On April 21, Odisha turned a new page in its governance model. Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi and his cabinet sat down in Sambalpur for a day-long Jana Sunani or public grievance hearing, with senior officials from all departments in attendance. For the first time in the state’s history, the people had the chief minister and his ministers coming to them to listen to their problems. Majhi gave a patient hearing to many of the 2,400 people who turned up and instructed officials to address their issues at the earliest. He walked up to the elderly and those in wheelchairs. Financial assistance of Rs 19.50 lakh was announced for 18 critically ill people on the spot. Team Majhi’s next scheduled stop is the southern city of Berhampur.
The decision to move Jana Sunani sessions out of the capital and to the districts marks a welcome shift towards making the government accessible. It is also a sharp departure from the manner in which the government was run for 24 years under Naveen Patnaik, who hardly held grievance hearings despite having a dedicated Chief Minister’s Grievance Cell; his last public interaction at the Cell was way back in 2008. In contrast, Majhi revived the defunct Cell immediately after assuming power. Since the launch of Jana Sunani last July, nearly 9,500 grievances have been received, with 88 percent of them reportedly resolved.
The move can be read in two parts. One, as a genuine attempt to decentralise governance and make the administration more responsive to the people. With the CM himself taking the government to the people’s doorstep, layers of alienation are removed and the local administrative apparatus is compelled to act with greater sensitivity and urgency. This is also a clear approach by Majhi to establish himself as what he proclaims to be—‘the people’s CM’—as against Naveen who was aloof and detached. Two, it is a calculated move to rein in the bureaucracy which had taken absolute control during the Patnaik regime, and restore the political leadership’s upper hand.
Either way, this is a promising step on both the governance and political fronts. Close engagement with the public would make the government understand their real needs and expectations in a better manner. Politically, the ruling dispensation will keep a finger on the pulse.