Govt launched good governance index; TN tops the index in big states category

On December 25, 2019, the Minister of State (MoS- Independent Charge) for the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) and MoS for Prime Minister’s Office; Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space Dr Jitendra Singh launched the ‘Good Governance Index’ (GGI) in New Delhi.Organisers: The event was organised by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions to celebrate the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister (PM) Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

TN, Py and HP topped big states, UT and NE region respectively:
In the 1st GGI released, the ranking was divided into three groups such as big states, north-east and hill states, and Union Territories (UT)

i.Big states: Tamil Nadu (TN)won the 1st position in the composite ranking for good governance index (GGI). TN was followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana and Kerala in the  2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th place respectively.

• Other top ranked big states: the states following Kerala are Madhya Pradesh(9th), West Bengal(10th), Telangana (11th), Rajasthan (12th), Punjab (13th), Orissa (14th), Bihar (15th), Goa (16th), Uttar Pradesh (17th) and Jharkhand (18)

ii.North-east and hill category: Himachal Pradesh (HP) topped the ranking in followed North-east and hill category. It was followed by Uttarakhand(2nd), Tripura(3rd), Mizoram(4th), Sikkim (5th), Assam (6th), Jammu and Kashmir(7th) (now divided into 2 UT of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh), Manipur(8th), Meghalaya (9th), Nagaland(10th) and Arunachal Pradesh(11th).

iii.Union Territories: Among the UTs, Puducherry topped the list. It was followed by Chandigarh(2nd), Delhi (3rd), Daman and Diu(4th), Andaman and Nicobar Islands(5th), Dadra and Nagar Haveli(6th) and Lakshadweep(7th).

GGI consideration on 10 sectors:

i.The GGI is also ranked based on ten sectors which are measured by 50 indicators. The 10 sectors are Agriculture and Allied Sectors; Commerce & Industries; Human Resource Development; Public Health; Public Infrastructure & Utilities; Economic Governance; Social Welfare & Development; Judicial & Public Security; Environment and Citizen-Centric Governance.

ii.Sector wise ranking: 

• Agriculture: Under agriculture and Allied allied sector, Madhya Pradesh has got first position followed by Rajasthan(2nd) and Chhattisgarh(3rd) in big states category. Mizoram ranked 1st in north east category and Daman and Diu toppe in UT category.
• Commerce & Industry: under the commerce and industries sector, Jharkhand ranked first in big states category, followed by Andhra Pradesh(2nd) and Telangana(3rd). Among the north-east and hill states, Uttarakhand ranked 1st, while Delhi ranked 1st in the UT category.
• Human Development sector: Goa ranked 1st in big states, Himachal Pradesh ranked 1st in North east category and Pondicherry ranked 1st in UTs.
• Public Health: Kerala ranked 1st in public health sector ranking followed by TN and Goa in big states category. Manipur and Pondicherry ranked 1st each in North east and UT respectively.
• Public Infrastructure: TN ranked 1st in big states followed bt Gujarat(2nd) and Punjab(3rd). HP and Chandigarh topped in north east and UT respectively.
• Economic governance: Karnataka topped in big states category followed by Maharashtra(2nd), Telangana(3rd), Gujarat(4th) and TN(5th). Uttarakhand topped in North east while Delhi topped in UT category.
• Social welfare: Chattisgarh topped in social welfare and development sector in big states. Meghalaya topped in North east category and Daman & Diu topped in UT category.
• Judicial and public security sector: TN topped in big states followed by Kerala(2nd),Chattisgarh(3rd). HP topped the northeast and hilly region. Pondicherry topped among UTs.
• Environment sector: West Bengal topped among big states followed by Kerala(2nd) and TN(3rd). Jammu and Kashmir topped among north east while chandigarh topped among UTs.
• The 10th sector citizen centric governance was not included in the scoring and ranking purposes.

15th edition of CSMOP launched:
The minister also launched 15th edition of Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure (CSMOP).

i.Other releases:

• A handbook for retiring central govt employees and the Smart Card facility for Department Canteen of DoPT Department of Personnel and Training) was released. The smart card will enhance cashless transaction and digitisation.
• A booklet on initiatives & achievements of DoPT and Strategic Initiatives of the Department of Pensions and Pensioners Welfare (DoPPW) was also released.

ii.Central Secretariat Manual of Office Procedure (CSMOP): 

• The 1st CSMOP was published in 1955. From then on, it has been updated from time to time.
• The previous edition i.e., the 14th edition was launched in 2015. To meet the criteria for digital environment, DARPG brought the 15th edition of CSMOP which integrates conventional office practices with e-office.
• Currently above 90% ministries have adopted e-office and 14.5lakhs files are running in about 84 Ministries/Departments through e-office. 57 ministries have already achieved the desired target of 80% and above.

iii.Features of CSMOP:

• Some of the features of CSMOP are creating e-Office digitization framework.
• Provision of Virtual Private Network for officers of the rank of DS etc.

Good Governance Index:

i.The Good Governance Index(GGI) will determine the current status of governance and will provide reference threshold for future also.

• The GGI has been developed by the govt for the first time.

ii.Objectives of GGI: Providing quantifiable data to compare the state of governance in all states and UT (Union Territories), enabling states and UTs to implement suitable strategies to improve governance etc are some of the objectives of GGI.

iii.Some of the good governance initiatives for replication such as Shillong Declaration, Jammu Ghoshna, Sahyog Sankalp and Nagpur Resolution were discussed.

iv.Compendium by DoP&PW: The Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare (DoP&PW) has brought out a compendium on pension related orders issued during 2018-19.

• The compendium (collection of detailed information) contains orders of inter-alia like Amendment of Rule 38 of CCS (Pension) Rule that grants invalid pensions to govt employees who retire on medical ground with less than 10 years of service.
• Revision of pension of pre-2006 pensioners who retired in 5th CPC (Central Pay Commission) scale of Rs.6500-10500 with grade pay of Rs 4600(instead of Rs 4200).
• Grant of two family pensions to reemployed pensioners for 2 different types of service. One under CCS (Central Civil Services) rules and other under EOP (extraOrdinary Pension) rules.

v.Initiatives planned: Certain initiatives have been planned by DoP&PW to be acted upon during 2019-24. They include

• Review & Rationalization of Pension Rules, 1972,
• Promotion of Digital Life Certificate,
• e-PPO (e-Pension Payment Order) and its integration with Digi Locker,
• Real-Time Monitoring of Family Pension of CAPF Martyrs etc.

vi.Members present: Secretary of DoPT & DARPG (Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances), Dr. C. Chandramouli; Additional secretary of DARPG Shri V. Srinivas; Secretary of (Legislative Department) Shri G. Narayana Raju; Secretary of (Post), Shri Pradipta Kumar Bisoi;  Additional Secretary of DoNER  Shri Indewar Pandey and other officials were present on the occasion. Click here to know more.

GGI rank: