Jammu and Kashmir set to have district-level Good Governance Index

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

NEW DELHI: Jammu and Kashmir will soon become the first Union Territory to have a district-level Good Governance Index, Union minister Jitendra Singh announced on Sunday.

Union minister Jitendra Singh said the Centre will set up the Good Governance Index in Jammu and Kashmir. (PTI)

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,” the minister said.

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 timebound disposal of files and other matters, increased transparency, accountability, and citizen participation.

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.

Singh said 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 that once the governance model is successfully set up, it will be taken to the block level.