The Centre has recently announced a comprehensive 60-point action plan targeted towards specific ministries and departments. Broken down for deeper analysis, the plan can be mainly divided into three parts: leveraging IT and technology for governance, improving the business climate, and upgrading civil services.
Utilizing IT and Technology for Improved Governance
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has been provided with several actionable inputs to improve its operations. These include streamlining the disbursement of scholarships and bridging the digital divide for underprivileged students by developing indigenous tablets and laptops. The plan also entails digitising all land records by 2023 through a central database named ‘Matribhumi’, which is expected to enhance transparency in matters related to land title and possession. In addition, the government is considering linking citizenship to birth certificates using advanced technology.
Enhancing the Business Environment
The Centre’s action plan prioritizes building a more favorable business climate in the country. This includes complete removal of certain permissions, reduction of business start-up costs in ten sectors to match Vietnam and Indonesia, automatic notification of clearances, and single-point access to all government services. Furthermore, it suggests introducing incentives for states facilitating timely land acquisition and forest clearances, and implementing a comprehensive Environment Management Act to replace various laws in the sector. The plan also mentions the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping for decision making to boost the GDP and promotion of job creation during trade pact negotiations.
Improving Civil Services
The action plan encompasses noteworthy steps to upgrade civil services. Mission Karamyogi has been introduced for capacity building, aiming to train officers on different aspects of infrastructure at both central and state levels. The plan highlights the need for performance-based working and setting clear targets for ministries and departments similar to public sector undertakings. Furthermore, it suggests a 10-yearly Government Process Re-engineering (GPR) to address organizational issues and improve service quality. The appointment of more Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and Chief Technology Officers (CTOs) has been recommended, due to inefficient data usage.
Additional Agendas
Besides these main areas, the action plan includes several other significant goals. It assigns NITI Aayog with the task of achieving poverty eradication within five years. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is directed to plan residential facilities for service staff in construction to prevent slum development. The plan also suggests using Aadhaar to integrate beneficiary-oriented schemes from different ministries, citing a ‘family database design’ developed by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Lastly, the culture and tourism ministries are instructed to identify and develop 100-200 iconic structures and sites, and the proposal to set up “centres of excellence” in rural areas through Public Private Partnerships (PPP) has been put forward.
Last Modified: February 13, 2024