United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

Redtapism was in full swing in Kerala state which leads to complain at brutal level. The most affected peoples were the middle and below middle class. The enforcement of law at many sectors has become a hurdle as the common men were exploited by way of corruption by government offices.
Complaints about government officers was not entertained properly by the senior or other relevant government officers. People were to subject themselves to the corrupted bureaucratic system rather than overcoming it. Each and every one in government service had become hand n glove. This leads to piling of files in various departments and government secretariat. 132000 files were pending in Secretariat and 10.01 lakh were at different departments when Oommen Chandy took charge as Chief Minister on 18th May 2011.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
Summary of the initiative The Chief Minister's Office (CMO) Government of Kerala since **June 2011 has embarked on a programme that still continues under the banner of Mass Contact Programme (MCP). It is a dual course of action - 'Direct' and 'Technology-Driven' meant to assure productive and corruption-free governance to the people. Direct CM to People CM to People saw the current Chief Minister of Kerala, Mr Oommen Chandy visiting all the 14 districts of Kerala and conducting public meetings that began in the month of November 2011 and went on till February 2012. During these meetings a total of 5,45,208 complaints were received by the chief minister in person, of which 2,97,212 were settled and Rs 226.8 million disbursed as financial aid. People to CM Under 'People to CM' the chief minister's office at the Government Secretariat remains open to visitors whenever he is in the office. It is a similar case at his official residence and places he visits in Kerala for official and personal purposes also. Technology-Driven Online Facilities The Mass Contact Programme of the Kerala Chief Minister is also backed by a host of online initiatives that can be accessed through the online gateway - www.keralacm.gov.in. Some of these are: IDEAS Information and Data Exchange Advanced System (IDEAS) is an online File Tracking System that enables the public as well as officials to keep track of the status regarding a file in the Government Secretariat. This system is of great help, especially to the public who otherwise had to frequent the offices and depend on officials to check the status. Chief Minister's 24 x 7 Call Centre This Call Centre primarily functions to take care of public queries, grievances and suggestions, which help the government to deliver better governance. Some of these are settled online itself, while others requiring attention of officials are registered and a docket number given to the caller for tracking the grievance lodged via the online Petition Tracker in the CMo’s official website www.keralacm.gov.in 24 x 7 Live Webcast of Chief Minister's Chamber and Office at www.keralacm.gov.in This facility as part of chief minister's official website enables people to watch 24x7 the proceedings in his Chamber and Office. No Chief Minister in India has taken an initiative of this nature for better transparency. Television-based Sutharya Keralam Sutharya Keralam is a weekly television-based programme, telecast through the regional centre of national television - Doordarshan. In this programme the chief minister interacts with the public and the officials through video conference dealing with complaints and requests that are taken up on their merit. These are initially received and vetted at the Chief Minister's Public Grievance Cell.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
It is the Chief Minister Office(CMO) which has designed and implemented this programme. A core team working as per direction of Chief Minister includes Principal Secretary, Private Secretary, Additional and Assistant Private Secretaries, PAs and other officers on special duties. There are two phases for the mass contact programme(MCP) (1) Direct (2) Technology Driven Direct Method of MCP is administered in two ways.(1) CM to people and (2) People to CM In the (CM to People) method of MCP it is Chief Minister who himself playing the major role. As he organizes the event in each district, the entire district administration is brought to one platform. Ranging from District Collector, who is the head of district administration, all district level heads of entire government departments have to be on spot till the programme end. They will be supported by relevant officers from their department. In the (People to CM) method Chief Minister will directly receive all complaints and suggestion and those will be given to the section specially set up for mooting this. This section is headed by a joint secretary to government supported by under-secretary and a 16 member other senior officers. Technology Driven MCP. IDEAS: This online file tracking system under the auspicious of CMO has proved successful at government secretariat. Principal Secretary to Chief Minister is in charge. Order is issued to ensure that all files are made known online. 24X7 Online grievance cell. General Administration secretary is in charge of this. All Ministers Government Secretaries, Department Heads, District Office heads and relevant officers are given inbox to which complaint against corruption at their department will be forwarded. A copy of the same will go to the inbox of superior also. Sutharyakeralam- Transparent Kerala This is avideo conference programme which is telecasted through television each week. Secretary of concerned department against which a complaint in made, relevant officer who is part of the complaint and the complainant himself is brought in vide conference with Chief Minister. Orders will be issued hen and there.

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
Strategies: For implementing the components coming under the Mass Contact Programme, the Chief Minister's Office made use of the resources of the Information and Public Relations Department, Government of Kerala and launched a PR campaign through posters, prints advertisements in local dailies, radio spot advertisements through All India Radio, TV ads telecast through national television - Doordarshan. Objectives: The main objectives of the Mass Contact Programme were to provide easy access to the people for seeking services from government offices without undue bureaucratic delay and by avoiding middlemen and bribe. Through the programme, people belonging to the weaker sections in the society benefited immensely; especially cases involving distress relief. In the Direct to People interactions, the Chief Minister himself attended each request and decisions were taken on the spot with the assistance district collectors, revenue officials, ministerial colleagues and high ranking officials of other government departments.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
A major development of MCP was that, it instilled a sense of belief among the people that they can approach the government with confidence and can have their concerns addressed by the officials without delay and without corrupt practices. While implementing the MCP (Direct to people programmes), which was led from the front by the Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, the public meetings that were held in all the fourteen districts of Kerala were followed up by district level meetings chaired by district collectors to take up and resolve issues that were not settled in the public meetings attended by the Chief Minister. The MCP that began in June 2011 is a continuing programme of the current government in Kerala.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
The main criticism of the programme that came up from the opposition parties was that the public meetings as part of MCP, which were led by the Chief Minister was aimed at gaining political mileage and that the chief minister was doing the job that otherwise would have been taken cared of by a clerk. Barring the above criticism, the public meetings became a success with not just the chief minister, but the whole government machinery backing it with results. In spite of his hectic schedule, the chief minister schedule 14 public meetings in a span of four months, starting from November 2011 to February 2012.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
In the Mass Contac Programme, for executing the public meetings in each district, respective district officials led by collectors, the official public relations wing of the Government i.e. I&PRD, personnel from the police and official from Government Secretariat, managed the gathering and the proceedings at the venues. 35 million is the cost for direct CM to People MCP. This is due to the massive arrangement to be made in all 14 district headquarters for such a big gathering. Apart from the staff requirement, Technology driven programmes cost around 25 lakhs per year. As the staff is redeployed from the excess staff pool, no cost is incurred in that way. On the other hand the technology-driven initiatives like 24x7 Live Webcast, Call Centre, Sutharya Keralam and IDEAS were conceived by officials at the Chief Minister's Office and supported by the in-house dedicated team for ICTC.

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The mass contact programme-MCP (direct and technology driven) has proved sustainable. The direct method (CM to people) incure Rs 35 million in its first phase. But with this, a system to demolish the redtapism and corruption could be set up in each and every district. There is a follow up mechanism in the direct supervision of CMO (chief minister office) which is function very efficiently A financial aid of Rs. 226.8 million was distributed without any glimpses of corruption. The entire MCP has given an emotional confident to the people of kerala state that their chief minister is easily accessible. It has also given a feeling to the government officers who were preaches of corruption that the civilians has got number of way to put a complainant against him directly to the chief minister, which will definitely be taken up. The statistic proves that the file got pending in district headquarters and state headquarters is becoming less in number after implementation of MCP. The MCP is replicated by Bihar Chief Minister Office and Utter Pradesh Chief Minister Office. The Indian Institution of Social Science has conducted a National Level seminar at Delhi about the Mass Contact Programme of Kerala CMO. Many democrats, from National and International level, has applauded this. UNDP Director Geraldin Fracer Molliketti commented this as a new successful experimental.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
In the first phase of programme itself 5,45,208 complaints were received by the chief minister in person, of which 2,97,212 were settled. An amount of Rs226.8 million which were delayed for reason of redtapism, were distributed directly to the benificiary . Through the online 24X7 grievance section 22,621 petitions were received and 22,593 disposed. The file tracking system has brought down the number of visitors to secretariat in search of file tremendously, which has turned as a setback for middleman. People behold live webcast of Chief Minister’s chamber and office as a paramount example and humble chance to bring transperancy in government offices to crumble corruption. Even New-York Times applauded this effort to bring transparency. The live webcast of Chief Minister’s office was replicated by Karnataka State Chief Minister. The ‘sutharyakeralam’ telecasted weekly has become a trend setter.


Institution Name:		Chief Minister Office
Institution Type:		Government Department
Contact Person:		Dinesh Sharma
Title:		Principal Secretary
Telephone/ Fax:		91 471 2333720
Institution's / Project's Website:		www.keralacm.gov.in
E-mail:		pa.cm@kerala.gov.in
Address:		Chief Minister Office
Postal Code:		695001
City:		Thiruvananthapuram
State/Province:		Kerala
Country:		India

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information