At a time where we are in the middle of a pandemic, what with India being listed as the second most affected country after the USA, maintaining good mental and physical health is paramount. Many civil servants have turned out as real warriors in fighting the disease, and some in spreading awareness among the population. Here is a shining example of an IAS officer of Assam and Meghalaya cadre, Mr. Ram Singh, who has been working immensely towards making his district cleaner, greener and healthier.
Mr. Singh has also been spreading the message of ensuring and maintaining fitness in his day to day life.
He is a 2008 batch IAS officer and was posted as the Deputy Commissioner at West Garo Hills in 2017 with its administrative headquarter in Tura town in the state of Meghalaya. Mr. Singh while speaking about the importance of maintaining fitness, said “At a time like this it is very important for people to change their behaviour and help in making a healthier environment. Maintaining fitness is something people should follow in their daily routine and not only during a pandemic. However, during Covid pandemic, it has become quite necessary for people to invest at least 1-2 hours daily in physical activities to build a strong immune system.”
MONITORING THE DISTRICT DURING MORNING WALKS
Despite having a busy work schedule, Mr. Ram has a daily schedule of going on a morning walk along with his wife. During this time, he not only focuses on his physical fitness but also gets an opportunity to observe whether things are properly managed in the district. While speaking with Indian Masterminds, he said “A morning walk fixes many things for me. It helps me in having a fresh morning, maintain my mental and physical well-being, interact with people, and inspire them. My wife and I also pick different routes along the town and monitor how things are being operated in the district, like how the solid waste management is being done, the condition of the road, and whether there are lapses in services affecting people’s day to day life. Working in the public administration, our work is not only limited to the office but many things are there in the field which we need to take care of.”
This approach of interacting with people in the field gives him the opportunity to know about various problems of people which is difficult for him to gather while working in the office.
WALKING 10 KMS TO BUY ORGANIC VEGETABLES FROM LOCAL VENDORS
Apart from taking out time for physical activities and interacting with local people, every week mostly on Saturdays, Mr. Singh and his wife walk 10 kilometers in the district to buy vegetables from the local vendors. This became quite popular after Mr. Singh’s social media post went viral last year in which he is carrying a ‘Kokcheng’ (a local bamboo basket) on his back and is seen buying the vegetables.
This initiative was a wonder in itself, as it aimed at mitigating the effects of high vehicular use and steep auto fares. Not only this, but it also helped the local vegetable vendors who used to sell vegetables at traditional weekly markets. Mr. Singh said, “Being a backward area, the tradition and culture of West Garo Hills is completely different from other areas. The usage of local vegetables is more than the vegetables used in the cities. With modernity, new vegetables started coming in the traditional market and one of my focus was to highlight it so that people get encouraged in buying it. Apart from this I also ensured not to use vehicles for short distances so that the person’s physique is also in order and there is less pollution. The state government also came out with schemes and programs in which people can call and get the vegetables, this has also helped in the modernization of the traditional markets.”
OTHER INITIATIVES
To make his district greener and healthier, Mr. Singh has been involved in various cleanliness drives. He has also initiated campaigns against plastic use. He actively takes part in these cleanliness drives to ensure that people are encouraged and do not feel that cleaning is defined for a specific category of people. Plastic reuse and recycle drives have also been conducted by Mr. Singh, in which they have used plastic bottles to make community toilets etc.
Mr. Singh said, “At the community level people were earlier into shifting cultivation, which mainly consisted of slash and burn agricultural practices. While we visit villages in the area, we ensure people follow sustainable agriculture so that livelihood is secured, and also with the influx of new technology, people in these villages are exposed to modern agricultural practices. Similarly, we also encourage people to participate in animal husbandry for sustainable development.’’
In the current pandemic, Meghalaya is among the least affected states in the country. Mr. Singh said, “Meghalaya adapted completely different protocols, in which caution was the most important element. The movement among the people was not much, and also very few people had moved out of the state. Therefore those who returned were also very few. Everybody has been monitored and scanned. The ones who have been returning back to the state were kept in isolation centers and tested for Covid19. This checked the spread of disease. Till date, the district has around 150 active cases, which are being taken care of effectively.”
Not surprisingly, these fitness drives and other initiatives are being appreciated by many people- even outside Meghalaya.
