Haryana Gears Up for ‘Reform Utsav’; Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi Reviews State Preparedness

Chandigarh, September 3: Haryana is stepping up preparations for the ‘Reform Utsav’, a nationwide citizen-driven initiative aimed at turning public feedback into measurable improvements in government processes, with Chief Secretary Sh. Anurag Rastogi reviewing the State’s preparedness at a high-level coordination meeting here on Thursday.

Chairing the meeting as the head of the State Coordination Committee (SCC), Sh. Rastogi reviewed the progress of preparatory work and the roadmap for the October-December campaign. The initiative is designed to move beyond grievance redressal and identify systemic, replicable and forward-looking reforms that can improve public service delivery.

Commissioner & Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Dr. Amit Kumar Agrawal informed that Haryana has already completed a number of important preparatory milestones. The State’s feedback has been submitted to the Department of Economic Affairs, Government of India, while the State and District Coordination Committees have been notified. The Department of Industries and Commerce has been designated as the State Nodal Department, providing a dedicated institutional mechanism for coordinating the campaign.

The meeting reviewed the next critical deadlines, including preparation of the State Action Plan by September 10 and commencement of the State-wide awareness campaign from September 11. The outreach strategy will extend from traditional and digital media to Panchayat networks, educational institutions, community organisations and grassroots workers to widen citizen participation.

He said a major thrust of the campaign will come with ‘Jan Manthan’ from October 2 to 31, when citizens will be encouraged to submit reform ideas through the Reform Utsav portal as well as Jan Sabhas and other field-level activities. A Jan Manthan Sabha is proposed in every Panchayat on October 2, supported by help desks of MY Bharat volunteers and Common Service Centres.

The campaign will subsequently shift from consultation to decision and delivery. During the ‘Vimarsh’ phase, from October 10 to November 30, departments will examine suggestions and identify actionable reforms, separating them into Quick Wins and Medium-Term Reforms.

The ‘Jan Samadhan’ phase will then focus on implementation from October 10 to December 20. Quick-win reforms will be assigned clear departmental ownership and their progress tracked through the Reform Utsav portal, while medium-term reforms will be backed by defined implementation roadmaps and milestones.

The initiative will culminate in ‘Sankalp Siddhi’ from December 25 to 27, providing a platform to showcase successful reforms, recognise outcomes and secure further implementation commitments.

The meeting underscored a clear objective for Haryana: listen to citizens, identify systemic bottlenecks, act on workable ideas and track the results of reforms in a time-bound manner.

Commissioner & Secretary, Women & Child Development, Sh. Shekhar Vidyarthi, Commissioner and Secretary, Urban Local Bodies, Sh. Ashok Kumar Meena, Director Information, Public Relations, Languages & Culture, Dr. Aditya Dahiya, and other senior officers were present in the meeting.