Measures to improve Work Culture and Transparency

PIB News Update: Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar has informed that Several new and innovative measures have been initiated to improve work culture, transparency, accountability and achieve better results during the last 5 years in this Ministry.

To improve work culture, transparency, accountability and achieve better results some new/innovative measures that have been adopted are:

• Use of Information and Communication Technology for compilation, dissemination and submission of information is being done.
• To ensure transparency, online Public Grievance/ Right to Information System/ Bhavishya Portal has been initiated for online disposal of Public Grievance/RTI/Pension matters.

• For clearance of import & export certification of agriculture commodities i.r.o Plant Quarantine, an online Plant Quarantine Information System (PQIS) is being implemented. All guidelines, Standards, SOPs and timelines for clearance of import & export etc. have been uploaded in the public domain.
• For registration of pesticides, a Computerized Registration of Pesticide (CROP) portal is being implemented. Details of The Insecticide Act, 1968, its rules, amendments (if any), details of registered/banned pesticides, pesticides in schedule, minutes of Registration Committee meetings etc. are regularly being updated in the public domain.
• Public Guarantee System (PGS)- India portal for certification of organic produce, Jaivik Kheti Portal for Marketing and one MIS for MOVCDNER scheme are operational.
• PFMS is operational for accounting and bills settlement, purchase is through Government e-Marketplace (GeM) Portal, marking attendance is through biometric machine.
• Observance of Swachatta and keeping office premises neat and clean, ensuring regular sanitization, thermal scanning and oximeter for COVID-19 pandemic protection.
• Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) in Agriculture Mechanization (https://agrimachinery.nic.in) and Centralized Farm Machinery Performance Testing Portal (https:// agrimachinery.nic.in) applications have been developed to improve transparency and accountability in transfer of subsidy amount in beneficiaries account and execution & monitoring of all activities related to testing of agricultural machines at Farm Machinery Training & Testing Institutes at M.P, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Assam.
• The online process of disposal of non-seeds through e-auction from 2019 onwards has been started by National Seeds Corporation (NSC).
• The PoS machines for promoting cashless transactions have been introduced in all our sale counters from December 2016 onwards by NSC.
• E-tenders introduced to purchase seeds which are not available with the Corporation for which e-portal established during 2015-16 onwards by NSC.

The following positive impact has been seen:

• Punctuality of the staff has increased.
• Purchase in the office has become easy and time efficient through Government e-Marketplace (GeM) portal.
• Most public grievances including RTI application/appeals have been disposed off/resolved within the stipulated time frame.
• Various measures taken as described above have created an overall positive impact on all officer/staff and work culture and efficiency has increased over the years.
• Better service delivery to stakeholders including State governments, farmers etc. has been ensured.