Musings in Maraland, Saiha

The Identity called Indian

2011-03-09T06:04:00.001+05:30

Recently, I met a boy named Ricky, who came to my office in relation to some work. I asked his details as where he studied, where he works etc.. He stated that he studied in Australia and now he works there too. I liked his manners. So just in a funny way I asked him- How Australians treat you??? His reply was surprising. He said that he tell Australians that he is an Indian but they never believed him. More so even people from Northern or Southern India also do not believe him.

Although it looks quite funny, but it puts a very serious question to the identity we carry- Indian. How still we are unable to integrate with eachother...Even for an educated person any person having Mongoloid features means either Nepali or Japanese or Chinese. The awareness in the rest of the country about North East can be summarised in few words like:- Insurgency, Very Dangerous. Manipur has got some identity because of its dance and sportsmen. Nagaland because of Kohima and its association with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Mizoram is bamboo dance. Arunachal because of its border problem with China.

I feel, Inner Line Permits have to be blamed to a large extent, ILP has ensured that the small communities and their culture are protected but it has also isolated them. I am strong supporter of ILP but I feel that at least for tourism and investment purposes it should be liberalised, so that people from other part of country can come and enjoy this beautiful place and let the economy grow. India's 1st Prime Minister realised at the time of Independence that these areas have to be given a special status so that their culture remains protected. The small communities even at the cost of isolation should be able to retain their social, cultural and religious values. Still it is holding ground to a large strength.

I remember one of our distinguished guest in Saiha district narrating an anecdote. Once Indian Army was on a peace duty posted in Kongo. The rebels there wanted to hold some talk with peace keeping forces and they wanted only Indian Army to come that too 3 officers. The three officers went into jungle unarmed and waited there for 3-4 hours but none came and then they returned back. Next day local head of peace keeping forces called up the representative of rebels as why no body came to meet the Army Officers. The representative stated that Indian Army officers were not there. There was one from Africa, one from Caucasian region and one from China. The Indian Army forces commander there held his head in disgust. He stated there was one Colonel from Tamilnadu, one Major from Punjab and one Captain from Nagaland. All are from India not from any other country.

So this is the stereotype exist in other countries. Our own states are also like that. India I feel is like a vast ocean. We cant have any identity based on racial feature, language, religion etc alone. I have seen in Delhi, students from NE feel that people in Delhi treat them differently because of their racial feature, here my observation is in India we have made stereotype for people belonging to different place and different community. Even in my state Bihar, we have 5-6 different regions and every one has got their own stereotype and knowledge(??) of other region that...they are lazy.. they eat dahi(yogurt) too much.... they are so.. they re so so....

There is no end to this stereotype. I feel this is what define different color in a beautiful garden called India. Slowly with globalisation, ICT a rapid intermixing has started not only in the field of economy but also in social life. But there is one danger... it will be difficult to save smaller culture in the era of globalisation, ICT ,rapid sharing of information through internet, television etc. Even in Mizoram one can witness that now smaller tribal languages are slowly dying. Even I do not know what is the answer to this problem. I feel language is the carrier of culture and culture is the byproduct of thousands of years of wisdom of our forefathers. If a language dies, however tiny it is, a piece of culture dies, wisdom dies which could have enriched the world in its own way.

How to define an Indian identity so that all the one billion persons living in this beautiful land are covered.. one inclusive definition. It is a difficult attempt which at least I do not want to make. Several anthropologists, social scientists have tried to define it which I do not want to reproduce. I fell, Indian identity is not a typical racial feature, language feature or religion feature, it is our shared values, ethos that define it. Traditionally we have remain very much secluded from each-other, may be in another 30-40 years when integration will be much more, this identity will become much more pronounced but I do not want that to happen at the cost of smaller cultures, languages. I do not want it to be plain and monotonous identity rather it should be vibrant one with different colors and shades.

Celebrations of Lyuva Khutla in Saiha

2011-03-07T08:56:00.000+05:30

The main festival of Mara community Lyuva Khutla was celebrated with fanfare in Saiha on 05th March, next day of Chapchar Kut. The district playground was beautifully decorated with traditional mara dresses, old arms, guns.

It was opened in style by the CEM Pu S. Khipo who was accompanied by two gunmen like an old Mara Chief.

We saw one small dance troupe from Saby village of Myanmaar.

Saby (from Myanmaar) Cultural Troupe

Mawhre Cultural Troupe performed Beila Dance. In olden days it was celebrated in the honour of the couple who used to sponsor community feast. Even I tried myself to match the steps of the dancers and was fairly good.

Beila Dance by Mawhre Cultural Troupe

Top artists of Saiha also performed in this function and enthralled the audiences. One of the main attraction was karate show by the local boys. It was quite impressive..

There was one Miss and Mr Lyuva Khutla contest in which the young boys and girls were very beautifully dressed in traditional Mara dress and had also walked up on the stage like cat walk !!!!!

Participants of Ms and Mr Lyuva Khutla

The biggest attraction was Sawlakia dance by a big group of around 2000 persons. I am putting here the snap taken by DIPRO

Some Random Moments captured...............

Children busy in their own world

The little audience

The event provided me a good opportunity to capture wonderful moments in my new camera.... I wish I had a better telescopic lens but still it was quite good.

I feel, these festival can become a good attraction from tourism point of view. Nowhere in the country this festival is celebrated. The beauty of Mizoram is that each community has its own form of dances and that too in good number. The state has not tapped its tourism potential and it has the capacity to attract good many tourist with its colorful festival, serene and calm environment... Director Tourism who was the Chief Guest informed us that they are going to take up the branding activity soon and in fact in Chapchar Kut celebrations at Aizawl, good number of foreign tourists arrived.

I had given a concept to the Director Tourism to sponsor organisation of "Chhimtuipui" Festival. The old Chhimtuipui district was having all the three autonomous district councils. The festival can effectively showcase the different dances/culture of Mara, Lai and Chakma community. It can improve inter-community dialogue and also can become a major tourist attraction.

We need to liberalise the Inner Line Permits for the tourists on the line of PAP and can make Tourism as a driver of economy as is done by Goa, Singapore etc..A lot need to be done to achieve it but definitely it should be tried.

Celebration of Chapchar Kut in Saiha

2011-03-07T00:43:00.002+05:30

The month of March has started on a good note with lots of fun in the form of celebrations of Chapchar Kut(4th), the main festival of Lushai community and Lyuva Khutla(5th), the main festival of Mara Community. These two festival are traditionally celebrated after the jungle clearance under jhumming activity gets over. In good olden days people used to assemble together and used to dance, feast for 2-3 days. Although now jhumming has been declining but the celebrations have continued.

Even I tried my footsteps on some tradition dances on both days and people commented that I was not bad either.

We had some funny incidents too. In Chapchar Kut, the wooden step was broken while one light weight lady was trying to get on the podium. And then when Pu Sangmanga was trying to fire a bullet then it burst while still he was cocking the gun. Thankingfully it was under control.

On Chapchar Kut the children play the traditional games and it was a fun to watch them.

My Daughter Enjoying Chapchar Kut

The parade by the different women groups were quite impressive. They displayed the dresses wore by different tribes from olden days to modern times. Have a glimpse of it below:-

Cheraw (Bamboo Dance) performance by three groups was quite impressive. Although I saw one girl getting hurt also. There was one kid group which really impressed me.

I tried to capture as many snaps as possible and had a good time watching it and participating in it.
Some interesting moments:-----

The Chief Organiser: SDO(S) Pu V. Lalenmawia

Miss Chapchar Kut being grilled by panel

Welcoming 2011 in Saiha

2011-01-02T23:14:00.001+05:30

The end of 2010 and beginning of 2011 was celebrated in style in Saiha. In Mizoram, the religious celebrations continue from pre-Christmas days till New Year which includes Special Church Service, Fellowship Programmes in specified houses followed by community feast. It is also a time for putting on new fancy dresses. In fact as I have witnessed in Saiha, people save for this purpose and spend a good amount of money on purchasing new dresses for Christmas celebrations. People from remote villages throng to the main markets and purchase different variety of fashionable dresses. Most of the fancy items I observed are from Bangkok, Nepal coming via air. Its a grand occasion for the sellers also to procure new varieties. Further, immediately after Christmas one can witness a sharp decrease in prices of these fancy items for obvious reasons and one can easily get these at half price of pre-Christmas Days.

Now coming back to the new year party, a different approach was tried here. The Fire & Emergency Directorate, Govt of Mizoram allocated a small sum of money to propagate Fire Awareness Message by organizing a programme on 31st Dec and accordingly a plan was made for it. It all happened just one week before Christmas and not much time was available for planning and organisation. Still a thought emerged as why not it be based on live music rather than background tracks which have become the norm in the district and even myself is quite against the system of putting CD tracks by the singers and I feel this trend is killing the musicians/instrumentalists.

So in consultation with MHP(Artists Group) a detailed programme was chalked out in which all the leading singers were called to perform along with instrumentalists. Further, the time was also alloted for volunteer groups, common public, traditional cultural show and a 30 min JAM session.

Since by the time we decided to organise it, almost all the officers were on leave for Christmas Celebrations to their hometowns, thankfully Pu Atlua, DIPRO and Pu Palai, ACF took the reins and Pu Soman my PA also supported wholeheartedly, the stage was prepared, lighting, sound system etc were arranged. It was organised at Traffic Point, so adequate policemen were on duty to regulate traffic alongwith maintaing order in programme. The low voltage did cause problems but overall it went of quite well considering the limited availability of resources in our hand.

I am embedding the youtube link of songs which was recorded by the undersigned. Since, it was fixed on a tripod, that too in the side so the quality and capturing area/angle is different, but this was onyl alternative as because of religious celebrations cameramen were not available and only amateur recording was done by the viewers.

The talent pool available in such a small town is remarkable. I am fascinated by the instrumentalists particularly.

I was amazed to see the dancers performing Awkhypa La in the chilling night without shirt. Hats Off to them and their spirit.

It was quite entertaining to see the Mara Rockn Roll.

The new Maraland Idol 2010, Eden T. Azyu was quite entertaining and enthralled the audience with her melodious voice.

The songs are being uploaded on Youtube under the channel name "dcsaiha". Since the broadband speed is very slow and most of the time is out of order so upload is a big problem for me.

I enjoyed it thoroughly and I would say beyond doubt that it was one of the most joyful evening in the recent days. Even I sang "Teri yaad aa rahi hai" on the stage apart from sharing the mike with lead singer on "Lakhon hain yahan dilwale". Further, I also tried my footsteps on few songs and Pu Chakhai, PD-DRDA, Dr Rakhu President MTP fully supported me in foot-tapping. It ended at 11pm although there were many who were insisting to keep it going on but since at 11 pm special new year service starts in Church so we finally called it off at 11.

I hope it would have been a pure entertainment for all. Especially for those who were present alongwith me. It was wishing getting fulfilled for me as I wanted to organise a live music concert and this provided a perfect occassion to do it in style. Lets hope we will have more concerts in near future.

Christmas Celebration in Saiha

2010-12-26T10:06:00.000+05:30

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to You!!!!!!

This was my second Christmas celebration in Saiha. Like the last year it was also filled with good experiences. We do not face in untoward incidents this year. The Govt has emphasised on proper celebration of Christmas without fire crackers, alcohols etc and thanks to the efforts by police and NGOs, it was completely under control. Even one special camping was organised by the ECM church which also controlled the alcoholism in a large sections of the society.

I attend the morning Christmas mass in ECM Vengpui Church and after that I attended fellowship programmes in New Saiha ECM, LIKBK, UPC and Presbyterian Church of Mizoram. I sang prayer songs from Tonic Sulpha Book published by Synod Music Committee and understood the meaning little bit, but it was a vast improvement from the last year as I was able to sing with the people. It was good to see a refurnished ECM Vengpui Church. It looks much better in new ceiling and in new colours. I got the information that it is the biggest Church in Saiha with 1500 members

In Saiha rather say in Mizoram as a whole people are very religious and celebrate Christmas, New Year in its true spirit.It is a fun to see the kids and teenagers wearing new and fancy dresses. Everyone tries to be unique in their dressing and despite of the winter season, they try to wear summer dresses. In fact the markets were also filled with all kinds of fancy clothes and shoes before Christmas and people from interior places throng to Saiha to buy new- new dresses for their loved ones.

From DC Office we also opened our office till last to help out destitute by providing them small monetary help so that they can also enjoy Christmas. Unfortunately in Ainak Village one tragic accident occurs when people were returning to their village after Christmas shopping and the vehicle slipped into valley killing two persons on the spot and 5 injured. Promptly we ensured proper medical care for the injured and gave them relief ex-gratia assistance so that they should not suffer for want of money. Similarly two days before one house was burnt in Saiha town and immediately we provided relief and requested VCP, NGOs to help out the affected family to build their house to ensure that they are not left homeless on Christmas night. For many middle class persons these small help do not add much but for a poor household these make the difference between dependency and independence ensures self-esteem and a support to again start a normal lifestyle. I truly feel lucky as I have been made an instrument to help out the needy and improve their living condition and to support them in crisis.

Now coming back to Christmas celebrations, I had joined the feast in Vengpui Locality. It was another good experience to eat with the people and share their joy. In the evening we do not have much activity and I confined myself to my residence as it become really chilly after sunset. I had planned to attend some more fellowships but it could not materialise.

Christmas celebrations in Saiha are quite different from Delhi. There it is filled with pomp, markets are decorated, lots of partying etc organised along with Church services, but here it is largely confined to Church services and fellowships. Nothing much can be seen outside except people roaming here and there in brand new shining clothes. I feel that NGOs, Society should also organise some fun filled activities apart from Church Services and Community Fellowship programmes. Shopkeepers should be encourage to decorate bazaars and to give a good show to prospective buyers and public at large. May be because of the largely primary sector oriented economy, the markets are not that much developed.

In all fellowship programmes I got an opportunity to speak to the people and I requested all of them to be alert towards anyone indulging in drug-abuse, alcoholism as recently I had witnessed some death due to excess consumption of alcohol. We are planning to launch a drive to find out addicts and bring them to de-addiction centre.

To fill the new year celebrations with lot of fun we are going to organize a new year bash on 31st evening in which we are going to have lots of fun and live performances by top artist of district. So Cheers......

Health Care System in a Remote District

2010-12-24T13:37:00.000+05:30

The health care systems in my district Saiha were always a cause of concern for me from the moment I have come to this place, but today after witnessing death of one of the Sub Inspector Sh Lalawmpuia Sailo working with Saiha Police, I am feeling very sad and helpless. He was quite young and was an alcoholic but this was not the age to die. Anyone may attribute the apparent cause of death as chronic alcoholism and level failure, but it also indicates the inadequacy of our health care system to correctly diagnose and offer a reliable solution to the diseases. The condition of hospital is appalling and the equipments available here is highly inadequate. One can understand the status of hospital by looking at the photos posted below.

Entrance to the Wards

Male Ward

These two photographs can illustrate the prevailing condition of the hospital. Let me state that there is no VIP ward or anything else.... This is the only male ward. Similar is the case of Female Ward. Children Ward is under construction. Actually we shifted nurses room and renovating that room for using that as Children Ward.

Casualty

The hospital wards are running in Assam Type Structures (Tin Roof & Tiles as wall) and the building is very old. The proposal for construction of new civil hospital has been sent to Ministry of DoNER and has been retained under perpective plan but no sanction has been made so far. The Secretary, DoNER when she visited Saiha has assured that it will be taken up soon and we are waiting for a positive response soon as her visit was in October, 2010 only and for NLCPR, M/oDoNER, the committee sits monthly once all clearances are taken from concerned departments.

In a typical district, the health system is organised in two strands: male-female health workers based sub centres connected with Primary Health Centres(PHC) which is manned by a general physician and one specialty hospital at district level. A common remote and backward district faces problem in management of all the strands of the health system. In remotest places no health worker wants to go and maximum vacancies of health workers are noticed at places where they are needed more. Thankfully because of NRHM, ASHA workers are appointed in every village alongwith Anganwadi Workers who are lifting up the basic health care standards. Since they are part time workers with basic training, they can not be expected to take care of all health problems. So functioning of a health subcentre is a must in every village or every two villages at most. In last monsoon our experience was quite astonishing as the villages where connectivity was bad, there was no any health worker available and villages have been left on their own. When we forced them to go to interior places, lot of resistance was noticed.

Similarly, the district is having 4 PHC but only one was functioning for want of doctor. The Govt is unable to find a suitable doctor to be placed in other three PHCs.

I feel a practical regime of transfer/posting of health professionals is required. The interior area allowance can be introduced as an incentive and a tenure system can be evolved to ensure that the interior area should get proper health facility. Since, the places with proper connectivity can always access the district hospital, so evenif these places run without adequate manpower, they can manage; but in interior areas which are very far and faces connectivity problem in rainy season, adequate healthworkers need to be posted alongwith adequate supply of machines. A pragmatic policy needs to be adopted.

New schemes like RSBY is quite promising as these are going to make district hospital a corporate entity with incentive for doctors and earnings for hospital management and hopefully will free the hospital for purchase of necessary equipments and will provide enough resources to equip itself.

Under district level schemes like BRGF, BADP, we are planning to equip the hospital with good machines, to provide good quarters for the doctors; but since health sector is quite capital intensive, these funds are insufficient to meet the requirements of the people and a special plan funding for purchase of necessary diagnostic and surgical equipments are necessary to make the district hospital a true First Referral Unit and to conform it to the Indian Public Health Standards.

Although we claim to becoming a modern and developed nation and trying to gain proud entry in UNSC or other coveted bodies; but unless the remote places like these are taken care of by the system and society at large, we can not claim ourselves truly developed. The development of the nation depends on quality human resources and without a sound health system, a pool of quality human resource can not be imagined.

October Landslides in Saiha: Reflections on Developmental Processes in Hills

2010-11-03T10:53:00.001+05:30

The monsoon of 2010 has been quite different from the earlier years. It started on 30th March with hailstones and still continuing. It has crossed 2500ml rainfall and still the clouds can be seen hovering around Saiha skies. The damages which began in March is still continuing. Lots of houses were damaged in the first spell of hailstorms and then the usual rains started and mild landslides were observed in the interior areas, but the month of October was quite bad from this perspective. Massive rains took place which caused landslides, mudslides, land sinking, road damages in almost all parts of the district. The district was virtually closed for a week and all villages were practically like islands including Saiha town. Still today on 27th October, 2010, almost 60% area is inaccessible. All the roads are broken. NH looks like a kutcha muddy track with muds and boulders covering major portions of the roads. Movement of essential commodities are a big problem, head loads system has been put into place for many villages, lesser mention of other services is better as virtually everything has halted. A major portion of Saiha town is witnessing sinking and we are watching helplessly as unless the rain stops no engineering solution can be put into place. Many agriculture fields, fishponds, houses have been either damaged or washed away. The nature's fury has been witnessed everywhere. The worst is approach to Phura. Last year the Kawlchaw river belly bridge was washed away in landslides, this year the approach road to kawlchaw river from kawlchaw village itself is washed away into Kolodyne river.

The widespread damages observed in the district pose before all concerned an important issue of the process of development and its ecological impacts and their adoption in the district.

The hills on which the district is situated is made up of very loose soft soil and does not contain much of stone contents. So the behaviour of the soil during rainy season is almost on predicted lines. During the initial months of rains, the soil gets saturated with water and in the later part a small force of water has the capability of bringing it down. That's what happened in October, all the saturated soil fell down on the roads, houses etc and widespread damages occurred.

This brings us to the central point of the process of development in hilly areas; whether these are sustainable to the fragile ecology of the hills, is there any intervention required in the current approach etc.
Let us examine it subject-wise. The road networks have suffered the most in this month. Why is it that only roads suffer the most. The reason is simple that in order to make the roads, the hills are cut and benches are made and there is nothing above the roads to stop mud flow and consequently when heavy rains come, the whole soil above the roads fell down and gets deposited or cut the road too. I am not an engineering expert to suggest any engineering solution. But some common sensical solutions like slope study, timing of road cutting, formation of proper drainage line, regular removal of debries can be done. I remember when PMGSY was launched in Uttarakhand state this same debate was there. Whether it is environmentally sustainable in fragile Himalayan ecology, this year as everyone knows Uttarakhand suffered a severe damage in monsoon rains. Even I favour all round connectivity to all villages but if the damages in the monsoons cause so much damage then how we should go for it. Should we group smaller villages so that road required is less and lesser cutting is involved hence lesser strains on the hills and more productivity.

A better approach would be rather than expecting the nature to be accomodative to our needs, lets ourselves be accomodative to the nature's limits and we should not overstretch the limits of the nature.
Surprisingly we have found one cause of landslides is road cutting work under MGNREGS. I feel after the launch of MGNREGS suddenly the demand of the road networks have increased in entire Mizoram and recklessly all villages are planning roadcuttings in the fragile hills with least supervision from the technical staff. Reasons are known to everyone so I would not like to delve upon it. Particularly in the urban area, since the land is limited so the scope for manual works is also limited and the innovative VCPs try to make shortcuts within small area and the result is damage to the existing road as the distance between old and new roads is hardly there. For example the landslides occurring on Bazar-Meisatla PWD road is entirely due to it. In such a small stretch of 1-2 kms almost 4 landslides have occured and is constantly occuring. One culvert is under threat. Similar phenomena has been observed in Helipad area and in some portion of NH. Agrilink roads also contribute their shares to landslides on the metalled road. We are trying to take corrective actions for it.

One big problem we are witnessing is of land sinking in a big are where almost 500 houses are under threat. Personally I have witnessed sinking to the tune of 1-2 feet in last 6 months. People say that the solution is construction of checkdam in the bottom of the hill on the flow of the nullahs. First I do not believe that solution is so simple as the mechanism which work below the earth surface is not visible and too slow to notice any apparent cause. When Secretary M/oDONER inspected that area she told me that, when she was Divisional Commissioner Kumaon Division, Uttarakhand, she also witnessed major landslides and when she compared the rainfall data, she came to know that there is not much difference in rainfall, then when she saw the glacier's melting data, then the relation was established that the melting of glaciers are playing major roles in these. Similarly, the sinking also requires a thorough study.
Here the townplanning and building regulation doesnot exist and people recklessly fill the valleys,slopes with concrete structure which increase the pressure on the top most surface of the hills which also lead to sinking apart from other reasons. As I said earlier we have to be accomodative to the nature's limits, so we need to restrict house building activities in such fragile areas. I have seen still in the sinking zone lot of concrete house building is going on. Somehow I am unable to understand why people do not restrict themselves.
In fact we are planning to have a detailed Geological study of the entire Saiha town so that each habitation area can be planned properly and the District Council can take a corrective action in fragile zones and have a proper town planning.
Similarly we need to adopt the sustainable agricultural practices. Methods have been devised to deal with this kind of environment and technical manpower is also available. In hilly area to stop soil erosion, land slides and enhance soil productivity SALT has been devised. In fact in my residence I tried this year on a smaller scale and it really lead to stoppage of soil erosion in rainy season. Under NLUP and Watershed programmes I am thinking of promoting it to a larger scale. The only problem is to convince the actual practitioner i.e. farmers to adopt it. Hope they will respond positively
These landslides are an eyeopener for us and calls for a careful intervention. Our forefathers were matured enough in a way that they never interfered with the nature to the scale we are interfering in the name of development and modernization. There is a limit to development and the balance has to be maintained otherwise we may witness nature's fury on a larger scale.

Creation of Helpline and launching SMS Channel in the District

2010-10-09T17:10:00.000+05:30

A fast and reliable communication channel between the Administration and the Citizens is quite important to ensure proper public participation and informed decision making. A slow and inefficient system mars the participation and makes it onesided and quite often it results in inefficient utilisation of resources and leads to lots of wastages. Like the response time of ambulances in case of emergency. Unless the information reaches to the Hospital Control Room on time, however efficient the response mechanism is, it cant react when it is needed. Same is the case with police. So everywhere the innovations are tried to make the communication system efficient.

In Saiha since my joining, it was my endeavor to create an efficient communication system. The public participation in the various processes was almost nil and was achieved through their elected representatives, NGOs etc. The first step to ensure participation was to create a mechanism to disseminate the information to the public at the earliest. It leads to the complete overhaul of the district website and encouraging different departments/agencies to upload the data relevant to their functioning. The officials in majority were not net friendly but now slowly they started using the internet and the benefits accompanying it. Now I would say it has become a stable and feature rich website. But still it does not carry any C2G applications. It is just used as a medium of information dissemination. Because of lack of use of IT in service delivery in the district, it lacks any such application, but slowly this may change as under the National E-Governance Programme, now the emphasis is on use of IT in service delivery.

The second step was to start a helpline. Thanks to BRGF, we got helpline staff and necessary instrument. The disaster management helpline 1077, which was lying idle was taken to task for multpurpose helpline. The people have been quite slow in owning it, but soon after the rainy season, an increased use is expected. Here the culture of making petition to the Government is not existing and people are satisfied with whatever the Government deliver, it may be due to their law abiding nature or the efficiency of the system in its delivery, but I want at this helpline can be used for forwarding suggestions, if not any complaints. Interestingly, 1077 does not forward the calls made from cellphone to the installed no, so the landline no is also given by the BSNL.

In sum the help line no is established as 1077 and +91-3835-222609 which works during office hours on working days. We are trying to popularise it. I was surprised to find that similar problem exist with other helplines like 100, 101, 102. These helplines we are trying to disseminate regularly along with their land line nos so that it can be patronised by the people.

The third step recently we have undertaken is to create an SMS service. Here due to its geography, frequent landslides, power outage occurs and many a times general public is unaware about such phenomena. To ensure timely dissemination of these information, we wanted to initiate an SMS service. In Delhi under the Disaster Management Authority we started but here we were not that resourceful, so we banked upon free SMS provider and lastly we chose Google SMS Channel. Its wonderful and quite handy. Messages can be posted from mobile phone by sms or from website of channel. It allows moderated post by other users too. It is much better than other SMS channel as it is not based on premium no but on simple 10 digit mobile no, due to which it is quite cheaper for the sender. We are informing subscribers about the important events, landslides, power outages right now. In near future we want to use it for dissemination about other services like price information for farmers, petroleum stock positions, Gas Supply positions etc.

Any one can subscribe the sms channel by sending an sms: "On DC_Saiha" to +919870807070. Its so simple, kudos to Google Labs Team, they always come with the simple and innovation products.

These systems we have put in place without calling any outside experts and on the basis of our felt needs and with the locally available human resources with the NIC. My NIC team is superb and is always ready to respond despite of facing difficulties in power supply, network problems.

The idea which now i want to implement is to create a virtual platform like a google group, blog etc through which the users can put forward a view on any government programme, social issues etc so that a meaningful discussion can take place which we can take into account in evolving a response mechanism. I like Solution Exchange initiative of UN Team India, which draws expert from all the corners of the country and the Group Moderator at the end presents a paper on the topic. It really helps a lot in getting expert ideas. Since the problems of the district are local in nature, so, i want to elicit responses which are specific to the district and I am searching for a proper platform for it. I need help from the readers on it, if they have come across any such virtual platform which we can create without any extra cost with locally available resources with the establishment.

The present times are characterised by the ICT revolutions and information dissemination with ultra fast speed. The world is more connected now virtually and emotionally if not physically; if the Government institutions do not participate in this connected world, then it will not be able to connect through the citizenry. The swifter and reliable communication system holds the future of Citizen-Government relation, gone are the days when snail mail used to deliver the typewriter-typed letters and we used to respond slowly to any phenomena now the time is of quick responses and faster delivery and ensuring cost and time efficiency.

[ DC Helpline: 1077, +91-3835-222609;

You too can Join DC Saiha SMS channel by sending an SMS "On DC_Saiha" to +919870807070 and witness its power.

You are also requested to take a tour of the updated website http://saiha.nic.in and give your invaluable feedback for further improvements.]

My Tryst with Solitude

2010-09-29T08:02:00.001+05:30

This is not about my becoming a hermit or shunning the world, its my small experience of living alone in Saiha. Let me share once fact that I am staying in Saiha with my wife who also doubles up as SP Saiha and one kid aged 2 years Kaveri. Last week both went to Delhi as my wife had got a training programme there. They started their travel on 22nd Sept and from that day my new experience begin. In fact I started having the feeling of the separation from Monday and tried to spend more and more time with my kid, I feel that also affected my experiences. anyway, so when they left, oh, it was such a boring day. I did not find any charm in office, home, files etc... Even my favourite TV channels seem boring, I called all my friends to get back my mood but it failed.

This house which always seemed to be buzzing with cries, songs, giggles, running of my angel became lifeless.

No sound, no cries, no running here and there.....oh, it started looking like a ghost house. Earlier I used to spend time in my office room to read something as i had to hide away, suddenly i became confined to my bedroom only.

In fact when they made plan for the visit to Delhi, I had planned that this whole time I will utilise in reading books, inspection of various schemes and planning for the development of the district. But the first day was quite disenchanting. I felt so low that it seemed like a lifeless world.

Second day also I chased my friends on phone, email, chatting but again it was like previous experience. Once the call gets over I get back to my dampened mood. I was not able to get good sleep too, so morning badminton games were also put on hold.

In fact as one wise lady has once said: " A person has to find solution for such kind of problems himself. No one can help anyone in such a situation."

When I understood this statement; It seemed like a state of becoming Buddha, gaining knowledge.... gaining oneself..... understanding the concept of Maya.........a love for oneself

Then again I got myself back. I just surfed some wikipedia sites and it suggested for the persons belonging to my sunsign the best way to counter such feeling is to indulge in what you like.

Then came Saturday, it was wonderful. I started at 8.30 am in the morning alongwith my camera in Gypsy with latest remixes on high decibel and vroomed towards Tlangpui.

I went till the top of the hill. Unfortunately it was full of clouds and my polarizer filter was broken so i could not get great pics but definitely i enjoyed. After that I went towards Tuitlawk via NH. It was another good time. Near Vety Farm I took some photographs of Saiha Town and I met Sh R. T. Zachono (Pre-MDCC), Simon(DIO-NIC) and their teammates as they were going to clean up the point where Missionaries first entered Saiha as the Missionary Day was approaching. They were surprised as I was travelling alone, i told them that this is the time I am experiencing myself.

In Tuitlawk I had good time, I went into the bed of the river, saw good numbers of butterflies, at one place my gypsy got struck in a muddy water but somehow I managed. When I came out of the riverbed and reached the road I saw one big snake crossing the road. I wanted to snap him but by that time my gypsy was in maximum possible speed and the snake also quickly vanished. Finally I returned back to Saiha by 12.45 pm. Evening was also great, I played TT with Pu Mahminga and enjoyed cool songs in the night and also did night photography.

Ultimate realisation came on Sunday. That day i was just thinking what to do. As in Saiha everyone goes to Church on Sunday and no one is available. I was just walking in the lawn and then the idea came as why not utilise the time in becoming fitter than I am. Once this idea came, it was an amazing day for me. I contacted one of my doctor friends. He suggested me how to have balanced diet. After consulting several friends I made a proper diet and exercise plan. Exercise and Yoga and Badminton in the morning between 6-8.30 am and in the evening running and weight training on mini-gym and dumbles.

The experiences have been great so far. I am feeling better and also self conscious about my mental and physical health and now i started enjoying my solitude.

One of the biggest learning point was, never to chase your friends for becoming happy as happiness never comes from outside but it always come from inside. Every situation gives us an opportunity to explore ourselves and if utilised properly these can do wonders.

Myspace Graphics at 123glitter.com

Jammu & Kashmir and Indian Democratic Values

2010-09-25T23:14:00.000+05:30

The prevailing situation of Kashmir Valley as it is unfolding every day to write a new chapter is known to everyone. There is hardly a single day has passed without any cycle of protests, stone-pelting, police firing and death of some protester and the situation seems to be spiraling out of hand of the State Machinery. The paradise is turning into hell with so much of violence that it is making even avg bollywood movie to shame. The visible anger seen in the tv footage and newpaper photos are testimony to frustrations of the people with the system. The curfews are unable to prevent the protesters from coming out of their houses, the law and order machinery is grappling to bring the state under normalcy and the state economy is in shatters. There seems to be no end to this vicious cycle.

The current situation requires a rethink on the approach to be followed to bring the State back into normalcy. The current spate of violent protest are quite different from the past when the foreign militants used to infiltrate and bring about large casualties in the State, now it is the locals who are protesting against the deaths caused by the police firings in mob control. They pelt stone in large quantity and in the month of June it was coming to light that virtually an industry has been created to supply the stone pelters and it was assessed that the phenomena of stone pelting will die out soon but it has not happened and even common man is on the street in good no of towns and villages and virtually Srinagar is being shut down by imposing curfew. the knee-jerk reaction to the problem is complicating the problem rather than solving it.

The leading causes of the current problem can be summarized to the following points:-

Trust Deficit between the Government and a big chunk of those who are governed
The approach used in early 90s to handle the insurgency problem is still continuing, and a whole generation has born into this period who has seen more guns than roses. The over presence of the security forces at every nook and corner of the valley( I saw this during my Bharat Darshan in 2005) creates fear psychosis.
Governance deficit: The outcomes in the state are not upto the mark, which seems to causing discontent.
Unemployment problem
Lack of emotional connect between Kashmiris and rest of the countrymen: During my civils exam I had a Kashmiri candidate in same interview board and he was saying that many a times he has been harassed in Delhi when policemen asked his identity. He could not qualify that year but I felt bad by hearing his experiences and despite of that he wanted to serve the country by entering into civil services.
Inconsistency in the approach to bring all sections of society in the process of democracy and governance.

There are many other issues which are playing some role in the current problem but the above are the main ones. The solution to the current problem will also come by addressing these issues.

In the last one week the Parliamentarians have taken a bold step to go to J&K and asses the situation themselves. Everything was viewed live on the television and MPs and the leaders have put their points and counterpoints. It was good to see everyone talking and following the treatise of Amartya Sen "Argumentative Indian". Although the issues raised by the leaders were quite varied from More Autonomy to Azadi but at least some dialogue took place and some understanding was seen. The visit to hospital and talking to the injured was a good gesture to the masses that We Care although it was marred by protests and they had to cut short the visits.

Today on 25th Sep, 2010 in the CCS meeting the Central Govt took a really good decision to form a group of interlocutor who will initiate dialogue with all the groups and other slew of measures to improve general conditions in J&K.

Right now the international climate is quite favourable to achieve a meaningful solution to the problems in Kashmir. The genuine democratic aspirations of a common Kashmiri must be addressed to and the process of normalisation must be initiated at the earliest. The general view of Kashmir as a police state must be changed and the over presence of the security forces must be reduced. They should be confined to their barracks and the J&K Police must be strengthened to cope up with the law and order situation arising in Kashmir and proper training to the personnel must be given to change their methods which they used during the insurgency. In recent times it was observed through newspapers that the morale of the J&K Police is hitting low. The police handles a tough job and no policeman is trigger or baton happy on their own countrymen. The system has to uplift the morale of the police man otherwise the enforcement mechanism and protection of human rights of common men will suffer as the extreme elements will gain upper hand in case of ineffective police.

A careful thinking on special powers of security forces is also required as in the present day of fast interchange of ideas between people living in distinct corners of the world, the value systems are also observed by everyone. Everyone wants a proper space for oneself and if by a special statute some basic values like freedom is curtailed, then the feeling of deprivation will lead to frustration and anti-system feeling as not everyone is mature enough to understand the necessities of such statutes. The dignity of a person and his family which is most basic to his human rights should be respected and keeping it in mind there is a need to revisit the AFSPA.

The dialogue process which is being initiated by the govt should continue in a consistent manner and it should not have an adhocist approach. It would be better if it would be a standing committee kind of so that a consistency is observed and the process should continue unabated evenif there is a change in Government at the Central/State level.

The outcomes of the developmental processes must be seen on the ground as recently there was a talk in media about high level of corruption in J&K. It was based on surveys but if it is true then it must be addressed urgently and the J&K should be made a modern model state and the Kashmiris living in PoK should feel the difference as they must have been feeling but the developmental process should be rapid and participation of people should be ensured in it. The Bhagidari model of the Delhi Government can be tried in Kashmir so that people participation through Welfare Associations can be ensured and the citizen-govt dialogue can be institutionalised.

The Kashmiris who are coming to different parts of the Kashmir should not be suspected as separatist or terrorist by default. They should be given proper respect and their rights must be respected as is the case for a common citizen of India.

In a nut shell the Government should stop treating J&K in a cautious manner. The lessons learnt from peaceful states like Mizoram should be used and the gradual normalisation process should be initiated. The Kashmiris are an integral part of India and the Constitution of India which gives every Indian citizen basic fundamental rights should be ensured in J&K. The overpresence of security men should be reduced and the J&K Police should be reoriented towards maintenance of law and order as per the CrPC and the mode of response should be changed to be more citizen oriented. Finally the citizens should be empowered and participative in developmental process and the outcomes of the developmental processes should be ensured on the ground.
[The views expressed are personal views and do not reflect the views of the Government]

Perspectives.....

2010-09-12T21:51:00.001+05:30

Its raining in Saiha, someone would say it happens everyday almost for last 6 months, so suddenly why I am noticing it. I would say, today I am with myself thats why I am listening what is happening in my surrounding. The reason why I am with myself is I am down with cold and a little bit sensation in the forehead which in common parlance we call headache, so obviously whatever never mattered to me started mattering.

I was talking about rains. This simple instance of rain can have so many meanings for different persons that will be difficult to imagine. Lets see...

For me at this stage it means as if someone is hitting my brain with a hammer when the GCI sheet which provides cover to me and my family against the vagaries of nature start making sound.... I remember few days back the same sound on rain over tin roof made me feel to dissolve like tiny drops in the eyes of the loved.

Same tiny drops today i saw hanging on the spider net...another wonderful creation.

This same raindrops on similar kind of tin sheets must be making the life of the house-owner miserable if it start making holes in the roof or if the earth below the house start moving down in the process of land/mud slides.

These rains in Delhi means trouble for the Commonwealth games, and a question of life or death for those living on the banks of yamuna fearing flood.

For a young madly in love these rains will become inspiration and for the doomed it becomes inspiration for the end.

Same for a farmer it becomes a source of great happiness and hope if it is before sowing season, and a source of doom if it comes at the wrong time.

This same event of rain in a similar area can have so many meanings and relevance for different persons. This is what we call "PERSPECTIVE".

I feel a whole book on psychology, philosophy etc can be written on this topic. I am not going to deal with its philosophical meaning but its simple understanding in day to day life.

I have myself recently experienced how a simple action from one's point of view can become quite complicated from someone else's point of view. IF the perspectives are different then differences and misunderstanding creeps in.

Our lives are nothing but a combination or net of simple and slanted lines.... and these are defined by perspectives. We can not make our actions look favorable and acceptable from all perspectives but definitely interpersonal understanding of each others' perspective will make life more enjoyable and meaningful both at the individual level and at the societal level and it applies to nations, communities..... everyone.

(Based on my Random Thoughts)

Teachers Day 2010

2010-09-07T09:49:00.001+05:30

The Teachers Day was celebrated in Saiha or rather say whole of Mizoram on 6th September as 5th was Sunday. We planned for it sometime back starting with a meeting by State Education Minister and then meetings are local level. Here the primary objective of the Teacher Day is obviously felicitation of teachers but also is collection of contributions towards Teachers Welfare Fund but it does not have any activity more than this. In Saiha in order to make it more charming and eventful we planned a painting competition for the students and divided the category in three groups. It was awesome to watch the kids using pencil, wax color, water colors, sketch pens.. The response was better than our expectation. We had it on 3rd. Total 198 students participated who we divided in three groups.

In fact I also fondly remembered my own childhood when I use to try my had with pencil but always have to write the name of object below my painting as it hardly use to resemble my imagination and objects in their true physical forms. My skills were always to fill the blanks with colors as originals were without any outcome....

The paintings were really good although out of three topics viz: My village after 10 years, Mara Culture, Scenic Beauty; most have chosen scenic beauty and almost 80% had resemblance to hills, river, sun and huts on a single canvass.....

Some pics were really good. One portrait particularly of a Mara with a gun in olden times was really impressive. I will upload it once it is collected today.

On 6th I was in Don Bosco School. It was a three and half hour programme which included dances of all major tribes of Mizoram, performances by teachers. It was one of the best functions in the recent times I attended. The kids were doing really superb. This place is having lots of singing and dancing talent but somehow they could not go beyond the state level.

The photos of cultural programmes will be made available soon.

There are few serious matters which concern education in Saiha District and the State which requires a proper deliberation at policy making level:-

The quality of education is not upto the mark in the district and most of the teachers I saw in Elementary Schools are underqualified. Although through SSA the emphasis is given on training but it does not seem to make any impact.
The school infrastructure is too bad. Schools look dirty and furnitures are too bad or simply non-existent. SSA is not able to improve the physical infrastructure to required level.
In remote areas teachers absenteeism is too high.
In schools too much of children energy is spent on learning languages. Upto Elementary Level a student learns 4 languages:- Mara, Mizo, English, Hindi; which leaves little time for the kids to focus on other equally important subjects which result in poor base formation and hence poor output at senior level.
People's participation is missing in education sector.

There are lots of issues related to this sector but on this auspicious day I just want that let people should take note of it and bring reforms in Education Sector and make it outcome oriented rather than just a department to provide employment and civil works in the shape of school construction/extension.

My First Sports Photography: Independence Day Cup Football Match Finals

2010-08-11T20:52:00.002+05:30

It was a wonderful final of the Independence Day Cup Football Match between FC New Colony (FCNC) and FC Khukhri (Assam Rifles). I thought that finals is on 13th as someone told me, just when I was passing by I noticed a crowd is gathering at the District Playground, then got interested in watching it so I quickly brought the camera alongwith the telescopic lens (Canon 50-200mm) and froze some interesting moments in my camera. FCK won it by 3-1 but both teams were really playing good. Even the weather also played side by side for the whole match as when it started it was sunny then cloudy then rainy then dark..... So all shades of the nature was there.

...Spot the ball

Alert Goalkeeper

Expression of solidarity

Nice Save

Football in true spirits...........

FCNC fans were not behind the players....

Loss of balance without ball.....

High Adrenaline flow outside the playground......

playing in the rain..

I hope the picture must have put a live image of this wonderful match.

The district needs a better playground but a suitable space is required which we will be able to solve soon. The district has also got a good talent pool and few of our boys are playing in reputed clubs too,.....

Long Live football...

(The photographs with full resolution are uploaded in my picasa web album.)

Visit to Zawngling, Siatlai and Tuipang on 23.07.2010

2010-07-25T17:49:00.002+05:30


Beautiful Valley in the Morning

Sunrise on Tlangpui Range

This was the only inspection tour planned for this month as due to the rainy season all roads have become quite muddy and only this stretch is fully blacktopped road which connects district headquarters to any village. It was planned to have a meaningful discussion with the villagers over the implementation of the forthcoming flagship programme of Govt of Mizoram:- New Land Use Policy (NLUP). Right now all over Mizoram the NLUP Implementation Board is having public interaction and they have planned to come to Saiha on 3rd of August, so I thought to assess the public mind before we really embark on this scheme. Zawngling comes naturally as a choice as it is among the biggest village of Saiha and having largest agricultural land and also is having 5 village councils so all the problems with regard to land use allocation can easily be found here. Moreover, the villagers are quite progressive which can be judged from the fact that on their own they have declared the whole water catchment area of village as a reserve forest.

The journey as usual started from Saiha at 06.30 am,almost 30 mins late from the scheduled time. The weather was very nice, the clouds covered villages on the way and it was a perfect harmony of cold wind, beautiful hills and clouds hovering all over. I really feel overjoyed when sometimes I see clouds above me and sometimes below me in the valley. We reached Tuipang in exactly two hours and thanks to BDO Tuipang we had a good breakfast/meal. After that we departed for Zawngling at 09.15 and we reached Zawngling by 09.45 am. On the way I saw shooting of probably one Mara video album in which the lead lady was standing in the corner of the road and cameraman was just on the road. I wished I should have captured it in my camera but unfortunately the vehicle was in speed and such things were not anticipated.

Zawngling Village

One of the highland of Zawngling

Beautiful Surroundings of Zawngling

Anganwadi

Alphabet Learning at Anganwadi Centre, Zawngling

Zawngling village was looking very beautiful as it is surrounded by green hills and has a good location. There only the village council members were present along with the officials, not the general public as we instructed. When we enquired, then we found that public have gone to their field and will come back by the evening and the Village Council Members have not communicated it to them. I really felt very bad. I feel that whole of the show was almost stage managed. It seems either the government has lost trust of the general public and general public feels that the interaction is not going to earn them any wages and will deprive them of their daily earnings or may be the powerful persons in the village do not want us to interact with the common villagers and want to control information flow. Since we do not have any institution like patwari at village level, so we have to pass the information to the common man through democratically elected village councils. But some mechanism needs to be in place by which the two communication can take place between the district administration and a common man. This week I am trying to open a public helpline in my office, so I expect that it will solve this communication problem to some extent. But again in my district the telephone coverage is very much limited to place around Saiha and Tuipang.

Mid Day Meal at Zawngling

The developmental works in Zawngling was somehow satisfactorily. But output of some schemes are really bad which require a corrective action. The corrective approach which works in states like Bihar, Punjab etc cannot work here because of different characteristics of the society. To have a control over the works output, I have divided Saiha into 4 parts and assigned those to one of the officers of the DC office and their task will be to monitor the works implemented under different schemes. The general discussion over NLUP was quite fruitful. Here the government wants to have a cluster approach to carryout programme. Under NLUP the Government will give each beneficiary Rs 1 lakh to wean them away from jhumming and move towards settled farming. So, on the basis of the soil, topography, the beneficiaries will be provided assistance in cash as well as kind. Obviously when all the agricultural fields are situated at one common place then providing services will be quite easier and if those are scattered then it will be very difficult and will be a recipe for another failure. some participants showed hopelessness as they have tried different crops in last 30 years and the success was very minimal. Somehow I also feel that the capability of our departments are very limited and their approach to beneficiaries are quite different from the guidelines which they should follow and the departments can not implement the programme as per expectations and they seldom visit the worksites. Here in Saiha all the department heads wants to frequent the state capital which I am trying to reduce.

The visit to disabled institute was quite touching. One disable person used to play guitar with one hand only. Due to limited capacity the institute can handle only 15 person whereas the no of disabled kids in Saiha as per SSA estimates is 450. the gap is quite wide. Similarly the visit to Children Guidance School run by the members of society was quite encouraging. Last year with help of Backward Regions Grant fund(BRGF) their one floor building was constructed. their result is awesome and the environment also looks much better than the government schools and I feel since the financial capacity of private/society runs schools are quite limited and their results tend to be better than the govt run schools, so, good schools need to be strengthened by the way of help from BRGF. The middle school looked very bad and same was the condition of the high school. The teacher student ratio in high school was merely 1:4. So, it can be understood very well as what kind of educational institutions the govt is running in these areas. I feel it is better to establish hostels for students in the urban areas rather than establishing schools with low enrollment in rural areas as everyone now wants to study in the urban areas.

The visit of Siatlai was encouraging. I find the village council much aware about how the works should be carried out and was much modern in its outlook and was quite welfare oriented. Under IWDP, the villagers have done good plantation of coffee but it required expert advice for proper management of the plantation. They need to be connected with either KVK or Soil and Water Conservation Deptt. In Saiha in lots of village, people are trying coffee but since it takes time to get the output, so not much output is visible at present but it is felt that within 4-5 years good output can be achieved.

Briefly I had a stopover at Border Roads Organisation(BRO) camp at Siatlai and enjoyed the sudden rain in its mess. It is one of the least heard organisation in the mainland but its work is commendable in the fringe and hilly regions. Here the quality of the road which they are making are remarkably better than PWD roads. Unfortunately the NH of entire Mizoram has been handed over from BRO to state PWD and no maintenance is carried out anywhere and the entire stretch is full of landslides and potholes. Hope PWD learns from BRO.

Welcome Song by MTP

Mizo Dance (Sarlamkai) by YMA

Mara Dance Awkipala by MTP

Myself participating

In the evening the programme organised by the NGOs was awesome. It started at almost 07.00pm in the evening and went on for more than one hour. The welcome song by local MTP, then Mizo dance by YMA and another Mara dance by MTP was quite enthralling and as expected I also participated in the last dance and I feel I did well. Then we had dinner and some good time at Tuipang Circuit House and then returned to Saiha by 12 in the night.

Overall it was quite nice visit and gave me lots of insight into people's mind and also posed few more problems for which I have to find answer as soon as possible. In Saiha this month we are focussing on anti-smoking campaign. The public mood is changing slowly and now strict action is required against the violators which are smokers as well as shopkeepers selling tobacco products. Right now Mizoram has become tobacco capital on India and a whopping almost 70% population is consuming one or another tobacco product. Saiha is also not behind in it. Already we gave message to everyone to follow the law and now the time has come for its proper implementation. I request my esteemed friends to share the approaches to it if they have any experience in it. This week I am planning to target exhaustively the shopkeeps who violate COTPA (Anti Smoking Act) and want to instill a sense of fear in them.

My Newfound Passion

2010-07-15T06:05:00.000+05:30

Passion is defined as a powerful feeling or emotion...
This is what has happened.
I had a strong urge to explore photography for at least 7 years but was unwilling to decide which camera to use. But my savings could not allow to explore proper professional camera so I was just working with the fixed lens cameras or with mobile phone cameras. This time when I went to Delhi I made up my mind that I am not going to waste any more time and will purchase a good DSLR camera. So after lots of consultation and searches I finally settled on CANON 550D camera. It is among the best in the base range of DSLR and best of all that it has 18MP and HD 1080 facility apart from the normal features...Along with it I purchased 50-250mm lens and UV and polarizer filter.
Let me tell that I am not a professional photographer, so these days I am trying my hands on various settings of the camera and always keep on changing them to see their effects. I hate shooting in any automatic mode.. I always try with manual mode so that I should not be a passive photographer but an active one.
So far my activities have been restricted to my residence as the Canon company is yet to deliver me the carry bag of the camera..(part of ensuring right stuff reaches to customer)
All the picture attached here have been resized for easy load of page. Original sizes are close to 5-6 MB per picture. I tried to put basic settings in the pics.

DC Residence in the night. We have not put any huge lighting system, it is the impact of high ISO value and very low shutter speed.

Saiha- Vengpui in night

DC Residence in day time from different angles

Suman

Lawngtlai town amidst clouds.

Kaveri with her small friend- Motu

Flowers in my reisdence:-

My Fav: Tlangpui Range in the clouds

These are my small brush with new found passion... Very soon outdoor photography will start and will come up with more vivid photos of Saiha and its surrounding areas.

Six Months in Saiha

2010-06-07T21:35:00.000+05:30

Six months is not a big period of time but for officers this is a substantial period as no fixed tenure is provided to a government servant. It was on 24.11.2009 I assumed charge of DC Saiha. It was a great feeling while coming to Mizoram as we had hoped that it will be a different experience from Delhi where we were posted. We really wanted to go out of Delhi. In Delhi the developmental roles were very limited and most of the time was consumed in firefighting. In comparison to Delhi, Mizoram is indeed a different experience. For an IAS officer the DC posting is first significant in terms of responsibility as it gives us a chance to own up the district and to do whatever humanly possible and impossible. That way I was quite privileged to get first posting of DC at Saiha.
In the beginning, I was quite perplexed with the environment as both the languages, viz. Mara and Mizo were new to me and nothing seems to make any meaning when anyone come to me and speaking in native tongue. Still I would say my understanding is quite limited but I have improved in last 6 months.

Then the process of setting out the priorities started. I have been told during training that never shy of travelling and meeting your people as only then I will get the real feel of the interior areas. So, I decided to have a tour of all the villages as soon as possible. I tried to keep the commitment but two matters really delayed the visit to all villages:- 1. Onset of Christmas- as it is the biggest festival and whole district was in festive season during the period 15th December to 15th January and finding any official was quite difficult, so I kept myself in Headquarter and 2. Planning process for BRGF and NREGS: These two schemes require thorough discussion at several levels which severely restricted my movement to the village.
I started the tour from Theiri village in December 2009 and in that trip I covered Theiri, Theiva, Tuipang and Zawngling. It was a good experience to start with. I saw construction of steps, schools, playground etc. I silently also watched the living condition, the impact of the schemes, various institutions of the grass-root level, connectivity of the villages.
Then I covered the villages from New Latoh to Phura, Kaisi, Lawngban, Palak Lake, Tongkolong, Vahai, Laki, Khopai and then directly came back to Saiha. It was just before Christmas. This trip helped me in prioritizing the works under BRGF and visit to Tongkolong was an eyeopener towards the problem of drinking water. I saw one water point by going down almost 2-3 kms from village which took away a good amount of time and it delayed my tour to other villages. The visit to Palak lake was a soothing experience and particularly its calm environment mesmerized me.
After this trip I had a brief visit to Neotlang village for taking out a project of convergence between different schemes.
These trips I concluded within December, 2009 itself and it was promptly reflected in the planning of BRGF. Like to address the connectivity of Lungdar as proper scheme was put in 2010-11 and we are hoping that preliminary work of road cutting will be completed within 2-3 months from Lawngban to Lungdar and I want to go to that village by gypsy this year. I feel I will be able to keep this commitment. Khopai visit led me to plan for turmeric drying unit. In fact through consultation with KVK Coordinator Pu Mahminga a proper scheme we have designed to address the demands of the farmer. Hope it will lead to a substantial increase in their income levels.
After that all trips have been recorded in my blog so I dont feel like repeating those.
These 6 months I wont call successful from my standards but from Mizoram standards people can decide, while my team really worked hard to change the working style, delivery system, the result takes time to come.
I gained a lot from experiences of Saiha;-

Patience is the key to any achievement. Normally I tend to be impatient but in government set up, things take their own time.
Everyone has their own priorities. Judging them from one's standard do no good unless the other side is willing to accept.
Sometimes it is better to close oneself rather than opening up.

Other learnings are not very significant. These learnings may indicate a hint of pessimism but this is what we call life. But despite of this I call myself a positive person. As I firmly believe that all great things start by taking a small step which in the initial phase may not have desired level of impact and will start bearing result with time at which we might not be available to witness the results.
One place where I really with myself is Tuipang Circuit House... It matches my style- a secluded place from where all stars are visible in the night and on both nights I stayed there, I enjoyed the most because of the company and the bonfire with good singing sessions from all members of my team. Slowly this Circuit House is becoming more livable thanks to the efforts of the current BDO Pu Tluanga.

Other place which I like most is on a bamboo raft in Pala lake. It is so peaceful and calm that one automatically get charmed by its silence and the surrounding beauty of hills.

During rainy season I never forget to drive upto Tlangpui range beyond KVK complex. It also give a sense of awe when I drive in my Gypsy crossing the dense clouds and watching the nature which keeps on unfolding its beauty every moment.
These six months I traveled frequently. Enjoyed interacting with people although through translator. Spread lots of messages. Learnt a lot. Enjoyed Mara, Mizo, Chakma and Lai dances and somewhere I tried my steps too. Watched myself unfolding into a different persona.

I will be doing injustice if I do not mention the role my kid Kaveri has played. She always kept herself playful and with her loving disarming charm kept us free from all the worldly tension and stresses and had been a great source for entertainment to us. When we came to Mizoram she was about to be one year now she has crossed 19 months of her life... Started experimenting with us with her kiddy tactics.... her words... her touches... ah thats what I call life.
But one thing that is most enticing is my continuing romance with Saiha. It is growing intensely but also passed through all kinds of phases- form hopelessness to hopefullness, from dullness to hyperactiveness. Hope it last long........ and results into benefit of the district and to affable tribe "Maras".

Adventurous Trekking in Tuisi River

2010-05-12T22:00:00.005+05:30

This week was planned for adventure in Tuisi and visiting some farmland situated on higher side of hills away from road.

We had planned to see works in Maubawk village, Coffee Plantation in Theiva and Mulburry plantation in Theiri on 07th May and night stay in Tuipang and on 8th Trek to Kawpi waterfall in Tuisi river. Our entourage was apart from me Dr Rakhu (MO & President MTP), Ms Marilyn, ADC(P), Mr A.Z. Beisia APO-DRDA, Mr Mahminga Coordinator KVK-Saiha, Mr V.L. Extention Officer Sericulture Department.

In Maubawk we had general discussion with both VCPs with regard to planning, judicious use of NREGS and coming scheme of NLUP. Dr Rakhu spread awareness about malaria control and also after being elected as President MTP(Leading NGO of Maras) it was his first visit too to these villages. He also I feel greatly benefited by interaction with villagers as the Govt also gives a role to the NGO in implementation of major schemes.

In Theiva we had a general discussion with the public and thereafter we went to see Coffee plantation. It was a mini-trek of I feel of 5 kms from the village. We covered the distance quite well and had a nice weather which was cloudy with cool soothing wind. On the way we tasted some wild fruit too. I tried my hand on an unripe sugarcane. The coffee plantation is coming up quite well in the village. In two phases it covered almost 100 acres of land and villagers are planning to extend it further. From DRDA we are creating approach road to the site with a cost of 40 lakhs. These plantation will start bearing coffee beans within a period of 4-5 years. I really like the enthusiasm of the villagers. I sincerely feel that the future of Mizoram lies in such innovative crops not in tradition WRCs etc. More encouragements are needed for such kind of initiatives.

Our next stop was Theiri village. Here we had the phenomena of failing Mulburry plantation. It was started in 2006 as a special scheme under SGSY. In the first two years assistance was given to farmers to maintain the crops but once this stops, the farmers stopped taking care of it and now it is on verge of dieing. I feel it shows lack of coordination between the Sericulture Department and the villagers. This site is facing acute water problem as per the villagers version. When we asked that if we provide water tank then will they be able to take care of it. Then they replied that they want to grow tomatoes. It was quite surprising to see the response of the villagers. It seems that this project was just implemented without the active participation of the villagers and was just another example of failed top-down approach.

We reached Tuipang Circuit House in the evening about 6pm. It was another wonderful time with Mr Mahminga playing guitar and Dr Rakhu taking the lead in singing. It was a fun time altogether.

Next day after brief interaction with villagers and MTP office bearers, and inspection of Construction of Football ground, roads etc we left for Tuisi and reached there by 10.30am. Here the real adventure started. We had come to Tuisi to see the Kawpi water fall in Tuisi River. The forest department briefed us that it is 6kms away from the village. So we had calculated that altogether it should take not more than 6 hours. 2 hrs going and 3 hours coming and 1 hours for watching the waterfall etc. It comes out as the trek I had during Foundation Course in LBSNAA, Musoorrie in which the distances mentioned by the GMVN never used to be correct.

We started from Tuisi village after brief interaction with the villagers at around 11am. I feel we got later by 2 hrs. The weather was pleasant i.e cloudy and cool breeze was making the trek enjoyable. We saw wild orchid on the way and had tasted wild fruit also which name i forgot. Finally after a 2 hrs we reached the bank of tuisi river.We thought that we reached the waterfall but no... The funniest part of trek was about to begin. We were told by the villagers that we have to cover a distance of 3 kms in the river. That too by putting the socks on. Fortunately two ex-servicemen were there who were explaining everything to me in hindi and sometimes they were also singing good hindi songs.

So, then we started moving in the tuisi river against the current. Too many stones and pebbles were there on the way.

Somewhere big-big rocks were there about which the villagers told us that during the inter-village fights these places used to used for ambushing the enemy. I just imagined how ancient Maras used to be hidden in those caves having spears and other instruments in their hands. The companions also used this opportunity to catch the crab and fish. The crab holes they used to search and then took out the crab. Overall this was a fun.

Finally we reached the waterfall at 04.00pm. It was awesome. It seems to form a big gorge not in true sense but a big hill was standing just behind it and the height of the waterfall must be 20-25mts.

I sat at the nearest rock and felt so cool and calm and an ideal place for meditation with water continuously falling down with its own music. I wanted to go closer but it was not feasible.

One of the villager told me that one spirit lives there and he is a good one but never point your finger towards anything otherwise hails will come. I blindly followed him and did not point out anything.

After spending half an hour there, we moved to the top of the hill. Oh! the way from bottom of the waterfall to the top was so dangerous, there was hardly enough space to put the feet, the earth was loose and nothing to hold, the footpath was almost close to 75 degree gradient and below footpath was rocky bottom of the waterfall. So if one slips then before reaching bottom one can meet the almighty. Finally with the support of my companions I reached the top.

Thanks to villagers, they brought lunch for us. They were waiting for us at the top. After reaching top I had a sigh of relief and then went for taking bath. It was so cool and calm and pure.... no comparison can be made. The lunch was tasty and we started from waterfall at 5 pm. It was getting dark. Again we traveled in the river for close to 1 hr and then we came on the soil surface and put on our shoes. By 6pm we hardly reached the foothill of one of the hill.

Then our travail starts. It was dark, torches were limited I feel only 2. Entourage was close to 15 persons. The way to top was hilly track almost less than one feet. We were just able to see feet of the predecessor. So we were just following each other and by helping each other moving ahead. There my phone helped me. In the darkness I put the songs on and then walked in almost wilderness. Just telling each other that Tuisi is hardly 30 minutes whereas we were unsure how much really it is.

(The blue trail is recorded by my iphone GPS, the rest trek route are based on approximation. ).
On google earth it can be seen by following the post.
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=888750&Number=1332605#Post1332605
Finally when we saw a big gathering of youths eagerly waiting, we got strength and confidence of reaching the village otherwise it was becoming a never-ending journey. There they served us tea and put me in one carrier made of wood and cloth tied in it. They literally forced me to sit in it. It was steep track and the boys who were lifting the carrier were having tough time to lift it. Finally after much persuasion they put me on ground and then again we start walking. Finally we reached village by 08.00 pm. To ease our muscles I along with Pu Mahminga ran to the house where we kept our belongings. It was an end of a wonderful and adventurous trek.

There Dr Rakhu joined us back and narrated his own story of utilising the day time in fishing.

After destretching and brief discussion with the villagers we left the village and reached Saiha by 10.30pm.

I got to know that some our my companions had tough time afterwards in muscle pain and fever but I hope they also realised their potential.

I feel this waterfall can be developed in two ways:-

one for generating hydropower. other for tourism purposes. I feel let us popularize it as a trekking route. Local youths can be trained as a guide and the waterfall could be developed by providing ramp, chains to go near etc. I feel it can be a wonderful experience for any nature lover which offers purest fun and challenge

It was a learning experience too..-

Always prepare well before going to unknown places. We were not prepared properly and thankfully it did not rain otherwise it would have been much worse.
Nature offers great pleasure provided we go near to her. Town life is too artificial and monotonous, break is needed to regain ourselves.
The challenge needs to be taken head on; the more we take it the easier it become. The best way to fight it to have self confidence and faith in our abilities.
The leadership requires constant motivation, care and support to all the members:). The fun lies in sharing the joy of togetherness rather than enjoying it alone.
Surprises do come...

[Most of the pictures are taken by Pu Mahminga, Coordinator, KVK, Thanks to him although few are taken by me also :)] More photos will be added soon.

Naxalism, Democracy, India

2010-04-17T09:56:00.000+05:30

Recently there was a heated debate in Parliament & elsewhere on the issue of response of the Government to the naxal menace. There were speakers on the both sides. Since the issue is so serious that impulse was very high. In fact after the killing of 76 CRPF men in Dantewada, the government is reassessing its response to this growing challenge to the State. Few spoke in the mild tone about the naxals as misguided countrymen few spoke in strongest term. Right now I am not speaking about what should be our response to such problems. I want to delve upon an entirely different but related matter. Normally in such kind of situations the people get impulsive and do not want to hear any opposition voices and chauvinism start ruling the roost. Various reactions came out in public. Heard that in JNU some section of student union celebrated the killings of our CRPF jawans. Such acts need to be condemned. Many of my friends were very angry on seeing such phenomena and statements like"- if I remain silent then tomorrow who will control it.", "Silence is consent" "Raise voices against naxalism" "Silence the critics"....

I feel that discussion and debate is the beauty of the democracy. Discussions & debate leads to an informed and consented decision making process. It is not necessary that all the voices are put in a particular direction. The voices even if raised by a small marginal section needs to be heard and respected unless it is too dangerous for the society; till the time any dissenting voice is leading to a creative & informed decision making, it should be properly respected. Many a times it happened that in impulsive mood we do not see the complete picture of our Acts and by having such a debate we can ensure that all situations are taken care of when we go for any strong action.

Recently I was watching a news on the TV in which an undertrial prisoner from J&K was released by the Court for lack of evidence after 14 years in prison. Now in such a situation the opinion of the dissenting voices matter and a proper system of checks & balances are required so that no irreparable damage is caused to an innocent person.

In such trying time a balanced and informed decision making can only succeed on the ground. Because in such a scenario many a times the security forces are given wide powers which if not checked properly lead to gross violation of human rights and the system in stead of containing anti-social & anti-national element keeps on promoting and growing such element. In such a situation the worst sufferers are the weaker sections of the society and mostly females, old, infirm & children. I remember once quote from the recent book of Paulo Coelho, "The Winner Stands Alone" in which he writes that "When you kill a person, you kill an universe as all future progenies who could have been produced by that person are also killed". We may extrapolate it to any human rights abuse to any family. If a normal person's rights are abused by our system then the whole family and their coming generation will have a sense of anti-establishment and will be a fertile ground for fomenting trouble and anti-establishment activities.

Precisely this is the reason I advocate the freedom of expressions and informed decision making by giving proper weightage to the dissenting voices so that in any harsh response from the State, proper checks & balances are ensured so that the State should be looked upon as protector of Human Rights, not violator. I remember the call of Sh Wajahat Habibullah, Chief Information Commission, India when he came to LBSNAA, Mussoorie during our IAS professional course tranining. He was narrating his experience as Divisional Commissioner Kashmir in which how he handled the Hazratbal crisis and how should be our approach to the sensitivities of the people. He told us in clear terms that as an IAS officer and more so as a District Officer (DC/DM/Collector) your prime concern should to act as a "Defender of the Human Rights" and should have a balanced and cool view of every situation and should have ability to judge any trying situation with coolness of mind and should have control over impulses.

I feel this applies to all the persons occupying important seat of decision making.

Now coming to the central theme of India & Democracy. I have traveled to almost all the villages of my district and had wide discussion with various sections of the society. The boundary between India and Myanmaar is very clearly delineated. Both sides of the boundary is inhabited by the same race which we call Mara. Apart from the general economic condition and Kolodyne river one more thing differentiate the two sides: Democracy. The freedom to speak out their mind. I remember in one of the remotest village where the connectivity is very bad, I asked the villager how do you rate you and your brethren in the other side of the border. He replied forget the general economic condition, the biggest difference is Democracy, we have choices albeit limited but they do not have any choice at all. Everything is under watch, no protection of minority, no freedom to voice your opinion.

This is what I also felt when I was at one of the boundary stones.. My country looked so beautiful that I can not describe. What as a plain area person, I never used to cherish, I started cherishing. Because in Bihar one can not see a person of same race is how differently treated beyond a boundary line. Here in Maraland this is clearly visible. By standing in Ainak village one can see the Burmese village and by a simple comparison, difference can be made out.

The democracy with all its advantages and disadvantages, its costs, is the best solution of the governance. The core ingredient of the democracy is argument, debate, discussion. It is innate to the core Indian Value as Prof Amartya Sen has judged in his landmark book "Argumentative Indian". This is the ultimate approach to solution of our common problems and at no cost this should be weakened.

NB: The pictures used are taken from NET, none of these are my original creations. If by mistake any copyrighted material is put on the blog, then it can be pointed out, I will remove them immediately. These are put only for illustrative purposes, not for any commercial purposes.

Visit to Eastern Saiha again & Strategy to Solve Water Problem in Saiha & Mizoram

2010-04-10T20:12:00.000+05:30

Today we went to Chakhang again. The entourage was lead by our Hon'ble Minster Pu S. Hiato, myself, SP Saiha, PD-DRDA & his team, EE-PHE, EM(Rev), EM(Edu). We had two programmes- distribution of house shifting assistance to the Phusa villagers who came to Chhuarlung. It was a nice interaction with the villagers. Apart from all the talks from officials, VCP we invited one villager to speak out his experience on shifting from Phusa to Chhualung. His narrative was:-" We were living in Phusa for the last 40 years and then shifted to Chhuarlung 2 years back. When we were in Phusa we had to carry our food stock on our back whereas now it is delivered at our doorstep. Because of this our health has improved considerably. Earlier everything was away from us, now we are so close to Saiha that we can take a bus and reach Saiha within 3 hours. Now our children can go to Schools". In sum their quality of life has improved. Hon'ble Minister requested them not to squander the assistance in useless expenses but they should build proper houses and use it for their good future. In fact we were feeling so happy on hearing it. Not only their quality of life has improved but once for all their housing problem has been solved.

Then we went to Chakhang and SHG training centre construction was initiated. It was for the weaving SHG which I mentioned in my earlier post. The Women member were very happy to know this. Not only that through Industry Deptt we will organise training for them too. I hope that it will lead to promotion of handicrafts too and in stead of burmese products, we will have our own Made in India traditional handicrafts product and will be able to market them outside too, which will not only lead to preservation of culture but will also lead to gainful employment for our artisans. Finally I feel it as a small but one of the important step in the right direction to preserve and promote our traditional art & craft.

Now coming to the main topic i.e "Strategy to Solve Water Problem in Saiha & Mizoram". First of all let me clarify that it is not the only strategy but one among many strategies and I would welcome any other strategy which is cost effective and environmentally sustainable and within our reach. Let me tell you how this idea came into my mind, the background is that today while on way to Siata village we stopped at a stream which supplies water to Siata. It was a small but very cold. Water was tasty. There PS to Minister Pu Chakhu told me that 10 years back it used to be a big stream with good amount of water flow and now it is just 20% of its previous flow. He told that it happened because of uncontrolled jhumming in the water catchment area of the stream and he further said that a time will come when it will be dry. Then we had a good discussion among ourselves as what we can do. I want to present these ideas among the readers and let me tell you frankly all are not my idea but I am crystallizing these into following words. These are cost effective and environmentally sustainable.

Preserving and rejuvenating the catchment area of the water sources. The hills from which we get water are aquifers and act as a large storage of water, i.e when it rains they start storing water in numerous holes among the clay, earth, rocks and this water keeps of seeping and come out in form of streams. From Saiha town we can see the way these hills look. All hills look barren, devoid of any vegetation and during jhooming season these keep burning. We have to declare all such region which form water catchment region as reserve forest and thick forestation is required in these.
Formation of small small checkdams in the stream flow and watershed area. This will give us multiple benefit.:- it will stop soil erosion, it will stat storing water which can be used for fishery, it will recharge the acquifers which will raise water level which can be pumped out during dry season and ultimately it will benefit agriculture too. By doing this Magsasay Award winner Sh Rajendra Singh & his team had rejuvenated a dead river in Rajasthan and that river has become perennial now. Same thing we need to do.
Creation of big water reservoir in the flat lands in and around our town which can store big mass of water. We have sufficient flat land on Bolpui range in both sides, there we can create big water storage tank which can store sufficient rainwater which can be used for water supply. As yesterday I was reading editorial of one newspaper which stated that despite of so much of rain, PHE is unable to supply water. Here the issue is whether we store any rainwater, the answer is no. Then from where the PHE will supply water as acquifers take time to recharge themselves and without sufficient tree cover it is difficult for them to stop water and take them inside. Whole rain becomes surface runoff and goes to Kolodyne river. So creation of big water tank is the need of the hour.
Water harvesting at the household level:- This will increase the ground water level as in Saiha town the PHE is unable to find good places to put handpumps. The reason is whole town is barren and no where we are recharge the hill on which Saiha is situated.

Big solution like a Greater Saiha water project is in pipeline but the above mentioned steps does not require much expenditure and will substantially solve our water woes. This is possible as I learned in Chakhang that local NGO is preserving one hill where good flora & fauna is developing. We need to learn from them.

I am open to opinions of the reader.

Thanks

Kunal

dcsaiha@gmail.com

Visit to Southern Tip again & Roads of Saiha

2010-04-09T09:05:00.001+05:30

For the last two days I was visiting southern part of the district again, in which I attended MTP Conference and had night stay in Lopu. It was another good experience.

I started at around 05.30am in the morning from Saiha and reached Vahai by 08.40am. Everyone was quite surprised by seeing me so early. They thought that I stayed in Tuipang in night but I clarified that there are two factors- one is good road another my driver is like a fighter pilot. I feel distance is not measured in kms but in hours and minutes. Now thanks to the PMGSY and hard work by BRO(BRTF) that upto Laki one can easily reach within 4 hours. Whats more we want. The condition of road is improving rapidly and thanks to the best scheme of the Govt of India PMGSY. Why I call PMGSY best scheme as the isolation of villages are diminishing with it and once the villages are connected by smooth and good roads most of the problems can be solved easily. e.g. emergency response, marketing of products etc. Now PMGSY cutting has been achieved upto Chakhang, Siasi, Laki. Towards Phura it has reached upto New Latoh. Now cutting from New Latoh is under progress by BRTF and the kind of cutting they are doing... its close to 10 mts everywhere. One can imagine what kind of roads we will have... On way to Khopai my vehicle at place touched almost 80-90kmph speed whereas still finishing touch is going on.

Road cutting to southern tip will begin sometime this year from Phura to Lomasu and Khaikhay.

In lawngban the Hon'ble Minister inaugurated road cutting work to Lungdar. I am hoping that by the end of June gypsy can reach lungdar and by the all villages of Saiha will be approachable by vehicles although quality of road differ place to place. In BRGF our main thrust is on connectivity. Wherever the connectivity is not possible under PMGSY guideline we are taking road construction under PMGSY and also try to converge with NREGA. The notable sections under 2010-11 will be Tuisi-Siata, Tuisi-Chhuarluung, Chheilhu-Chakhang, Tuipang Junction. Because I feel roads are drivers of economy and unless good roads are available, the economy can not grow and hence prosperity can not come.

Today we will formally inaugurate our district website. I sincerely hope it will be patronised by the people of Saiha and can serve as a focal point for public awareness and public discussion on government performance.

There is a good news for people of Chakhang. We are taking first step to promote Loin Loom SHG by providing them a house under SGSY. I sincerely want to thank my PD-DRDA Pu N. Chakhai and APO(M) Pu Beisia for enabling me to fulfill my inner resolution to help SHG at the earliest.

MTP Conference at Vahai was a good experience and I feel such NGO need to play more crucial role in eradicating social evils like AIDS, Tobacco use etc and can promote good civic sense among people. I am thinking of organising a workshop on combating AIDS and ensuring cleanliness in Saiha. My friends readin the blog can suggest measures to tackle this problem. I will be available on my email at dcsaiha@gmail.com. Even opinions expressed on the blog will be used in it.

Thanks

Kunal

dcsaiha@gmail.com

Army Recruitment in Saiha

2010-04-05T22:26:00.000+05:30

I want to share with my people of Saiha another good news that very soon most probably in the month of May, 2010, the Indian Army is going to have a recruitment rally in Saiha for the two districts of Saiha and Lawngtlai. The dates are being worked out.

The efforts put up by our Hon'ble Minister of PHE, Tourism Pu S. Hiato is commendable and its also showing a touching response of Indian Army, one of the greatest institutions of our country. Our people have been great warriors and truly Indian Army is going to benefit by recruitment at local level.

There are few issues which need to be discussed widely. In fact last week I had conversation with the Director Army Recruitment, Aizawl Col Vinesh Rai and he was kind enough to listen various points I raised and I was touched by the promptness with which he sent me the requirements and model question papers of the recruitment.

In fact a discussion will be organised once the MTP conference is over, involving different sections of society including NGO, Political Leaders, Ex Armymen, Police, teachers etc to give basic training to our youth for army recruitment.

Further I have requested SP Saiha and Commandant Assam Rifles to train those youths who want to participate in the recruitment, so that maximum selection can be made from Saiha and it is heartening to note that they have agreed to it. The normal requirement is physical fitness which I feel is not a major issue among our people as all the physically fit. But still a basic training is required. Even I will try to bring Ex Servicemen in training.

I request the VCPs, NGOs, MSO to take lead and tell as many persons as possible to start preparing for the recruitment. I am attaching the necessary qualification, criteria & 2 sample question paper sent to me by Director Recruitment, Indian Army.

The links to ready reckoner and sample question papers are ready reckoner & sample question paper.

Let our Mara Websites do the translation of necessary qualifications in Mara/Mizo and propagate them in the community. If need arises then I will take Hindi classes for the candidates.

Thanks.

Kunal

Disturbed & Adventurous March

2010-04-03T14:34:00.002+05:30

March, 2010 was very adventorous and became distrubing at the end.

We had a gala time during Chapchar Kut celebrations, I visited eastern side of Saiha, I went to Delhi and at the end there were hailstorm, winds and rains which cause good amount of hardship and property losses to people of Saiha and Mizoram as a whole in which whole communication lines, electricity was cut off for almost 2 days.

In March I attended a conference on census in Delhi which was chaired by Hon'ble Home Minister, Govt of India. For the first time in the history of human kind such a gigantic exercise is being undertaken and also for the first time National Population Register is being prepared. Our district has to fully geared to it and the NGOs have to ensure that foreigners do not get themselves enrolled into National Population Register.

In the 2nd week we had women's day celebration in Saiha. This time noticeable feature was a rally by women and demand by MCHP for reservation of seats for Women in District Council and Village Councils. In fact its a high time that such a progressive measure is implemented in Saiha too. Let all section of society think on it and try to implement it.

Then in the same week we had a gala Chapchar Kut celebrations. This is the first time I participated and also enjoyed dancing on Mizo tunes. We had a good time at DC Bungalow in which we had celebrations, singing, dancing upto 9pm in the night. Wish we have celebrations at least once a month. We have made video of Chapchar Kut which I am trying to upload either on District Website or on some video sharing webs like Youtube. Because of poor network it is still in planning stage.

I am thinking of organizing Saiha music and dance festival. I have shared this idea with Hon'ble Minister Pu S. Hiato, with his help we may have it here soon.

We had a team of National Human Rights Commission. Hon'ble Member Sh Satyabrata Pal along with two officers visited Phura too. It was a nice experience for us as well as them. Two noticeable problems were identified during this visit:- poor performance of ICDS(Anganwadi) and Mid Day Meal Scheme. We are enquiring about it and very soon we will improve their functioning by finding the missing links and ensuring better coordination among different agencies.

The team had a good time in Phura and also danced on Sholakiya and Okla in Phura which was organised by MTP & MSO.

I visited Eastern part of Saiha on 19th & 20th of March. Covered all the villages from Lobo to Chapui. It was a good interaction with the villagers and inspected the Govt Schemes. In Chhuarlung very soon the shifting process of Phusa villagers will complete. In all villages the team was received with warmth.

The playground in Chhuarlung village has come up very well.

We had good discussion withe villagers everywhere. This time the most interesting part was the demand of villagers for good things. In the past they used to demand for playground, community hall, waiting shed. Still these demands were there but with the success of Siasi micro hydro power plant the interest of villagers in economically productive things have grown which definitely will result in better utilisation of govt schemes and better demand and upliftment of standards.

In Chakhang I stayed in the night of 19th. It was a wonderful time there. We had okla and sholakiya in the night in the open field. I also danced. After dinner we had a good time listening Mara Folk Song. I saw the loin loom of one women SHG engaged in weaving traditional Mara clothes. I feel its a high time that we should preserve this heritage and promote it. I am in touch with a Delhi based textile consultant who promised me that he will visit the district and will see the work himself and will try to promote it. Lets pray that it happens.

My biggest joy was visiting to Siasi and seeing the running of Micro Hydel Power Plant. Its a classical example of convergence and channelising the energies and concept into proper human use. Its a small plant right now with the generation capacity of only 3KW but with construction of another water tank, it can be raised upto 5KW.

I was emphasising convergence from the beginning and thanks to Pu Laiva, a successful convergence model is achieved. We have included 3 such pilot plants and one convergence model for the next year BRGF (2010-11).

I discussed this model with Pu P L Thanga, Member, State Planning Board and stressed a need for its study to raise its efficiency. He instructed ZEDA to come to Saiha and study such projects. I feel they will visit soon in April. With proper planning and optimal use of existing resources we can do wonders and rightly it is happening in Saiha and our district is showing a workable model to the state.

Visit to other villages was also inspiring. Slowly farmers are venturing into new crops particularly into horticultural crops which is enabling them to earn more. More noticeable is Cabbage and potato production in Siata and Coffee plantation in Mawhre.

I had visited few farms with AMFU president Dr. Chawngkhuma and KVK coordinator Pu Lalhmingmuana. It was another good experiences. I requested AMFU to take up good models as a case study and learn their approaches so that we can motivate other farmers to adopt such practices. During this visit I took bath into Kolodyne river, which was another wonderful experience. The more I am involving myself into different facets of Saiha, the more I love this place.

The March was going well but the end was not well. The last days brought hailstorm, rains, winds etc due to which many persons faced lots of problem and even in my Bungalow I faced broken roof. Nonetheless it was another learning experience and I am trying to augment the capabilities to respond properly in such disaster situations. But long term coordinated efforts are needed to minimize the damages.

A Mail from L Amie of Chapui Village

2010-02-26T00:29:00.000+05:30

I am putting up an email from L Amie in toto which was sent to me.

Sawmaw to you!

Sir,

It is very grateful for me to see ur Blog, especially I the one who inhabited of Maraland feel very happy on your blog. I tried to comment but sorry, I just cannot do it likes others.So, I send througth my Email.

Sir, I found a beautiful sensitiveness in your life, your civility, friendly amiable nature, peace and charismatic love that these all will surely warm the people of Maraland.

To extent one thing, Sir I have hoped that already you knew the various activities of the Mara Thyutlia Py(MTP),The Head quarters has its Branch in every village.There is a Branch in Chapi(Chapui)village, both MTP&Village Council had formed Join Action Committee. In fact,in the village of Chapi as a nearby kolodyne river, particularly this committee had made rules& regulations to preserve the river kolodyne entire their(Chapi village) territory. Sometimes, some miscreate came to catch some fishes,then they blast geletine shell in the bigger areas of the river where bigger fishes are living.Immediatly all fishes either small or big were died by the causes of geletine blast. Perhaps the events which comes is dark or shine, rainy or cloudy they never excuse, young gyus (2/3persons) rushed out into the exact spot to take the evidences. So found faulty, they fine (punish)some money and a pot that is ten time in measured of thumb and mid-finger stress-out. Likewise, recently Zyhno(Zawngling) people are also playing a crucial roles what were did in Chapi.

In these regarding, towards a better life, Sir we need to prevent and respect our mother nature, rivers, forests, lakes, animals and birds. Deeply I hope you can encourage the people what they(Maras)do and deserves.

May God bless in your works!

Thank you.

From L.Amie(Mara)

I find the work of MTP & VC of Chapui quite encouraging. I feel if all the villagers start doing such activities in their areas then we can have a wonderful Maraland. The NGOs can play a vital role in overseeing government programmes and to ensure that money is properly utilised. Recently I came across an article in The Time of India which mentioned about child trafficking from North East. The traffickers are especially targeting Christian kids and alluring the parent of the child that their child will be given good education etc. Whereas in reality they are sold as domestic servants, beggars, workers etc. The detail story is at this link http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/getpage.aspx?pageid=9&pagesize=&edid=&edlabel=TCRM&mydateHid=20-02-2010&pubname=&edname=&publabel=TOI

I feel dutybound to request my fellow citizens to be alert and bring such things to my notice if they get even a slightest idea of it. I want to rope the NGOs and VCs along with Anganwadi workers to work as eyes and ears of the Society and the Administration.

All is Well....

Keep posting me mails.

Thanks L Amie for your good work. Hope to meet you soon after I come to Saiha

Kunal

A Messag to Civil Services Aspirants from my beloved state Mizoram

2010-02-21T12:08:00.000+05:30

My Dear Students
I am in Delhi these days on a 10 days leave. Recently the Mizoram Civil Services Exam have been announced. I have come to know that many of the students from Mizoram study in Delhi and prepare for the Civil Services Exam. Through my this blog I want to give them a message that if they want, I can be available for an interaction with them on the basic way of preparation and how to succeed in these exams. I am here till 3rd of March as on 04th I have to attend a meeting and then on 5th I will be leaving Delhi for Mizoram.
Those reading this blog can also inform the students about my availability in Delhi.
Thanks
Kunal

Visit to Southern Part of Saiha

2010-02-13T18:33:00.000+05:30

As scheduled, our visit to Southern part of Saiha started on 3rd Feb 2010 at 06.30am in the morning with Director Tourism, PD DRDA, PWD, PHED officers accompanying the Hon'ble Minister Pu S. Hiato. We had halt in all the villages upto Lomasu. It was nice to see the warm welcome of the villagers and also students were standing in their dresses. The road to Phura has been smoothened by our friends from BRO(BRTF), right now they are getting the required machinery at New Latoh village and soon the work on this road will start in full speed in traditional BRO style.

Particularly I would like to mention about Tongolong village. The whole village was having a slogan of "We want water." They had made a cap of paper on which this slogan was written. It can be seen in this picture, in which a small boy is wearing it. I felt very good that finally people are demanding the right thing. We offered to make adequate low cost water storage tanks and small checkdams in the village, but a decision has to be taken by them as what they want ultimately. If they want to shift, then the district administration would help them as in such a place supplying water would be perennial problem. Same discourse we had in Bymari.

In Lomasu we stayed in the night. On the morning of 4th we had a nice time in the waters of Kolodyne. We saw the Indian boundary. I had a great feeling of seeing the boundary of my beloved motherland. The land and people on both side look so similar yet so different- one is a democracy, other is a military rule; one has full freedom other has gloom. No comparison at all. We did small climbing on one of the big rock in between the river. The speedboat ride in the river Kolodyne was wonderful. We had discussion on promoting tourism in this side. I suggested to have boat race, trekking & boating promotion in this side. Very soon the river route will be open for trade route... Great times ahead. A tourism complex site was also selected. A great step by Hon'ble Minister in promoting tourism in Saiha.We returned to Phura in the evening.

Next day i.e. on 5th I along with APO, DRDA & Election Officer went to Supha, Mipu, Lopu, Khaikhy, Leisai. We started at 05.00am in the morning and reached Khaikhay at around 09.00am. We went to see the Sala river which makes boundary between India & Myanmaar and also saw border pillar. After seeing the condition of the houses in these villages I feel very pity. Anyway, this year in BRGF we have included housing assistance for these villages, so their problem may end soon. There on border we also saw one myanmarees who was coming from Indian side with big aluminium utensil on his head. On being asked he told us that he purchased some clothing material and other goods for his daughter's marriage. I asked about the general condition in his village. He told that his village has famine and there is no support from Govt. He is not able to earn much. I feel pity for our brethren in other side of the border.

In Laisei, the condition of the villagers was almost same as Khaikhai, poverty. The children looked dirty. Very soon we will organise a medical camp in these villages. I had a brief and good time with kids. One kid was having a bamboo gun which can throw a small pebble to 4-5 mtrs. I enjoyed using it.

In Lopu, we had a good interaction with the people. Had a good discussion with the people on development schemes and proposed shifting of the village. There I emphasised on proper village level planning and how to solve their water problem.. The old mindset of depending on govt for everything has to be changed..

In Mipu, I was surprised that people were demanding light, road. As I had seen everywhere that the first demand of a village is playground and second demand is community hall irrespective of whether they are getting adequate water or not. Because of such demands, the actual focus of planning has always been in that direction. Mipu was a welcome change. I assured them that very soon their both problem will be solved as PWD will soon start work on the road and the Power deptt are going to start laying electric poles and cables. Then we returned to Phura by 07.00pm and While my EO & APO rested at Phura, I took another vehicle and came to Saiha at 11.45pm in the night. It took exactly 4 hours non-stop, which is a good improvement over the past as this time the road was quite smooth.

I leant a lot during this visit:-

Our motherland is a wonderful place and we must preserve her core values like democracy, secularism. However, we have problems in our country but still it is much better than other countries and with rising income most problems will be solved.
Villagers need basic things provided they get the voice. They want to plan but our system is not supporting them.
Innovation at micro level is key to the integrated and inclusive development.
Participation of general masses are necessary for bringing change otherwise they will remain a passive participant. Ownership to villages is the need of the hour.
I have to learn Mara & Mizo soon. :)
The positive changes are taking place. Pu Hiato told me that when he was CEM, he has to walk for months during tour. At that time Jeep road was available from Aizawl up to Lawngtalai. Now all villages are being connected through PMGSY roads.