Solan with population roughly equal to nation of Solomon Islands is one
of the twelve districts of Himachal Pradesh and gets its name from revered
Shoolini Mata. Solan town is the largest municipal council in the state. The
town is also known as “Mushroom City of India” for vast mushroom farming in the
area as well as for the Directorate of Mushroom Research, a central government
organisation located here. It is also famous as “City of red Gold” for the bulk
production of tomatoes in the area. The town is located on the Kalka-Shimla
National Highway 22 and Kalka-Shimla Narrow gauge Heritage railway line passes
through Solan. Some places of interest in the district are Chail, Kasauli,
Barog and Arki. Enraged by arrogance of Lord Kitchener, Maharaja Bhupinder
Singh of Patiala built a summer retreat for himself in Chail when restricted
from entering into summer capital of British Raj. Chail Cricket Ground built in
1893 and located at an altitude of 2444 meters is the highest cricket ground in
the world. When you see
a patch of clouds passing over this ground it feels as if somebody is doing
serious smoking business in Malana. Anglo-Indian author Ruskin Bond was born in Kasauli.
The Christ Church of Kasauli of Madras Café
movie fame constructed during British era at around 1842 in Gothic style
architecture is a major tourist attraction. Thodo dance performed based on
archery is a local favourite. Some popular traditional dishes of Solan are
Lushke, Patande, Poode, Sidu, Askalu and Pachole etc., and these names should
not be mistaken for some kind of Alien Delicacies.
Father of General Dyer (So called Butcher of Amritsar), Mr
Edward Dyer was more generous to Indians who set up Dyer Breweries, the first
brewery in Asia in 1855 in Kasauli which produced Asia’s first Beer by brand
name ‘Lion’. Lion was a big hit with thirsty British army men in
tropical Indian subcontinent for whom it was “as good as back home”. Lion
was the number one beer of India till 1960s for almost over a century. Lion is still
number one in Srilanka and the only reason I can think of is their pride in
their national flag. It is hard to find in markets these days but for vintage
lovers who can do a little bit of scooping, it is still sold in North India.
The brewery now converted to distillery is owned by Mohan Meakin Limited. Old
Monk, an engineering student’s delight in winters, is produced by the same
company.
This story is about a
small village called Nauni in Solan district located 14 kilometres from
district headquarters. Nauni village Panchayat is a silver line in the sky for
other village Panchayats in the country. Ten years back Nauni was like any other Village Panchayat stagnant and with
almost zero or no growth. But Nauni Panchayat has achieved in last one decade
what bureaucrats and think tanks keep discussing in their futile board meetings
for years which finally ends in a Big O. ‘Convergence’ is the word. Nowadays a
number of Government training institutes have gone crazy over the concept and
training their future generation administrators to fill in the gaps left by
their super seniors sitting in silos in the secretariats when drafting a scheme
or policy. Theory is all that these institutes of national importance offer but
how to go about it is beyond their reach and imagination. This is where the
grass root innovation, imagination and magic kicks in. Hero of the story Mr
Baldev has been able to achieve what people like me are being trained for. He
needed no formal training by great institutes and never read any great research
work by some wandering soul. All he had was desperation to take his Panchayat
to new heights and definitely an EQ beyond average souls. After a number of hit
and trials and biting the dust he discovered the magic formula of ‘Convergence
of various Government Schemes’. While individual government schemes could not
fulfil and sustain his vision and big dreams, pooling in money from various
beneficiary schemes for a particular purpose did. By converging money from
various schemes he was actually correcting the mistakes of top down planning
like an effective antivirus. Riding on the will of this great individual, Nauni
Panchayat prospered and won accolades from world over. Nauni Panchayat became
the first Nirmal Gram Panchayat of Himachal Pradesh as well as of India. Mr
Baldev won district, state and national level honours for his efforts and
dedication. Today Nauni Panchayat has water tank in every house and a few
community owned water tanks for entire Panchayat. It has an excellent drainage
system to the envy of any modern city in the world. Every house has provision
for solar power. There is a fantabulous network of solar street lamps. Each
house is connected by pucca roads. Villagers are doing agriculture based on
modern methods. They are using Greenhouses for horticulture. Nauni in the
backdrop of Himalayas is better and more picturesque than any European
countryside I have been to. Mr Baldev has not only induced infrastructural
changes but behavioural as well. Every member of the Panchayat is a stakeholder
in the growth story and is contributing his bit. Cleanliness seen around in the
Panchayat is infectious and every Panchayat member is responsible for it.
Panchayat has a fully functional waste segregation and disposal plant as well.
Mr Baldev says he did no magic but only converged money from all known schemes
and could get remarkable support of villagers based on his convincing power. No
doubt he had to face the wrath of jealous officials and at times was blamed of
embezzlement too. And the unceasing problem he faces today is poor or no
allocation of money for his Panchayat on account of “All is well in Nauni”. He rued to me and lamented over the apathy
of officials who take him as a rising political entity and the party in power
is averse to it. People from all over the globe visit this Panchayat to study
the magic but government is least interested in appreciating such a feat. Mr Baldev
is still hungry, he wants to do more but his fame is being the biggest obstacle
in his way now thanks to local politics. Such Panchayats are islands of
excellence and need to be emulated and promoted further elsewhere in the
country. And Mr Baldev as an ambassador of innovation in governance at the
grass-root level should be invited to training institutes which are serious
about this whole issue of convergence. And planning commission should take a
note that Mr Baldev is a product of its top down planning and do some serious
introspection about its future role.
Within
a week of visiting the Nauni Panchayat I had an opportunity of attending a
workshop on ‘Right to Hearing Act’ (RTH) in Jaipur. It was organised by
the public services department, Government of Rajasthan in collaboration with
NGO working for RTI led by Ms Aruna Roy. RTH is one of the latest and
innovative piece of legislation by the Rajasthan Government to literally
bulldoze their lazy officials to discharge their normal duties. RTH aims to
strengthen Rajasthan Guaranteed Delivery of Public Services Act which was enacted
earlier. To give us a feel of RTH in action we were taken to Dudu sub-division
of Jaipur where a JanSunwai was being
held. In RTH complainant needs to register his complaint with Rajiv Gandhi Seva
Kendra which can’t be refused. After receiving a complaint, a unique
registration number will be given to the complainant in a receipt that will
also have the date when the complaint is to be heard, the officer hearing it
and the place for hearing. Hearings will be done at the Panchayat Samiti level,
Tehsil level and the district level every Friday. During hearing the
complainant is given respite by the officers concerned or given a written reply
for refusal to do so. The idea is good and looks far fetching on paper. But
what are we trying to do by such legislations. Is not it that the government
has accepted that its officials are now being forced to do what they are ought
to do and RTH is quick fix solution to do that. And for that matter RTI, Public
Service Guarantee Acts, Right to Food and even RTE shows that government has
accepted its failure as a welfare state thanks to its inefficient and
ineffective execution and these acts and legislations are mere patch works and
are making the so called “System” more like a big fat Panda.
One
Governance innovation which I came to hear of during the above workshop from my
counterpart from Karnataka is “Challenge Fund”. A Rs. 10-crore ‘Challenge
Fund’ was kept aside by Karnataka government to conceive, design and
implement innovative ideas by any individual, group or agency that would ensure
speedy and cost-effective delivery of public services to the people and could
prove to be better alternative to existing delivery mode as being run by
government since ages. So by and large governance deficit is being filled by
breaking age old set patterns of traditional governance. Necessity is mother of
invention. Government will have to keep pace with the expectations of people
and changing times to keep itself relevant and alive in long run. Success is the
end product of desperation. But that desperation is lacking. Stagnancy has set
in. Government has the clout and the skill pool to be up and running but the
need is to wake up and shake itself a bit and GO LIVE.
