Reform Utsav: India's Campaign for Citizen-Led Governance Reforms

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Key takeaways

The Union Government plans to start a three-month campaign called Reform Utsav from October 2, 2026, coinciding with Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary.
Led by Cabinet Secretary T. V. Somanathan, the program aims to systematically turn citizen suggestions into actionable administrative reforms.
The initiative uses AI-assisted processing and a dedicated portal across structured phases including Jan Manthan, Vimarsh, and Samadhan.

The Union Government plans to launch a three-month campaign named Reform Utsav starting October 2, 2026.
This campaign aims to gather feedback from citizens and turn those ideas into practical governance improvements.

The Reform Utsav is a public-driven governance initiative designed to build an official channel for gathering and acting on citizen feedback.
It creates a direct path starting from citizen suggestions to actionable government policy changes and final implementation.

A national coordination committee headed by Cabinet Secretary T. V. Somanathan will oversee the campaign.
State governments will participate by forming state-level committees and appointing nodal officers after consulting Chief Secretaries.
The initiative will last for three months, launching on October 2, 2026, which marks the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

The main goal is to make public participation a regular feature of governance while building a quick system to prioritize and execute administrative reforms.

Under Jan Manthan, citizens can submit ideas through an online portal, public meetings, webinars, and awareness drives.
The government will use Artificial Intelligence to sort citizen feedback, alongside a multilingual call center to help people communicate easily.
During Vimarsh, experts will evaluate suggestions to select quick solution items and prepare detailed plans for larger systemic changes.
Through Samadhan & Sankalp Siddhi, the coordination committee will hold review meetings every two weeks to monitor progress on selected reforms.

This campaign gives citizens an active role in policy making rather than keeping them as passive receivers of public services.
It transforms citizen feedback into trackable actions, strengthening official accountability, transparency, and governance quality.

In GS Paper II, this topic connects to government policies, transparency, e-governance, and civil services.
In GS Paper IV, it provides practical examples of ethical administration, public accountability, and responsive governance.
For essay writing, it serves as a strong case study on technology usage, participatory democracy, and administrative reform.