IPS officer Karuna Sagar is providing relief and measuring welfare to the rural community of Jehanabad, Bihar. For his unwavering service to his people, the officer was recently honoured with the Certificate of Excellence award, as well.
In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, the 1991 batch officer shared details about his exemplary work, which has garnered him praise from all across the country.
LEARNING WHILE WORKING
Leaning on his prior experience in a developed state like Tamil Nadu, Mr. Sagar has been working for the rural community of Bihar since 2015, particularly in the twin districts of Jehanabad and Arwal.
Currently posted as the Director of Modernization, Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPR&D), Ministry of Home Affairs in New Delhi, he wished to work on a model of development throughout his life, which various dimensions to it, the first aspect of which would be instilling positivity into everyone’s minds.
“I wanted to bring in positivity which would make people forget the differences between the caste, creed, colour, and gender of a person. I want all of them to think positively towards the direction of development, without which one can’t achieve success,” Mr. Sagar shared with Indian Masterminds.
PREACHING THE YOUNGER GENERATION
Focusing on the young minds first, the officer began engaging methodically with school children. He visited 3-4 schools, every time he visited rural Jehanabad, and had a one-to-one interaction with the school kids, trying to explain to them the values that make them better citizens and pro-progressive.
During his interactions, he noticed that girls were smarter than boys. Adding to this, the government’s project of distributing cycles, uniforms, scholarships, and other necessities further encouraged the students to stay in school and the dropout rate was reduced significantly.
“The motto behind me talking to the school children is to catch them when they are young and impressionable. I try to improve their thought processes. They have a much bigger role in decision-making in the family and can spread their inner positivity around,” he said.
DEVELOPING LIBRARIES
As part of his educational development program, Mr. Sagar has decided to improve the infrastructure of five public libraries in rural Jehanabad.
“I have already requested the people who are running these libraries, to give me a list of their requirements and with the help of my Sagar Foundation, I will be providing better infrastructure to these libraries. Once this pilot project works out well, I will upscale it on a broader level,” shared the officer.
The officer has also written a pamphlet, to describe his ideas to the youth and has printed and distributed over 10,000 of them to the youngsters of the village, through schools, youth groups, panchayats, etc.
EMPOWERING WOMEN
Jeevikas or Self-Help Groups in Bihar comprise lakhs of women all across the state, moving on their path to empowerment. In a bid to develop a strong relationship with these women and empower them further, he organizes interactive sessions with them regularly followed by the distribution of essentials.
Furthermore, Mr. Sagar organizes ‘Saraswat Samman Samaroh’ where he presents awards to all those people who are working towards the empowerment and development of the Jehanabad district, irrespective of their caste, colour, religion, or creed.
“We respect and honour anyone and everyone working for the benefit of the district and society. This includes people working in NGOs, working as teachers, working on the social front, etc. My effort is to contribute to successfully helping these two districts and then accredit my services to other regions, as well,” shared Mr. Sagar.
His motive is to reach out to the maximum number of people and win their confidence. He wishes to tell them that he is there for them and will help them in bringing model development to their areas.
EMPLOYMENT GENERATION
“Apart from good agriculture, Bihar also has a good horticulture system and we are trying to make appropriate use of this by marketing them, improving the techniques, making it more commercially viable, and introducing a technology-driven and assured marketing model, which will help the farmers to move to commercial farming and improve their income,” added the officer.
Because of the officer’s efforts of motivating and preaching to the residents of rural Jehanabad, a lot of people are staying in the state and moving towards the fisheries and dairy business.
BRINGING IN DEVELOPMENT
“We wish to train the young as technicians, engineers, polytechnic diploma holders so that when they go out, they are able to earn well and can send some of their incomes back home, as well,” he told Indian Masterminds.
Mr. Sagar is trying to gradually instil these ideas on a local level, in order to develop the district and the state. He will be superannuating soon and he plans to work full-time towards bringing in development in Jehanabad-Arwal and transcribing his ideas into actions.
For his exemplary work, the officer has not only gained the Certificate of Excellence recently but was also awarded the prestigious Pragya award, which is really close to his heart.
