Watch full video: Darbar Move gone, more e-services launched – ‘scale of J&K administrative change is huge’

Watch full video: Darbar Move gone, more e-services launched – ‘scale of J&K administrative change is huge’

New Delhi: To make life easier for its inhabitants, the administration of Jammu and Kashmir has undertaken a number of administrative reforms, including electronic services.

According to V. Srinivas, Secretary of the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances, the number of electronic services (e-services) has increased by 30 times in the last three years, from 15 in 2019 to 446 this year (DARPG).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has direct control over the department.

According to Srinivas in an interview with ThePrint, “These services include updating land records, changing revenue records, domicile certificates, registering complaints, registering new hotels and guest houses, health and disability, and so on. The government’s top aim is to improve Jammu and Kashmir’s administration.

Srinivas added that because the administration “operationalised so many e-services,” J&K no longer falls under the Union Territory category in a national assessment of e-service delivery.

“J&K was operating 227 e-services during the assessment that was completed and released in July, which is higher than any other UT. That number has climbed over the previous five months,” he continued.

The northeastern states of Arunachal, Nagaland, and Manipur, where access to the Internet is difficult, are among those where the central government has launched particular programs to introduce digital efficiency. Internet-rich and Internet-poor divides exist. The government is also developing common service centers to enable Internet connectivity in challenging and troubled areas. According to Srinivas, these centers frequently act as a bridge between areas with abundant and sparse internet access.

J&K administration reform
The secretariat and other government offices used to move biannually from Srinagar to Jammu in the winter and from Jammu to Srinagar in the summer. This practice, known as the Darbar Move, has been eliminated.

These required moving official documents via trucks between the two cities. It would be expensive and take 15 to 18 days.

“With the e-office system and e-services, the Darbar Move has all but been eliminated. Moving truck loads of actual files has ceased, according to Srinivas.

He claimed that J&K had undergone a thorough and significant makeover. The ease of doing business, the ease of living, the work related to pensions, the health, and the education are the (better) services. The successful staging of Panchayat elections was another effort, Srinivas added, adding that the secretariat had also been moved to the e-office system.

Srinivas stated that the National Institute of Good Governance was working closely with the J&K administration to improve Internet connectivity and to assist the administration in moving forward with good governance efforts.

“We are also working on the government’s programs for civil service officials to develop their capacity. Many top ranks, from director to secretary level, as well as J&K officers frequently visit the UT to ensure efficient management. Many senior officers were also stationed in the area, Srinivas continued.