New Delhi: The Central government on Tuesday said that 2025 marked a major transformation in the way government functions, with extensive use of technology making administration faster, more efficient and citizen-centric. According to the government, simplified procedures and digital systems have reduced delays and improved the ease of living for citizens. The government said the year was dedicated to governance reforms, drawing on lessons from the past decade to simplify processes, strengthen accountability and improve efficiency.

The focus remained on ensuring ease of living for citizens and smoother internal functioning across ministries, alongside creating a more supportive working environment for government officials. Commenting on the reforms, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Jitendra Singh said 2025 was specifically devoted to governance reforms with the objective of improving ease of living for citizens and ease of working within government.

He said the reforms were guided by experiences of the last ten years, with an emphasis on simplifying procedures, removing outdated rules and adopting a more practical and technology-driven approach. Singh said while technology played a critical role in speeding up administration, innovation in thinking, wider public participation, transparent feedback systems and real-time monitoring were equally important in strengthening accountability and efficiency.

Technology emerged as a key enabler of the shift, supported by innovation in administrative thinking. The government expanded its outreach across regions and communities to encourage greater public participation in governance. Multi-channel feedback systems, technology-driven monitoring and recognition mechanisms were introduced to ensure transparency and objective evaluation of initiatives.

Reducing vacancies and improving recruitment was identified as a major priority. Since 2022, large-scale recruitment drives through Rozgar Melas have been organised to speed up hiring. A total of 17 such events have been held so far, during which around 11 lakh appointment letters were issued. Three of these employment fairs were conducted in 2025 to accelerate recruitment and involve new employees directly in governance and public service delivery.

Structural reforms in recruitment agencies have helped shorten hiring timelines. The Union Public Service Commission simplified applications through Aadhaar-based one-time registration and launched a portal to share profiles of candidates who reached the interview stage but were not finally selected. This has allowed ministries and public sector employers to identify capable candidates based on skills and suitability, rather than exam ranks alone. The Staff Selection Commission has fully digitised the recruitment process, introduced Aadhaar-based and facial recognition systems for identity verification, moved feedback mechanisms online and reduced result declaration timelines.

As a result, the overall recruitment cycle has been cut from one to two years to about eight to nine months. The government has also expanded the e-Human Resource Management System, which now covers over seven lakh employees across 290 organisations. The platform provides end-to-end digital services such as leave management, reimbursements and approvals, and has been integrated with the Bhavishya pension portal and the Public Financial Management System for direct processing of retirement benefits.

An upgraded mobile app allows employees to electronically access and process retirement-related claims. Other initiatives include an AI-based recruitment rules generator to speed up approvals, consolidation of service-related instructions through a master circular, the launch of the e-Civil List 2025 for IAS officers, and expansion of the iGOT-Karmayogi platform, which now has over 1.45 crore government employees enrolled and offers more than 4,100 online courses in 23 languages with AI-based learning tools.

Improvements were also reported in grievance redressal and dispute resolution. Under Mission Karmayogi, civil services training has shifted from a rules-based to a role-based model. As of September 2025, the Central Administrative Tribunal had disposed of nearly 93 per cent of its backlog of around nine lakh cases through digitisation, e-filing and advanced information systems.

Over the past year, more than 20 lakh grievances were registered and resolved on the CPGRAMS portal, with the total number of users crossing 30 lakh. The average time for grievance disposal in central ministries has come down to 15 days, aided by real-time monitoring tools for senior officials. Governance reforms are also being pursued through the Citizen Centric Services II programme, launched in 2020, which aims to fully digitise citizen-focused service delivery across ministries and departments. The government said the programme promotes accountability, citizen participation and uniform service standards.

India has increased its global engagement in governance reforms, hosting the International Institute of Administrative Sciences conference in February 2025, which saw participation from representatives of 58 countries. India was elected president of the organisation during the event, reinforcing its position in governance innovation.

At the domestic level, initiatives such as the National Awards for e-Governance and the National e-Service Delivery Assessment have encouraged improvements in digital governance. The number of e-services has risen to around 24,000, with 13 states and Union Territories achieving full saturation of mandatory services. In the pension sector, a record 1.68 crore digital life certificates were submitted during the Digital Jeevan Pramaan Campaign 4.0 in November 2025, with over one crore using facial recognition technology. The Bhavishya portal now covers 99 ministries and more than 90 per cent of pensioners, fully digitising the pension application and payment process.