Haryana Reform Utsav: Citizen-driven governance push from October to December
Synopsis
Haryana is formalising citizen participation in governance through Reform Utsav — a three-stage programme running October to December that moves public suggestions through Jan Manthan, Vimarsh, and Jan Samadhan before converting them into tracked, implemented reforms. A live dashboard will make every step publicly visible, raising the accountability bar above typical consultation exercises.
Key Takeaways
Haryana government under CM Nayab Singh Saini is launching Reform Utsav , a citizen-driven governance initiative.
The programme runs from October to December 2025 , with the preparation phase beginning in August .
A State Action Plan must be finalised by 10 September .
The initiative operates through three stages: Jan Manthan (idea collection), Vimarsh (departmental review), and Jan Samadhan (implementation).
A dedicated website and live dashboard will track suggestions and display real-time reform status.
A state coordination committee led by Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi will oversee the entire process.
The Haryana government, led by Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, is gearing up to launch Reform Utsav, a structured citizen-participation initiative designed to channel public suggestions directly into governance reforms. Preparations are already underway, with the programme scheduled to run from October to December 2025, covering every village, town, and community across the state.
Preparations and Timeline
Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi on Tuesday reviewed the groundwork for the initiative, stressing the need for a clear, time-bound mechanism to ensure that citizen suggestions move beyond documentation and translate into concrete, implemented reforms. The preparation phase begins this month, with awareness drives across departments and a State Action Plan due by 10 September.
How Reform Utsav Will Work
Commissioner and Secretary (Industries and Commerce) Amit Kumar Agrawal outlined that the initiative will operate through three sequential stages. The first, Jan Manthan, invites citizens to submit reform ideas via a dedicated Reform Utsav website and through community outreach programmes. The second stage, Vimarsh, sees government departments evaluate submissions and identify proposals capable of driving system-wide improvements. The third stage, Jan Samadhan, focuses on swift rollout of quick-win reforms while simultaneously laying the groundwork for more complex, structural changes.
Governance Structure and Oversight
A state coordination committee headed by the Chief Secretary will oversee cross-departmental collaboration, track progress, and course-correct as needed. State and district-level contact points will coordinate with departments and amplify local outreach. A dedicated website and live dashboard will aggregate suggestions, display the status of proposals selected for action, and provide real-time updates on reforms at both state and national levels.
What It Means for Citizens
The initiative is framed as a bottom-up movement intended to make governance simpler and more results-driven. By providing a transparent, trackable pathway from public feedback to policy action, the Haryana government aims to move away from consultation exercises that end with collected opinions and no visible follow-through. This comes amid a broader national trend of state governments launching participatory governance frameworks, though the three-stage structure with a public dashboard marks a more formalised approach than most.
With the State Action Plan deadline set for 10 September and the campaign itself running through December, the coming weeks will test whether departmental buy-in matches the ambition of the framework.
Point of View
However, is departmental compliance: India's history of participatory governance schemes is littered with well-designed frameworks that stalled at the Vimarsh equivalent, where bureaucratic inertia quietly buries inconvenient public proposals. The 10 September State Action Plan deadline is an early indicator to watch — if departments miss it or submit boilerplate plans, the October launch risks becoming a high-visibility campaign with low-impact outcomes. Haryana's political context also matters: with the Saini government keen to project responsive governance, Reform Utsav carries electoral optics alongside its administrative intent.
NationPress
11 Aug 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Haryana's Reform Utsav initiative?
Reform Utsav is a citizen-participation programme launched by the Haryana government under Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, designed to collect public suggestions on governance and convert them into implemented reforms. It runs from October to December 2025 and operates through three stages: Jan Manthan, Vimarsh, and Jan Samadhan.
What are the three stages of Reform Utsav?
The three stages are Jan Manthan, where citizens submit reform ideas online and through community outreach; Vimarsh, where departments evaluate and shortlist high-impact proposals; and Jan Samadhan, where quick reforms are rolled out and complex changes are planned. Each step is tracked on a dedicated public dashboard.
When does the Reform Utsav preparation phase begin?
The preparation phase begins in August 2025, with departmental awareness drives underway and a State Action Plan due by 10 September. The main campaign runs from October to December 2025.
Who is overseeing Reform Utsav?
A state coordination committee headed by Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi will guide the initiative, ensure inter-departmental collaboration, and monitor progress. State and district-level contact points will support local outreach.
How can citizens participate in Reform Utsav?
Citizens can submit their governance reform suggestions through the dedicated Reform Utsav website during the Jan Manthan phase. The website will also display live updates on which suggestions have been selected for action and the status of ongoing reforms.
