Toll tax on Development

‘Switzerland of East’ aka ‘Unforgettable Himachal’ is hurling surprises at me every day that I am passing in its majestic lap (being a curious kid in the lap of Himalayas).The diversity existing in these hills are baffling me and trust me I am experiencing ecstasy every day even without relishing the so called famous ‘Malana Cream’. Day by day I am kind of developing a sense of ownership and my heart is no more an outsider in this newly found home for itself. Slowly but mostly my status has changed from being a clumsy guest to a responsible host. The secret is ‘Once you go to hills you belong to them’. Now I get upset on seeing a tourist littering around. I feel like saying, ‘gentleman don’t dirty      my place’ as I am yet to host some more like you. While jogging through the apple orchards in the morning I realize what I missed in the jungles of Fontainebleau. And while on the roads when I am engulfed by a passing cloud I wonder what more I could have asked for in this life. But while looking at every smiling and contended face around I get confused about my role as administrator. Do I really have anything to offer which can add to their happiness or will my future roles in various capacities only deteriorate the Gross Happiness Index of these beautiful people? And this very confusion gives birth to a series of fluctuating thoughts and raise questions as to what is development and what really an inclusive and sustainable development is all about? Does anyone really understands the concept or it’s just a frenzied propaganda of a few arm chair theorist who are minting money and earning their bread and butter out of it? Are there any serious souls around?

                Classes are invariably boring for everyone except for a few who can beat any odd and will always be the winners. During one such boring class I met this interesting IAS officer who remarked, “Shimla is Himachal but Himachal is not Shimla”. The remark encapsulated the diversity existing in the state but generally overlooked by the uninformed tourists visiting the state. And the person who said this was none other but an ex-Director of Himachal Tourism Department. And this was the premise based on which he pushed two projects namely ‘Har Ghar Kuch Kahata hai’ and ‘Har Gaon Ki Kahani’ which won Himachal a number of national awards leaving even the ‘Gods own country’ behind. These are coffee table books. The first book captures various buildings in and around Shimla of British era and their grandeur. The second book presents anecdotes and folklores from different villages portraying their culture, custom, history, ritual, festivals and mythology. And these books have helped in promoting ‘Rural Tourism’ in Himachal attracting far more number of tourist each year especially foreign tourists which has even exceeded the numbers in Goa (Difficult to digest but true!). Himachal lives in its villages is just not philosophy but statistics support too as 89 % population of state is rural. Every village and every town of the state is unique and offers ample opportunity and can cater to diverse tourist profiles needs.

                My first story is about a village known by different metaphors like ‘Shangri-La of Himalayas’, ‘forbidden land’, ‘Athens of Himalayas’ and ‘Utopia in Himalayas’ etc. Yes I am talking about ‘Malana’, a village in Kullu district which must be by and large the most famous village of India on the world map partially thanks to ‘Malana cream’. Villagers here trace their origins to Alexander the Great and call themselves the descendants of Alexander’s army which decided to stay back after their victory against King Porus. Legend has it that once Akbar the Great too visited the place looking for cure of an ailment (he must have been too stressed I guess!). Villagers speak a language understood only by them. Kanashi, the language of Malanis is totally different from dialects in its neighbourhood and is probably a mix of Sanskrit and Tibetan dialects. The wooden houses in the village have unique architecture with Greek styled motifs decorating them. The village must be the oldest republic in the world. Local deity ‘Jamlu Devta’ rules the village with the help of a council elected by the villagers. Villagers have immense faith in ‘Jamlu Devta’ and his fiats. His Temple is an imposing structure in the upper Malana. For Malanis, Malana is a different country altogether and rules of India don’t apply to them. They consider themselves superior to outsiders who are instructed to walk on designated roads while crossing the village. Outsiders can’t touch anything in the village and if they do so are fined to the tune of a thousand bucks. If Malanis by chance come in contact with an outsider they sacrifice a lamb to Jamlu Devta to purify themselves.  Mystery surrounding the village has been a theme of research for many inquisitive souls and script for many documentaries. Inaccessibility of village and the ‘Malana Cream’ in the past has been the motivation for enthusiastic trekkers more so foreigners. State Police reached the village only in 1996. By 2006 some kind of rural tourism has developed with ‘Hotel Dragon’ catering to the tourist in lower Malana. Till last decade civil administration had hardly any clue about what goes on in the village located at around 10,000 ft. and Malanis were living there since 326 BC (as the legend has it!) in peace without any demands from outside world. Last decade saw a flurry of changes which has unsettled the life of Malanis to a large extent. Two hydro projects have come up the vicinity and roads are being constructed all around. The place is losing its peace and charm not only for Malanis but also for tourists. If that was less, a major mysterious fire in 2008 destroyed 40 % of the village reducing some unique wooden structures to ashes. In 2011 a school started functioning as well which was desperately needed by the Education Department to interface and integrate Malanis with the rest of the world. But no sooner administration entered into the area, the village has been in shambles. All that civil administration wanted was to bring Malanis in mainstream but results have been devastating. Did Malanis aspire for it? Is inclusive growth really worth it if not sustainable and damages traditional social ecology beyond repair? Who is at faults: The Administration, Malanis or the Concept of Development?

                Last weekend along with my friends I visited a place called Tattapani in Mandi district located on Shimla-Mandi Highway around 55 Kilometres from Shimla on the banks of river Sutlej. We started at around 5 PM from Shimla. It’s a beautiful drive descending from an elevation of 2200 metres to 660 metres

at Tattapani crossing beautiful places like Mashobra and Naldehra. As we go downhill, the change in vegetation presents a spectacular view. Amazingly you find date trees on your left side in Suni, a place just near Tattapani indicating presence of inland sea known as Tethys once upon a time under mighty Himalayas. Tattapani means ‘Hot Water’ and as the name suggest there exist hot water springs on the banks of Sutlej in this expanse. The hot water coming out of these springs contain sulphur and some other rare elements which are considered good for skin. As soon as we reached, we headed towards a restaurant set just on the banks of Sutlej. We had tea while taking a walk on the bank of the river and had a brief photo session too. Being rainy season Sutlej was gushing down at its full might. For dinner, to our surprise the restaurant owner suggested us a place in open just next to the river. A table and some chairs around it where placed on the sandy bank. And while the order was being served, they lit a candle creating a perfect ambience for dinner. And to add to it the restaurant owner also arranged for chilled beer. I could not have asked for more. I was experiencing a trance and tripping now and then. The entire situation was implausible. One of my friend who belonged to Indian Forest Services said ‘I never had a dinner in such a setting before’. The gush of water was musical and the beer was marinating my soul and I was experiencing a high least concerned of the conversation going on the table. So overwhelmed were we that for a dinner bill of measly thousand bucks, we gave the waiter five hundred as tip. The place had won us over. We would have never desired to leave the place but the call of our duty next day was sufficient reason to push off. As we started to get into our vehicle the owner came running to us handing over a pamphlet of his resort which was up hill away from the bank. He was inviting us to visit the resort in future. I said forget about the resort your restaurant here near the bank is an amazing place and we would love to come here again for dinner sometime. On this the owner looked down and said with a heavy heart, “Sir, this place is going to submerge by the year end when a hydel project nearby gets commissioned”. Ground slipped beneath my feet. His account jolted my soul and mind which was in trance so far was struck by the reality. We all returned back to Shimla with a heavy heart.

                Next day while surfing on the net I found that Koldam Hydro project of 800 MW is coming up on Sutlej River in Bilaspur which will lead to submergence of 68 villages in the area. But these villages have been more than adequately compensated as Himachal has one of the world’s best Hydel power policy benefitting the project affected people (PAPs). So it’s a win-win situation for the operator NTPC (Interestingly my previous employer!), people and the state government which will get the 12 % share in electricity produced. But the coming generation will miss what I had experienced that evening. This is the toll tax on development that the society is paying unknowingly. I am a budding administrator and I am not supposed to or rather I can’t afford to get emotional about these things. Government expects me to be an agent of change and development and so will I be. There is not an iota of doubt in my mind whatsoever. But the kid inside me keeps me restless. And I love that kid enough not to part ways with him. But the kid is oblivious, so there is a way out.

For the fans of the Sitcom: “Yes Minister”

Bureaucrazzzy

The collusion between politicians (P), bureaucrats (B), capitalists (C) and religious leaders (R) is a known fact worldwide and it has mostly proved to be a recipe for disaster. Any scam originating in the country can be attributed to hands in gloves job of political masters and their subservient (debatable though!) bureaucracy. All recent scams which knocked India off its feet be it Chopper Deal, 2G, Coalgate, Tatra, Antrix Devas Deal or CWG, if there is any truth in them, then it has definitely left a bad example of this collusion. And the worst manifestations of P-B-R connivance have been riots and genocide perpetuating all forms of atrocities on the voiceless lowest strata of the society throughout the world. Ramachandra Guha in his book “India after Gandhi” while giving the Prologue narrates five axes of asymmetries running in this ‘Unnatural Nation’ namely Caste, Language, Religion, Class and Gender. I would like to extend his ‘Class’ definition which he restricts only to Capitalist (C) to others namely P-B-R. It is these rich and all powerful P-B-C-R (lets refer it as ‘PoBuCRacy’ hereafter) classes who rule and decide the faith of the humanity. It is this collusion of ‘PoBuCRacy’ classes which is increasing the Gini coefficient, social unrest and keeping social indices low in this country and for that matter in many other countries as well.

          At the same time co-operation and earnest intentions aided by vision in PoBuCRacy class can work wonders and can create a society may be just short of utopian. History is not devoid of such examples where vision of politicians and responsiveness of hardworking bureaucrats have set standards in public administration to reckon with. Works of many religious leaders like Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna Paramhansa and Swami Dayanand Saraswati gave a new direction to the society. Though for many CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) may be another piece of jargon but business houses through CSR and through their long term social contracts are making a positive impact on the society and contributions of Tatas, Infosys, Hindustan Unilever and ITC are noteworthy.

          But this article is not about portraying the serious business of PoBuCRacy. Politicians and bureaucrats have a life too and they can be funny, witty and jokes emanating out of their interactions can set the society ROFL and LOL. Come on give them a break and for once celebrate and explore the hilarious side of these poor chaps who are otherwise at the receiving end for anything and everything. These mortals might be on the face of it intimidating, stone faced, unapproachable and ‘touch-us-not’ types but then can be a source of  entertainment too if we take a pause from censuring them. Had there been no ‘Sardars’, ‘Wives’ and ‘Politicians’ in the society, this earth would have been a sad place to live robbed of its vitality and fun quotient.

                It has been just two weeks in this small Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh as a budding administrator and this state has already started amusing me with its amazingly vibrant diversity. Achievements in first two weeks have been my engagement (Not purposely planned though!), meeting the CM, Governor, Chief Justice and a fleet of top bureaucrats in the state and last but not the least meeting ‘The People’ and listening to their anecdotes. Art and culture bores me to death if it can’t increase the adrenaline gush in me. So conspicuously my interaction with the people of the state has been in the domains which will be of my interest in near future namely how the administration is run in the state, its various nitty-gritty and of course the relationship patterns between the Political bosses and their efficient (I know it’s debatable!) managers i.e. bureaucrats. And this relationship pattern is no different from the rest of the country and to my surprise it evades its geographical and economic conditions and shares the pan-Indian characteristics. So I was not shocked to get threatening looks showing off superiority from my boss and for not asking me to take a seat in chamber while making a personal appearance. Boss is Boss irrespective of altitude, temperature and humidity of the place. Himachal with roughly 68, 00,000 population and 68 assembly seat, which computes down to an average of 1, 00,000 population for each constituency. So literally every vote counts and thus MLAs have sleeves rolled up all the time and consequently bureaucrats are kept on toes. Margin of error for MLAs is very less and that is evident in 25-30% new faces in assembly each year. This makes the life of civil servants miserable and the only respite they get is the pleasant weather throughout the year to keep their cool which is always a jealousy factor for their counterparts in other states.

                For all those who are big time fans of British sitcom ‘Yes Minister’, I can tell you with conviction and take my words Sir Humphrey Appleby (One who plays the role of Permanent Secretary in the TV sitcom) would have tough time in Shimla from where once the British ruled Indian Subcontinent for 100 odd years. He would have been pulling every hair on his head to circumvent the present day political class of Himachal which is educated, easily approachable and totally grounded (Unlike MP Jim Hacker of the sitcom ‘Yes Minister’). In Himachal if a person wishes to meet the CM in the morning after waking up, he can meet him up and return by evening to his home with a photograph.

          But the story which I am going to narrate is about how a bureaucrat in this part of the world can give run for his money to the fictional character of Sir Humphrey Appleby of ‘Yes minister’. But to appreciate the story it’s important to understand the local worshipping habits of Himachalis. Most of the villages in Himachal have local deities/devtas who are revered and listened to by the entire village in decision making (wait you will know how?). Each devta has a peculiar personality traits and idiosyncrasies. They have a permanent place of stay in village or outside the village but love travelling on occasions in wooden palanquins decorated in a unique style. Many cultural characteristics of the village is influenced by these local devtas. When the procession is taken out at least one male member of the household front of whose house it passes joins the procession. And the final destination of the procession culminates as a place of a fair or Mela. One such famous fair is Kullu Dussehera where 1000’s of local devtas travel all the way to Dhalpur maidan in kullu valley. These local deities have local mortal representatives known as ‘Vazirs’. These Vazirs speak on behalf of these devtas (So these devtas speak as well!). These devtas also fight for superiority over other devtas and issue sermons to that effect through their Vazirs. In some villages people take permission of these devtas even before taking their sick members to hospitals. Villagers take their problems to these devtas and devtas through their Vazirs voice the solutions. And for feast Goats and other animals are sacrificed to these devtas during ceremonies.

          This story was told to me by a subordinate administrative officer and dates back to emergency period and took place in Mandi district of Himachal. Erstwhile Politician Mr Yashpal Kapoor was a close aide of Indira Gandhi, a senior Congress leader and also chairman of National Herald at that time. He planned a visit to a sub-division in Mandi during a very awkward time of year when he could have hardly got a crowd for his rally. The SDM of that sub-division was informed about the same. Yashpal being so close to then Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi that this officer was left with no choice but to make all the arrangements. The first challenge was to gather a crowd for rally. This officer a seasoned one, thought why the local deities can’t help him out of this difficult situation after all why these gods exist if they can’t bail out the needy. These devtas run the justice system of these places and people have blind faith in them. So the Venue for rally was decided and this officer banked on local gods for his salvage. He persuaded the Vazir of the most powerful local devta of Chuhar valley, ‘Dev Hurang Narayan’ to help him out. So ‘Dev Hurang Narayan’ passed a farmaan calling a meeting of other devtas namely ‘Adi Purkh Brahma’, ‘Buda Bingal’ and ‘Sukh Dev Rishi’ at the decided venue. Now on D-day when these local devtas where taken out of their temples to the venue through villages in a procession a large crowd automatically gathered at the venue. So the First task at the hand of Officer-in-Charge was accomplished. So far so good. Now came the next disclosure to him. He was asked to arrange a lunch and the menu specifically demanded mutton. The wise officer again requested the Vazir of ‘Dev Hurang Narayan’ to offer goats as sacrifices to all the devtas present. As this was the only mode to serve mutton in such a gathering of local devtas. Arrangements were made for offering goats to these devtas. But then another custom came in their way. Before making sacrifices water is sprinkled on these animals and if they shudder then they are said to be accepted by the devtas and consequently they are sacrificed. Water was sprinkled by the Vazir on the first goat. The goat didn’t shiver at all. Again our wise officer got in charge. He whispered to the Vazir instead of normal water use hot water. Now when hot water was sprinkled all the goats shivered due to high unbearable temperature. And consequently a good feast was prepared.

          The moral of this story is, nothing is impossible when PoBuCRacy gets down to work. There is no dearth of resources, brains and skills in PoBuCRacy. Need is to work with right intentions with a vision to deliver the best in the interest of the society. It’s high time for PoBuCRacy to change its image and usher into era of inclusive growth taking along even the most vulnerable members of the society. And mind you PoBuCRacy alone is equipped for this transformation by virtue of being at the helm of the affairs.