Grassroots Governance

Jagan plans an army of village volunteers to improve service delivery of his welfare schemes

- Amarnath K. Menon

Governance is taking a unique bottom-up approach in Andhra Pradesh. Chief Minister Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy is making good on his inaugural day (May 30) promise to improve last-mile delivery of welfare schemes and services by hiring 266,000 village volunteers by August 15.

“Everyone, including those who did not vote for us, should be served equally to an extent that they change their opinion. My voice and assurances should reach every person in the state through you,” Jagan told the newly-appointed volunteers while inaugurating the system on Independence Day. “I saw the issues people faced during my 3,648 km-long padayatra. That was when I announced the volunteer and village secretariat system for effective delivery of government schemes.” The Andhra chief minister said he will utilise the services of the volunteers to fulfil four of the five pre-poll promises in the first year. The volunteers will first identify the beneficiaries, assess their problems and then recommend the appropriate government scheme they can avail of. Each volunteer will take charge of 50 families and be paid Rs 5,000 a month.