Tribals claim to be the original inhabitant of India. Yet, they are the most neglected lot. Living mostly in deep forests, they are mostly left out of the development mainstream. But, there is one officer who has been taking pains to take development to Tribals’ doorstep.
The 2010-batch Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer Atul Kumar Pandey has won the hearts of numerous tribal community people in past three years. Mr. Pandey, the Joint Commissioner of Income Tax, has been serving tribal community by providing them better education and by preserving their indigenous culture. He is working in the tribal areas from last three years, not as an official but because of his passion and love for tribal people.
In an exclusive interview with Indian Masterminds, Mr. Pandey shared how he took up his hobby seriously and is working for the education and preservation of indigenous culture of tribal communities.
LIBRARY FOR RAVA COMMUNITY
Mr. Pandey launched a library for the Rava community people in Alipurduar district of West Bengal recently. He built up the library with the help of local business community, NGOs and the administration. It took him almost 6 months to complete the task.
The officer says, “I came into contact with Rava tribe when I was posted in Siliguri two years ago. I modified a small school for the kids and now with the help of business community I have built up a beautiful library for them to read and explore.”
Children who were unable to go out of the district to study now can prepare for different competitive exams. The library consists of books from UPSC, SSC to all the competitive exams in the country.
On being asked what is the reason behind his affection for tribal community, he said, “Before becoming an IRS officer, I was a primary school teacher in a village which can be one of the reasons that why I always look forward to work in the field of education for tribal people.”
CONTRIBUTION
IRS Pandey told Indian Masterminds that the labour work which was needed to build up the library has all been done by the people of Rava community itself. Along with this, villagers themselves contributed for the library. Some contributed in the form of money, while some in the form of books, almirah and other useful things needed for the library.
On the inauguration day, Mr. Pandey involved IPS, IAS, IFS, IRS officers, business communities, NGOs and local people to be a part of it and develop the whole library for the tribal people.
He constituted a committee of the tribal people in the village, who takes care of the newly inaugurated library and orders books which are needed in the library. Initially not a single penny is taken from the people for books but the officer says that after some time they will levy a nominal fee for its use.
MODIFIED SCHOOLS
Mr. Pandey has also modified two schools for the Galo Tribe of Arunachal Pradesh. He had set up smart classrooms for this community in West Siang.
“With the help of local business communities, NGOs and administration we select some government schools of the tribal areas and turn those old traditional school into smart or digital classes so that children can enthusiastically come to school and get proper education,” says Mr Pandey.
The school buildings have the paintings of the indigenous culture followed by the tribal communities, so that kids don’t forget their own culture and can take it forward to generation to generation.
Till now the officer has modified 10 schools in states like Chhattisgarh, Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, and West Bengal. He has beautifully worked for the people of Rava tribe, Galo tribe and Toto tribe and is looking forward to serve them more.
RUNTUK FESTIVAL
Simultaneously, the officer is also working on preserving the indigenous culture of the tribal people. For this, on February 14th, 2022, Mr. Pandey organized the first ever Runtuk festival in the village where the Rava community showcased their rich culture heritage. Runtuk is main goddess of Rava tribe.
“This festival was never celebrated in the Rava Tribe but with the help of old people of the community, I tried to organize this for the tribal people, where I just helped them with resources, rest they did on their own,” says IRS officer Atul Kumar Pandey.
He has already laid down his future plans as well. He will start yet another smart class for the primitive tribe named Toto based in Alipurduar district in West Bengal. “The road to these tribal community is hard but I always take it as a fun task to reach there and work for them.”
