Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh today said that after over a decade of path-breaking administrative reforms and the removal of nearly 2,000 obsolete rules, India is entering the next phase of governance transformation through Next Generation Administrative and e-Governance Reforms. Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for a “Reform Express” during the Government’s third term, he said future reforms must integrate Artificial Intelligence, cybersecurity, digital public infrastructure and citizen-centric service platforms to build an agile, technology-driven governance ecosystem capable of meeting the aspirations of Viksit Bharat@2047.
Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh was inaugurating the two-day National Conference on Next Generation Administrative and e-Governance Reforms, jointly organised by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) and the Government of Meghalaya in Shillong. Meghalaya Chief Minister Shri Conrad K. Sangma, Secretary, DARPG, Smt. Nivedita Shukla Verma, Chief Secretary of Meghalaya Dr. Shakil P. Ahammed, Additional Secretary DARPG Shri Puneet Yadav, senior officers from the Central and State Governments, District Collectors and delegates from across the country attended the inaugural session.
Describing administrative reforms as the backbone of India’s development journey, Dr. Jitendra Singh said governance has undergone an unprecedented transformation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi through the principles of transparency, accountability, digital empowerment and outcome-oriented administration. He said the Government has steadily moved from regulation to facilitation while placing citizens at the centre of policymaking and public service delivery.
Recalling that national conferences on governance reforms are now being organised across different regions of the country instead of remaining confined to New Delhi, the Minister said this approach has strengthened collaboration between the Centre and the States while enabling wider sharing of successful governance practices. Shillong, he said, occupies a special place in this journey and expressed confidence that, like the earlier Shillong Declaration, the present conference would also culminate in a “Shillong Declaration 2.0” to carry the reform agenda forward.
The Minister said the North East has emerged as one of the biggest beneficiaries of Prime Minister Modi’s development vision. He recalled that the Prime Minister has visited the region nearly eighty times, reflecting the unprecedented priority accorded to the North East. Referring to the Prime Minister’s recent appreciation of Meghalaya’s Living Root Bridges in Mann Ki Baat, Dr. Jitendra Singh said the State has become a model for community-led development and innovative governance. He also appreciated the Meghalaya Government’s initiatives, including the New Shillong Administrative City, which combines modern infrastructure with digital governance and long-term administrative planning.
Highlighting India’s digital governance journey, Dr. Jitendra Singh said more than 56 crore Jan Dhan accounts, Aadhaar-enabled service delivery, Direct Benefit Transfer and the Unified Payments Interface have fundamentally changed the relationship between citizens and the Government. UPI today processes over 18 billion transactions every month, making India a global leader in digital payments.
