Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said here today the governance reforms introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the last eight years are actually social reforms aimed at achieving ‘ease of living’ for the common man and a “level playing field” for the aspirational youth.
Delivering the valedictory address at the two-day Regional Conference on Governance in Bengaluru organized by DARPG and Karnataka Government, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the hallmark of Modi’s governance model is his capacity to take out-of-box decisions, break the taboos of the past and the capacity to convert government’s campaign into mass campaign on the basis of his courage, conviction and sincerity.
Referring to the theme of the conference, “Bringing Citizens, Entrepreneurs and Government Closer for Good Governance”, Dr Jitendra Singh listed a series of such reforms having wider social implications. The Minister recalled that within three months of taking charge in May, 2014, Prime Minister took the most revolutionary and path-breaking decision of abolition of attestation of certificates by gazetted officers instead promoting self-attestation, thus reposing faith in youth of India. Similarly, Narendra Modi had suggested the abolition of interviews during Independence Day address from the ramparts of Red Fort on 15th August 2015 and the same was implemented by DoPT from 1st January 2016 that paved the way for level playing field for all the candidates.
The Minister said, number of complaints in CPGRAMS increased from 2 lakh per year in 2014 to 25 lakh per year at present, which also reflects positively that here is a government which listens to citizens grievances promptly and addresses them. PM Excellence Awards focusing on flagship schemes rather on the individual profile of officers was another far-reaching governance reforms promoting healthy competition among 750 districts, the Minister added.
Dr Jitendra Singh informed the delegates that by the end of this year, the National Recruitment Agency (NRA) under DoPT is gearing up to conduct computer-based online Common Eligibility Test (CET) for recruitment to non-Gazetted posts. He added that to begin with, the test will be conducted in 12 Languages and gradually it will include all the 22 languages mentioned in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution, which will overcome the complaints of language bias coming from some southern states.