उत्तराखंड जन सेवा मंच

About Mr. Jai Raj
I am Jai Raj. I worked for the Indian Forest Service (Uttarakhand Cadre) for around thirty seven and a half years (my batch being - 1983). I retired from the service in October-2020. I belong to Uttarakhand. I worked at several important positions in the State Government and outside as well. These include - apart from forest and wildlife management, wide fields ranging from advanced medical care of people, being Member of the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) to prevent cruelty to animals to making state action plan for controlling climate change in Uttarakhand! I retired from the top-most position as the PCCF and Head of Forest Force of the Uttarakhand Forest Department. While in service, I worked persistently for improving governance - my USP being empathy for the common-man! My passion has been and continues to be to see improvement in governance where a common man is treated akin to a VIP! I consider the spirit of “service” to humans and other life-forms supreme!!
I have had vast experience in public-governance! I feel that there is a lot of scope in improving the governance in our State and the Country!! My area of interests are spirituality, good-governance, social-welfare, environmental conservation, animal-welfare, motivating young minds, arts and culture etc.

उत्तराखंड जन सेवा मंच (Uttarakhand Public Service Forum)

Uttarakhand is a small Himalayan State. The people of the State are very simple! The idea of carving out a hill state from erstwhile and vast-sized UP was lack of appropriate governance in this region. It took herculean efforts and lots of sacrifices by the people of this region to create Uttarakhand that is now completing around 20 years of its creation.

The question that comes to our mind is whether we have been able to achieve the objectives for which this state was created?

Did we have this in mind seeing where we are at present? Are we heading in the right direction? Are the people of Uttarakhand happy with the governance in the State? If the answer to all these questions is a blatant "NO" then we need to do something about it!

No one can be perfect - I agree! But we need to do much more!!

Causes can be ranging from lack of proper vision, planning, leadership, lack of accountability and corruption with a total apathy for the concerns of the common-man!!!

Civil Society is almost inactive in governance! Barring a few initiatives, the presence of Civil Society is almost nil. An effective Civil Society can contribute significantly in improving the overall governance in the State!

So here I come forward with this Civil Society Movement called the Uttarakhand Jan Seva Manch!

Its aims and objectives :-

To work for the welfare of Society;
To promote conservation of Nature and Environment;
To combat Climate Change;
To conserve Forests and Wildlife
To promote sustainable development
To promote Good Governance by way of having close contact with people and acting as an interface between people and Central Government, State Governments, National/International Organisations and Governments of other Countries
To strive to eradicate corruption in Society
To strive to promote a work-culture in governance that is highly transparent, sensitive, accountable and full of sense of service towards the people; a system that operates without fear or favour and is conducive to promoting honesty and integrity among public servants
To work as a "think-tank" and to invite innovative ideas and promote them to address the long and short-term problems of the people of our country and abroad
To establish an effective connect between upright officers in government and elsewhere (including retired) for improving governance
To motivate the youth, especially the students to contribute positively to the development of our country and beyond including their career counselling
To engage with the State Governments and Central Government in presenting innovative ideas and people's perspective pertaining to developmental planning
To promote well-being of people through education and awareness
To make people aware about the Right to Information, Right to Service, other Legislations & Rules, Governments’ developmental-schemes etc. to optimize public benefits
To mediate (when called upon) between the Governments and the dissatisfied employees taking recourse to strikes affecting public-services
To work for the empowerment of Children, Women and Socially and Economically Backward Classes
To provide financial assistance to economically weaker sections of Society for education, medical treatment etc.
To promote the well-being of not only humans but also of other life-forms
To promote Animal Welfare
To promote Spirituality and Indian Value System for a simple, delightful & contented life having a purpose
To promote Art and Culture
To promote charity for the service of humans and animals
To honour outstanding individuals and organizations who have contributed significantly to well-being of people or/and animals
To attend to problems (including complaints) of the people pertaining to poor public-governance or otherwise
To assist Central Government, State Governments, National/International Organisations and Governments & people of other countries in times of disasters and natural calamities
To file litigations (including Public Interest Litigations) wherever considered necessary
To organize programs and events to fulfil the objectives of the Trust
To collaborate and assist individuals and organizations who have similar objectives
To work for other objectives that are ancillary to the specified objectives of the Trust

The forum will initially focus mainly on issues of Uttarakhand. However, it will gradually encompass national and international issues as it progresses.

I call upon ALL the individuals (including organisations) who have honest intentions, care for the welfare of Uttarakhand and want to make it a State of their dreams where they can feel proud of being an "Uttarakhandi", to come forward and join this initiative!!!

As individuals we can make some difference but if we join hands, we can make a BIG difference!!

Thanks n best!

Jai Raj