Hi friends,
It has really been long since I posted anything on this blog, and my apologies. Understandably it was because of the jam-packed schedules which we had during our foundation course training at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy Administration (hereafter referred to as LBSNAA or labasnaa). It was a fun-filled experience of 100 days that gave me inspiring role-models, friends to cherish for lifetime and unforgettable memories.
Briefly, as the blog title says, the FC had the following features in store for us-
morning PT-
classroom lectures-
officer's mess-
officer trainee's lounge-
hostel cafeteria-
cultural evenings-
clubs & societies-
mountain trekking-
village visit-
atheletic meet-
india day-
social services fete-
crosscountry race-
blood donation camp-
hands on project experience-
extra curricular activities-
language learning sessions-
counselors-
gymnasium-
sports complex-
library-
and the list temporarily stops here.. Will elaborate on them soon.. Happy blogging..
Aug 27, 2010
Madrasapattanam to Mussoriepattanam - The transition anticipated
I guess, out there in LBSNAA, I might have a tough time adapting to the climate shift, but easier to adapt to the cultural drift, given my priorities. I am expecting a strict institution that nurtures the creamy layer of civil servants to be the best in the nation, in terms of duty,discipline and decorum. I am a bit nervous too, for I need to interact with most of the people in English or Hindi. I cross my fingers now and wait to experience the transition fully and will follow this up with the transition encountered.. This is probably my last post from Madras before training commences..
Madrasukku bye bye, Mussoriekku hai hai !!
Madrasukku bye bye, Mussoriekku hai hai !!
Aug 6, 2010
இன்னா தம்ம இவ்வுலகம்
ஓரில் நெய்தல் கறங்க , ஓரில்
ஈர்ந்தன் முழவின் பாணி ததும்பப்
புணர்ந்தோர் பூவணி அணியப், பிரிந்தோர்
பைதல் உண்கண் பனிவார்பு உறைப்பப்
படைத்தோன் மன்ற அப்பண்பிலாளன்
இன்னா தம்ம இவ்வுலகம்
இனிய காண்க இதன் இயல்புணர்ந்தோரே !!
ஈர்ந்தன் முழவின் பாணி ததும்பப்
புணர்ந்தோர் பூவணி அணியப், பிரிந்தோர்
பைதல் உண்கண் பனிவார்பு உறைப்பப்
படைத்தோன் மன்ற அப்பண்பிலாளன்
இன்னா தம்ம இவ்வுலகம்
இனிய காண்க இதன் இயல்புணர்ந்தோரே !!
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'.
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.
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.
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