Maharashtra’s pending grievance count doubled in 2 years. UP handles complaints far better |
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Maharashtra’s pending grievance count doubled in 2 years. UP handles complaints far better
For the first time, a sitting government is publicly scoring its ministries on how fast they clear files, respond to Cabinet notes, and resolve citizens' grievances.
Cabinet Secretary TV Somanathan presented ministerial performance rankings to the Council of Ministers on 21 May 2026, in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it marked something new in Indian governance: a sitting government publicly scoring its ministries on how fast they clear files, respond to Cabinet notes, and resolve citizens’ grievances.
The PM’s message was clear: there is no room for delay or lethargy. The exercise raises a harder question than it answers—not which ministries did well, but why the gaps exist at all, and whether this scorecard has the institutional teeth to close them.
To further shed light on the issue, we analyse the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions data from 2022 to early 2026, covering all states and central ministries with more than 1,000 pending grievances. Let’s start with the states that most demand attention.
The Maharashtra-UP paradox
Between 2023 and 2025, Maharashtra’s pending grievance count went from roughly 14,600 to nearly 30,000—almost doubling in two years. This did not happen because citizens filed more complaints. The state received a broadly consistent 40,000-46,000 grievances each year. Its disposal machinery simply slowed—Maharashtra barely cleared 54 per cent of total grievances in 2025. Every unresolved case carries forward, compounding with new intake to create a backlog that grows independent of demand.
Contrast this with Uttar Pradesh, which received 3,04,907........