Go Beyond Name

 

THE change of the name of the new Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in New Delhi to ‘Seva Teerth’ and of Maharashtra Governor’s residence ‘Raj Bhavan’ to ‘Lok Bhavan’ as part of the Government’s effort to erase the vestiges of the British Raj is welcome. It also demonstrates the Government’s desire to fight back the Macaulay mindset that has been dominating Indian psyche for long. Yet, if the common people wonder if the change is going to stay restricted to only names of places, then they will have a genuine point to raise. For, the common people expect the change of names of important places to travel beyond mere symbolism and prove to be an actual change of mindset. This wish has its own reasoning and merit -- which the people in power will find difficult to ignore. The name ‘Seva Teerth’ is really meaningful in every which the way. It indicates that the place from where the Prime Minister works in a service mode that goes far beyond the officious and bureaucratic modes.

 

The fact that the Prime Minister describes himself as ‘Pradhan Sevak’ (chief servant) also goes well with the change of name to ‘Seva Teerth’. In the past few years, several places have been given new names in tune with the new thinking at the top. Most such changed names point to a working pattern that is more people oriented and open than it used to be in the past. The Government has made different arrangements for the common people to be able to access the Government for various tasks. Despite all this, the reality on the ground is that approaching the Government is yet to become easier than it used to be earlier. The common people still find their path to the Government having been blocked by various impregnable obstacles -- which also include security issues. This is true not just for offices of people in high places, but also offices at the district level across the country -- no matter, then, who is in power in that place and State.

 

This has only bolstered the general impression that the Government is still beyond the reach of the common people. Such a situation cannot be transformed only by name-change effected at select places. What is expected is a sea-change in the attitude of those in power politically or bureaucratically. Of course, more than 75 years have passed since the British left India. Yet, most unfortunately, the power structure in the country has had agents of the British mindset still occupying seats of importance. Political tall talk notwithstanding, factually, the common people find it difficult to believe that the Government is a responsive entity that is alert to people’s calls for help and their needs and wants. From time to time, the Government came up with public outreach programmes to make its doors more accessible to common people. Despite those campaigns, the overall situation did not change much and the access to the Government remained more or less terribly selective.

 

Still vast networks of agent-facilitators are in operation to arrange for the people a ‘paid’ access to the Government (its functionaries) at different levels. Such agent-facilitators are also given a bad name -- fixers -- in the national capital. Will change of the PMO’s name to ‘Seva Teerth’ of ‘Raj Bhavan’ to ‘Lok Bhavan’ also change the unfortunate reality on the ground ? -- is the question the people insist upon asking. When the Government led by Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi wants to melt barriers, then it will have to travel well beyond mere name-change and consciously create facilitation for common people’s smooth access to the Government at different levels. In other words, the Government will have to erase the symbolism in the name-change exercise consciously and make things work on the ground beyond political tall talk. This may come as a very serious effort for the people in power -- needing much harder work than they may have known until now.