Speed bumps don’t scare SOMNATH BHARTI; he is on the road to progress
A key member of Arvind Kejriwal’s young brigade, 39-year-old Somnath Bharti pitches for ‘Gross Happiness Index’ as the yardstick of assessment of growth during his tenure instead of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) used in common parlance. An IIT-Delhi graduate, a practicing advocate and now the Minister of law, Tourism and Culture, Bharti carries with him a strong professional experience, which, he believes, would come in handy for him. In a tête-à-tête with Pragya Singh, he shares his agenda to address the mountain of challenges awaiting him
What are the challenges before you, both as a Minister and the MlAIJ
As per the AAP manifesto, the new lokayukta Bill will be brought soon to give more teeth to lokayukta. I will hold separate meetings with officials of other departments. People need not be unduly scared. All my decisions will be very rational. The biggest challenge in front of our party is that we are being assessed every moment and we have to prove ourselves in a limited time. Education, healthcare, judicial system and women’s security will be the focus areas. There could be roadblocks, but we are not scared of the situation.
What will be your priorities as a local leaderIJ
literacy and employment are on the priority for my constituency and we are working towards achieving sabko
shiksha sabko kaam in my area. We are studying the Malviya Nagar constituency and preparing a matrix of skills of the population. This matrix will help us identifying the population into readily employable and non-employable. We are mulling over collaboration with industries to increase the percentage of employment and leveraging the pan-IIT programme to generate employment for the public. These apart, education and healthcare will be the mainstay and we are working towards ways in which Government schools and hospitals can be optimally used. We have planned to do away with mid-day meal system, which again was just a political plank to feed corruption.
How will your law degree translate into benefiting the common manIJ
Our party had constituted 31 committees to address issues concerning a particular area. Being the head of the Judicial Reforms Committee, I am studying the different laws of our nation. We plan to do away with redundant and impractical laws, which do not have any practical usage.
How do you plan to maintain your access to the publicIJ
We will be launching a portal for Malviya Nagar constituency shortly and the URl will be mlamalviyanagar.org. A user who has to register his/her compliant can log on to the site and register there. The complaint will be recorded not just zone-wise, but according to one’s ward and colony. The menu section will provide a selection from the type of service, which if for instance is water supply the page will provide information on the department handling the complaint (Delhi Jal Board) and the officer’s name. Once the complaint is successfully registered, a message will be sent to the officer, MlA office and to the complainant for authenticity. In our area, we will have a mohalla sabha for every 5,000 voters and going by statistics, we will have 26 mohalla sabhas in Malviya Nagar. The Resident welfare Associations (RWAs) will then become a part of these mohalla sabhas. These committees will decide on solving a range of issues such as pruning of trees in upscale areas such as Gulmohar Park and Geetanjali Enclave or the problem of poor sewer system in underprivileged areas.
What are your plans on the crucial issue of women’s security in your areaIJ
We want to launch the concept of ‘community policing’ in the localities to deal with the issue of women’s security. These communities will be headed by ex-Army personnel and will be functional across the constituency. Numerous such functional units across the constituencies will not only act as a deterrent to perpetrators but will also instil the fear of law in them.
Tell us about your association with AAP and getting a ticket to contest elections.
I have been associated with the movement since the start and have been one of the founding members since its launch at Jantar Mantar. Back then, I did not have any political ambition and got associated with the movement to fight the all- pervasive graft. However, when it was realised that the movement is not enough since the political system has to be changed from within, I along with others decided to join the party.