In the district Dindori, my mornings started with a brisk walk and exercise along the main road with a colleague. Then I had breakfast and went to office around 10 AM. Once every week, Collector sir would go on a full day field visit and take me along. He would carefully examine the state of affairs in the Anganwadi centre, school, hospital, PDS Shop, MGNREGA works and bring the erring officers to task. He would interact with the local people and try to know their problems directly. At one such instance, a group of women stopped our vehicle and refused to move. Some of us got down and enquired with them as to what the matter was. To which an elder lady hesitatingly yet smilingly came forward and said, “Hamein Collector Ko dekhna hai.” As it turned out, those women did not want to demand anything. Over the years, they had heard so much about a Saheb named Collector that this time, they wanted to see what he actually looks like. Such gestures of the people restore our belief in the idea that people have so much faith in the institution of IAS. While working, no matter how hard the conditions get, I saw that my seniors took inspiration from the service they could do for the people. And their ability to serve effectively and efficiently was the source of their satisfaction.
In the meantime, I was staying in a room in the Dindori Rest House. As it turns out, Government bungalows are more often than not, very old structures that are not maintained properly. I was allotted a house, but it was in dire need of basic repair. It took almost 3 months after which I could finally move in. As I completed my education from my hometown, I had never lived independently. Living in a guest house room and then moving in a government bungalow were my early lessons in staying alone. Though I had support in terms of a driver, a cook and a lady help, I felt uneasy at times. That's when visiting seniors, watching movies and shows and having my family come over came to the rescue. Nevertheless, earning my own income, having a house and the ability to make my own decisions at the age of 24 made me feel I was able to stand on my feet. This feeling is special for any person, especially for a woman.
Talking of assignments, another independent posting given to me was that of a Tehsildar. For every Tehsil in a district, there is a revenue official under the Sub divisional Magistrate tasked with the looking after of revenue courts, law and order and other such relevant matters. My tehsil office was an old school building with 2 classrooms made into a meeting hall and extra section. The new Tehsil building was being built and was yet to be inaugurated. I assumed office and started taking the revenue court of my own. The procedures followed are as mentioned in the Civil Procedure Code and follow the Madhya Pradesh Land revenue code in which mutation, demarcation, partition and such other cases are heard. At the same time, district Dindori was chosen as pilot district for the implementation of Swamitva Scheme. With the support of Survey of India, Aabadi land in rural areas was surveyed through aerial drones and detailed maps were made for each village. After the proper assent of Gram Sabha, record of rights were supposed to be issued to each family therein. I could see closely what difficulties are faced when any new government scheme is brought to the ground. As all procedures of the survey were digitised, the training to the staff especially in technical areas became very crucial. My team of patwaris acted as ground staff for not only this scheme but as first responders for any calamity, accident, grain procurement and other events. The initial days of dealing with people, team management and goal achievement are tough, but one eventually learns through experience.
As the time in the district passed by, I also started exploring around the place. Amarkantak was the nearest tourist spot from my tehsil and was a beautiful location. It is the origin place for the river Narmada. This river is the lifeline of Central India and venerated as the Holy river in the yatra of Narmada Parikrama. Moving through the roads neatly lined with the evergreen tall Sal and occasional streams on both sides, made the journey ever refreshing and invigorating. Luckily, we were 5 batchmates from 2 states, living in the vicinity of each other. This gave us an opportunity to explore the nearby National Parks and Tiger Reserves like Kanha National Park, Bandhavgarh and Pench national park. Through Jungle Safaris, we experienced the richness of forests and wildlife in the Eastern part of Madhya Pradesh which is definitely worth exploring.
The training also constituted a 4 week course at the State Administrative Training Institute named RCVP Noronha Academy in Bhopal. There we attended lectures related to criminal and revenue laws and learnt more about the state administrative machinery. This is also the time when we were taken to the Secretariat for visits and call ons to the heads of State like The Governor, The Chief Minister and other heads of various departments. This gave an opportunity to meet the senior officials of the state and understand the work culture. This was followed by rigorous week long exams of both objective and written papers. All of us together practised writing orders and spent days learning the different sections as the papers were not easy. If failed, one had to sit again to finally get inducted as an officer in the state. After a few months, training was accompanied by a State Darshan module. In this, one is taken across the significant sites of the state and introduced to different places. We started our journey from Amarkantak and moved ahead to Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve at Umariya where we were lucky enough to spot a tiger in our second safari. Then on, we went to visit Panna, Khajuraho and Orccha. These places are remarkable tourist destinations of Madhya Pradesh. We finally came to Gwalior where the MP Land Records office is situated and had a week long training and exam. These times of training in the state gave ample exposure and were like an introduction to the entire working environment.
My recollection of Dindori would be incomplete without writing about the tough times of Covid Pandemic during the second wave. It was the month of April 2021 and Covid cases were rising exponentially. Even in a small district like Dindori without any train connectivity, case load increased everyday. I was tasked with medicine and Oxygen management at that time. Our biggest challenge was that we did not have a single industry or plant in the district which could help us refill our cylinders. This meant that we had to add the time taken for onward and return journeys to Jabalpur Oxygen plant while planning our demand and capacity. Cylinders were donated by few people and those from welding shops were acquired for use in public service. A state of panic enveloped the entire country as a heavy death toll was observed on a daily basis. We saw ailing families losing their loved ones from up close and it was very heart wrenching. While the virus was a tough test, local anganwadi and ASHA workers did 2-3 rounds of survey moving from door to door, testing for symptoms and delivered medicines at the doorstep. The entire team worked under immense pressure and daily reporting was monitored at the national level. Each day seemed to be extremely stressful and difficult. Managing a team in such situations and working without letting your emotions build up is what I learnt in this time. It was the dedication and efforts of the state machinery that helped us tide the deadly disaster wave.
I can go on and on about the experiences of training but I believe I’ve covered the major areas and memories. There were countless moments of gratitude, happiness, awe and sometimes of helplessness and surprise. There was never a dull moment where I regretted my decision of writing this exam. The one year of training came to an end around May 2021 when the next phase of LBSNAA Training was planned. Due to the pandemic, the offline visit to academy was cancelled and was converted into an online training module. We missed out on our foreign training and the 3 month exposure as Assistant Secretary in various departments of Government of India. Nevertheless, the one year was a befitting trailer of the exciting and satisfying times which officers have in store for themselves. The people, the life and the learnings of Dindori will be forever cherished in my memory.