J&K explores Tamil Nadu’s SimpleGov model in governance

Ziraat Times News Desk

Srinagar, July 16: Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo on Wednesday called for accelerating the simplification of government procedures across departments to improve the “Ease of Living” for citizens and build a more efficient, transparent and technology-driven governance system in Jammu & Kashmir.

The direction came during a high-level meeting attended by former IAS officer P.W.C. Davidar, advisor to the Tamil Nadu government’s SimpleGov initiative, who shared insights from the state’s governance simplification programme.

The meeting focused on reducing procedural complexities, eliminating unnecessary compliances and re-engineering government processes to make public services faster and more accessible for citizens, businesses and government institutions.

In a presentation, Davidar outlined the Tamil Nadu model of governance reforms and emphasized that the simplification exercise should cover Government-to-Citizen (G2C), Government-to-Business (G2B) and Government-to-Government (G2G) services.

He highlighted the need to eliminate avoidable requirements such as physical submission of documents, multiple no-objection certificates, licences and repetitive approvals that often cause delays and inconvenience.

The meeting identified several challenges in the existing system, including mandatory physical verification, excessive documentation, repeated checks at different administrative levels, inadequate integration of government databases and difficulties in accessing legacy records.

Officials discussed a roadmap for reforms aimed at shifting from office-centric procedures to citizen-centric and outcome-based governance through end-to-end digitisation of services.

A multi-tier monitoring framework is proposed under the initiative, including a screening committee to evaluate reform proposals and an empowered committee headed by the Chief Secretary to oversee implementation across departments.

Among the measures discussed were adoption of a single authentication mechanism for applicants, clearly defined eligibility criteria and issuance of approvals and government orders in a standardised online format with QR code-based verification.

The meeting also stressed wider use of digital tools such as e-KYC, digital signatures, electronic verification codes, e-Sign and DigiLocker for secure and seamless delivery of services.

Officials proposed issuing a comprehensive omnibus order applicable across all departments to provide a uniform framework, timelines and responsibilities for implementation of governance reforms.

Addressing the meeting, Dulloo said Jammu & Kashmir has the administrative capacity and institutional framework required to implement large-scale governance reforms successfully.

He noted that nearly 1,500 government services have already been digitised, providing a strong foundation for the next phase of administrative transformation.

The Chief Secretary said a multidisciplinary implementation team comprising experts from information technology and legal fields would be crucial for ensuring that simplified procedures remain legally sound, technologically robust and citizen-friendly.

Dulloo also suggested that a team of officers from Jammu & Kashmir visit Chennai to study the implementation of the Tamil Nadu SimpleGov initiative and learn from its best practices.

Reiterating the government’s commitment to citizen-centric governance, he called upon all departments to work in coordination and complete identified reforms in a time-bound manner so that the benefits of simplified procedures reach people across the Union Territory.

During the meeting, senior officials from the Information Technology, Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs, Health & Medical Education, Planning, Development & Monitoring and Housing & Urban Development departments presented progress on simplification of services and identified additional areas for reform.