Centre for Governance & Sustainability issues (CGS) works in the areas of Governance &Sustainability, as a vertical of Management Empowerment Foundation, an emerging global think tank & Non-profit Organization from its current office at Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India.
CGS strives for the Empowerment of State, Society and most importantly “We the People “by utilizing & sharpening the tools & technologies of Management & Public Administration and having Synergy, Harmony & Inclusion at its core values under the Indian Constitutional framework.
We intend to contribute by method of Education, Training & Capacity Building, Policy & Program – Research, Advocacy & Support in an inherently Management based participative approach & in collaboration with all likeminded institutions & stakeholders including Industry, Academia &Governments.
Our Initiatives:
1. Ek Ghanta Tor Bar
In India, over 11lakh aspirants at pan India level appear for Union Public Service Commission (CSE) examination every year. Likewise, over 2.5 lakh aspirants from Chhattisgarh appear for state public commission’s civil service examination (CGPSC) & other related examinations every year. Further, these numbers are continuously on rise.
There are plenty of batches (almost) are running across India and in Chhattisgarh state in various coaching institutes/initiatives, both private and publicly sponsored ones. Out of these very few aspirants make it up to final list.
It is worthwhile mentioning that in these talent pool of aspirants, a large numbers belong to the category of skilled & training professionals from Engineering, Medical, Research, Science, Law and from Agricultural background. Many of these aspirants are also often well trained and experienced in various fields before they enter into the race of civil services preparations. These talented pool of human resources which kept idle in public libraries like ….at Raipur or in the classes and private / coaching etc. and the opportunity of utilizing their talent, competency and potential is often missed by the Industry, Academia and Governments.
Another point of grave concern is the loss of specialized knowledge and skills and domain expertise due to long duration of preparation due to the fact of not being in touch with their core areas and work fields etc. such cases can easily be experienced or seen in our wide pool of civil services aspirant from technical backgrounds like engineers, scientist, even Ph.Ds In fact barring few professionals like doctors (MBBS), the doors for their re-entry to specific fields often becomes narrower with time.
On the other side the students preparing for civil service examination in various district do not get the practical aspects and ground condition understanding of their various part of syllabus. For eg. Governance, Scheme, Socio-economic problems etc.
Chhattisgarh like any other state also has pool of experts and practitioners with specialized knowledge and experience on various fields which form the subject matter or syllabi of civil services (both UPSC, CGPSC and other competitive examinations) in the form of working civil servants, professors, consultants, managers, engineers, doctors, etc who can impart better knowledge to the aspirants with matching competency levels.
Even farmers, tribal or rural women, Nacha performer or old Gayta or Sirhacan give a better insight from their own walk of and experience, like farming pattern and requirement, Chhattisgarhi dishes, festival, ornaments and other cultural aspects. Knowledge of language from rural and local people can further be useful in research of chhattisgarhi language. It can directly help in finding out the Chhattisgarhi words that are getting lost, a project “BIJAHA Program” under the RAJBHASA AYOG. Further information of Chhattisgarhi language spoken in different district via Ek Ghanta Tor Bar platform can help in standardization of Chhattisgarhi, for its inclusion in scheduled 8 language of Indian constitution
But this is not happening due to lack of proper platform for engagement between aspirants of various districts and domain specialists from various walks of life.
“Ek Ghanta Tor Bar” initiative focusses on providing this much needed platform to aspirants and domain specialist. It is conceptualized on the lines of an inherently “Voluntary” and ‘Non-Monetary’ “Time Bank” barter concept. As the name suggest it is idea of providing EK Ghanta (1hour) by domain specialists or persons with relevant knowledge of specific topics of the syllabi to the aspirants on voluntarily basis. Such domain specialists, practitioner or persons can be a Secretary to the government, a district collector, an assistant from the Directorate or District administration or she/he may be a professors of IIT/NIT, agricultural or law university etc. or even may be our Tribal Women or farmers.
To begin with,aspirants from various governmental program/Public coaching / Non profitable initiatives across various districts and public libraries like Harden Prasad Bihari (previously NALANDA parisar), Central library etc at Raipur and other similar Public libraries across various districts are envisaged to be the participants in the proposed “Ek Ghanta Tor Bar” initiative.
The “Ek Ghanta Tor Bar” initiative will be rolled out on both online and offline modes. It would be completely on voluntarily basis. There would be predefined schedule for the discussion which may be identified at the district levels by the administration under coordination and assistance of the MEF/CGS team of coordinators.
The ultimate autonomy and authority for planning and execution would rest with district administration and shall be coordinated by the MEF team. Various session as per the need and demand from students can be provided on daily, weekly or periodic basis by different domain specialist. Initial round of the assistance, mentorship would begin with guidance and support by the MEF/CGS team of coordinators.
The initiative will help in giving understanding of challenges, need and practicality of civil services examination to aspirants. On the other hand, it will also help in inculcating interest areas, engagement and possible domain expertise among the aspirants through regular interactions, engagement and possible internships with experts& practitioners from the field & institutions of prominence in the specific fields.
Students can give their suggestion on various flagship programs and policies like Suraji Gram Yojana, Mukhyamantri Haat bazar yojana, Chhattisgarh new industrial policy, implementation of New education policy etc. They can be invited to join in various Civic Engagement programs, various consultations, Workshops, into Schools e.g Swami Aatmanand Schools and to visit Gauthans etc and may even be offered Internships at various levels and in different institutions including by NGOs /CSOs / Industries and Academia etc.
In the long run, civil service aspirants may aid to the various governance efforts and initiatives while enhancing their own knowledge, interests and expertise enhancing their chances of success into civil services.
Even in unfortunate cases of failure in the exam, aspirants can make impact with their learning from different root also. So over all this will channelize the knowledge and energy of existing youth human resources of our state in growth and development.
Further this pilot project can be extended to different sectors like health, women empowerment, social justice, PRIs & ULB level initiatives etc.
E.g. a gynecologist can give 1-hour time on pregnancy care and day to day problem faces by rural and tribal women living remote area like Sukuma Balrampur etc. which will help state in improve Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) etc. Similarly, different sector needed person can be connected to various domain specialist.
The ultimate aim of the initiative is to bridge the gap between Public (Civil Service Aspirants) and the Industry, Academia and Governments and to secure win-win scenario for both.
On the one hand Aspirants will get high quality mentoring to secure their success, develop areas of interests and engagements for their alternative career options / possible area of expertise as Civil Servants etc. On the other hand, Administration will be aided by public trust, Stronger Public outreach, Civic Engagement and Social Capital. The NGOs /CSOs, Industries and Academia also similarly would benefit from the Aspirants engagement, Internships and will have identified prospective human resources /employees with matching competency and inductions.
In this way, EK Ghanta Tor Bar bears the potential as a milestone in realizing the spirit and dream of Gadhbo Nava Chhattisgarh”.
(2) Study on improving District Level Governance and ranking
Since the creation of Chhattisgarh in 2000, the young state has accomplished several milestones. Chhattisgarh is going to have 33 Districts from 09th September, 2022 and each of these districts have their own contribution in achieving these journey of continuous development.
Many districts have adopted some good practices and also they have some scope of improvement. For eg. Waste management model of Surguja District. Also in the era of e-governance several districts have set which are worth replication by all other peer districts.
The study cum initiative proposes to review of the official websites, social media handles /engagements and some crucial governance aspects of all the districts of Chhattisgarh and through suggestions for improvement and updation to make them elaborate, attractive and more effective. For this a dashboard will be prepared based on over 11 parameters identified / to be identified in consultation with districts /state and other stakeholder’s/key departments/experts etc. It will develop a spirit of comparative and cooperative administration among the districts through sharing and replication/adoption of the best practices/aspects and through continuously improving district websites, social media engagements and e-governance thereby enhancing both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of Governance, Timely Public Service Delivery &Grievance Redressal, Enhanced Transparency & Effective Public Outreach.
Information and statistics/data for on the identified aspects and parameters shall be sourced mainly from district websites on the open data research and sourcing from respective district level departments/agencies. Some identified aspects/parameters having bearing on the governance which may be included in the district websites are:
Along with the above aspects, the quality /efficacy aspect of the public outreach and civic engagement through the social media handles such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram etc. apart from the regular DPR releases shall also be considered for study/evaluation, comparison and improvement through identification of novel aspects/best practices and their replication/adoption by other districts.
The data collected and analysis thereof can serve as the policy inputs and during the implementation stages by the state government, district administration and local /urban local governments at the grass root levels.
In future these parameters can be extended to include more indicators for making detailed parameters. This dashboard can be used for respective ranking of districts and in various areas like social, economic development and for better gender parity etc.
Also on the demand of districts, the efficacy, veracity and the ground level conformance may be gauged through ground level surveys and visits of district headquarter to the block and grass route (Panchayat) levels of Administration. It will help in improving overall effectiveness of the last mile delivery of public services and in bringing the government closure to the people thus strengthening the democracy and governance in the state of Chhattisgarh.
The initiative tries to tap the potential of low hanging fruits for enhancing the efficacy of governance by invoking inherently citizen & administration friendly, participative and competitive spirit among the district administration through exploring the possibility of ranking of the districts based on the identified parameters during the study.
The study and initiative will also gauge the potential of e-governance tools, citizen friendly websites and effective public outreach/civic engagement through the improvement, evaluation and ranking of districts based on social media tools/handles like Facebook, twitter, Instagram etc. The study and pilot phase may also include engagement of the youth, citizenry and community at the grass route levels.
Focused Sectors / Areas/ Issues
Focused locus/specific areas of activity
About Ek Ghanta Tor Bar (One Hour For You)
For Hindi
For English
Coming Soon
