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In November last year, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy took off on a 'road trip' that spanned across all fourteen districts in the state. The initiative -- a Mass Contact Programme -- was organised over a two-month period. During the programme, Chandy met and interacted with lakhs of people who shared their problems with him.
According to the Chief Minister's office, the CM heard out the grievances of many as 5,45,298 people. Of these, 2,97,212 issues were resolved on the spot on his directions while the rest were referred to the district administrators.
Details of the project and the CM's experience is now available in the form of a book -- Boundless Access -- which was released in a quiet meeting in Delhi on Friday.
But the release of the autobiography of Oommen Chandy, written by P T Chacko, at the event was underplayed.
Talking about the mass gatherings, Chandy said, "These mass gatherings are nothing new to me. I have been meeting people directly at my home for many years. But this time, the number of people who attended the gatherings was much more so it garnered so much attention."
Chandy addressed everyday problems at the mass meetings -- difficulties in procuring a death certificate on the demise of a relative, financial assistance for medical needs or receiving monthly pensions.
Of the estimated 66 lakh households in the state, the problems of nearly 8.17 percent of them we addressed and solved within this period, claimed the state government.
"I have collected critical feedback as result of these mass gatherings. On the basis of my interactions, I have made changes in existing state policies, and in some instances, incorporated new ones," Chandy said.
Citing an example, he said, "I started a new policy of giving free tricycles to the handicapped in the state."
"I realised that if the problems of the common man are not addressed, they become distrustful of the government. And if their problems are ignored for long, a possibility of people's rebellion also arises," he said.
Elaborating on the other initiatives taken by the Chief Minister's office, Chandy said activities inside the CMO are telecast live on the state's website.
"This is to ensure that we have nothing to hide. People can, with merely a click, find out what is happening in the Chief Minister's office," Chandy said.
A 24-hour call centre -- with three different telephone numbers for local, national and international callers -- has been set up so that people can register complains on the phone at the CMO.
"I am open to critical evaluations of such projects, and would like critical feedback," Chandy said.
Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh, who was present at the event, joked that Kerala might be running low on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), but there was no dearth of New Democratic Initiatives (NDI) in the state. He pointed out that it was perhaps the only state that boasts of impressive social indicators despite mediocre economic growth.
"Kerala is one of those few states that has achieved high social growth rate even with a moderate economic growth. None of the high economic growth states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra or Karnataka have shown a high rate in social growth indicators -- life expectancy, female literacy etc -- like Kerala has," Ramesh said.