A two-member team led by Kerala Chief Secretary V P Joy will leave for Ahmedabad in Gujarat to get experiential knowledge of a unique e-governance initiative of the Gujarat government, the CM Dashboard.
The officers - the Chief Secretary's staff officer N K Singh is the other officer - will be in Ahmedabad for two days, on April 27 and 28. They will meet top officials, understand the working of the Dashboard. On his return, the Chief Secretary will submit a report to the Chief Minister on the Dashboard and also on the ways to adopt the system in Kerala.
On the face of it, the Chief Secretary flying to another Indian state to study a successful e-governance model is a commendable step. It is said that the Gujarat e-governance 'Dashboard' allows the state Chief Minister to get even the granular details of government projects and programmes in at least 20 sectors in just a click.
All the information - of 3000-odd indicators in each of these 20 government sectors - has been brought together in such a way that the Chief Minister could see these indicators at one go, and therefore could constantly and effectively monitor them from his office.
However, considering the CPM's known position on anything related to Gujarat after Narendra Modi came to power in 2001, this decision by the CPM-led LDF government could trigger uncomfortable political questions.
When Shibu Baby John, as labour minister in the Oommen Chandy cabinet, met the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in 2013, the CPM responded like he had committed the worst possible crime. The then deputy opposition leader, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, called for Shibu's resignation. "There is nothing that Kerala needs to study from Gujarat," Kodiyeri had then declared.
Shibu explained that he had taken a detour to Gujarat on his return from New Delhi to know more about the state's skill development programme that had won numerous accolades. He also said that he knew the Gujarat programme was unsuited to Kerala right when he was briefed. Shibu's pictures with Narendra Modi were then panned by the CPM.
In 2009, the CPM's then Kannur MP A P Abdullakutty had praised the Gujarat model and wanted Kerala to emulate Modi model of governance in Kerala to attract more investments. He was expelled.
Now, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan himself has asked his Chief Secretary to report on the Gujarat model.
Nonetheless, the Gujarat CM Dashboard, developed in 2019 under Vijay Rupani, is considered a model worth emulating. The CM Dashboard monitors departments and services and identifies areas for improvement. The Chief Minister can communicate directly with the official in charge at the ground level. Each indicator is analyzed graphically by time series analysis (Daily, Monthly Quarterly and Yearly), and location wise (Region, District, Block, Schemes, Heads, etc.).
The main feature of CM Dashboard is real-time performance measurement with dynamic benchmarking and target setting. It can also assess performance right down to the lowest level of bureaucracy and identify toppers and laggards.