Still soaked in the calmness of the pristine waters of Andaman Islands, we were reluctant to go anywhere. It was almost as if we had found Nirvana, if there is such a thing. Floating effortlessly in the clam and blue waters of the Radhanagar beach, i wondered why do people go to Goa. But then as they say, Bharat Darshan must go on. If not for the sake of learning then to avoid a very much plausible break in service. And hence we packed again, we checked out again, we boarded again, this time to an altogether different part of India, the hub of Left Wing extremism, Gadchiroli.
To tell the truth, I was a bit apprehensive of what we were to see. And I know others were too irrespective of how well they were able to hide it. It's human instinct to fear what we do not understand. In my imagination, perhaps I took it too far. I thought all the basic civic amenities would be missing and we would have to survive for four days like a cave man of sorts. But soon all these false assumptions found a place in the bin. We reached Chandrapur by train which is possibly the nearest well connected Railway Station and soon started for our destination by road. I have to say, I was quite surprised by the quality of roads even as we came close quarters with the interiors of Gadchiroli.
It was like just another town. With all facilities one could ask for. It was difficult to imagine that just next to it were the forests wherein certain people had established a parallel order. And they were determined to uproot the present system to establish one of their own. On the first day we had an attachment with the Forest Department where we were briefed by the DFO about the unique conditions of the place. I thought she would be talking about the security related challenges but she enthusiastically talked at length about the immense opportunities this forest has to offer. The millions of herbs and their zillion pharmaceutical benefits. And the Forest department was capitalizing on it big time. They have registered a brand "Gondwana Herbs" under which they were branding the herbs they receive from the local tribal people. A great initiative to provide them some sort of employment.
Then on the other day, we went to a local NGO called as SEARCH. This was basically working in the area of community health. So do many other such organizations but there was something strikingly different and unique about this one. They had a mission of bringing tribal people to their location and to get them on board with the idea of modern medicine which is absolutely impossible as they only trust the local healers who use traditional methods for treatment of the ill. And as we keep hearing about them, such methods rarely work. So what the SEARCH people did is they modeled their campus to look like the local tribal settlements with the Wards looking like little huts made of clay. Moreover, they also laid foundations to a temple of a local Deity Ma Danteshwari and invited all local tribal populace for a Praying session which was a great Confidence Building Measure (CBM). Post that they have seen great results as more and more number of locals started coming to their campus for treatment.
On the third day, we went to two fully residential Tribal Schools set up by the local administration. Now we all understand how important a step this can be to completely eradicate the event of recruitment of the Naxal cadres. Catch them young, before they do. Make sure they blossom before they nip them in the bud. We were welcomed by a wonderful tribal dance where the little girls where wearing their traditional Gond costumes. What a wonderful presentation of talent it was. Then we went to all the classrooms and interacted with the kids. They are all so talented and eager. Eager to spread their wings restricted by the local compulsions. We must give them the platform. We must take them out of the red cage.
Then we had a meeting with all the teaching staff present there and had a wonderful and fruitful discussion on how to best nurture these kids in this special environment. One of the teachers said, "We are so motivated just by your visit here. It means a lot to us. Such visits power us to work tirelessly in such difficult conditions". A simple but powerful statement reflecting the fact that half of the problem is solved when the administration agrees to hear it with patience. They thanked us for our presence as such a big batch of IAS Officer trainees had never visited and that we had taken time out of our busy and important jobs. To which one of my colleagues Neha beautifully replied, " I want to say something to all the teachers present here. Your's is perhaps the most important job. The future of this country is in your hands. Please do the best with it understanding the gravity of the huge responsibility endowed upon you". True that, administration is important, but the real key to the future is how we groom the present generation.
On the penultimate day we called upon the District Collector of Gadchiroli Sh. Ranjit Kumar Sir who inspired us greatly by his work and thought process. He was kind enough to give us ample time to explain the work he had been doing for skill development for the local youths for which he received the Prime Minister's Medal. Under this initiative they are training the local youth in various skills like hotel management, basic engineering and other services which people need now-a-days. The District Administration is outsourcing the skill provision part along with the placements. But to ensure results they have incorporated a wonderful caveat that the payments would only be made when 70 % of the present batch is placed into jobs. There was this video of the success stories of this initiative which was shown to us there. There was this mother of this girl who was interviewed after her daughter got placed in a Hotel of a big reputation in a metro city. She was so proud. She could not control the tears of joy. She said, "One would never understand my joy. The joy of fulfillment of that dream. The dream of a Tribal women that her daughter gets a job and gets out of this vicious cycle of poverty and hunger. No one would never understand. I am that lucky!"
All these wonderful initiatives have greatly reduced the recruitment of local youth into the Naxal cadres. So much so that if sources are to be believed, they have been forced to import people from other affected neighbouring states. The peace has been restored. The casualities on our side have reduced significantly. The Civil Administration is working tirelessly to totally eliminate it and I wish them all the best. At the end I want to share one inspiring moment with Dr. Bang, founder of SEARCH. We asked him what was his motivation to dedicate his life for public service and having to live here at Gadchiroli. He said his father wanted to go abroad to learn Economics and Mahatma Gandhi at that time had told his father that "Go to the villages of India if you want to learn the real Economics". His father did that. And he continued the legacy of his father.
To what Mahatma Gandhi said, a corollary can be, one should go to places like Gadchiroli if one wants to learn the art of administration!
To tell the truth, I was a bit apprehensive of what we were to see. And I know others were too irrespective of how well they were able to hide it. It's human instinct to fear what we do not understand. In my imagination, perhaps I took it too far. I thought all the basic civic amenities would be missing and we would have to survive for four days like a cave man of sorts. But soon all these false assumptions found a place in the bin. We reached Chandrapur by train which is possibly the nearest well connected Railway Station and soon started for our destination by road. I have to say, I was quite surprised by the quality of roads even as we came close quarters with the interiors of Gadchiroli.
It was like just another town. With all facilities one could ask for. It was difficult to imagine that just next to it were the forests wherein certain people had established a parallel order. And they were determined to uproot the present system to establish one of their own. On the first day we had an attachment with the Forest Department where we were briefed by the DFO about the unique conditions of the place. I thought she would be talking about the security related challenges but she enthusiastically talked at length about the immense opportunities this forest has to offer. The millions of herbs and their zillion pharmaceutical benefits. And the Forest department was capitalizing on it big time. They have registered a brand "Gondwana Herbs" under which they were branding the herbs they receive from the local tribal people. A great initiative to provide them some sort of employment.
Then on the other day, we went to a local NGO called as SEARCH. This was basically working in the area of community health. So do many other such organizations but there was something strikingly different and unique about this one. They had a mission of bringing tribal people to their location and to get them on board with the idea of modern medicine which is absolutely impossible as they only trust the local healers who use traditional methods for treatment of the ill. And as we keep hearing about them, such methods rarely work. So what the SEARCH people did is they modeled their campus to look like the local tribal settlements with the Wards looking like little huts made of clay. Moreover, they also laid foundations to a temple of a local Deity Ma Danteshwari and invited all local tribal populace for a Praying session which was a great Confidence Building Measure (CBM). Post that they have seen great results as more and more number of locals started coming to their campus for treatment.
On the third day, we went to two fully residential Tribal Schools set up by the local administration. Now we all understand how important a step this can be to completely eradicate the event of recruitment of the Naxal cadres. Catch them young, before they do. Make sure they blossom before they nip them in the bud. We were welcomed by a wonderful tribal dance where the little girls where wearing their traditional Gond costumes. What a wonderful presentation of talent it was. Then we went to all the classrooms and interacted with the kids. They are all so talented and eager. Eager to spread their wings restricted by the local compulsions. We must give them the platform. We must take them out of the red cage.
Then we had a meeting with all the teaching staff present there and had a wonderful and fruitful discussion on how to best nurture these kids in this special environment. One of the teachers said, "We are so motivated just by your visit here. It means a lot to us. Such visits power us to work tirelessly in such difficult conditions". A simple but powerful statement reflecting the fact that half of the problem is solved when the administration agrees to hear it with patience. They thanked us for our presence as such a big batch of IAS Officer trainees had never visited and that we had taken time out of our busy and important jobs. To which one of my colleagues Neha beautifully replied, " I want to say something to all the teachers present here. Your's is perhaps the most important job. The future of this country is in your hands. Please do the best with it understanding the gravity of the huge responsibility endowed upon you". True that, administration is important, but the real key to the future is how we groom the present generation.
On the penultimate day we called upon the District Collector of Gadchiroli Sh. Ranjit Kumar Sir who inspired us greatly by his work and thought process. He was kind enough to give us ample time to explain the work he had been doing for skill development for the local youths for which he received the Prime Minister's Medal. Under this initiative they are training the local youth in various skills like hotel management, basic engineering and other services which people need now-a-days. The District Administration is outsourcing the skill provision part along with the placements. But to ensure results they have incorporated a wonderful caveat that the payments would only be made when 70 % of the present batch is placed into jobs. There was this video of the success stories of this initiative which was shown to us there. There was this mother of this girl who was interviewed after her daughter got placed in a Hotel of a big reputation in a metro city. She was so proud. She could not control the tears of joy. She said, "One would never understand my joy. The joy of fulfillment of that dream. The dream of a Tribal women that her daughter gets a job and gets out of this vicious cycle of poverty and hunger. No one would never understand. I am that lucky!"
All these wonderful initiatives have greatly reduced the recruitment of local youth into the Naxal cadres. So much so that if sources are to be believed, they have been forced to import people from other affected neighbouring states. The peace has been restored. The casualities on our side have reduced significantly. The Civil Administration is working tirelessly to totally eliminate it and I wish them all the best. At the end I want to share one inspiring moment with Dr. Bang, founder of SEARCH. We asked him what was his motivation to dedicate his life for public service and having to live here at Gadchiroli. He said his father wanted to go abroad to learn Economics and Mahatma Gandhi at that time had told his father that "Go to the villages of India if you want to learn the real Economics". His father did that. And he continued the legacy of his father.
To what Mahatma Gandhi said, a corollary can be, one should go to places like Gadchiroli if one wants to learn the art of administration!
1 comment:
I lived in gadchiroli for 3 years , 20 years ago . and I remember everything. My dad was additional Treasury officer at that time. In his tenure once naxalites burnt the Treasury of korchi village . But overall there were no significant Naxalite activities took place there. Overall I loved that place . I have so much things to write but sadly no time.
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