Monday, September 20, 2010

"IDEA of INDIA"

(inspired by the editorial under this heading in Garhwal Post of 13th September, 2010)

I took the first flight to Srinagar from New Delhi on the morning of 31st August, 1965 as suggested by Ashok Sen, Joint Secretary in charge of J & K affairs, in the Ministry of Home Affairs the previous day, when I had called on him as advised by LP Singh, Union Home Secretary. That turned out to be the last flight to Srinagar, as Indo-Pak War of 1965 broke out by late that evening. I was the first one of the six young IAS officers, drafted by the Union Home Ministry to serve as Staff Officers to the Chief Secretary, J & K, in the wake of massive infiltration by armed tribals across the LoC, at the behest of the Pakistan army in July that year, overrunning large tracts of Indian territory and undoing civil governance in the areas thus overrun. The rest of the five officers were to join a week later, traveling by road to Srinagar from Pathankot. I was earlier Sub-divisional Officer and Magistrate Lalitpur, which I was asked by the Athar Hussain, District Magistrate of Jhansi to leave within 48 hours to report to LP Singh, Union Home Secretary in New Delhi at the earliest.

Asok Sen's first suggestion to me was to take the Indian Air force plane going to Srinagar, but he wisely advised that since, in the event of the plane getting shot down, my family was not likely to get any compensation for my likely certain death, taking the Indian Airlines morning flight the next day was the best option for me. I told him that I had no money to buy the air ticket and he promptly gave me a princely sum of Rs. 2000/- for my air ticket and some warm clothing to protect me from the cold of J & K. Sitting in the crowded Fokker Friendship plane of the Indian Airlines that morning, my very first plane ride, I was gratefully ruing the wise counsel of Ashok Sen to avoid the Indian Air Force plane for this journey. The impending Indo Pak War was till then not in my mind at all. My sense of excitement at this sudden adventurous turn in my IAS carrier, new no bounds that morning as I hungrily savoured the frugal breakfast and hot cup of tea that was soon served to us by the Indian Airlines.

The plane landed with a smooth touch down on the Srinagar Airport, which had been imminently threatened by the first massive raid of armed tribals across the Indian border in late 1947 (and miraculously saved by the brave men of the Indian Army, led by late Major Somnath of the Kumaon Regiment, who was awarded Param Vir Chakra posthumously), at the scheduled time of 8 am (flights in those days were very punctual). As I faced the cold morning breeze of Srinagar, I made a beeline to the Public Call Office (PCO) to ring up Sushital Bannerji, the Additional Chief Secretary of J & K to inform him of my arrival and to seek his instructions. He picked up the phone himself (officers did that in those days in emergencies) and gave me a warm welcome and asked me to drive straight to his residence in Srinagar. Sipping a hot cup of welcoming tea in Sushital Banerji's house as I faced him, it was a great relief to me to be addressed with warm affection, after the travails of the long hectic journey starting from Lalitpur four days ago. He told me to drive to the Tourist Centre (where we as IAS Probationers had stayed in 1961 during Bharat Darshan, but since burn't down and consigned to flames by rampaging mobs inspired by the separatists) in the heart of Srinagar, where a room had been reserved for me to take care of my board and lodging. I was asked to report to the Central Control Room in the State Secretariat, which was overseeing the fast changing scenario since the infiltration began a few months ago.

The War was to last for the next twenty two days, during which the six of us Staff Officers to the Chief Secretary were doing duty in shifts, round the clock in the Control Room, seeing the Chief Minister Mir Qasim, his Home Minister DP Dhar and other high ranking dignitaries of J & K State Government and the Indian Army every morning, deliberating on the fall outs of the fluctuating fortunes of the War and the infiltration. I distinctly specially remember the fall of what was known as the "Chicken's Neck" in the Chamb Jorian Sector, the only road link between J & K and the rest of India and the subsequent decision of Lal Bahadur Shastri, the Prime Minister of India to order the Indian Army to attack Lahore, whereupon the Pakistani troops withdrew from the "Chicken's Neck" and the sense of elation in the Control Room that morning hailing Shastri ji for his courageous leadership. Shastri ji had already won the hearts of the people of the Valley, after his deft handling of the "Muwey Mukkaddas" crisis pertaining to the Holy Relic in the Hazratbal Shrine, during the previous winter, when the chill air with snow flakes wafting down and the snow covered streets of Srinagar were rented with the cries of milling crowds shouting "Shastri ji kee jai-Bharat kee jai". It was indeed, a rare experience for us young IAS officers to be witness to this drama of Indian history, unfolding before our own eyes, so early in our carriers.

Our duties once the War was over, was to visit the overrun areas of the state to oversee the restoration of civil governance, the development planning mechanism and other allied matters like restoration of civic morale of the people and law and order in those affected parts. I had occasion to sit with the Deputy Commissioner of Srinagar, an elderly officer from UP whose name I am forgetting now, to join him in planning the civil defense of Srinagar. I had occasion to visit the famous and strategic Haji Pir Pass which had been captured by the Indian troops during the War and other border pickets of the Indian Army. Every where we found the army officers and the jawans in high spirits and felt very proud of them and their valour. The quality of governance in J & K right from the Secretariat downwards to the field level in those days, was to my mind very inefficient and I kept wandering how such a dispensation could satisfactorily address the concerns of the people at large. After three odd months in Srinagar, inspite of my Kashmiri friends insisting on my staying back, I felt that I had no place in J & K with its lax work culture, being used to the austere and efficient work culture of UP in those days. Incidentally, UP in those days was reputed to be the best administered state in India and it was to take UP another two or three decades of inept political leadership, to slide to the bottom. In my memoirs with the title "Pandit Sriram Sharma Acharya As I Knew Him... Memoirs of a Civil Servant", I have compared the governance in J & K in those days to the governance that we experience in Uttarakhand today. This book could be accessed at the website "http://www.reacha.org".

What ails J & K today appears again to be the inept governance that the state government has been practicing right since the days gone by. When a system of governance neglects its normal routine functions, overtime it gets reduced to a system of governance that is only engaged in fire fighting, which it must do in order to merely survive. I have attributed this state of affairs in my memoirs, to the sacrosanct Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which in the name of autonomy has shielded the J & K state administration from the progressive measures of governance that were communicated by the Government of India from time to time, to all other states of the Indian Union right from the early days after Independence. With poor governance, which it cannot admit, the state political leaders in power, use extraneous alibis like their unmet demand for a Political Package and the repeal of the Armed Forces' Special Powers' Act (AFSPA) etc, as the main problems of the people of J & K. It must be understood that a stance such as in favour of the repeal of AFSPA, could only be on the promptings of India's enemies across the border, who find the Indian Army as the only obstacle between them and annexation of the Valley. The Army Chief has recently stated that the infiltration of terrorists across the border and LoC has increased since the current stone throwing disturbances began. So, it should be clear to any one, what exactly is the purpose of the present sponsored stone throwing protests, that is rocking the Valley only. The sharp absence of freedom in POK needs to be compared with the freedom to throw stones in the Kashmir Valley.

A bold All-Party approach is now being worked upon and a delegation of all political parties of India is visiting J & K from Monday the 20th of September, with a mandate to meet all stake holders in the state. It must be remembered that the state of J & K comprises of the Jammu Region, the Laddakh Region and the Kashmir Valley and the concens of the other two distant and distinct regions have always been neglected by the state capital in Srinagar, which is perpetually bogged down with the sponsored protests of different varieties from time to time, on the promptings of India's enemies across the border. The various factions of the separatists are going to treat the All Party delegation differently, according to the instructions they receive from their mentors across the border and the delegation would be mercifully given all facilities to meet as many people of different colours and shades as possible by the state government. The Prime Minister is right to assert, that a decision would be taken on the basis of feedback the Government of India gets from the All Party Delegation. The Union Home Minister has stated that the promises made in the past in relation to J & K need to be revisited. By all means, these measures should prove effective if addressed honestly and sincerely, but they would still be no substitute to substantial improvements in the service delivery to the people of the state, on the part of the state government, pertaining to their basic essential needs. Lofty promises and populist policies give no relief to the people, who only want the bare essentials of good governance, comprising of safety of their life and property and a livelihood of dignity. I am firmly of the view that the "IDEA of INDIA" needs to be translated into sound enlightened good governance, based on "SATYAMEV JAYATEY", if the people of India, what to say of only the people of J & K, have to savour the fruits of freedom and democracy, so preciously won on 15th August, 1947 at such heavy cost to the Indian people.

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