Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh inaugurated the two-day National Conference on Next Generation Administrative and e-Governance Reforms in Shillong, jointly organized by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) and the Government of Meghalaya. The conference marks India's entry into the next phase of governance transformation through AI-driven administrative reforms, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for a "Reform Express" during the government's third term.
Dr. Singh emphasized that governance has undergone unprecedented transformation under Prime Minister Modi through principles of transparency, accountability, digital empowerment, and outcome-oriented administration. The government has moved from regulation to facilitation while placing citizens at the center of policymaking and public service delivery. Notably, nearly 2,000 obsolete rules and compliance requirements have been repealed and replaced with citizen-friendly contemporary governance practices.
India's digital governance infrastructure now includes over 56 crore Jan Dhan accounts, Aadhaar-enabled service delivery, Direct Benefit Transfer, and Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which processes over 18 billion transactions monthly. The Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) has grown from handling 2 lakh annual grievances in 2014 to nearly 25 lakh today, reflecting growing public trust. The platform now incorporates AI through multilingual chatbot services while retaining human interface at the final disposal stage.
Other governance innovations mentioned include Digital Life Certificates using facial recognition technology, e-Office, Prashasan Gaon Ki Ore, State Collaborative Initiatives, and National e-Services Delivery Assessment. The Special Campaign for Disposal of Pending Matters and Cleanliness, launched in 2021, has generated over ₹4,000 crore through scientific disposal of scrap and obsolete materials while freeing nearly 700 lakh square feet of office space.
The North East region has emerged as a major beneficiary of development vision with nearly eighty visits by the Prime Minister. Meghalaya specifically was highlighted for its Living Root Bridges and community-led development initiatives, including the New Shillong Administrative City combining modern infrastructure with digital governance.
The conference aims to produce a "Shillong Declaration 2.0" to advance reform agenda focusing on AI-enabled public administration, integrated digital citizen services, cybersecurity, process re-engineering, evidence-based policymaking, and resilient institutions capable of responding to emerging challenges, all contributing to the vision of Viksit Bharat@2047.