In a first in the country, a village panchayat council in Palakkad district, Kerala, has taken a landmark decision to do away with the practice of the public calling employees 'Sir' and 'Madam'.
The resolution unanimously passed by the Mathur Panchayat council, consisting of eight Congress members, seven CPM members and one from BJP, may surprise many in an era when bureaucracy tends to take on airs of masters rather than servants of the tax-paying public.
The public, who visit the office for various purposes, with petitions or application forms, are no more required to address either the employees or panchayat members with such supplicatory salutations, which the council points out are relics of British era when the ruling class was the master and the citizen the subordinate.
The resolution recommends that instead of 'Sir' or 'Madam' people could call the staff by their name or by job title. It was also decided that all staff would display their name and designation on top of their desk. If people feel reluctant to address the staff by name or title, seeing it as a sign of disrespect, they can call them elder brother or sister.
Going a step further in the direction, the council has also sought the assistance of the Official Language Commission to suggest any other possible names to replace the colonial English ones, a suggestion that may also throw the revolutionary idea for use in other parts of the state as an offshoot.
Perhaps more radical may be another idea in the council resolution: seekers of services are requested to avoid using the word 'request' in their document, instead they may use 'demand' or 'claim' or 'seek'.
The resolution, tabled by the council Vice President PR Prasad also mentions that in a democratic country, officials and people's representatives are only servants of the citizens who are sovereign and should not have to wait for others' mercy to claim what they are entitled to.
As an additional reassurance to the public, a public notice displayed at the entrance of the office says that if any one is refused any service for want of using honorifics, he can approach the Panchayat President or Secretary.