Chandigarh August 11: Haryana Chief Minister, Mr. Manohar Lal said that providing good governance to the people of the state is one of the top-most priorities of the present State Government and for this, in the year 2016, a flagship programme named Chief Minister's Good Governance Associates (CMGGA) was started in Haryana. It is a matter of great pride that from past four years, and this year too, Associates from all across the country have joined this flagship programme, which is an example of National Integration, he said.

The Chief Minister said this while addressing the fifth batch of the Chief Minister's Good Governance Associates (CMGGA) here today.

While, encouraging the new batch of CMGGA to work dedicatedly towards resolving the grievances of the people at grassroot level, Mr. Manohar Lal said, “It is the duty of each CMGGA to ensure that along with working with the system they should also work for the betterment of the society. The path of good governance comes through e-governance, therefore connecting people with the government schemes is the most important task of every Associate.”

He said that as we have already announced that 2020 will be observed as Susashan Sankalp Varsh, therefore despite the COVID-19 Pandemic, no stone was left unturned to convert this crisis into an opportunity. During this period many IT initiatives have been taken so as to ensure that people of the state get a corruption-free and transparent system and benefits of welfare schemes reach down to the grassroot levels.

“Many new initiatives including Antyodaya Saral, Saksham Haryana, CM Window, Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao etc were introduced to bring about a change for the betterment in the society,” he said.

He added that the mandate of the State Government is to provide ease of living, bringing transparency, Zero tolerance to corruption, and providing an efficient public delivery system.

Speaking on this occasion, the Project Director of Chief Minister’s Good Governance Associates Programme, Dr. Rakesh Gupta that after selecting the new batch of CMGGA to work in the year 2020-21, the programme’s knowledge partner Ashoka University have provided training to the new batch and now the batch has been allocated various districts.

He said that this time more than 2500 applications were received for the new batch, which is higher as compared to last year and out of which Associates have been selected from 13 states, including Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Telangana, Bihar, Karnataka, Punjab, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

He said that all the CMGGA are well qualified, having the academic qualifications in economics, law, social sectors and all of them have working experience of one and half years with different governments and social institutions in various states.

He informed that this year, the CMGGA will work exclusively on Saksham Haryana, Antyodaya Saral Project, Women Safety, Skilling and Employment, research, e-office and COVID-19 support.

During the interaction the Chief Minister shared his life experiences with the Associates to motivate them to perform better. All the Good Governance Associates also shared their experiences gained by them during their training period. They expressed gratitude to the Chief Minister for providing them with an opportunity to be a part of his team and contribute to the development of the state. They also thanked the Chief Minister for his efficient guidance.