Top News

Hyderabad: Telangana Chief Secretary Sanjay Jaju, along with senior state officials, on Monday, August 10, took part in a video conference convened by Cabinet Secretary TV Somanathan with chief secretaries of all states to discuss the Centre’s proposed “Reform Utsav” initiative.

The Cabinet Secretary informed the states that the Reform Utsav initiative would be launched in October to give greater emphasis to citizen participation in the reform process, according to an official statement. The initiative seeks to ensure that citizens’ voices and suggestions are identified, deliberated upon, converted into actionable reforms and implemented through a committed roadmap.

The initiative will be rolled out in three phases. The preparatory phase, from August to September this year, will focus on establishing the governance framework, sensitisation activities and awareness campaigns.

The main Reform Utsav phase, from October to December, will comprise three components. These are Jan Manthan, or “discover,” from October 1 to 31, focused on identifying issues and suggestions from citizens and stakeholders; Vimarsh (deliberate) and Jan Samadhan (deliver), from October 10 to November 30, focused on deliberation and delivery of quick wins and medium-term reforms, and Sankalp Siddhi, from October 10 to December 20, comprising national and sub-national events to drive the reform agenda.

The follow-up phase, from December 28 onwards, will focus on regular monitoring of structural reforms and submission of action reports, as prescribed under the initiative.

States to set up coordination panels

The Cabinet Secretary emphasised the need for active participation of both the central and state governments in the initiative. Each state government will constitute a State Coordinative Committee headed by the Chief Secretary, besides appointing a State Nodal Officer to coordinate implementation, with nodal arrangements also to be made at the district level, the statement said.

The initiative will primarily be implemented through the concerned state line departments and ministries. The Centre will also launch a dedicated Reform Utsav portal, available in regional languages, to facilitate citizen participation, collection of suggestions and monitoring and coordination of reform-related activities.

The Telangana government said it would take necessary steps to establish the required coordination mechanism for effective implementation of the initiative through concerned departments and field-level authorities.