materials while freeing nearly 700 lakh square feet of office space and promoting greater efficiency across government establishments.
Calling upon states and Union Territories to adopt successful governance practices from one another, Jitendra Singh said the next generation of reforms should focus on Artificial Intelligence-enabled public administration, integrated digital citizen services, cybersecurity, process re-engineering, evidence-based policymaking and resilient institutions capable of responding to emerging challenges.
He said the national conference should become a platform for accelerating India’s governance transformation and contribute meaningfully to the vision of Viksit Bharat@2047 through faster, smarter and more citizen-centric public administration.
