Move Over 'Kolaveri Di', Watch Sadananda Gowda on YouTube

Move Over ‘Kolaveri Di’, Watch Sadananda Gowda on YouTube is a DNA India article published on 28 November 2011. The report covers Karnataka Chief Minister DV Sadananda Gowda’s announcement to install cameras in his office and livestream his activities on YouTube, featuring Sunil Abraham’s assessment of such transparency measures.

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Article Details

📰 Published in:: DNA India
📅 Date:: 28 November 2011
📄 Type:: News Report
📰 Newspaper Link:: Read Online

Full Text

Transparency is the buzzword in governance and chief minister DV Sadananda Gowda is eager to set a new benchmark. You could soon watch what the chief minister is doing at office, live on YouTube.

Cameras are being installed at the chief minister's office in Vidhana Soudha and his home office, Krishna. The live footage will be uploaded to YouTube. "I always wanted to maintain transparency in my functioning. Very soon, I will put it to work, when people can watch me live at what I am doing when in office. Let the people see who come to meet me, what I do and how I work. This will set a new example, but there will be no compulsion for my colleagues to emulate me. It is entirely up to them whether to follow me or not," said Gowda on Sunday.

Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy has already set a precedent by installing cameras in his office. On July 1 this year, the day Chandy's experiment went 'live', one lakh visitors logged in. Talking to The New York Times earlier this year, Sunil Abraham, executive director of the Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore, said he applauded Chandy's webcams, even if the effort amounted to no more than tokenism. "This type of tokenism is also quite useful," The New York Times reported Abraham as saying.

In Karnataka, the much-hyped Citizens' Charter would be implemented after the state legislature, which begins on December 6, ends. The cabinet had already cleared the proposal and the bill on time-bound delivery of public services would be introduced in the session, added Gowda.

The proposed bill will make it mandatory for officials in government offices to deliver public services within stipulated period of time and failure to do so would make them liable for penal action and fine to be computed for every day of delay.

Already, BESCOM chief P Manivannan has installed a webcam in his office. The NYT earlier reported Manivannan as saying that "he was installing a 'hemispheric' camera that would capture the goings-on in his entire office rather than just show his visitors."

Context and Background

This article appeared during a brief period when Indian chief ministers experimented with livestreaming their offices as a transparency measure. Kerala’s Oommen Chandy had launched such an initiative in July 2011, attracting significant public attention and international media coverage. Karnataka’s DV Sadananda Gowda announced a similar plan in November 2011, positioning it as a demonstration of open governance.

Sunil Abraham’s comments to The New York Times, quoted in this DNA report, reflected cautious optimism about these initiatives. By characterising the webcam experiments as “tokenism” whilst acknowledging their potential usefulness, Abraham highlighted the gap between performative transparency gestures and substantive governance reforms. The fact that officials could control what cameras showed, when they operated, and how footage was presented meant such initiatives offered limited accountability compared to systemic reforms like right to information laws or independent oversight mechanisms.

The article also referenced Karnataka’s proposed Citizens’ Charter, which aimed to mandate time-bound service delivery by government officials. This represented a more concrete governance reform than webcam installations, creating enforceable obligations rather than voluntary visibility.

These webcam experiments largely faded from public discourse within a few years. The novelty wore off, the technical and privacy challenges became apparent, and political attention shifted elsewhere. The initiatives illustrated broader tensions in Indian e-governance between technological solutions and institutional reform, and between transparency theatre and meaningful accountability mechanisms.