He is the first Indian alumni of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) to be a part of the legislative arm of the world’s largest democracy. And he doesn’t come from a family of politicians. In fact, Amar Patnaik spent 28 years in the Indian Audit and Accounts Service before moving into politics. He was the Principal Accountant General, West Bengal when he decided to switch gears.
As of June 2019, Amar, now a member of the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), a regional political party that is currently governing the state of Odisha in India, was inducted into the upper house or Rajya Sabha as a Member of Parliament (MP).
Amar Patnaik in the corridor of the Parliament of India
[ALUMNI-INFO TEXT="As a bureaucrat, Amar has been closely linked to governance since the Indian Audit service comes under the aegis of the central government in India. Yet somewhere, somehow, Amar knew he wanted to do more. He took a three-year study sabbatical from the service in 2008 to pursue a PhD in institutional studies. During this period, from 2010-2011, he also attended the Master in Public Management (MPM) at LKYSPP and the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), US. “Now when I look back, my year at LKYSPP and HKS taught me to have the courage to do things differently. More than the education, being at policy school encouraged me to roam around a little freely, and meet people from semi-government, government and autonomous bodies of countries like Singapore, China, Indonesia, Bhutan, Vietnam. My year in Singapore and the US also helped me to see how politicians in other countries have such vastly different qualities.”
In his years as an auditor, writing reports and auditing various state governments, Amar realized that though the findings of his reports were discussed in legislative assemblies, often they did not reach their logical end. “By 2017, I wanted to have a more active role in governance,” he says. The germ of the idea most likely came during his LKYSPP and Harvard days. “Public policy schools in American universities, like the Kennedy School, were set up to train people who wanted to enter public life. These schools grounded students with information, knowledge, experience and leadership skills. We don’t have such schools in India. When I was at LKYSPP, though it was relatively new at the time, its ecosystem germinated the idea that I should eventually think of joining politics or entering public life. That’s when I knew one day I will break away from the relatively cushy life of a civil servant in India,” says Amar very candidly. He calls life in civil service cushy in comparison to what politicians have, because the latter must present themselves for review every five years to the electorate while the former has lifelong job security."][/ALUMNI-INFO]
In 2017, while Amar was looking for a deputation to work with the Government of Odisha in an executive capacity, he was asked by Naveen Patnaik, the leader of BJD and the Chief Minister of Odisha why he wanted to stay with the bureaucracy in the state instead of joining politics? “That question surprised me though I had harboured thoughts. I knew the next best step for me was to explore politics or get in engaged in social service, but I still took a year to decide which way to go. Finally, I chose politics, because I believe if you treat politics as a passion, it’s just like social service,” says Amar.
Amar Patnaik with Naveen Patnaik, the Chief Minister of Odisha
One of the early successes that Amar was credited for was the flawless handling and setting up of BJD’s information technology cell (IT cell) in 2018, the year before the general elections in India. “Within the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, I was known for my IT audit work. Setting up an IT cell was not a problem, but social media was an issue,” he says. It was a chance meeting with a small firm that worked in the field of Augmented Reality that helped Amar come up with a cracker of a social media campaign for BJD.
[ALUMNI-QUOTES TEXT="Now, aside from his role at the Parliament, Amar has three critical goals for his state that he wants to concentrate on for the next five years. One is setting up more medical colleges in Odisha. “The doctors who come out of regional medical colleges have empathy for people. And at least for some years, they will render service in various parts of the state before moving to the city. We need an influx of doctors,” says Amar. The next agenda is to fight poverty in the state which he hopes will happen with the right infrastructural investments and thirdly, he wants to focus on providing better facilities for irrigation for farmers in the state. He continues to work at setting up data analytics systems for the party and increasing registration of new members. Finally, he is mentoring the establishment of a public policy program, the School of Government and Public Affairs at the Xavier University in Bhubaneswar. “I want it to be a school of leadership for people at the grassroots because I believe that these change agents have to be fostered. My proximity to thought leaders across the world means I will get them involved in the program.”
Even though Amar had years of experience as a bureaucrat and was handpicked by a political leader, he considers himself fortunate to have had a chance to be a part of the MPM cohort at LKYSPP and Harvard. “I have been working on the ground as a politician for a year and as a senior civil servant for many years, yet I must say formal training in public policy has immensely helped me,” he says."][/ALUMNI-QUOTES]
When he hears people are interested in public policy as a subject, he wants them to know that jobs in the government should not be the only goal. “That’s an executive role. But policy is not made only by the government. Policy is made by everybody. People who want to contribute significantly to society, or want to get into the political arena, should prepare themselves like this.”
Meanwhile, if you are an LKYSPP graduate and want to engage with governance, Amar says he is happy to offer internships. “If people want to see how the Parliament functions, understand how regional parties organize themselves or work at the grassroots level where real democracy functions, I am willing to see what I can do to facilitate it.”
As for the Indian alumni, Amar has only one message: “Help me to raise important issues in the Parliament.”