Hey, Govt ! do you mean Monologue or Dialogue ?

 

 

Context :

GoM lays out plan for govt’s media outreach     /  HT  /  02 Dec 2020

Extract :

Ø  The Union government is working on a new strategy to overhaul its media and public outreach, with a group of ministers (GoM) comprising nine Union ministers recommending a focus on 10 key areas as well as detailing ways in which criticism can be addressed and positive messaging can be spread wider.

Ø  “The deliberations of the GoM focused on evolving multipronged strategy to take these 10 big narratives to the people by various means including direct connect by elected representatives and state and district level representatives, engaging with media houses and academia at national and international level, utilising all types of media, feeding them with positive stories and testimonials, developing institutional mechanisms for structured engagements, developing DD International on lines of best international public broadcasters and strengthening a resource pool of domain experts,” the report said.

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Dear Narendrabhai,

 

At the outset, you – and your Ministers – must be congratulated for trying to reach out to our 1.3 billion citizen, with messages of the REFORMS that your Government is undertaking

The strategy proposed above will make it even easier to convey your messages to people ( in all major Indian languages, I suppose )

But that would be a MONOLOGUE ( one way communication )

What is lacking is a DIALOGUE ( people being able to send their VIEWS on various matters to the CONCERNED govt officers / ministers, AND getting a response within some stipulated time – explaining govt stand / action being taken by xyz date )

If you want to know :

“ What holds back people to send their views ? “

Answer :

When I want to complain about some matter of ( bad ) governance, first of all, I have no idea as to WHO ( which officers – by their NAMES and DESIGNATIONS ) is responsible

May be, like me, one-in-a-million person would take the trouble to uncover this information

Next question is :

“ What is the E-Mail ID / Phone Number / Twitter page of that Govt officer / MPs / MLAS ? “

Answer :

Even for a person with a Smartphone – tablet – desktop and a good broadband connection, etc., this is a nearly IMPOSSIBLE task !

 [ 95 % of our citizen lack such facility ]

I know, since I search for such CONTACT INFO, for at least ONE HOUR, every day !

If in doubt, please try searching for such CONTACT INFO on any government portal

On WWW, there is nothing more frustrating !

You may ask :

“ what is the solution ? “

In good old days ( I am sure, you would remember ), Telephone Department used to publish city-wise TELEPHONE DIRECTORIES

Please consider publishing TWEETER PAGE /  E-MAIL ID DIRECTORIES ( of course, with relevant Phone Numbers ) of govt officers, as follows :

Ø  Central Government Departments / Central PSUs / Agencies

Ø  State Government Departments / State PSUs / Agencies

Ø  City wise

If it is not feasible to print / distribute HARD COPIES, then consider a govt portal exclusively devoted to such CONTACT INFO ( easier to update – add – delete – edit ), with an intuitive SEARCH INTERFACE

MOST IMPORTANT FEATURE of such a portal :

Just clicking / touching on NAME of any officer would open up a E-MAIL app with a message box, where a person can either TYPE or VOICE-RECORD his complaint / message. Clicking on PHONE NUMBER would dial / connect him to concerned officer , where he can record his suggestion ( Speech – to – Text technology ? )

For the benefit of millions of citizen without access to internet / devices, you may consider publishing such CONTACT INFO in print News Papers at the rate of one DEPT per day

Since such CONTACT INFO would fall under the category " News You Can Use " and will be greatly valued by the readers, I am sure print media would be happy to download pages from the govt portal and print it for FREE - at no cost to the government ! 

For the Government, it would not require any convincing the News Papers to publish such CONTACT INFO as a " Value Added Service " - which, in turn, would vastly increase their CIRCULATION - and the consequent ADVERTIZING REVENUE ! 

Let citizen tear off and preserve those DAILY CONTACT SHEETS in a file

These DAILY PUBLICATIONS ( one full page / no more , for ease of preserving ) could begin with ENGLISH , followed by HINDI and other languages

My suggestion would lead to a TRUE DIALOGUE between Govt and Citizen

Even if we cannot accept it as a Constitutionally guaranteed FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT, it is high time, we make it absolutely easy to to exercise their,

Right  to  Influence  Policy  Makers ( click for User Interface design )

You may also consider launching :

     I SIN > < U SIN ( 12 Dec 2012 )

 

With regards,

Hemen Parekh  /  hcp@RecruitGuru.com  /  16 April 2021

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Related Reading :

>   Needed : a Service Liability Act        (  12  June  2019  )