Noting efforts to reach out to people : Throwing open the doors
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: October 24 2018 -
The efforts to reach out to the people cannot be missed. After the BJP led coalition Government was sworn in, one cannot help but see the starkly visible changes brought about by N Biren Singh as the Chief Minister of the State.
Throwing open the gate of the official residence of the Chief Minister, one may say and this is clearly visible in the manner in which the doors of the Chief Minister were flung open for the public to have a one to one meet with the Chief Minister himself every Meeyamgi Numit and Hill Leaders’ Day.
Moreover it remains that the office of the Chief Minister did suddenly become much more approachable, a visible change from the days when the Congress was in power and to the media professionals this must have come as a welcome change.
In other words the Chief Minister no longer lives in an ivory tower which is off limits and this is something which must have gone down well with the people.
Maybe taking a cue from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister too appears to be active on the social media and it is not uncommon for the Chief Minister himself to send messages/information to the media houses via social media sites such as Whatsapp.
This new approach is something very different from the previous Government and not once in the 15 years tenure of the Congress did the then Chief Minister take it upon himself to personally get in touch with the media houses, read Editors and senior reporters.
This trend or rather practise seems to have become history as N Biren is today deemed to be much more approachable keeping his doors open to the media and indirectly the people.
Trying to project a totally different image from the previous regime and N Biren seems to have succeeded to a large extent.
This may best be exemplified by the rousing welcome accorded to the Chief Minister and his Council of Ministers when they visited Ukhrul by road last year.
Same too with the visit to Churachandpur, Senapati, Kangpokpi, Tamenglong etc.
The BJP led Government too has taken up a number of projects meant for the people such as CMgi Hakselgi Tengbang (Health assistance), Go to village, Go to hills, CMgi Sotharabasingi Tengbang (Assistance to the poor and needy), Lairik Tamhansi (Offering equal opportunities to all to study).
All impressive initiatives, but it also remains that much more will depend on how far the steps taken up by the BJP led Government has been able to address the needs of the people at the grassroot level.
The question is whether the BJP led Government has been keeping a tab on how much the new initiatives have gone in addressing the need of the people.
Have any mechanisms been put in place to study whether the schemes launched by the Government reach the intended target or not.
How much have the new steps impacted on the lives of the common people ?
Some more time may be needed to satisfactorily answer these questions, but these are questions which the Government should not lose sight of.
All the steps mentioned here are meant to be for the welfare of the people, and it is only right that strict follow up checks are conducted to make them meaningful.
The answers to this will most probably be reflected in the coming Lok Sabha elections.
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