SRINAGAR: Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Sunday announced that Jammu and Kashmir will become the first Union Territory to have a District Level Good Governance Index, as per a report in Delhi based Hindustan Times.
Singh said the Centre will set up the index and the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances will carry out this task in collaboration with the Jammu and Kashmir government.
“The framework of the proposed Index has been finalised with the technical support from the Centre for Good Governance, Hyderabad,” Hindustan Times quoted Singh as saying.
Singh said the index will enable each district of Jammu and Kashmir to rise to the level of some of the best-administered districts of the country, with time-bound disposal of files and other matters, increased transparency, accountability, and citizen participation, the report said.
The framework will have 58 indicators that assess different aspects of development and district administration in sectors such as agriculture, commerce and industry, human resource development, public health, public infrastructure and utilities, economic governance, welfare and development, public safety, judiciary, and citizen-centric governance.
He said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi is keen to replicate the governance practices of other states and territories in Jammu and Kashmir in line with the idea of “maximum governance, minimum government”.
He added once the governance model is successfully set up, it will be taken to the block level, the report said.
