‘We are now moving away from reactive hiring toward a binding 10-year recruitment calendar, aligned with projected retirements and sanctioned posts’

Our first priority is to create a robust, high-capacity infrastructure that seamlessly connects modern public transport systems with international-standard sports facilities. We aim at not just hosting events successfully, but to leave behind infrastructure that continues to improve everyday urban life long after the Games are over.

We are working closely with the United Nations Environment Programme to align our Air Quality Index with global public health benchmarks. We are also prioritising river rejuvenation to enhance water quality, with special attention to creating conditions suitable for high-quality water-based sporting activities as well as ecological restoration. The experience of successfully managing large crowds during major concerts, festivals and cultural events has given us confidence in handling the scale and complexity of an international sporting event.

While detailed economic impact assessments are being carried out to ensure that investments remain financially responsible and sustainable, Gujarat is working to ensure that the road to 2030 becomes a global benchmark — not just for hosting a sporting event, but for showcasing the idea of a truly Viksit Gujarat.

Of late, your government has been on an aggressive recruitment drive.

Yes. Over the past few years, our government has significantly stepped up recruitment across key sectors involving direct dealing with the public to address long-pending vacancies and strengthen frontline service delivery. I recently (December 23) gave out over 11,000 appointment letters to Lok Rakshak Dal jawans that will help enhance law and order and public safety across the state. This intensified recruitment drive has already yielded tangible results —more than 14,500 teachers have been hired in the past six months to strengthen the education system, over 9,000 ICDS (including anganwadi) workers and helpers have been appointed in the past three months to reinforce nutrition and early childhood services.

While these efforts have helped bridge immediate gaps, we are now moving away from reactive hiring toward a binding 10-year recruitment calendar, aligned with projected retirements and sanctioned posts. This forward-looking system will ensure a steady inflow of regular personnel and help departments plan human resources well in advance, rather than responding only when vacancies become critical.

As recommended by the GARC (Gujarat Administrative Reforms Commission), we are actively considering the creation of a sector-specific institutional mechanism or specialised board, for instance, to address vacancies in the Health and Family Welfare Department. The objective is to progressively reduce vacancy levels to below 10 per cent within a defined time-frame, particularly in essential healthcare services.

For critical frontline roles — such as laboratory technicians, pharmacists, and fire inspectors — the government is examining the feasibility of accelerated backlog clearance models which will help us fill a substantial portion of long-term workforce requirements within a compressed period, helping to quickly address shortages in roles that have a direct impact on public service delivery.

At the same time, the recruitment process itself is being modernised. The government is exploring the adoption of end-to-end digital recruitment systems, covering vacancy requisition, examinations, and appointments. Integration with secure digital platforms is being assessed to enable real-time document verification, significantly reducing recruitment timelines while improving transparency and efficiency.

With projections indicating that nearly 75 per cent of Gujarat’s population will be living in urban areas by 2047, how does your government propose to ensure balance between urban growth and rural development?

Our government follows Narendrabhai’s (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) vision of providing urban-like amenities in rural areas to ensure equitable quality of life. While the GARC report has recommended a shift towards decentralised planning, my government has undertaken measures to strengthen rural infrastructure ensuring villages and rural regions remain strong engines of growth.

This includes universal access to all-weather roads, drinking water, electricity, sanitation, and digital connectivity, with special focus on building of gram panchayats in one phase as efficient service delivery units.

Significant investments are being made in social infrastructure at the grassroots level. Every village is being strengthened with school buildings, while ICDS buildings are being upgraded to support early childhood care and nutrition. In healthcare, the focus spans the entire continuum — from well-equipped PHCs and CHCs in rural areas to tertiary care facilities at the district level, ensuring timely and quality healthcare closer to home.

Rural livelihoods are being strengthened through a combination of skill development, local entrepreneurship, and women-led initiatives. Non-farm employment opportunities in rural regions are being created through ITIs, Centres of Excellence, Green GIDC clusters, Kutir Udyog and so on.

We are also emphasising on women’s economic empowerment through schemes such as Namo Lakshmi (financial support for girl students) Namo Saraswati (scholarships for girl students taking up science). With these measures, we try to ensure that migration becomes a matter of choice rather than compulsion.

You often cite the success of the SWAGAT platform. What is the profile of people coming to SWAGAT? How does your government ensure grievance resolution?

Just the other day (December 24) an aggrieved farmer from Saurashtra who was trying to get compensation for his land that was acquired by the government nine years ago, came to SWAGAT (StateWide Attention on Grievances by Application of Technology). Our inquiry revealed that the government had handed out the compensation to a woman who is not the owner of the land but her name was mistakenly added as a co-owner in the affidavit submitted to the revenue authorities for compensation. We are now in the process of handing the farmer his rightful dues of around Rs 32 lakh while the wrongful compensation case will be handled legally.

SWAGAT was launched in April 2003 during the tenure of Narendrabhai when he was chief minister, with a simple but powerful idea: citizens should be able to put forth their grievances directly before the highest levels of government, without fear, delay, or procedural hurdles. It was meant to reduce the distance between the administration and the citizen… And the mechanism is completely apolitical. Till date, I have not received a single reference from any political representative for redressal or hearing. However, I have often told the district and taluka level concerned authorities to work effectively in order to get the complaints resolved at their level itself. In the past year, till December 25, the statewide SWAGAT received 44153 applications of which over 94 per cent have been disposed of.

These include long-pending land-related matters, agriculture and allied services, and gaps in rural infrastructure — areas where delays or inaction can significantly affect livelihoods and quality of life. This shift has helped ensure that SWAGAT remains relevant to everyday concerns, not just exceptional cases.

To sustain as a transparent and accountable governance model, the platform has evolved over the past 22 year to ensure grievances do not get stuck at any level. Every complaint is assigned a clear time limit for resolution. If it is not addressed within this time-frame at the taluka or district level, the system itself flags the case and escalates it to senior officers for immediate attention — without the citizen having to pursue it repeatedly.

Senior officers now monitor these cases through live digital dashboards, which highlight delayed or sensitive matters in real time. This ensures that no grievance disappears into files or remains confined within departmental boundaries and applicants are updated on its status.

What, according to you, are the game-changing innovations in your systems of administration and governance?

I believe that the key to governance is constant monitoring. We already had the CM Dashboard (an ICT platform launched in 2018) which gives us AI-driven automated alerts and swift feedback routing for proactive interventions, integrating data from across the government departments and sectors. We have a Real Time Performance Measurement System 2.0 (RTMS) which monitors District Collectors’ and District Development Officers’ core activities with segment-wise performance indicators…there is JanSamvad for proactive grievance outreach and satisfaction evaluation, G-PRAGATI for monitoring infrastructure projects above Rs five crore) and News Analysis which highlights issues while distinguishing factual reporting. I have said from public platforms that we always support constructive criticism.

How has your government applied Artificial Intelligence (AI)?

Some of the areas we are using AI are in agriculture for crop monitoring, healthcare for hospital performance analysis under PMJAY, and revenue administration, like early detection of land encroachments. These are practical applications that directly benefit citizens.

Gujarat began working seriously on AI because we see it as a means to improve governance. The idea behind setting up the AI Task Force was to ensure that AI is used in a structured, responsible, and citizen-focused manner, rather than in a scattered or experimental way.

Through the AI Task Force, the government brought together senior officers and leading institutions to identify where AI can actually make a difference and we have prepared a five-year AI Action Plan.

For instance, platforms such as SWAGAT now use AI to analyse grievance patterns, identify recurring issues, and support faster escalation and resolution. The CM Dashboard uses AI-based analytics to flag delays, highlight trends, and enable timely intervention at the leadership level. G-SAAR, an AI-enabled document retrieval system, helps officers quickly access rules, resolutions, and circulars, improving clarity and consistency in decision-making.

At the same time, Gujarat is investing in the future through initiatives like the AI Centre of Excellence at GIFT City…The guiding principle remains clear: AI is a support system, not a replacement for human judgment. Officers remain accountable for decisions, while AI helps them act faster, plan better, and deliver more
transparent and responsive governance.

Why is your government stressing on regional development of late? How will it ensure inclusive and balanced development across regions?

We are using the Niti Aayog’s 2024 Surat Economic Masterplan for development as a reference point, because the idea is to move away from a one-size-fits-all model and instead prepare development plans that reflect the unique strengths and aspirations of each region – thus GRIT (Gujarat Rajya Institution for Transformation) initiative, our own think tank modelled on NITI Aayog has identified five major economic regions (in Gujarat).

These regional plans were formally launched on October 9, 2025 at Mehsana Vibrant Gujarat Regional Conference and now serve as a strong foundation for Gujarat’s future economic planning. Each plan takes a close look at regional strengths, identifies growth drivers, and maps out investment opportunities. Together, they include more than 600 actionable projects aligned with the broader vision of Viksit Gujarat@2047.

Moving forward, on December 9 we issued a GR (government resolution) appointing coordinators for these regional masterplans.

At the grassroots level, the government is strengthening the MLA Local Area Development Scheme (LADS) to ensure quicker fund release and better utilisation. The focus is on projects that have a direct and visible impact on citizens’ daily lives—such as drinking water, local roads, sanitation, and community facilities—so that development is felt at the constituency level.

How do you see women become a part of Gujarat’s development story?

Through the flagship WEstart (pre-incubation programme for women by i-Hub, a Gujarat government initiative to promote student start-ups) we have supported 196 women-led startups, constituting nearly 30 per cent of total assisted startups, where we provide mentoring, co-working space, financial aid, and industry connections to foster job
creation and economic contributions.

For broader MSME empowerment, schemes such as the Mukhyamantri Mahila Utkarsh Yojana (MMUY) we offer interest-free loans up to Rs 1 lakh per group to women’s Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and Joint Liability Groups, enabling micro-enterprises and financial independence in rural and urban areas. Till date Gujarat has 5.96 lakh Lakhpati Didis under the Central scheme.

We are planning four new innovation hubs in Vadodara, Surat, Rajkot, and Mehsana, complementing the existing i-Hub in Ahmedabad to support over 16,000 active startups statewide. Our vision aligns with ‘Viksit Gujarat’ and national goals of women-led development, aiming for higher workforce participation, inclusive growth, and empowering women to drive Gujarat’s entrepreneurial future.