Biased helpline

In a recent move, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who together with his family was recently at the centre of a scandal involving rigged entrance examinations for teachers, launched a "CM Helpline". The intention was to bring the government closer to the people of the state through their mobile phones. The facility was given a name "CM Helpline, Janhetu Jansetu" and a number 181. Bureaucrats at the launch ceremony boasted about its success during a six-month pilot programme, saying the service had received as many as 1.2 million calls at a time when no one knew about it. They confidently invited people to record their grievances as well as any complaints about corruption against the government. The day after the launch, when the helpline gained wide publicity, the main Opposition party, the Congress swung into action. The Leader of Opposition Satyadev Katare and others reportedly tried to lodge complaints against the chief minister and his family for the exam scam at the 181 number but executives refused to do so. "Even the CM's helpline is biased," Katare quipped.