Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances is the nodal agency of the Government for Administrative Reforms as well as redressal of public grievances relating to the States in general and grievances pertaining to Central Government agencies in particular. The Department disseminates information on important activities of the Government relating to administrative reforms best practices and public grievance redressal through publications and documentation. The Department also undertakes activities in the field of international exchange and cooperation to promote public service reforms.

The mission of the Department is to act as a facilitator, in consultation with Central Ministries/Departments, States/UT Administrations, Organisations and Civil Society Representatives, to improve Government functioning through process re-engineering, systemic changes. Organisation and Methods, efficient Grievance handling promoting modernisation, Citizens Charters, award schemes, e-governance and best practices in government.

A Commission on Review of Administrative Laws was set up by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances on 8 May 1998 with a view to identify proposals for amendment of the existing laws, regulations and procedures having inter-sectoral impact and also for repeal of all dysfunctional laws. The Commission submitted its report on 30 September 1998. Out of the 1382 Central Laws of different categories recommended for repeal by the Commission, 415 Acts including 5 War-time Permanent Ordinances have since been repealed. The various Ministries/Departments have decided to retain 822 Acts (which include 700 Appropriation Acts and 27 Reorganisation Acts). The remaining Acts are at various stages of processing.

The Department set up a Second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) in 2005 under the Chairmanship of Shri Veerappa Moily to prepare a detailed blueprint for revamping the public administrative system. The Commission has been set up by the Government of India to suggest measures to achieve a proactive, responsive, accountable, sustainable and efficient administration for the country at all levels of the government.

The Commission has so far presented the following five Reports to the Government :-

1. Right to Information —Master Key to Good Governance (09.06.2006)
2. Unlocking Human Capital —Entitlements and Governance — a Case Study (31.07.2006)
3. Crisis Management —From Despair to Hope (31.10.2006)
4. Ethics in Governance (12.02.2007)
5. Public Order —Justice for each ..... Peace for all. (25.06.2007)

A group of Ministers under the Chairmanship of Shri Pranab Mukherjee External Affairs Minister has been constituted to review the pace of implementation of the recommendations of ARC as well as to provide guidance to the concerned Ministries/Department in implementing the decisions.

The Department has also instituted in 2005, "Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Public administration" to recognise the extraordinary and innovative work done by the officers of the Central and State Governments. The Award comprise - i) A Medal, ii) A scroll, and, iii) Cash Award of Rs. 1,00,000. In case of a group of officials total award money for the group is Rs 5 lakh subject to a maximum of Rs One lakh per person. The amount for an organisation is upto a limit of Rs 5 lakh. All officers of the Central and State Governments individually or as a group or as organisations are eligible to be considered for the awards. The first such Awards were presented by the Prime minister on the occasion of Civil Service Day celebrations on 21.04.2007 organised at Vigyan Bhawan.

The Department has developed a Model —(SEVOTTAM) for benchmarking service delivery standards by the Government departments. The main objective of the project is to set standards in consultation with user group and include these standards in the citizen's charter. It also provides a framework to assess the performance against the standards and to measure improvement and achievements of these standards. The model is aimed to bring about excellence in service delivery standards in government organizations and is to be implemented in all central Ministries/Departments.

The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances has the mandate of promoting good governance practices in the country. Documentation, Incubation and Dissemination of Best Practices is one of the tasks enumerated in its Vision and Mission Statement. In pursuance of this and in order to promote good governance practices in the country, the Department has adopted multipronged strategies like bringing out publications, organizing seminars, regional conferences, arranging presentations, organizing lecture series and producing documentary films. Through its regular publications, "Management in Government-a Quarterly Journal" and "Civil Service News-a Monthly News letter" Department is creating awareness about best practices. Besides, it has brought out two Books namely 'Ideas That Have Worked' and "Learn From Them". These books share experiences of success or failure of innovators. The Department has produced a DVD containing 73 select reports of commissions/committee on Administrative Reforms since 1812 till date. A portal of best practices has also been launched by the Department to effectively pursue the objective of dissemination of best practices facilitating their replication.