Lt. Governor, Jammu and Kashmir Inaugurate Integrated Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (JK-IGRAMS)

This is the first UT that will be linked to the central government system—CPGRAMS.

Key points:

- Launched on a pilot basis for Jammu, Srinagar, and Reasi districts.
- The system will replace the current portal launched by the government in 2018.
- This is the first UT that will be linked to the central government system—CPGRAMS.

The mechanism:

- Deputy Commissioners have been placed at the primary level for receiving, disposing of, and monitoring grievances, the J&K administration.
- All SPs and DCs will be made available at designated times five days a week. They will be available in their offices and anyone can go and meet them.

Significance:

The move comes at a time when a sense of disconnection and alienation has been growing among the people, especially in the Kashmir Valley, which has remained on edge ever since J&K’s special status was revoked last year.

What is the Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS).?

Developed by the National Informatics Centre (Ministry of Electronics & IT [MeitY]), in association with the Directorate of Public Grievances (DPG) and Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG).

The underlying idea was to receive, redress, and monitor the grievances of the public.

Launched by the Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG) under the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions.

Key features:

- The CPGRAMS provides the facility to lodge a grievance online from any geographical location.
- It enables the citizen to track online the grievance being followed up with Departments concerned and also enables DARPG to monitor the grievance.
- The procedure includes designating a senior officer as the Director of Grievances/Grievance officer in every office to ensure that the system remains accessible, simple, quick, fair, and responsive, and fixing the time limit for disposal of work relating to public grievances and staff grievances.
- District Collectors and Deputy Commissioners will be the nodal officer for receiving, disposing, and monitoring the grievances.
Earlier, LG has also launched the ‘Back to Village’ Campaign to strengthen the panchayats.

‘Back to Village’ campaign

“Back to village” campaign was launched in Jammu and Kashmir in 2019. It has four main goals:

To energize the Panchayats.
To collect feedback on the delivery of government schemes and programs.
To capture specific economic potential.
To undertake an assessment of the needs of villagers.

Under the program, the administrative department of the state government visits all the 4483 Panchayat in order to get the grassroots level feedback from the general public. For this purpose, the government has deployed one gazette officer as a nodal officer in each Panchayat. The program encourages community participation and raises the standard of living.