In a first in state, agriculture department to telecast internal meets live | Thiruvananthapuram News
Building trust among public and stakeholders is another key focus area of Velicham THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Govt’s internal meetings are considered to be “secretive” and, of late, even many of the govt orders which are in fact public documents, are not published in the public domain, apparently fearing criticism of the policy decisions.
It is under these circumstances that the agriculture department has come up with a decision to live telecast its departmental meetings, though with some exceptions, an initiative which is probably being done for the first time by any of the govt departments.The “virtual engagement for leveraging interactive community honed agriculture management” (Velicham) is aimed at enhancing transparency, accountability, and public participation in agricultural sector to foster a more efficient and responsible agricultural production system through digital and community engagement.
As per the order issued in this regard, one of the primary objectives of Velicham is to increase accountability and transparency within the sector. By leveraging online platforms and digital tools, the govt aims to make its procedures more accessible and comprehensible to the public. This approach not only promotes openness but also facilitates active public participation in the decision-making processes related to agricultural policies and practices.
Building trust among stakeholders and the general public is another key focus area of Velicham. The initiative aims to foster increased public participation and awareness about governmental processes and decisions related to agriculture. To encourage active participation, a gamified performance rating system has been proposed, incentivising the stakeholders to contribute and continually improve their involvement.
According to the order, Velicham’s implementation measures emphasise adherence to legal and confidentiality standards, particularly concerning data security and privacy. Detailed guidelines have been provided to ensure compliance with these standards during digital interactions and stakeholder engagement, including that the agriculture department will publish the meetings that will be telecast live on its website and through various media outlets in advance. Meetings that deal with legally sensitive matters and those that deal with matters coming under the official secrets will be excluded from publicity. Also, personal data protection laws will be followed.
The idea of telecasting govt’s inside affairs is not new. Former chief minister Oommen Chandy had run live webcasting of his office round-the-clock through his portal when he was the chief minister. However, the system was discontinued when his successor Pinarayi Vijayan took over.
Images are for reference only.Images and contents gathered automatic from google or 3rd party sources.All rights on the images and contents are with their original owners.
