India has been at the forefront of revamping public administration, digital governance, grievance redressal, and civil service reforms to make life easier for its citizens, with technology playing a key role.
Bringing Transparency to the System
Platforms such as Mission Karmayogi, CPGRAMS, Digital Life Certificate, and other technology-driven governance systems have brought sweeping changes, bringing transparency and accountability. Mission Karmayogi has over 1.70 crore government users, over 5,600 courses, and 14.29 crore course completions as of August 2026, while CPGRAMS received 22.78 lakh grievances in 2025. The average disposal time taken for Central Government ministries and departments was 15 days. Over 1.90 crore Digital Life Certificates were generated from April 1, 2025, to March 26, 2026. The Department of Personnel and Training has emerged as a catalyst for reform across government; the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances has become central to improving service delivery and accountability, while the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare has expanded its focus from pension processing to ensuring dignity, welfare and quality of life for retirees. India has adopted three key principles of innovation, imagination and inclusion for transformation.
Technology Easing the Lives of Citizens and Sharing Expertise with the Global South
From online RTI systems and e-HRMS to e-Office, digital performance appraisal systems, AI-enabled citizen interfaces and paperless administration, digital platforms have significantly enhanced efficiency, transparency and accessibility. India is no longer merely adopting global best practices but is increasingly creating governance solutions that are being emulated elsewhere. The success of the Digital Life Certificate initiative, including the adoption of face-recognition technology, has eliminated the need for many elderly pensioners to physically visit offices. Pension Adalats, pension grievance redressal systems, and the Anubhav platform capture the knowledge and experience of retiring employees and convert it into institutional resources for future generations. To combat corruption, technology is increasingly being used, enabling direct transfer of benefits to beneficiaries. ₹49.09 lakh crore had been transferred directly to citizens through DBT by January 2026, preventing leakages. ₹3.13 lakh crore was cumulatively saved up to March 2025 by deleting 6.36 crore duplicate, fake, or non-existent ration cards. About ₹22,106 crore was saved by removing 2.1174 crore ineligible beneficiaries under PM KISAN. Under MGNREGS, deletion of 1.32 crore fake and duplicate job cards is associated with estimated savings or benefits of about ₹74,888 crore through March 2025. Several Indian governance initiatives are now attracting global attention, with delegations from countries including South Africa, Mongolia and the Maldives studying India’s experience in public administration, digital governance, grievance redressal and civil service reforms. India entered into an MoU with the Maldives in 2019 to train 1,000 Maldivian civil servants, covering areas such as public administration, e-governance and service delivery, SDG implementation and urban development and planning; it was renewed for 2024–29 to train another 1,000. India’s UPSC and Mongolia’s Civil Service Council signed an MoU in July 2019 to cooperate on sharing best practices in civil-service recruitment, modern approaches to public-service reforms, specialised training and exchange of resource persons. South Africa’s National School of Government and India’s Administrative Training Institutes continue to deepen engagement in this domain.
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