Column: Even Symbolic Gestures Are Important

By Ashutosh Mishra

Bhubaneswar: Newspapers have reported about tourism minister, Jyoti Prakash Panigrahi standing in a queue with other patients at the Bhima Bhoi Medical College and Hospital, Bolangir, recently to consult doctors for an orthopaedic problem. The minister, who was on a visit to the hospital to review the facilities as part of state government’s “Mo Sarkar” initiative, decided against flaunting his power which he could easily have done to get out of turn attention of any number of doctors at the hospital.

It is easy to dismiss such acts by politicians as stunts to seek favourable publicity. But even if one assumes, for argument sake, that the minister was only making a show of being a commoner his gesture has a symbolic value and is likely to enhance both his personal image and that of the government he represents.   Such gestures are important.

It is significant to note that ministers and ruling party politicians have started behaving more responsibly and politely towards general public following the launch of Mo Sarkar, an initiative to bring the government closer to people. With chief minister, Naveen Patnaik himself monitoring the progress of the scheme, a part of his wider 5T initiative, they cannot afford to put a step wrong at the moment as far as their dealings with the general public is concerned.

It is heartening to note that ministers and bureaucrats continue to visit hospitals and other such facilities to assess the quality of both service and infrastructure. Their visits will not only inspire confidence among people but also ensure regular feedbacks which will be of use in improving services.  Slowly but steadily more and more government departments are being brought under the purview of Mo Sarkar which being the favourite scheme of the chief minister is being taken seriously both by ministers and bureaucrats.

The best part of it all is that while public representatives, specially ruling party ministers, MLAs and MPs, are realising for the first time the importance of getting in touch with people at the grassroots and getting their feedback, an effort is actually being made to improve services everywhere. At least a beginning has been made. Now what is needed is close monitoring from the top. That is the only way of ensuring the success of this laudable initiative.

That something like Mo Sarkar was in the offing had become clear soon after the elections when chief minister, Naveen Patnaik held his first meeting with the newly-elected MLAs and sought to impress upon them, especially upon the first time MLAs, the need for reaching out to common people and understand their problems. He had also told them categorically that they should bring to his notice the problems which they failed to solve on their own.

Going a step forward now the government is also trying to involve people in this initiative. This will help it get direct feedback from them and take corrective measures where necessary. Such efforts are laudable considering that any government in order to be successful should be able to turn people into stakeholders in true sense of the term.

(DISCLAIMER: This is an opinion piece. The views expressed are the author’s own and have nothing to do with OTV’s charter or views. OTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same)