Haryana is gearing up for ‘Reform Utsav’, a major citizen-driven initiative aimed at giving people a direct and meaningful role in shaping governance reforms. Chief Secretary Anurag Rastogi on Tuesday reviewed the preparations and emphasised the need for a clear, structured and time-bound mechanism to ensure that genuine suggestions received from citizens are not merely recorded but converted into actionable reforms and taken through to implementation.
Scheduled from October to December 2026, ‘Reform Utsav’ will empower citizens to highlight issues in government processes and propose solutions that benefit entire communities, an official statement said. The bottom-up movement is designed to make governance smarter, simpler and results-driven. The preparation phase will begin in August, including raising awareness among departments and preparing the State Action Plan, which is due by September 10. Haryana plans to extend the reform drive from the state capital to villages, towns and communities, opening the initiative to widespread citizen participation.
Commissioner and Secretary, Industries and Commerce, Amit Kumar Agrawal said the initiative will operate through three principal stages — ‘Jan Manthan’, ‘Vimarsh’ and ‘Jan Samadhan’. During Jan Manthan, citizens will contribute reform ideas through the Reform Utsav website and extensive community outreach. In the Vimarsh stage, government departments will sift through the suggestions and select those capable of bringing significant, system-wide improvements. Jan Samadhan will focus on quickly implementing simpler reforms while laying the groundwork for more complex changes.
Agrawal said the process was designed to ensure that the exercise does not end with merely collecting opinions. Suggestions will move from feedback to discussion and eventually action, with progress transparently tracked on the Reform Utsav website.
A State Coordination Committee, headed by the Chief Secretary, will guide the initiative, coordinate among departments, monitor progress and make changes wherever necessary. The framework also provides for state and district-level contact points to coordinate with departments and strengthen local outreach. A dedicated website and dashboard will collect suggestions, track those selected for action and provide live updates on reforms at the state and national levels.
The most visible phase of the campaign is proposed to begin on October 2, when Jan Manthan Sabhas will be held in every panchayat. The sabhas will bring citizens and district officials together, with MPs, MLAs, Deputy Commissioners, SPs and other senior officials and public representatives joining the local discussions.
Help desks managed by MY Bharat volunteers and Common Service Centres will enable citizens to submit their suggestions on the spot. Director, Information, Public Relations, Languages and Culture, Aditya Dahiya said the campaign will tap into an extensive outreach network involving village councils, local gatherings, schools, women’s self-help groups, farmer collectives, traders, factories, cooperatives and resident welfare associations. Online and mass-media campaigns, along with social media, local radio, television, WhatsApp and SMS messages, will be used to widen the campaign’s reach and support on-ground efforts.
A key feature of Reform Utsav will be separating individual grievances from reform ideas capable of bringing systemic change. The plan lays down five tests to determine whether a suggestion qualifies as a reform. It should have broad applicability, address the root cause of a systemic problem, bring about future change, be repeatable or scalable, and provide a positive way forward.
From October 10 to November 30, departments will examine the suggestions and classify actionable ideas into quick wins and medium-term reforms. Quick wins will be implemented immediately, while medium-term reforms will be accompanied by clear implementation plans. Proposals requiring coordination among multiple departments will be referred to the State Coordination Committee for review.
The Jan Samadhan phase, scheduled from October 10 to December 20, will focus on translating selected proposals into action. Progress on quick-win reforms will be updated on the website, while implementation plans for medium-term reforms will be shared publicly. The initiative will conclude with ‘Sankalp Siddhi’ from December 25 to 27, during which the government will showcase successful reforms, share best practices and present data on the campaign’s impact.