In an article dated July 18 in the New York edition of The New York Times — an American newspaper of global repute — the reporter wrote of Kerala chief minister Oomen Chandy: “In an India beset by kickback scandals at the highest reaches of government, and where petty bribes at police stations and motor vehicle departments are often considered a matter of course, Oommen Chandy is making an online stand.” The report was on his move to have web cameras continuously capture the happenings in his chamber for a live feed that anyone can stream on www.keralacm.gov.in, the CM’s website. One can see whom the CM and his aides meet, but the conversations will remain private, as there is no audio.

Now, it may be a rough-hewn response to the country’s cry for increased transparency at all levels of governance, but it is a pioneering one —at least for the political class. Chandy’s is a proactive submission to such surveillance. A stark contrast is his Congress peer and union minister Kapil Sibal’s opposition to taping of the meetings of the joint drafting committee on Lokpal bill. The irony that this is a proposed legislation for an anti-corruption watchdog isn’t lost on anyone.

While it is easy to label the move a ‘tokenism’, it remains that such tokenisms are necessary. They set the bar for our leaders—to be at least emulated if they cannot be exceeded.  Jairam Ramesh’s office with glass doors during his stint at the environment ministry may have been a feeble ushering in of  transparency. But they were a welcome departure from the wood-heavy cabins most ministers ensconce themselves in. Now, the cameras may not curb corruption as the CM’s office is neither the only nor the best venue for exchanging money for favours. But they do mean one haven less for such transactions. On one hand, the cameras are undoubtedly material rhetoric—Chandy intends to be seen as being serious about transparency. On the other, they are a sign that at least one politician acknowledges the common man’s frustration with the opacity of governance as it exists today. They give the activist in the common man ammunition to push for more far-reaching measures.

All paradigm shifts need precursors. This could be the one for a future shift to complete transparency.

And yes, Chandy’s not the first one turning the camera on himself nor is he doing this for the first time. P Manivannan, a top official of the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) has been using a webcam to keep his office accountable. And Chandy had put himself under camera surveillance during his two-year stint as chief minister in 2004-06.