The Indian government has taken a significant step towards improving its public grievance redressal system by unveiling new guidelines. These guidelines aim to empower citizens, enhance efficiency, and leverage technology to ensure grievances are addressed promptly and effectively. The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions announced that these guidelines, part of the 2024 Policy Guidelines, reaffirm the government’s commitment to effectively addressing public concerns.
The new system introduces a central, user-friendly platform for filing grievances. This integrated platform, utilizing CPGRAMS as the common open platform, will operate as a single window for citizens to register their complaints. The new guidelines also shorten the resolution timeline for grievances from 30 to 21 days. In cases where resolution requires more time, citizens will be informed through an interim reply.
To ensure efficient handling of grievances, the government will appoint dedicated nodal officers in all ministries and departments. These officers will play a crucial role in categorizing grievances, monitoring pending cases, examining feedback for process and policy improvements, undertaking root cause analysis, collating monthly data, and overseeing the work of Grievance Redressal Officers within their respective ministries and departments.
To further enhance the system’s effectiveness, the government plans to utilize AI-powered analytical tools to analyze citizen feedback. Regular reviews of the grievance redressal process will be conducted in senior officer meetings, and a monthly ‘grievance redressal assessment index’ will be used to rank various ministries and departments based on their performance.
The success of the CPGRAMS portal is evident in its handling of nearly 60 lakh public grievances between 2022 and 2024. The system currently includes over 1.01 lakh Grievance Redressal officers across various government levels, demonstrating the government’s commitment to a comprehensive and responsive approach to citizen concerns.
