#LetstalkGovernance Mr PM

“We have to recognize our internal strength. We all have to march ahead with self-confidence, create our own identity and attain success for oneself and the nation.”

I say: Yes PM. My sentiments exactly.

“A lot of us think that it is the government’s responsibility to do everything…if we want to develop, then 1.2 billion will have to work towards it.”

I say:Yes PM.My questions are:

1.Who identifies problems in your scheme of things?

2.Do we believe that there is a rank order in which problems are to be solved? What’s the value basis for deciding which problem requires a priority solution? Is ranking even the right approach?

3.Who leads the initiative to solve problems? Who follows?

4.Who provides the oversight and management for the initiatives we put in place?

I have been attending the #LetstalkGovernance program at the BJP state office these last few days and have just signed up at mygov.nic. Governance rather than Big Government is very much my thing. But so far I see no attempt to put citizens and citizen groups at the centre of identifying problems and working out their own solutions, with the government and the bureaucracy playing an enabling role.

With the #LetstalkGovernance programs, its about people highlighting problems and suggesting solutions, which are recorded, to later perhaps make it to the BJP Manifesto for the forthcoming elections, if they are deemed workable……..

With the mygov.nic website, its a bunch of contests to suggest names, design logos and solve problems, that are run by various government agencies.

In either case our bureaucrats and other so called experts are still at the centre of deciding what is of public importance, what is workable or feasible or a good idea, irrespective of whether they have any first hand practical experience of the subject matter under discussion. The mygov.nic website is an attempt by the bureaucracy to cheaply outsource designing ,research, google searching and thinking to ordinary citizens, while they still maintain the upper hand and wield the power to veto things.In the existing scheme the government/bureaucracy leads and citizens follow. Volunteerism and public spiritedness are to be exploited as government funds are low.

Mr PM , in a democracy is the bureaucracy not meant to be the tool rather than the master? Aren’t people who originate ideas the most invested in seeing it implemented? Isn’t the real world a better judge of what is a good or bad idea rather than the mind of an expert? And is it right to call on patriotism and volunteerism to solve problems while our bureaucracy draws fixed wages,enjoys job security and engages in guilt free consumerism out of departmental funds?