27th Secretariat Reforms Report Jan 2026: Institutionalizing Administrative Excellence
SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions | SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production | SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) | Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) has released the 27th edition of the ‘Secretariat Reforms’ report, highlighting a cumulative revenue of ₹4,405.28 crore generated from scrap disposal since 2021. The January 2026 report showcases significant progress in institutionalizing cleanliness and operational efficiency, with ₹200.21 crore earned from scrap sales in the December 2025–January 2026 period alone. Administrative delayering has successfully reduced average transaction levels from 7.19 in 2021 to 4.31 as of January 2026, while 93.81% of all files created during the month were digital. This edition focuses on “Waste to Wealth” best practices, featuring the Department of Health and Family Welfare (DH&FW) and emphasizing Cabinet Secretariat directions for 100% e-Office adoption.
Key Pillars of Secretariat Reforms (January 2026)
Swachhata & Pendency Reduction: Conducting cleanliness drives at 5,188 sites, freeing up 4.34 lakh sq. ft of office space, and weeding out 81,322 physical files.
Efficiency in Decision Making: Implementing delayering initiatives to minimize transaction levels and streamline file movements.
e-Office Implementation: Achieving 95.29% e-Receipts adoption, with 15 Ministries achieving a 100% share of digital receipts.
Waste to Wealth Best Practices: Converting scrap materials into useful assets, such as benches from waste packing materials at the National Centre for Biological Sciences.
Grievance Redressal Excellence: Disposing of 5,57,852 public grievances in January 2026, maintaining a 90.41% total disposal rate.
What is “Delayering”? Delayering is an administrative reform aimed at reducing the number of hierarchical levels through which a file must pass before a decision is reached. By minimizing these “distinct transaction levels”—which have dropped from 7.19 to 4.31—the government ensures faster decision-making and reduces bureaucratic friction. This process is intrinsically linked to the e-Office transition, as digital workflows allow for flatter, more transparent communication channels that bypass redundant middle-management layers, thereby directly increasing the “Efficiency in Decision Making”.
Policy Relevance
For India, this report marks a transition from “Paper-Based Bureaucracy” to “Agile Digital Governance,” prioritizing speed and resource recovery in the central administration.
Administrative Friction Reduction: By reducing transaction levels to 4.31, the DARPG is directly addressing the “Path Dependency” of slow file movement, enabling faster execution of infrastructure and social welfare schemes.
Non-Tax Revenue Generation: The ₹4,405 crore cumulative scrap revenue demonstrates that the Ministry of Personnel has turned routine cleanliness into a significant fiscal instrument for institutional maintenance.
Digital-First Compliance: Achieving nearly 94% e-File creation ensures that the Cabinet Secretariat’s directions on 100% e-Office adoption are moving toward “Implementation Fidelity” across all 65 Ministries.
Optimizing Government Real Estate: Freeing 4.34 lakh sq. ft of office space allows the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to optimize prime central government real estate for modern digital workstations rather than file storage.
Public Grievance Saturation: The disposal of 5.5 lakh grievances monthly ensures that the DARPG’s grievance redressal mechanisms are providing a responsive, citizen-centric interface for the world’s fastest-growing economy.
Operationalizing “Waste to Wealth”: Earning ₹4,405 crore from scrap ensures that administrative cleanliness is a self-sustaining economic activity.
Follow the full update here: 27th Edition of Secretariat Reforms Report