Telangana Congress government’s guarantees: From optics to delivery Premium

Telangana Congress government’s guarantees: Making pre-poll guarantees is not enough; accountability is important

In recent Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, the Congress effectively used the language of ‘guarantees’ to emphasise delivery of its social sector promises. This perhaps pushed the BJP to offer promises saying they were ‘Modi ki Guarantee’. Eventually, the use of this language of ‘guarantees’ boils down to the citizens’ quest for effective delivery. In Telangana, the guarantee of transparency, effective delivery, and accountability has become a focus of attention of the State government and the people. It is clear that launching schemes and budget provisioning is only half the story.

In December 2023, the Congress won the Assembly elections in Telangana. It replaced the BRS, which had been in power for more than nine years. The BRS, which claims credit for giving birth to the State, lost for many reasons. The most glaring was the distance that had developed between the people and the administrators. This was symbolised by a lack of transparency, accountability, and the failure to develop grievance redress mechanisms.

The Congress gave confidence to the people that its government would be a people’s government and that there would be ‘praja palana’ (people’s rule). The optics of this were quickly achieved by renaming Pragati Bhavan, the camp office of the Chief Minister, which was previously seen as the symbol of unaccountable power, as Jyothirao Phule Praja Bhavan. It was opened to the public for the first time. As it rolled out the Praja Palana schemes, aided by desks to accept applications for its six pre-poll guarantees, and also promised to sort out grievances in a time-bound manner, the Congress government received immediate praise.

However, for any government to successfully implement its pre-poll promises, a robust, transparent, and effective mechanism of citizen monitoring is required, where a person applying can track the status of their application and have any related grievance redressed. A public hearing in Hyderabad on August 9, organised by a cross-section of citizens groups examining the long tale of unresolved grievances in the State, revealed how well-intentioned programmes can get mired in inertia and lead to dissatisfaction. A subsequent dialogue with senior officers dealing with public grievances in the State (Prajavani) and the Praja Palana platform revealed systemic shortcomings. This dialogue, followed by a meeting with the Chief Minister, has raised hope that a systemic solution will be found including the recording of grievances (with dated receipts); public facing digital tracking systems monitored by a team at the Chief Minister’s Office; regular mandal-level public hearings; designated grievance redress officers for time-bound ‘action taken’ reports; and appellate mechanisms including provisions for penalties and compensation.

People need full and easy access to all information. The previous regime was hostile to the Right to Information Act (RTI), 2005, and proactive disclosure. Despite its publicised open data portal, most data sets are hidden behind administrative logins and are accessible only to the government. In fact, no Government Orders were put out in the public domain after 2014, undermining the first step of transparency in governance.

A party instrumental in passing the RTI Act needs to reclaim and build on its legacy. Section 4 (suo moto disclosure) of the Act needs to be implemented in letter and spirit in the State. One of the finest examples of a truly transparent mandatory and open data portal is the flourishing Jan Soochna portal, developed together by the government and civil society in Rajasthan, during Ashok Gehlot’s tenure. This has since been adopted by the Karnataka government and is called Mahiti Kanaja.

However, democratic governance goes beyond transparency. It is acting upon every violation of promises made that delivers the message. People reward action, punish inaction, and want promises to be kept. Their expectations are high — expectations that this ruling party raised during its election campaign. To deliver on the expectations, the spirit of Praja Palana and Prajavani will have to be made an integral part of law and policy in the State. A social accountability law, modelled on the 2011 National Grievance Redress Bill, should be enacted immediately. It will change the verbal guarantees into ‘guaranteed by law’.