An Insight
into workings of the state
Book Review
on
“Governance
with a Difference”
By K. Pradeep
Chandra, IAS (retired)
Former
Chief Secretary,
Government of Telangana
Telangana
Today (21-05-2017)
Some people have the good fortune of working closely
with eminent leaders of the country during very interesting times. They have
access to the thinking and philosophy of these leaders and are privy to the
decision making processes that go into making of critical policies that have
far reaching consequences. Their memoirs and writings go down as historical
documents. M.O. Mathai was the Private
Secretary to India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru and IAS Officer
PVRK Prasad was the Media Advisor and Additional Secretary to Prime Minister,
P.V. Narasimha Rao, both of them during very crucial times.
Similarly,
Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao, popularly known as Jwala to his many friends and
well-wishers, occupies a unique position in the history of the new State of
Telangana as the first Chief Public Relations Officer to the founder and first
Chief Minister of Telangana State, Mr. K. Chandrashekhar Rao. Having been part
of the Telangana State governance, I have observed very closely the working of
the Chief Minister and the deep analysis that goes into his decision making
process. Jwala has captured this essence in a simple yet effective manner in
his book, “Governance with a Difference”.
There
are two aspects to the book—the first being independent assessments made by
Jwala on the policies and governance reforms being implemented by the Chief
Minister and the second is the reproduction of some important speeches and
policy statements made by the Chief Minister. Both aspects throw light on the
great understanding the Chief Minister had of the challenges before the new
State and the framework developed during the years of his struggle to attain a
separate state for Telangana. The understanding of Chief Minister of the
irrigation issues likely to be faced by Telangana after the State formation and
the detailed presentation made before the State Legislature is captured
brilliantly by Jwala.
The
commitment of the CM in governance reform by way of ease of doing business and
taking administration to the people by the formation of new districts, are just
a few more examples of the different approach adopted by the CM. Jwala has
covered the entire gamut of the new model of governance from welfare and
development, agriculture and industry and investment to infrastructure. Many
writers get tempted to tweak the narrative in their own style and version but
Jwala has resisted this temptation and stuck to the original script with
professional honesty.
This book covers only the first
three years of Chief Minister Chandrashekhar Rao’s term and yet it is rich in
content and detail, seemingly complete in itself. This is only the first volume
and readers will look forward to many more that will surely follow. The book is
an easy read and a compendium on the vision of the Chief Minister for the
State, past, present and future. End
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