Jul 28, 2010

"TRACE"-ing Our Future (Day -2)

We also got an opportunity to go LIVE on All India Radio (Trichy) FM Rainbow on the second day, where we interacted with RJ Bharathi and few callers from in and around Trichy. There were a few sodappal spots and comic sessions too, thanks to those callers and RJ! We went on to survey the Ramnad Combined Water Supply Scheme (CWSS) (Maaperum Koottu Kudineer Thittam, in Tamil). A TWAD Engineer was there with us to describe the project, that was devised to supply drinking water drawn from banks of Kaveri, to three districts that were water-scarce. There are no beneficiaries in Trichirappalli for this scheme.







We walked a stretch of ~1340m to and fro, observed the giant pipes that carried water from the supply site to the storage site, also enjoyed the phenomenon of passing clouds drifted by the breeze (and made popular by the Tamil flick Aayirathil Oruvan). The engineer impressed upon us about the rapidity with which the project was completed well before time.

We then rode along the road to Karur and visited an NGO at Allur village. It is called SEVAI (Society for Education Village Action and Improvement), founded by Mr. Govindaraju in 1975. The beneficiaries include women, children, differently abled persons and prison inmates to name a few. They teach economic activities, healthy lifestyle, support SHGs by helping them obtain loans and rehabilitate FSW,WIP,MSM and IDUs. A mock interaction with the SHG members who were part of HLF(Habitation Level Federations) and PLF(Panchayat Level Federations) was a never-before-experience and a peek into our future face-to-face with the public. The women were united in their sense of pride about Trichy being the best in India, their SHG activities, their children, their husband and family support to actively participate in SH groups and about SEVAI as a whole. Yet when it came to discussing about Government they had different ideas, few supporting and many complaining. The areas of their major concern were education, employment, inflation, rainfall and real estates encroaching into agricultural lands.

This was followed by a (paasathil thoindha) lunch and when we left the place, we needed no efforts to fall sleep, but Mukkombu saw to it that we didn't go to slumber. It's a lovely place to spend a cloudy, quiet evening (unless you are deaf to monkey chatter!) We skipped the stage of getting our feet wet, but did not miss out on icecreams (hey, that's no childish thing, we just helped out a cottage industry!)

Then we went en route Musiri, Thottiyam blocks to reach Thaathaiyengarpettai (Tha.pettai in Tamil and T-Pet in English) block, Aaraichi Panchayat where a few weeks before, Periyar Samathuvapuram had been inaugurated. It provided 100 dwelling units in an approx. area of 13 acres. Each house was provided with separate setups for RWH, Biogas compost pits and closed toilets. The beneficiaries were identified after several stages of scrutiny by the Village President, BDO, VAO, RI and Tehsildar; they had to include 40% reserved category, in order to really live up to the term 'samathuva'puram. Village President Mrs. Vijaya, a graduate, has been elected again for the second term from Aaraichi, this time from a non-woman-reservation-panchayat. She being an independent candidate, is an example of women empowerment with no political background.

We saw and heard about many unique facts and stories about peoples and places.
* 95% of Maternal deaths are preventable.
* Thiruverumbur and Thirueengoimalai are sites named after ant and bee respectively, the insect forms that worshipped Lord Siva.
* Gunaseelam was treating lunacy at its Prasanna Venkatachalapathy (Vishnu) Temple till before 2 years.
* Amateur tailors are given 5.50 per nighty stitched. It is 6.50 for designed nighties. Each one earns upto 25 per day, we were informed.
* Rent details of the costliest hotels and chatrams in Trichy
* Oyamari, the place where corpses were burnt 24 X 7, till before it was recently converted into an electric crematorium to control pollution and bad smell in the surroundings.
* Pachamalai holds a monthly sandhai to sell its rare herbal products (mooligai) that are raw materials for Siddha and other natural medicines; siddhars are speculated to live in this area.
* The people of these hills are believed to be early settlers from ancient Cheranadu (present Kerala).

'TRACE - Exposure visit' and discussions with JD-EO Mr. Suresh Kumar helped me to understand how creativity and novelty can be infused into the regular governmental setup; how barefoot scientists can help in 'sustainable development'.

"TRACE"-ing Our Future (Day-1)

Trichy Academy for Competitive Examinations (TRACE) gave me a chance of exploring the real time scenario encountered in the life of a civil servant before actual training. Along with 8 colleagues, we witnessed the actual implementation of various state and central schemes in different panchayats of Trichy district. With every area we covered, I could see how Tamilnadu easily qualifies as one of the leading states in Tamilnadu.

We started off by listening to a general overview of our plan of visit by the Project Director Mr.R. Venkatachalam and the District Collector (I/C) of Trichy, Mr.Raman. Mr.Murugannan, Block Development Officer accompanied us throughout the tour and briefed the salient features of each of the schemes. TRACE team acted as our tourist guides and revealed interesting snippets for us to ponder upon.

We visited the NIC/ELCOT training centre to know about the diverse applications of computers in administration (e-Governance) like
* land record maintenance
* Online Grievance Redressal
* PDS management
* Old age pension disbursement
* Payroll system
* transport & passport office
ELCOT's product TNSWAN has thus spread its wings in all arenas of governance. Interestingly, NIC is the agency that plans to give unique email addresses to every government servant.

Then we travelled to Navalpattu panchayat (Thiruverumbur taluk) to visualise the functioning of the MGNREGS. Enroute to the destination, we caught a glimpse of the NABARD sponsored approach-road laying scheme and Navalpattu Primary Health Centre (PHC). The PHC was a small area but well-maintained and did not have any undesirable stench which I have so far associated with the thought of GHs. They regularly update details regarding diseases treated on HMIS (Health Management Information System) website.

The Thamaraikulam Supply channel desiltation work was done as part of MGNREGS in Navalpattu panchayat. We were elaborated on job cards, unique family numbers, settlement of wages, attendance, division of labour, etc. We were also informed that in the adjacent Manigandam taluk, the implementation of wage settlement has been made transparent by operating individual labourer's account in banks.

We then watched the activities carried out by the RD & PR department, under the state scheme - AGAMT (Anaithu Grama Anna Marumalarchi Thittam). The compulsory works we witnessed were Oorani/Pond Construction, Library, Community Sports centre, and Cremation/Burial ground. Manjathidal pond in Ellaikudi panchayat was a sad remnant of the 4 year old pond construction work, still hailed as equivalent to Chicago by RD website, thus impacting on our minds the necessity of maintenance of excellently carried out schemes. Ellaikudi has also been awarded the NGP under the Total sanitation campaign (TSC). We saw the pond of Pappakurichi under construction and the Library of Ellaikudi. Its honorary librarian was a responsible lady- a retired school teacher.

The day ended with an interaction of our team with TRACE aspirants followed by a brief felicitation and dinner with the Dt. Collector (I/C), City Police Commissioner, Corporation Commissioner, literatteurs, orators and chief patrons instrumental in the establishment of TRACE, parents and aspirants.

Jul 20, 2010

Felicitation at Pune

A heart-warming experience at the cool city of Pune !

People met, ideas exchanged, cultures identified, lighter moments shared,.. Maharashtra Institute of Technology-School of Government (MIT-SOG) gave us a great opportunity to meet our future peers and initiate the formation of workplace networks. Like minded people working together takes the nation to greater heights. I wish we all strive for the betterment of the society in every way possible.
Yes, we all know that this is just the beginning. We shall accept all these honours humbly and work for "Better India" in all spheres.

Acknowledging our feat of clearing the civil services exam as the most difficult achievement, rewarding citations from the hands of eminent Nuclear scientist Padma awardee Anil Kakodkar, congratulating us for selecting Bureaucracy as a career option after completing degrees in varied disciplines and Stressing the important role of bureaucrats as the sole source of stability amongst the nation's changing governments (and their policies),.. we are now a fully motivated lot with eyes on nothing but SERVICE.

Thanks to MIT-SOG team!

Jul 11, 2010

Success in the First go.. Video in English




Succeeding in the First go... Video in Tamil



Filling Up Mains Application Part 2

The most important area in the application form is the one where you show to the interview panel your previous achievements. This reveals to them to an extent, how much you suit to the job applied for.

There are 4 sub-headings:
1] Particulars of prizes, medals, scholarships, etc.
2] Team/Games/Sports/N.C.C.
3] Positions of Distinction/Leadership held in School/College
4] Other extracurricular activities and interests (Hobbies, etc.)

* Never do the Himalayan mistake of leaving all columns blank because you do not have any.

* Write the detail for which you have certificates to support. Not needed for demonstrable skills (like oratory, singing, dancing, pencil sketching, mimicry, etc.)

* Do not overlap the same achievement in more than one column. Also do not re-word a single achievement in an attempt to seem more meritorious. Example- Writing NCC 'C' Certificate for [2] and writing Rank of Sergeant in NCC for [3]

* Arrange them in order either latest-first or chronologically (I personally, prefer the former)

* Prizes won in Academics can be written in [1] and those won for sports can be given in [2] though it may be prize, it comes under sports. If you have no medals, etc. for Academics, rewards for sports can be mentioned in [1] itself and for [2], just mention the name of the event.

* For [3], avoid repeating NCC rank if you have mentioned it in [2], because a NCC member is inevitably expected to show fine leadership qualities. You can mention School first or college second in academics/sports, etc., all-rounder awards, any posts in college like Sports/cultural secretary, etc.

* People with no notable achievements to write in [3] can think back whether they held any class monitor/representative posts in school/college. If other columns are full enough, leaving [3] blank will not have a great effect.

* [4] is where questions may probably nailed upon, especially for the first few minutes of the interview. Include any computer courses, diploma courses (not mentioned in details of education), other languages learnt, craftworks, skills. Be true about hobbies - PLEASE DO NOT WRITE 'READING BOOKS' UNLESS YOU REALLY DO IT. This is the commonest hobby I have come across, others being listening to music, watching TV/cricket/match. Serious candidates, please do not give silly hobbies like chatting with friends, discussing politics, sleeping, etc.

* Female candidates think twice before writing 'COOKING' as a hobby. Men can manage with it however, given our societal conditions. 'EXERCISING, DOING YOGA' and 'BODY BUILDING' are not hobbies. They are part of your daily activities. Nature lovers who write 'BIRD WATCHING, STAR GAZING, ADMIRING NATURE, STARING AT SCENARIES' must be well versed in what they see.

* Those who write ASTROLOGY, NUMEROLOGY, etc. may get difficult questions if you are not really well-versed with those areas. For those who write 'WRITING ESSAYS, POEMS, HAIKUS' expect a mock topic on which you have to express your ideas.

* Finally, NOT ONLY FOR THIS COLUMN, BUT THROUGHOUT YOUR APPLICATION, BE CAREFUL ABOUT YOUR SPELLINGS. If wrong, they really really damage your image even before you enter the interview hall.

DOUBTS WELCOME!