For dealing with the challenges posed by COVID-19 lockdown, the Uttar Pradesh government has now accelerated the process of implementation of ease of doing business (EODB) reforms at district level.
In a government order issued here on Thursday, all district magistrates have been directed to ensure effective implementation of ease of doing business reforms in their respective districts. All 75 districts will be ranked every month on the basis of marks earned on three parameters, viz. district-wise time-bound disposal of applications received on single window portal-Nivesh Mitra for getting approvals or licences by entrepreneurs, ‘Satisfactory’ feedback of Nivesh Mitra user; and timely grievance redressal status of the district.
It may be noted that district magistrates chair the district-level Udyog Bandhu meetings and have been provided with user ID and passwords to monitor the applications and their disposal on Nivesh Mitra.
UP’s Industrial Development Minister Satish Mahana said the government was confident that on the back of district-level ease of doing business ranking initiative, Uttar Pradesh would see an equally impressive entrepreneurs’ facilitation at grassroots level in the state.
“As the state government is gearing up to transform the current challenges into opportunities of bringing in reforms for inclusive development, it is crucial that these reforms are implemented and visible on ground at all levels of governance, including districts,” he added.
Infrastructure & Industrial Development Commissioner Alok Tandon said that this step would encourage the spirit of business competitiveness amongst the districts, which would further act as a catalyst in improving the doing business ranking for the state of Uttar Pradesh, as the ranking would be based on the feedback of entrepreneurs and investors this year.
Tandon said, “Along with other initiatives like creation of new investment promotion and facilitation agency, appropriate policy interventions and timely implementation of ease of doing business reforms at state level, it is imperative to ensure efficient execution of reforms at district level to create a conducive environment for industries and investors.”
He said that the ranking of the districts had been conceptualised in two broad categories. The first category would include districts that receive more than 2,000 applications on Nivesh Mitra for seeking clearances for setting up or running of units and the other category would comprise of remaining districts.
According to the February 2020 data, there were 17 districts that received over 2,000 applications on Nivesh Mitra. They include Bulandshahr, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Muzaffarnagar, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Agra, Saharanpur, Mathura, Bareilly, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Meerut, Hapur, Kanpur and Moradabad.
It is pertinent to mention here that the single window portal of the state – Nivesh Mitra — is also part of Ease of Doing Business reforms. Upgraded version of Nivesh Mitra was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the UP Investors’ Summit in February 2018. Now, 146 services of 20 departments are available through Nivesh Mitra.
Creditably, UP was placed in the ‘Achievers’ category in ease of doing business rankings released by the Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade (DPIIT), Government of India, for implementation of Business Reform Action Plan 2017-18 . Uttar Pradesh was ranked 12th amongst the Indian states with 92.89 per cent score.
UP is among the top five performing states in six of the 12 reform areas namely: single window system, land availability & allotment, environmental registration enablers, obtaining utility permits, paying taxes and access to information & transparency enablers.