CS approves implementation of “District Good Governance Index” in J&K distts

Srinagar: Aimed at to implement SMART Governance and assess the status of governance of various interventions taken by Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Government of India and Jammu and Kashmir administration, an exercise was initiated for measuring the status of governance in the districts based on selected indicators and parameters.
In this regard, Chief Secretary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, Friday convened an online high level meeting with Union Special Secretary, DARPG, V Srinivas.
Director General, J&K IMPARD, Saurabh Bhagat; Director Training, J&K IMPARD, Dr. Reva Sharma; Director General, Economics and Statistics Department; Director General, Budget and other senior officers attended the meeting.
At present 10 development sectors, 58 indicators and 116 data sets have been approved by Government of Jammu and Kashmir. The data from each of the district was collated and weightage was accorded to each indicator keeping in view National and UT specific priorities. After application of statistical model, the district good governance index was formulated and districts were ranked and a composite ranking was also assigned to the districts.
It was decided in the meeting that after completing the data collation and validation process, the Index will be published in January-February 2022. Thus, J&K will become the first Union Territory in India to implement District Good Governance Index (DGGI). It is likely to be adopted pan India by DARPG as a replication of best practice.
During the meeting, Dr. Shabbeer Shaikh, Director, Centre for Good Governance (CGG), Hyderabad, gave a presentation on “Development of District Good Governance Index (DGGI)”.
Pertinently, the CGG, Hyderabad and DARPG, Government of India, provide financial and technical support in preparing the District Good Governance Index (DGGI). Besides, the J&K IMPARD with active collaboration of Department of Planning and Statistics, plays a pivotal role in coordination and analysis for developing the District Good Governance Index (DGGI).
The development of DGGI as a tool to assess the status of Governance in J&K is a path breaking initiative taken by DARPG as a follow-up to the July 2nd Declaration of Behtar Nizami-Humumat Kashmir Aelamia.
Chief Secretary, while complimenting the efforts of Union Additional Secretary, DARPG; Director General, J&K IMPARD; and Director General, Department of Economics and Statistics, in completion of the task of preparation of District Good Governance Index (DGGI) in a record time, approved its implementation in the districts of J&K to enable them to further improve upon various indicators of governance in three months’ time.
He also emphasized on incorporating more indicators especially with regard to District Plan and Execution of Works, Self-Employment, Human Resources Development, Sports, etc., keeping in view priorities of the government thus making it a benchmark and a litmus test for effective public service delivery and good governance.