What happened
Meghalaya's personnel department has ordered officials to stop felicitating the chief minister, deputy chief ministers, ministers, and other state dignitaries at government programmes, with exceptions for Union ministers and foreign dignitaries. Departments have instead been told to honour two or three members of the public and, if appropriate, let them speak. This is less reform than a ceremonial load-shedding schedule: the spotlight moves from VIP necks to actual citizens for a few minutes. For a system where the ribbon often gets more attention than the project, immediate compliance is the sharpest part of the circular.