Inertia to write

After the death of Dadabhai Naoroji ,the grand old man of india , the people who accessed his personal files found thousands of letters ,pamphlets,booklets and newspaper cuttings among his many personal things . The  great man had an obsession to pen down everything ranging from his plumber's visit to the informed debates with the Tories. In fact ,Naoroji's papers , as they are now famously called is a collection of a whopping 25000 items. No wonder , he went on to become a mentor for many Indians , who aspired to study in England , including a 'village boy' from porbandar.

Fast forward a hundred years , letter writing is no longer considered a cumbersome activity . In fact ,each one of us would have beaten Naoroji's 25000 figure quite comprehensively ,thanks to e(asy)-mail ,SMS,etc . It is exactly for this reason ,that i was surprised , when Mr.Jairam Ramesh during one of our interactions said that , " we Indians don't have the habit of writing " . Though it was said on a serious note , i refused to believe him then . But after looking at the activities of the PMRDF's on the google groups , from the past few months i feel that he was right.

The statistics option on the google groups(PMRDFS2) reveal the picture of the fellows' activity on the group . The number of posts in the group is declining steadily while the number of topics ,more or less remains the same (from october). There are just handful of contributors , who keep the group active while the others remain totally inactive . After looking at the statistics, i started thinking about the possible reasons for this non - participation and came up with the following possibilities:
1. Fellows don't have access to good Internet facility.
2. Got too busy with their work (these are the luckiest chaps according to me :P)
3. Fellows think they don't have anything to add to the discussions.
4. They are not comfortable conveying their opinions in English ,so prefer staying away.
5. Fellows are not added in the group . (and other admin related issues)
6.Fellows are active in their local groups(state groups).
6. They just chose to be indifferent.(the most unfortunate one)

 We were such a great group during the training , we just can't let the distance,language or terrain diminish our team spirit . We should share our experiences more often and be ready to help the fellows in need of some guidance .The peer review exercise taken up by Ankush & Co. is really a timely intervention and its time we participate and make it fruitful . At this juncture, i am looking forward to suggestions and ideas from the fellows to bring more people to participate in the group's activities. You may also comment on the relevance of the topic and raise objections ,if any.

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Phani.

Wisdoms from Babudom

Great lessons that the world of babus - Babudom has for us to learn..
1. Corruption in our world is like a layer of dust on a piece of machinery - nobody bothers to clean it nor does it get thicker with time.
2. बन के रहो पगला, तोह काम करेगा अगला!!
Acting stupid is the best way to avoid work. We work efficiently, and we are made to slog like a donkey.
3. The 'Poker' is a babus best friend.
Staplers, paper clips, pins, punching machines and all stationary gets lost in the muddle called our 'office' but the poker (to make holes) always remains by our side!
4. When in Babudom, do as the babus do. You simply don't ask Why.
5. The earlier one reaches 'office' to work, the closer he is to the rank of a clerk!

Seeing is Believing

They say "Seeing is Believing". But what about the underlying details that one cannot see with naked eyes? What if you know that whatever you are seeing is just half the truth or may be window-dressing and still the evidences vouch against it? I have been trying to understand the village dynamics ever since i entered this field but seriously this is one hell of a task. People are unpredictable. You would never know whats in store for you.

I went for the inspection of a pond under MGNREGS which had recently attracted some media attention. It was alleged that though NREGA funds had been extracted in the name of pond rejuvenation yet no actual work was done. I'll leave behind what the actual case was and what all was found in the end. My focus centers around PEOPLE. I was baffled with the way people behaved. The person on whose statement the whole media report was based denied that he said anything about the pond. A jovial young man. He said, "Madam bulaiye uss reporter ko fone karke. Jhooth likha hai". Agreed!!!

Then came 2 NREGA workers. While I was talking to one of the workers the MATE very smartly turned his back against me and started strolling near the second worker. And there he went mumbling something in the ear of that worker. I gave a sharp look and the worker showed as if nothing passed between him and the MATE. Teamwork!!!!

Then came a lady who talked incessantly. She proclaimed how she and the whole village had gained from the pond and that the allegations were all wrong. Later I came to know she was MATE's mother. Great!!!

The workers said they received the payments on time. When asked about the jobcard they said its with the MATE. MATE clarified he took the jobcards just yesterday. The workers didn't know what to say. They probably didn't know that the jobcard is their own property. They changed their statements every now and then. "Just yesterday" conveniently changed to 1 week. In the meanwhile, the mother kept interfering with her shrill and unstoppable blah blah. I understood what putting words in one's mouth literally means. Eureka!!!

I felt like Sherlock Holmes....judging every minuteness in the surroundings. Things were being fabricated. But the evidence missing. The papers/records vouched work had been done. JE, MATE, Labours,Passers By- all testified the same. Seeing the site with my own eyes made me believe that work had actually been done. But something did miss my eyes!!!!

Seeing is Believing?????????

The hunt for an APO

Surajpur being a newly formed district [Jan 2012], recruitment is one activity that is always under focus. And so was taken up the task of appointing an Assistant Project Officer (APO) for NREGA in the DRDA some time in July 2012 which ended as a long chase - probably the first time the government would have chased someone to give her a job! 
The process started with publishing advertisements and inviting applications after which the candidates were asked to appear for written exams. A major challenge in a democratic setup is convincing all individuals about the authenticity of the results. And the task becomes much more difficult when the written exam is a subjective paper. Thus, the process followed is that after publishing results, applicants are given a few days to raise objections and their concerns are addressed. It is a slow and painful process that took us till October 2012 to resolve. However, a talented young individual was selected and we were happy to have another helping hand in our staff - starved organization.
The joining letter was sent to the young man and he was given a week's time to join. Almost 20 such notices of appointment are also sent to various departments at the state, district and block level. Talented young men don't come without their issues, and after multiple calls to him on the last day given for joining, we realized that he wasn't going to join. Delayed by another week, we decided to send the joining letter to the next candidate on the list - a young lady this time. Young ladies too have their idiosyncracies and the address on our madame's application was too confusing to understand and without a phone number. We were all convinced that India Post, with all the issues of its own, would never be able to deliver the letter to this lady's address in time. However, the 20 notices of appointment had to be sent again and so was sent the letter of joining as well. But it was also decided that we would try and find the lady's address and hand deliver it to her so that she could join on time. Thus began the hunt for our APO.
We first enquired about the locality. The name of the locality was itself misspelt - a local thankfully helped us identify it. The house number mentioned in the address was the number given by the municipality, and there is no way of finding out which house has which number other than guessing where the particular number could be and then asking individual households. A local politician came to our help who, based on where the people of that caste lived, gave us a rough idea where the house could be. Without the lady's father's name in the address even our local politician found it difficult!
The next step was then to ask individual households in the area identified. We got lucky there, as the first family we contacted, being of the same cast as our madame, knew that house. They also knew that the girl had applied for a job and thus followed some curious questions about why we were searching for her and if we had appointed her. Excited as we were, we told them the entire story about the job. Moving on from there in the direction told to us, finding the lady's house even then took us four more consultations and answering curious questions about why the search. Luckily, before the entire mohalla could know that there was a search going on for the lady and we had a job for her, we found her house in a discrete part of the mohalla.
Thus, after the long journey, the letter had finally reached its destination! There s great hope that with madame joining in this Monday [November 2012], the 5 months' hunt for an APO will end too!!! 

 

Feel good experience..!!!!!

As a PMRDF Giridih, me and my fellow mate has done need assessment in around 10 very interior villages in my district and submitted our reports to our DC..

Some days later some of the line dept staff said that our report was forwarded to them to carry out the activities we have recommended!!!

Feel good to know that action is taken on our report and some of the problems of the people are addressed by my DC!!!!!!!!

Breaking the Ice

The first few days within the district administration were all about understanding the bureaucracy, talking to officials and demystifying the complex structural hierarchies. A major part of this effort was breaking ice with government officials who seemed to be in a perpetual state of urgency, deliberation or confusion depending on the time of the day. Thus, the first few brave - hearted attempts at directly interacting with officers without an introduction were only met with stares, cynicism about the scheme and some uncomfortable questions about our salary.
However, things began to change when the Collector himself talked about the scheme and our roles in one of the weekly meetings. Suddenly everyone, right from the chowkidaars to the babus and the officers, were talking with some respect. Respect in the bureaucracy mostly comes from the post that you hold and who is backing you up. And for all the talk about being humble and staying grounded in the field, the ice breaking only happens when you show where you come from! 

The Genesis

The Fellowship is a great opportunity for professionals to get first hand experience of working in the worst affected naxal districts of India. Working within the government administration in the most backward tribal districts interacting with a variety of stakeholders – the villagers, NGOs, government officials and politicians brings with it some of the most exciting, touching, humorous, frustrating and outrageous experiences everyday. This blog, aptly titled Snippets & Stories, will facilitate sharing of such experiences with greater audiences across the world and hopefully, help initiate a larger discourse on issues that have been sidelined from the mainstream for so long.
Starting off this Diwali with Best Wishes for the New Year,
Cheers!