Digital transformation key to governance, says DARPG Secretary V. Srinivas

The 28th National Conference on e-Governance (NCeG) 2025 began in Visakhapatnam on Monday, highlighting India’s push towards a digital-first, citizen-centric administration.

At the opening ceremony, V. Srinivas, Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), said the theme “Viksit Bharat: Civil Service and Digital Transformation” reflects the country’s vision of becoming a developed nation by 2047, with civil services playing a central role in driving inclusion and innovation.

He stressed that governance must be anchored in digital-first, citizen-centric systems, with civil services reimagining their role as enablers of inclusion and innovation.

Srinivas thanked Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu supported the conference and noted that Visakhapatnam, emerging as an IT hub, reflects the country’s aspirations to harness technology for governance transformation. He praised the state’s Real Time Governance (RTG) initiative and Mana Mitra WhatsApp platform, which offers 738 government services including caste, birth, and income certificates. “These services have set new benchmarks in citizen convenience and accountability,” he said.

He highlighted the e-Office platform as the backbone of digital governance, adopted by 1,338 organisations and empowering 1.6 million users nationwide. "The system processes nearly five lakh receipts and 50,000 files every month, eliminating delays and enhancing transparency," he noted.

On benchmarking service delivery, he explained that the National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment (NeSDA) has expanded to evaluate 1,400 services in 2023, up from 872 in 2019. "Currently, 23,402 e-services are operational across states and union territories, with 11 states/UTs achieving over 90% saturation and nine states, including Kerala, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu, reaching 100% coverage," he elaborated.

On grievance redressal, he noted that CPGRAMS has redressed over one crore grievances between 2015–2025, reducing average resolution time from 28 days in 2019 to 10 days in 2025. Pendency stood at just 62,620 cases as of June 30, 2025. The Next Generation CPGRAMS, with AI-enabled categorisation and multilingual support, is scheduled for launch in FY 2025–26.

Srinivas also announced that this year’s National Awards for e-Governance will recognise 10 Gold, 6 Silver, and 3 Jury awardees, including entries from Gram Panchayats for the first time. "From 589 organisational nominations and 1.44 lakh panchayat nominations, the awards reflect a broadening base of innovation in governance," he stated.

He said the Visakhapatnam Declaration will set the roadmap for future e-Governance, ensuring technology-driven governance that is transparent, efficient, and citizen-centric.