What’s on your Mind – Kiphire!!

What’s on your Mind – Kiphire!!

Every morning as I switch on my phone, I have Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook staring at me with the question – What’s on your mind!! As we bid good bye to 2017 and heralded 2018 – when most of my friends and family wished a Happy New Year for me and my family – my mind was more occupied with Kiphire – one of the remotest districts in the extreme North East of India. Kiphire is around 2500 kms from New Delhi and it takes almost 18 hours to reach the district from Delhi with the fastest mode of transport – a combination of a 4.5 hour flight to Dimapur and another 13.5 hours of tiring road journey on the hill roads.

               Towards the end of 2017, I got a call from the young Deputy Commissioner of Kiphire with the news that his district has been identified as one of the most backward 115 districts of the country which have been chosen for a special focus by the Prime Minister for Transforming India. He also informed me that he has been invited to participate in a Conference in New Delhi on 4^th and 5^th January where the District Collectors (Deputy Commissioners) of the 115 most backward districts will be making presentations before a panel chaired by none other than our Prime Minister. He asked for my suggestions on the theme that he should chose for Kiphire – from amongst Education, Health, Nutrition, Agriculture, Water Resources, Financial Inclusion, Skill development and Basic Infrastructure. We discussed the various development indicators for the district and the Deputy Commissioner was preparing for his big Day with the PM. However, this was in the last week of 2017.

               Come 2018 and a different kind of crisis awaited the DC and the district of Kiphire. A potentially explosive law and order situation over nomenclature of a village and we had a situation where the focus shifted from development to maintenance of basic law and order. Social Media these days is a willing medium to be misused for spreading all kinds of rumours that can disrupt normal life. So a decision had to be taken – much to the chagrin to champions of free speech – to restrict Internet services in the district. Meetings were held with all stakeholders to avoid any loss to life and property. With great effort, the situation has been brought to control and normalcy prevails as of now. But at what cost? The Deputy Commissioner could not attend the Conference which was addressed by Hon’ble Prime Minister. The Prime Minister exhorted the young District Collectors – referred to them as Change Agents – who can together transform the Backward Districts to be Aspirational Districts. Identifying the aspirations of the people of these districts and taking steps to meet those aspirations can help not only transform these districts but the entire State. The Deputy Commissioners – the Change Agents – who have the opportunity to work in these Aspirational Districts are fortunate to get an opportunity to do something meaningful – that can bring about real change. The Prime Minister called upon the young officers to strive hard to change the negative psyche and mindset of pessimism into that of optimism in these districts.

Given this context, we need to go beyond the dispute and the acrimony of the past week – look for ways and means to resolve our differences and work together – hand in hand – to help improve the development indicators of Kiphire. The literacy rate of the district is 69.54% against 79.55% for the State. The Sex Ratio of the District – 956 is better than that of the State – 931. But the sex ratio of children below the age of 6 is only 948 and that’s a trend that needs to be reversed. Poor infrastructure facilities in the districts results in a situation where we don’t have sufficient teachers in schools and colleges, doctors in hospitals are missing and people suffer as a result. Bad roads and lack of proper infrastructure is one of the biggest bottlenecks in the district. Coverage of Banks is limited and Financial Inclusion is a major challenge. With the relatively young population, Skill Development can be a major focus area to help the youth find jobs. The Prime Minister has given a target of 3 months to work out a plan and move ahead – this will be challenging and what we need is to get all like minded people – specially the youth – who are aspirational to come forward and give suggestions that can help transform Kiphire. If we can do this, there is an opportunity to make Kiphire the role model for the Nation. And this would ensure that Kiphire will be on the minds of people across the country, next year – for a totally different reason. Lets do it.

Abhishek Singh

(Views are personal)

Tryst with Governance

It’s almost 4 days since I heard Prime Minister Modi address the nation from Red Fort on 15^th August 2014. I must confess that as a Government servant, for the first time, I am feeling enthused and excited that I am working for a Government that is headed by a leader who has a vision and  a roadmap for the nation. It’s not that this was the first speech that I was listening to an Independence Day – though this was the first time I had gone to attend the 15^th August function at Red Fort. One reason for this was obviously the buzz that it was mandatory for us to attend. However, the more compelling reason was my Dad, who was very keen to attend and had asked me almost a month back if it was possible to get passes. I have seen my Dad transforming from an online enrolled AAP member to a die-hard Modi Fan. Many a dinner conversations we have had regarding the strengths and weaknesses of the leaders we have and over a period of time, I have found myself getting to agree more with his beliefs in the new leader.

So we went, early morning and were lucky enough to get seats which gave us a view of the podium as well as the feel of the surrounding ambience. What impressed me most was the tone of the speech. It was so very different from the Lalan College, Bhuj speech that he delivered last year. That was of course an election mode speech but the tone was too adversarial. As compared to that, this year there were no negative sentiments. He began by acknowledging previous Prime Ministers and thanking the opposition for the support in getting important legislation passed. This was a changed Prime Minister – it appeared as if a true leader and a statesman is in the making.

However what made me his fan was the simple ideas. The thoughts on Bureaucracy, Sanitation, Women, Manufacturing, Skills and E Governance were music to my ears. The icing on the cake was the decision on Planning Commission. I have myself endured the tyranny of the Commission which has caused delays of at least 9 to 12 months for the EFC and Cabinet proposals mooted by my Department. The problem with Planning Commission has been that it gets into an executive role and starts taking decisions for the Departments which is totally a transgression of authority as Departments must be free to conceptualize their schemes within their planned and budgetary outlays. Role of Planning Commission needs to be to bring in synergies between Departments and come up with long term vision and plans rather than tinkering with the day to day functioning of the Departments. It would have been wonderful had the ideas regarding merger of Departments like Steel-Mines-Coal and Power-New and Renewable Energy et al came from the Planning Commission. Even the experts on PPP in Planning Commission are so convinced of their own points of view that they would refuse to entertain any alternate perspective and would even refuse to share soft copies of documents. The institution had become truly archaic and if what has been announced is implemented it would cut the internal red tape of the Government by a great deal.

Another notable feature of the Speech was that it was not presented as a certificate for the greatness that we normally bestow upon ourselves. There was no mention of our rockets and missiles, our super power status, our potential economic might or how we stalled an agreement at WTO. There was no thumping of chests for the Gujarat model or what all the Parliament just achieved in the Monsoon session. The Speech had elements which read like the To Do list of a serious CEO of the nation. The issues identified and the ideas espoused are so very relevant. The take on rape and crime against women was so very different than the ‘Boys would be Boys’ mindsets. The target of all schools with toilets for girls is so very achievable. Similarly the model village concept gave an action plan for all the elected MPs and will definitely have a trickle-down effect if the Rural Development Ministry works out the minor details. The ideas on Financial Inclusion and insurance for the poor are similar. I doubt if any previous Independence Day speech had so many time bound quantifiable targets.

The focus on Manufacturing and Entrepreneurship are key to take India back to the growth cycle. The Mantra of Come, Make in India will of course require much more action on infrastructure and regulatory issues – but the idea is that once the goal is defined, efforts can be made to resolve the roadblocks. This will be the biggest challenge as the retro tax measures and the New Land Acquisition Act will require a lot of tweaking if the Made in India tag is to become a reality.

The ideas on Skills, Digital India and E Governance are so very critical for us to reap the benefits of our demographic dividend. All this was like the things that we always talked about with friends becoming the priorities of the Government. I am happy to be part of this change. Am willing to do my bit to make India a better place. This hour on the 15^th was a true Tryst with Governance moment.