Andhra CM Reddy asks civil servants to plan 'surprise night halts'

He asked officials to visit hostels, public health care centres, etc, have food at their canteens and, if possible, sleep there at night

If you want change, keep people on their toes. In one of his first interactions with civil servants, the new chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, asked them to plan “surprise night halts” at state utilities to improve the quality of service. He asked officials to visit hostels, public health care centres, etc, have food at their canteens and, if possible, sleep there in the night. He advised them not to discuss their plans with anyone and keep visiting the facilities regularly so that those who were responsible for running them did not slacken. He also asked officials to take "now-and-then" pictures so that the differences were visible to all.

 

Aditya’s meet and greet

 

Aditya Thackeray, president of the Yuva Sena, the youth wing of the Shiv Sena, has roped in the Indian Political Action Committee (I-PAC) to start a "Rath Yatra" to popularise him. His father, Uddhav Thackeray, and other politically active members of his family have supported this. The aim of the Yatra, other than making him more accessible, is to project him as a "potential chief ministerial candidate for the future". Aditya is scheduled to visit districts in Maharashtra and hold sessions in which he would take questions directly from college-going and young working-class citizens.

 

A change of tone

               

Affiliates of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh had aggressively opposed the Narendra Modi government’s economic policies during its first term. Affiliates such as the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, and Bharatiya Kisan Sangh had opposed the amendments the government had brought to the Land Acquisition Bill, its intended reforms of labour laws, and disinvestment of public sector undertakings. These affiliates had organised protests and demonstrations on the issue and succeeded in stalling some steps. However, the resolve the government showed on disinvestment and codifying labour laws in the Union Budget got a muted response from these affiliates, which hoped the government would not take decisions on these without consulting all stakeholders, including them.