Decoding the Government

Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao pens a variety of development and welfare initiatives conceived and grounded involving every department of the first Telangana Government

Some people have the good fortune of working closely with eminent leaders of the country during very interesting times. They have access to the thinking and philosophy of these leaders and are privy to the decision making processes that go into making of critical policies that have far reaching consequences.

Their memoirs and writings go down as historical documents. M O Mathai was the Private Secretary to India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru and IAS Officer PVRK Prasad was the Media Advisor and Additional Secretary to Prime Minister, PV Narasimha Rao, both of them during very crucial times.

Similarly, Vanam Jwala Narasimha Rao, popularly known as Jwala to his many friends and well-wishers, occupies a unique position in the history of the new State of Telangana as the first Chief Public Relations Officer to the founder and first Chief Minister of Telangana State, K Chandrashekhar Rao.

Having been part of the Telangana State governance, I have observed very closely the working of the Chief Minister and the deep analysis that goes into his decision making process. Jwala has captured this essence in a simple yet effective manner in his book, ‘Governance with a Difference’.

There are two aspects to the book—the first being independent assessments made by Jwala on the policies and governance reforms being implemented by the Chief Minister and the second is the reproduction of some important speeches and policy statements made by the Chief Minister.

Both aspects throw light on the great understanding the Chief Minister had of the challenges before the new State and the framework developed during the years of his struggle to attain a separate state for Telangana. The understanding of Chief Minister of the irrigation issues likely to be faced by Telangana after the State formation and the detailed presentation made before the State Legislature is captured brilliantly by Jwala.

The commitment of the CM in governance reform by way of ease of doing business and taking administration to the people by the formation of new districts, are just a few more examples of the different approach adopted by the CM.

Jwala has covered the entire gamut of the new model of governance from welfare and development, agriculture and industry and investment to infrastructure. Many writers get tempted to tweak the narrative in their own style and version but Jwala has resisted this temptation and stuck to the original script with professional honesty.

This book covers only the first three years of Chief Minister Chandrashekhar Rao’s term and yet it is rich in content and detail, seemingly complete in itself. This is only the first volume and readers will look forward to many more that will surely follow. The book is an easy read and a compendium on the vision of the Chief Minister for the State, past, present and future.

By: K Pradeep Chandra
The writer is Former Chief Secretary, Government of Telangana.