Beating anti-incumbency and a BJP wave across the nation, the BJD won 113 of the 147-member Assembly in the 2019 elections. Emboldened by the huge mandate, the BJD govt took a slew of measures that unleashed socio-economic changes in Odisha. From ‘Mo Sarkar’ and 5T initiatives to decisions like integration of directorates with concerned administrative depts, premature retirement policy to remove officers and employees with doubtful integrity or inefficiency, and establishment of ‘promotion Adalats’, the Naveen govt created a new era of reforms in its fifth term. Orissa POST recapitulates the achievements of the govt on completion of the one year of Naveen’s fifth term…
After coming to power for the fifth term in a row, the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) government adopted a 5T chatter and a Mo Sarkar initiative to make its governance system more effective.
Under 5T—technology, transparency, teamwork and time leading to transformation—model of governance, each department has published a charter for conducting day to day governance and implementation of various programmes and schemes. All departments are now implementing the same.
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has given the responsibility of 5T to his personal secretary V Karthikeya Pandian, who is discharging his duty effectively. The government has also announced that 5T components will be accorded 20 per cent weightage in the performance appraisal of officers.
The BJD government has taken major decisions to make the administration more efficient, those including integration of directorates with concerned administrative departments, premature retirement policy to remove officers and employees of doubtful integrity or inefficiency, out of turn promotion of employees for exemplary work and establishment of promotion Adalats to ensure timely promotion.
With an aim to make the governance people-centric, the Naveen Patnaik government has also launched the Mo Sarkar initiative on Gandhi Jayanti (October 2) under which the Chief Minister, ministers and senior officers take direct feedback from public on the services they get at government offices. Mo Sarkar is an initiative under the 5T model of governance to herald a transformation in government offices.
Sharing the reason behind the scheme, Naveen Patnaik had said, “People are the real masters in a democracy and every institution exists to serve citizens in a professional and dignified manner.”
Mo Sarkar initiative has been initially launched in district headquarters hospitals (DHHs) and all police stations across the state. After that all other government departments came under the ambit of Mo Sarkar. This meant that the state government is collecting feedback on the behaviour and professionalism of officers.
Ministers and top bureaucrats including chief secretary, development commissioner, Pandian and department secretaries have made surprise visits to various government offices to have practical experience about the quality of services provided at hospitals, police stations and government offices at district and block level. Based on the feedback of these officers, the government has also taken corrective measures and introduced packages for improvement of services in the offices and also took action against the officials, who are not discharging their duties properly.
These two measures of the BJD government have made the administration live and effective. The quality of services has improved and it has also curbed the corruption practices in public offices.