World Bank to assist Assam in public service delivery

The World Bank will be assisting the Assam government in improving public service delivery and governance of government departments. Thereforms are part of Administrative Reforms Programme of the Assamgovernment and World Bank will initially provide technical assistance,which will be later followed by financial assistance.

The government departments that would be covered under the programmeare in the areas of business process re-engineering, digitization ofrecords, capacity building, human resource management, strengthening of institutions, and electronic service delivery adoption of innovative administrative practices.

The ongoing Administrative Reforms Programme of the State Government are adoption of the result framework document, implementation of the Assam right to public service act, 2012, and introduction of the integrated online public grievance redressal system. The Non Lending Technical Assistance (NLTA) Programme, which will be followed by the financial assistance programme, has already been cleared by the department of economic affairs.

A delegation from World Bank, led by Grace Morgan, senior governance specialist, had recently called on Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi to discuss reforms being undertaken by the state government in the area of public service delivery and governance.

Welcoming the initiatives of the World Bank in improving public service delivery and governance in Assam, Gogoi said World Bank with its expertise and experience of working in many countries would bring best and innovative practices to the state. The chief minister stressed among other things on simplification and streamlining of procedures, reduction in processing levels which would lead to speedy file movement and thrust on human resource management, especially with regards to recruitment procedures.

The World Bank delegation included Satyendra Prasad, senior governance specialist, Michal Ben Gera, consultant and Yutika Vora, consultant with World Bank.