India’s Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan (IAS:1987:TN) has come out with a directive asking all Union Secretaries and Chief Secretaries to document best practices of ‘innovative governance’ in order toinstitutionalize administrative excellence.
Somanathan, in his letter to Secretaries of Union Govt and Chief Secretaries of states and Union Territories, has emphasized that the “immense experience” of bureaucrats in this country holds significant value for the nation and hence it is desirable that good practices or learnings of wider applicability are documented and made available to other officers. This will encourage cross-learning and improve governance,” the letter says.
The study to be conducted under the National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG) aims to transform individual success stories as models for public administration across the country.
The officers belonging to All India as well as State services have been asked to submit their entries by May 31, 2026. To ensure inclusivity and ease of expression, the govt has introduced several criteria: officers can submit notes in any language- English, Hindi, or regional; the notes must be typed and limited to a maximum of seven pages. Entries can cover any area of public administration, ranging from simple workflow tweaks to massive digital transformations.
Direct entries are to be emailed to goodpractices.ncgg@gov.in.
The govt has outlined a rigorous multi-tier vetting process under which the NCGG will first examine the notes for relevance and significance. It will be followed by independent verification of claims made in the submissionn. A high-level panel of senior officers in the Cabinet Secretariat will conduct the final review and selected practices will then be uploaded to the official portals of the Cabinet Secretariat and the NCGG as a reference guide for peers.
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