What it means to me as a Prime Minister's Rural Development Fellow !!

Now that the second batch for the prestigious and pricey fellowship has been announced, i thought it’s the right time for me to blog my experiences, thoughts and feelings after being in the fellowship for more than one and half year.

How bureaucrats look at us?

Not sure what exactly goes in the minds of our direct bosses, on the professional front, PMRDFs are an additional burden to the system who are excessively/overly paid, loitering in the district with their crazy ideas, cynical predispositions, fanatical criticisms, without having any appropriate accountability and not creating any impact (not sure direct or indirect or may be both?) that is quantifiable.

How some of the officers look at us?

Not an integral part of them but another appendage to the system.

What did it actually mean to me??

With the hypocrisy clouded upon, the accountability factor haunting, frustrations mounting (leading to disruptions in personal life) and at times, facing the obscure criticisms, it was just the passion to work in these areas and the fear that i may not get this opportunity again, that kept me stick on to the fellowship till date.

Insights into the issues and lives of the tribal communities amidst the conflict, is what interested me more to get into the fellowship and i believe that the experience till date has given me such. I do not know and don’t want to comprehend the success of the scheme on the whole, but it was quite a bit tough journey for me in order to fight the haunting accountability with the passion that has been driving me. Not to be a hypocrite, i never wanted to be a social worker nor i like to be called one such. I am into a decently (not “overly” please!!) paid fellowship and always tried to be the missing link between the tribals and the administration.

There has been an argument that putting us in a regular direct position will enable us to work better and focussed and thereby the output/impact of the works taken up will be quantifiable. I never wanted to get into the shoes of any of the hierarchical positions in the administration as it mandates me to go by the protocol and restricts me to a meagre role rather than the way i am supposed to be. Infact they don’t need a PMRDF to address such needs as an additional staff will be able to do it. If it is about filling professionalism in the same work, it is all i have done staying in background, supporting the system but not trying to make it dependent on a person.

Struck between the administration’s quantifiable output theory, state’s livelihoods agenda and the personal agenda to have a lucid understanding of the tribal communities and enabling them to have an access to their rights and entitlements, it was a journey filled with learnings as well as disappointments which arise due to the criticisms i face that i don’t have a “quantifiable” output to boast about.

I was once asked to list out the targets vs. achievements for the year spent in the district. I was dumb struck and did not find anything to write. Basically it was mystifying to me what can be a target to me and what can be my achievement? Can i consider the bureaucrat led work that i have taken forward as my achievement or a line department executive’s work as my achievement? Can i list out the little works done in villages for the same? Infact the Output/Outcome factor is definitely a matter of concern if i have to be reviewed on a quarterly basis. But if it is all about the same kind of outputs/outcomes and targets vs. achievements that a government employee is reviewed upon, i tend to become an employee who comes up with interventions to impress their higher ups with the figures and forget about it once they are inaugurated. I haven’t found single livelihood intervention which has been lasting for long without any handholding of an individual for a longer duration. We do have institutions(SHGs) to do the same. But instead of hearing to what they need and strengthening them to handle such, we are more into individual centric stuff.

Every intervention chalked out for the tribal areas (I repeat TRIBALS and not any OTHER communities) need to be well researched. Most of us forget the fact that we are not the first to enter this zone and we are not the first one to come up with the crazy ideas. Rural and Tribal Development has its own stalwarts and the state of Andhra Pradesh has a great history and stories to write about its ITDAs and the Project Officers of it who were champions of their times. The same case with other social workers, NGOs and activists working in these areas. They have tried every possible thing to bring about a change in the scenario then. It is not to do with the livelihood interventions of their times, there is a need for some systemic change for which i always wanted to be part of. I never had dearth of ideas to be implemented. I only wanted to look if it was already tested, implemented and if failed –why? If its about the bamboo project, Livelihoods for the Poorest of the Poor (SERP’s project) or any other smaller works, all that was looked into keenly, in order to understand what went wrong earlier and how is it that it can be corrected.

Responsibility with accountability and without authority is what i am expected to deliver and had found it difficult at times,  yet it was challenging and interesting. The clarity of purpose of having a PMRDF in a state like AP with not much of Maoist influence currently was not known to me or my bosses. But it was when i started getting involved at the village level, it is then i realised why is it that only i did it and not anyone could have done. It is when i struggled for ten continuous days for long hours just to bring the government and community together in the implementation of  the act that is supposed to be confer rights to the tribals, i realised what I can do. Respecting my “overly” paid stipend, i made sure that i stay in the villages when i visit them, trek to their habitations, listen to the people for long hours in the RED zone. It’s not that easy to “loiter/roam around” as people think and there are issues and facts which cannot be shared in public while being in this zone. Inspite of the fact that i am being “WATCHED”, it never made me feel to back off.

“No one ever spoke to us for so long and infact never dared to stay here for so long” - These were the words of a tribal in one of the Andhra- Chhattisgarh border village. It was a fantastic conversation which broke most of the myths existing till then, gave me a complete clarity on what exactly the people expect and the gap between them and the administration. The feedback on everyday affairs, the faults existing and the possible solutions were being clearly elucidated. I did not want to get into the line department’s execution work as it only disturbs the structure but never give any permanent solution to it. Therefore i only wanted to strengthen it with whatever contributions i can.

As Hon’ble Minister said in his speech, “the fellows need to figure out and provide feedback to the District Administration (ITDA in our case) on how the portfolios of programs are functioning at the ground level”. I never failed to do the same. It was not just loitering around the areas; it was more to do with taking the pain of being with the tribal communities for longer duration in their hamlets/villages which an officer of the government cannot do with the files he/she has to deal. There are issues and complaints wherein the fellows are restricted to their head quarters by the administration or by themselves. Fortunately i never had such. Agreed that there is no direct action on the observations, but who are to be blamed for it is something which i never understood. I always felt that, more than the work that creates impact, there is a need for plugging the loopholes in the system which itself will start creating an impact.

Apart from the villagers, Youth, NGOs, leaders of the tribal organisations and the members of the teachers association recognize me in the area i work and identify me one amongst them. This has been the most satisfying experience to me in the fellowship. The same identification with the people makes me talk emotionally when it comes to the issues surrounding them. A colleague and also a good friend of mine said “The reason why you are into it can be the only reason for you to leave and nothing else” had a decent impact. I didnt want to leave this opportunity unless i'm contentful with what i have come into it. With the only PRA tool i know and designed for myself -“EMPATHY”, all i could earn was a self less love. When it comes to giving back to them, i don’t think i have done much. But the work that I have taken up now to work with the Gram Sabhas is something which interests me and i hope i will be remembered for it.

On the government side and the personal front, blessed with the best of the lot bureaucrats to lead, i have learnt a lot which has improved my perspective and understanding on the functioning of the system. It is my project officer who inspired me and gave an excellent anthropological perspective of the tribes and the gap that the government has created. It is the former sub collector of the division i have been working, from whom i have learnt to be efficient and effective at the same time with a human touch. It’s an all time learning experience to be with such kind of people around.

Starting off with an urban attitude of finding it difficult to adjust to the ambiance in the initial days, wherein the insect enters your ear to wake you up in the morning and the same insects do not let you sleep in the night, the fellowship was an opportunity for me to spend time with those who has taught me LIFE.

Keeping aside the expectations, Hon’ble minister’s words that it should enable the fellows to learn about the best and worst part of their nation worked out well in my case though. I never hesitated to keep those memories alive with the photographs sharing it on the public domain and social networking sites. It’s again the same lot of people who called it as publicizing, but to me it was to keep the memories of working in this zone alive and to relish every moment i have spent here and the photographs that explicate the area, household and the individual.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/set=a.391749544225867.90066.100001724730914&type=1&l=d669fe3d06

With a sense of guilt and satisfaction balanced, I hope the fellowship for the coming batch will be much better with a clarity that exist from the top to the bottom of the pyramid (System).


P.S.: Everything in the blog are my personal thoughts and experiences and nothing to generalise with the overall scheme or functioning of the fellows.

- Suresh Ghattamaneni,
Working in the remote mandals of Bhadrachalam Division, Khammam District, bordering the states of Chattisgarh and Odisha.