IAS Diaries Part 15 - Namami Brahmaputra

I still remember those days of UPSC preparation when I had just started up with my Geography portion for General Studies. We were doing rivers and when we came to the eastern frontiers, we encountered the mighty Brahmaputra. Merely reading the facts and figures detailing its gigantic spread gave me goose bump. How could a river be so broad? Why not call it a sea then, like the Caspian one? May be they are simply exaggerating. As I write this blog from my room in Circuit House Tezpur, I can see that vast expanse from where I am sitting, endless and eternal. They weren’t exaggerating, not at all.

After spending considerable time in the state you are bound to realize the immense River Tourism potential the place has which unfortunately remains untapped. We must build world-class River Cruise circuits, take up River front beautification projects in various districts and initiate steps to conserve our River Dolphins. It’s good to see that at least we are now talking about all these and the ideas are being deliberated in various circles. One such step in this direction was Namami Brahmaputra.

The conceptualization of Namami Brahmaputra is based on the idea of Namami Gange, an initiative widely known across the country. It was pertinent that a similar initiative must be taken up for celebrating the spirit of our lifeline Brahmaputra. Thus was conceived the idea of this river festival. It was then decided that the same would be celebrated in all the 21 districts through which the river Brahmaputra flows and the celebrations would be at the same time. And thereafter started a string of activities culminating to the festival which was celebrated from 31^st March’17 to 4^th April’17.

The planning of this event started several months ago at the time of our joining the districts. At that time it occurred to us why these deliberations are being made so early on as the event was scheduled only in March end. But after the organization of the event, everyone is on the same page that such mammoth events do require immense planning which must start way before the event. The entire event in all the districts was to be organized and planned by the respective Deputy Commissioner's Office. What followed was a marathon of Video Conferences, Committee meetings and Brain-storming sessions culminating to this grand event.

This river festival was to celebrate the spirit of Brahmaputra in various ways – cultural events, ethnic food, beach sports etc – basically everything somehow related to this lifeline of Assam. And ergo, it was an excellent opportunity to promote local tourism. We came up with a small booklet on Tezpur Tourism which had everything one would want to know and since distributing these booklets here in Tezpur would not have made any difference we decided to send and distribute all such materials to the tour operators in Guwahati. As when people plan to tour Assam, their entire itinerary revolves around the capital.

Tezpur lies on a tourist circuit which is very famous and includes places like Tawang and Bomdilla. But it is mostly used as a Transit location where people put camp to rest because the tourism potential of Tezpur is unexposed. There are several places in Tezpur itself to engage the tourist for two full days. On this note, we roped in some local entrepreneurs to arrange for one-day “Tezpur Tours”, something which is still continuing even after the festival. We all knew that we won’t be getting many tourists from outside in this first edition of this festival as it takes time for a new concept to evolve and spread its wings. Perhaps down the line we would see this river festival strengthen and become a rage like the Horn Bill festival.

One of the events on our list for the festival was the Marathon, well it was not the usual full length one, more of a fun-run thing. And I was glad that the entire responsibility was given to me courtesy my history. We decided to make it a grand event with cash prizes and to conduct it in a professional manner. The district sports office and all their staff played a vital role for the organization and successful culmination of the event. The endpoint of the race was decided as Jahaj Ghat which is the most famous ghat in Tezpur. The race started from the exterior of the city, breaching the interiors and finished in the heart of Brahmaputra thus paying a symbolic tribute

Due to the immense response received by the people of Tezpur, we had to restrict the entries to a certain number as we did not have the finances to handle such a large request. For the safe conduct of the race, a traffic plan was prepared in coordination with the traffic police personnel. To ensure proper medical aid, a team was identified to be stationed at the race locations in coordination with the Joint Director, Medical Services in the district. For the first time perhaps, I felt more joy in promoting the idea of running as I watched participants reach the finish line all proud and drained. And at the end, I realized that even organizing a marathon is as tiring and challenging as running one. Perhaps we burn even more calories in the former.

Another part where I was deeply involved was the overall organization of sports event during the festival. We thought that since it was a river festival it would make more sense to have beach football, beach vollyball and beach kabbaddi. And this eventually became the highlight of our festival. We received tremendous response and participation from several institutions which includes schools, colleges, Armed forces etc. And here also we had to restrict the number of entries as we neither had the time nor the resources to manage such large number of teams. The audience was also huge in number and all the games attracted huge crowds. We also played an exhibition football match- District Administration Vs Sports Association – wherein I tried to defend to my last breath but only to end up in a humiliating defeat. A great game it was.

And then there were the culturals every evening. One is amazed to see the cultural variety and talent that this place has. And more than that it is ingrained in all the people here. It is rather a inseparable part of their lives. The performance arenas were circled with stalls of ethnic food. It is in those times, when you are among people, music and good food, that you wonder, this is enough. We do not need anything more to be happy. Do hell with the rat race. This was only the first edition of the river festival and I hope that it evolves even stronger every coming year. And if you happen to plan a trip to Assam someday, just check when is the next edition of Namami Brahmaputra!

IAS Diaries Part 14 - Power of Voluntarism

As probationers when we join a particular district, we are full of ideas and enthusiasm of how we would make a difference and the novelty of the field experience excites us to the zillion possibilities that we can create. But to transform these dreams and ideas, we often are faced with the lack of resources or funds and then most of the ideas have to be withdrawn or put to rest for a while. Also, the manpower or the existing machinery is often engaged with various other tasks and it’s becomes difficult to realign them for your cause. Sitting in balcony one evening overlooking the ghats of Brahmaputra, I pondered, there must be many people in Tezpur willing to come forward to do something for the their city. I was sure there were many people who would have liked to cleanse these wonderful river banks of the litter our own brethren had left behind. And driven by this novel faith in the power of voluntarism, was born the idea of Volunteer For Tezpur(V4T).

With the little experience of the field, I was sure that there were numerous students and citizens always eager to volunteer for various developmental and awareness initiatives for the betterment of the district or their own locality or town. To bring all these people on a forum, we started a WhatsApp group called the Volunteer for Tezpur (V4T). To publicize this idea we used several social media platforms and in no time there were numerous requests to join this group. But to contain the frivolous and the wannabes, we adopted some light screening process. There are many more who wish to join even today but I personally feel ten highly determined volunteers can make a larger difference than thousand non-serious ones.

So finally the platform was ready to tap the potential of voluntarism in the city of Tezpur. I decided that it would perhaps be better to start with small and not so difficult tasks. That would help to build a good team who would be able to take bigger problems in the later stages. And to discuss and deliberate the same, we called a meeting which was more meant to be an ice breaker. There is this war memorial inside the Circuit House with ample space to sit on the steps with a grand view of the river. I thought such a place, which was bound to evoke emotions of service and sacrifice, was perfect to start our initiative of voluntarism. And it so was.

It was so wonderful to meet so many people full of ideas for Tezpur and ready to donate their time and energies to take it forward one step at a time. I suddenly felt empowered and excited about the prospect of working on all these ideas that were floated. At that very time, the pitch for digital awareness was at its peak. So we took the task to make aware the locals shop owners and small businessmen the relevance of using these new e-wallets and other online payment methods. Our volunteers went around the Tezpur Market and spread awareness about these things and they also helped these shop owners to get started with these new e-payment alternatives. We started this project where one needed to convince one shop owner to go digital and then to post a selfie with that person. That trended for a while and we covered good many shops. 

  

The next task we took was to clean up the river ghats of the Brahmaputra. Recently there was a festival on the bank of the river wherein people had dirtied the banks with plastics and other forms of garbage. There were several other ghats which the locals use for Picnics and recreation but leave it littered beyond imagination. And garbage produces more garbage. People hesitate littering a clean place and we worked with this very idea of spot fixing. The glittering white sands of Jahaj Ghat were filled with colors that would give none the joy. It had been a while and no one had taken this up and I thought cleaning this ghat along with the volunteers would send a good message to the citizens of Tezpur who would then come forward in the other cleaning initiatives.  And it happened as expected. At the end of that cleanliness drive, it almost felt like being transported to the Rann of Kutch.

Another issue that was put forward by all was the exponentially rising traffic congestion in the city courtesy the narrow lanes all around. Now Tezpur is very small place and it occurred to us that one could easily move around with a bicycle to cover the entire city in no time. At least the schools and college going students can take up cycling instead of roaming around in four-wheeler. The Tezpur University where all students use bicycles is a wonderful example in this sense. So we started a group to promote cycle in the city and made several long distance trips to promote it as well. We even came up with this promotional video which you can see below. Taking inspiration many students bought new cycles and the cycling revolution has just started. More and more colleges are starting their own cycling clubs which certainly is a good sign for this movement.

During the Namami Brahmaputra river festival, we wanted to promote Tezpur Tourism and to raise some money for underprivileged kids education. We combined these two and organized a fund raising T-Shirt sale where the proceeds would go to a foundation. Through these T-shirts we promotes the tourism prospects of Tezpur. Our volunteers also went to an orphanage to teach kids computers and other skills. We also organized a blood-donation camp. As I write this, we are working on the finer details of a pro-environment campaign called Mission Prokriti. And there will be many more initiatives to come in the future as well. We have also drafted a constitution for this organization to ensure continuity even after some of us move out.

V4T has been a wonderful narrative and through these small steps, I feel we have moved forward a bit if not much. This platform has also rejuvenated the bond of Citizens with Institutions which I am sure would be helpful in future initiatives. I look forward to create more such forums wherever I go. And at the last, I would like to quote Elizabeth Andrew to sum up,

“Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.”

P.S. News article on V4T, CLICK HERE.

IAS Diaries Part 13- Meghalaya

Meghalaya is one such state where you would not find the requirement to point out the beautiful spots. It’s mesmerizing from North to South and from East to West as well. All of it is serene, all of it, pristine. As soon you enter the territory of the state on the Guwahati-Shillong road, all of a sudden you find the landscape has changed. Within no time you find yourself among the lush green Khasi hills. And it only gets better as you move up towards Shillong. As ours is a joint cadre, we also spend some time in Meghalaya which involves an induction training in the capital and then two weeks attachment in some district.

For this one week in Shillong, we were put up in the Guest House of North East Hill University (NEHU) which I am sure many would concur is one of the most beautiful academic campuses in the region. Among the tall vegetation and the numerous water bodies are several departments and hostels. A simple walk inside the campus can rejuvenate you out of all the miseries that surround you. The air around is no naturally fresh that you can actually feel yourself healing, physically and spiritually. The first part of the attachment was with the Meghalaya Administrative Training Institute (MATI) which was organized very professionally and was well thought of and structured. The faculties who came to take the sessions were mostly senior officers from the IAS and MCS and they had plenty of experience and stories to share. We often have the perception that the big states with better infrastructure and leverage would have more impressive ATIs, a perception that changes after a visit to MATI.

Meghalaya is entirely a 6^th schedule area and the governance and administration are intermingled in a complex structure. Like a typical district in India, the Office of the Deputy Commissioner is there in every district but it has not been given all the subjects to deal with. Most of the things are decided by the District Councils at the district level and the Village councils at the village level. The Village councils are headed by the Village Headman who is elected by the villagers. This all is a constitutional provision given to safeguard the autonomy of the local people.

During the MATI attachment we had one opportunity to meet the various members of the Khasi District Council and also one of the village headman from the same district. They were very welcoming and made us understood their roles and responsibilities and the various other forums on which they interact with the district administration. All of them were speaking so passionately about their roles and the ideas to take Meghalaya forward in an inclusive way. At the end, the first glimpses of this unique model of governance left us intrigued and thoughtful.

After an oversight on several government institutions working in the capital, we went to our respective allotted districts. I, along with Sumit, was attached to Ribhoi District for two weeks which is the first district you cross when you enter Meghalaya from Guwahati. Although the DC Office functioning is more or less similar to that in other states but there is a huge difference when it comes to work classification. The difference being the fact that in Meghalaya, we only have 3% of the entire land as government land and thus the revenue work in minimal. The land belongs mostly to communities and private individuals. And they themselves decide upon the land usage pattern. This would mean that the District Administration is majorly focusing upon Law & Order and other developmental issues.

On the next day, we were attached to one of the centers of ICAR in the district which was a thoroughly enlightening experience for me as I personally feel that I do not have that kind of exposure to agriculture and allied activities. They took us to several branches where the respective Scientists explained to us the kind of research they are doing and how they are working with the local people and especially the farmers to improve their productivity and to make them aware of new technologies and developments. That brings us to the point that so much is being done in several fields from the state’s end which people have no clue about. The only thing we need to ensure is that we connect all the aspiring farmers to these wonderful initiatives in the field of agriculture.

On the second day, we went to the North East Space Application Center (NESAC) which is one of its kind in the region and is situated in one of the most beautiful possible places in the district, just opposite to the Umian lake viewpoint. There the Managing Director took special interest in our visit and spent considerable time with us explaining to us the various activities and tasks undertaken by the institute in spite his very busy schedule. They explained to us how they are implementing the tele-education and tele-medicine projects and how they do aerial surveys using the UAVs which they have built. At such places, seeing the talented Indian Engineers hard at work, I am always reminded of the choice they had made, to stay in the country and work for its progress, a patriotic spirit that we seldom give recognition to.

After that, we had an attachment with the North East Police Academy popularly called as NEPA which is located near NESAC only. They have a superb campus with excellent facilities and environment to train young officer level recruits of the several states of the North east region. This year even Assam had sent their newly recruited DySPs to NEPA given the excellent training facilities present there. Most of the North Eastern States use this academy for training their DySPs. A proud institution of the state.

Another brilliant initiative which is going on in Meghalaya now is the Basin Development wherein they are doing capacity building and skill development to promote entrepreneurship and to generate employment opportunities in the state. In one such initiative, an unemployed youth was taught the art of candle making. He was provided with the equipment which essentially was a collection of moulds. He was also made aware of the various places which provide for wax at a cheap rate under this program. Today he is successfully selling his produce in the local markets of Shillong. Fortunately we met him at his small manufacturing site at the time of Diwali and we thought it would be wonderful to send these colorful wax items as gifts to our relatives and friends. It indeed was.

Also, we went to one of the villages in the interiors of Ribhoi District and coincidentally the village headman was the same person who met us in Khasi District Council panel discussion. He enthusiastically showed us around the endless initiatives that he has started in his village. To start with he had constructed several roads under MNREGS and with several other convergence funds. He had also very well planned for the water usage in the village by constructing several check dams and small canals and water reservoirs as well. He had also done good innovation in the efficient land use of the villages by encouraging several locals to get involved in horticulture. He had also initiated attempts to install a Waste to Bio-gas plant in his village. It was heartening to see all such things in a far flung village.

Another wonderful attachment was with the Fisheries training institute which is also situated in this district. We went in the villages to see several ponds set up under various schemes of the governments. Along with that we also inspected several hatcheries were they breed the fish. In Meghalaya there is immense potential of developing aquaculture or fisheries but the main issue is with the availability of brooder fishes which are used for the purpose of breeding. Because of the infrastructural requirement and the technical knowledge requirement, the locals have been running away from it. But with this present intervention, that issue is being addressed and already the local fish production figures are rising exponentially.

In between these attachments, we also got the time to travel across the length and breadth of the state. For me, Meghalaya is the most beautiful state among all. The numerous waterfalls, virgin hills, root-bridges, serene treks, ultra clean villages, pleasant meadows and the wonderful local people that they are. I still remember the Sohra Marathon, the Prettiest Marathon, all along that route from Shillong to Sohra, there was rain and there were clouds. I felt as if there was nothing else. I could not even feel my own existence as if I had been dissolved. Such is the mesmerizing Meghalaya.

The Better India

There was a time when the perception of the Civil Service was perhaps mostly plagued with cynicism wrapped in the red tape. They were tales of bureaucratic apathy, of delatory tactics and complex cob-webs of regulations. Mostly disturbing.

But times are changing for good. India is changing for good. And so is the Civil Service. We see today numerous examples of frugal innovations in rural administraiton, brilliant individual efforts to transform communities, technological revolutions to facilitate people's participation and faster service delivery.

There is no doubt we are moving forward to a Better India at an impressive pace. Today, on the occasion of Civil Service Day, I thank and take inspiration from all those Civil Servants who have made a difference and who are making a difference. Proud to be surrounded with such a lot. Jai Hind

Co-existence

Far from the noise of the city, I was amidst this melodious silence of nature. I could see those mountains in Arunachal on one side and the lush green meadows of Assam on the other. Inside a house made of bamboo, the claustrophobia of bricks was absent. Confinement was not punishing for a change. Such surrealism.

There was a house on the backside where two ladies were engaged with the daily chores. Inside their house, I saw this huge natural bee hive. On being asked why they let it grow so big inside their house, they hit a very fundamental note. “They don't hurt us. Why should I take away their home? There are some snakes who live here too. We let them stay too. Isn't this the way it was meant to be, for us all, to co-exist?!”

IAS Diaries Part 12- North East Darshan

So, it had been a while since the best part of our IAS training concluded- Bharat Darshan. More than two months of crazy hopping around the country and experiencing a different landscape every mile. O’ Incredible India, truly. I personally feel that we learned more during our travels than sitting in a cozy classroom of some hill station academy pretending to be deeply absorbed in the theoretical propaganda. And just when the nostalgia escalated to unbearable levels we had a wonderful surprise waiting for us ~ North East Darshan.

It was a home coming of sorts where suddenly we were 25 IAS probationers coming from our lonely districts. We were all stationed at the Assam Administrative Staff College in Guwahati. Before we embarked upon this remarkable journey across several states of the North East, there was this one week special course all about knowing the North east better. Through these lectures we came across several aspects of administration and governance which were totally new to us. Like the case of Meghalaya which is entirely a 6^th Schedule area and where the model of governance is entirely different. Even in Assam, there is a stark difference how hill areas are administered and how the majority plain areas are governed. The lectures also covered variety of customary laws and practices especially the ones prevalent in Nagaland. Moreover, they made us aware with the rather less known historical evolution of the North eastern states.

Startled with how less we knew about the region’s history, we kicked off the tour with my home district. We had a one night halt at Tezpur where I am currently posted as part of my district training. We had a planned tour to one of the biggest tea estates in the Sonitpur district. The light rains and the fantastic weather made it a mesmerizing experience. We first went through the vast expanses of the tea gardens which almost seemed endless to me. Then there was a detailed tour of the processing units followed by tea-tasting.  We also had an Army attachment planned with the 4^th Corps Unit stationed in Tezpur and they had a wonderful presentation on the deployment of the Armed Forces in the entire North eastern region.  

After Tezpur, Itanagar was next. The capital of Arunachal Pradesh was totally packed owing to a National level Badminton event and we were forced to go to a nearby place called Naharlagun for accommodation. One thing which instantly strikes you there is the penetration of Hindi language in the state as all the tribes and local people communicate with each other in Hindi. Something which is rare to be seen in the North East and the reasons abundantly clear in the history of it’s geography.

When one enters Arunachal from the border at Biswanath in Assam, one gets the glimpse of the Trans-Arunachal Highway in the making. It is an absolute delight to see and have a drive. But the beauty is only till the capital city. But I am sure that once this project gets complete, the tourism scenario of the State will see a huge exponential growth. The green pastures of Assam were replaced by canopy rich mountains creating beautiful gorges. The serpentine rivers of Assam were replaced by the voracious streams coming down the hill. Among these replacements, one thing stayed intact, the beauty of it all.

Next stop, Shillong. The journey to the capital of Meghalaya from Guwahati is perhaps as beautiful as the city itself. Almost inadvertently every tourist goes to the Shillong peak. But the real high of this place is the ever beautiful Elephanta Falls. Then the next day we decided to drive up to Cherapunji and do the pretty famous trek to the double decker Root Bridge. The trek is essentially going down into the valley by those 3000 steps which are a delight while going down but the real fun is while coming back when you would surely take twice the time you took to go down. But an absolute must in case you are in Sohra.

After a brief but beautiful rendezvous with the Khasi Hills, we flew to the capital of Tripura from Guwahati the next day. More than the local sights, it was the opportunity to meet and interact with Miss Dipa Karmakar which was the highlight. The district administration had organized for a felicitation event where they had invited her and her coach Mr. Bisweshwar Nandi. Various officers of the district were also present on this occasion. She was patient enough to answer all our questions and certainly it was a proud moment for all of us to meet the Golden Girl of Tripura. CLICK HERE to read more.

From there, it was Dimapur by train and then to Kohima by road. In Dimapur Government College, we had this amazing and fruitful discussion on the political, social and economic dynamics of Nagaland. This way is much better than having a session on Nagaland in the Staff College. On the other day we went to Kohima and stayed there at the ATI. We visited the local sites like the Kohima War Memorial and other churches and cathedrals. The place has 16 different tribal communities which use a lingua franca Nagamese. The stark influence of Assamese is more than apparent. Overall, this North East Darshan has been a fascinating learning experience and an eye opener of sorts. There is a vast difference between the realities of these states and what the common perception is about them in rest of India.

However, there are always some points on improvement namely – to cover all the states of NE, more time allocated to each place as there isn’t a point of touching base and the itinerary and the places to be visited can be decided in consultation with the Officer Trainees of that particular district. Like Bharat Darshan, this too had to end. We came out of it perhaps a little wiser, perhaps a little more aware about a region we had no clue of. The cultural affinity and diversity here are unparalleled. The natural landscape and the picturesque surroundings are unexplored. The affection of the local inhabitants is unprecedented. This is a world kept pristine by the dwellers, perhaps for us to see what the Earth was like before we ‘prospered’. Sublime beauty, you North East.