https://indianmasterminds.com

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Waking Up Dadenggre

As a first step, this IAS officer posted in a far off, non-descript village Dadenggre of Meghalaya knocked repeatedly on the door of search engine giant Google to have the place duly recognized. Then he went about the much bigger task- of providing public lighting to the place. For all practical purpose, people here were content to live in darkness till the time Ramkumar S stepped in.
Indian Masterminds Stories

Imagine moving from a city into a village, and that too, one that does not have any ATM, shopping complexes, petrol pump or even streetlights. And also, the place remains unrecognized by Google! It might sound like travelling back into time when all these things didn’t exist. But when IAS officer Mr. Ramkumar S of Assam-Meghalaya Cadre entered into the vicinity of Dadenggre to find it covered in the cloak of darkness, he knew what he had to do, and ultimately gave the residents of the village the change and light they needed.

The Transfer

Mr. Ramkumar was working in the Department of Social Justice, Delhi when he was told that he was being transferred to Cherrapunjee, as the Sub Divisional Magistrate. But suddenly his posting changed and he was asked to move to a village called Dadenggre in Garo-hills, a place neither him nor the courier guy from the state itself had heard of! Even Google showed no signs of the village.

“I landed in Guwahati and on my way to the village asked the driver, ‘What’s there in Dadenggre?’ and he said ‘kuch nahi, sir’(there is nothing there, sir). Whenever I asked him any question, he replied with the same words, which felt very weird. There was no human being and no vehicles on the stretch. At one point in time, I thought I was being kidnapped (says, jokingly). There wasn’t any cellular network, either. And then suddenly, he exclaimed that we’ve reached. When I looked around, I realized that this place literally had ‘kuch nahi’!” (nothing), he told Indian Masterminds.

The village of Dadenggre

Darkness Engulfed Dadenggre

Mr. Ramkumar saw that the village did not even have a single streetlight, and residents were not even bothered by this. It was so dark and silent as soon as the sun set. “Sleeping in the darkness, hearing only the ticking of the clock became so annoying that I removed the batteries one night to sleep peacefully. Unfortunately, my phone did not get charged that night and in the morning it was dead. I had to walk almost 4.5 kilometers in search of time because nobody there owned a clock,” recalled Mr Ramkumar.

The village had no source of electricity

The First Change

In Dadenggre, nothing had happened for the past 30-40 years; as a first step, Mr. Ramkumar decided to bring light in the life of the people. It was a challenging task to accomplish as SDM. He pitched in the idea in the right way by making use of the proposal by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, which sanctioned solar lights wherever needed.

What bewildered Mr. Ramkumar was that nobody complained about the lack of electricity. People accepted the situation as a way of life. One reason could be that owing to the militancy in the region, people shut themselves indoors after the sunset. “I applied for the proposal in January and by March it got approved. We began with the work by summers and by next winter it was complete.” Due to Mr. Ramkumar’s efforts, the village received 700 streetlights.

“Now, Dadenggre is the only village in Meghalaya that’s fully lit up,” says Mr. Ramkumar.

The village now has 700 streetlights

Going Solar

Mr. Ramkumar wanted to inspire young people through his endeavours. “I wanted them to think rationally, take up science, and see how solar lights turn off as soon as sun goes up and turn on as soon as it goes down.” He put solar panels in the offices, power plants and the health centers. He even got his entire office solar powered.

One of the challenges that he had to face was getting solar materials into the village of Dadenggre. There is only one timber bridge through which the trucks have to pass by in order to get into the village, but the truck driver was quite reluctant. He was afraid the bridge might break. Mr. Ramkumar had to drive all the way to the bridge to convince him that nothing will happen and he can cross the bridge easily. After a little persuasion, the driver finally came through, along with the material.

The village is fully solar powered

Bringing Dadenggre into Google

Mr. Ramkumar chuckled while telling us how he literally had to hack into Google to get Dadenggre on the map. He appointed a number of people and asked them to keep on Googling ‘Dadenggre’ and go to a particular link and click on it multiple times. They kept on doing it for quite some time when someone from Google called him to ask what was happening and once he told her the whole story, she got on board with it too and finally, Dadenggre got a place on Google!

Best Part of his Life

Mr. Ramkumar believes that living there was the best part of his life. “It is an amazingly comforting place and has some kind of a natural healing capacity. These kinds of places teach us that we don’t really require all those modern advanced technologies to live. We can make do without them. The only thing you require is your sanity, and these things only make you more insane” he told Indian Masterminds.

At present, Mr. Ramkumar is appointed as the Joint Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, Shillong. But the stint in Dadenggre will remain the biggest feather in his cap!


Indian Masterminds Stories
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Related Stories
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
NEWS
Hindustan Shipyard Limited HSL
PESB Declines to Recommend CMD for Hindustan Shipyard; Ministry May Extend Current Chief’s Tenure
IAS Ajitabh Sharma
“80% of Time Spent on Non-Core Tasks”: Rajasthan Principal Secretary Ajitabh Sharma Questions IAS Work Culture, Calls for Reform
Nitin Gadkari
India to Become Net Energy Exporter in 6-7 Years, Highlights Hydrogen and Biofuels: Union Minister Nitin Gadkari
Bank of India - BOI
Bank of India Plans to Raise Rs 20,000 Crore via Infrastructure Bonds in FY 2025-26
BEML Limited
For Operational Excellence, BEML Lays Foundation of State-of-the-Art Central Warehousing Centre in Bilaspur
rec-logo
Green Energy Boost: REC Forms New Subsidiary for 3GW Ananthapuram-II REZ Transmission Project
Bhupendra Patel CM Gujarat
CM Bhupendra Patel’s Pro-People Move: Uniform House Tax of ₹200 Annually for Rural Government-Assisted Homes in Gujarat
CM Nitish Kumar
Bihar: Gaya to Become Bihar’s Largest Industrial Township Under AKIC; ₹16,524 Cr Investment Expected
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Videos
WhatsApp Image 2025-06-25 at 5.07
Why Has the DGCA Fined Air India Rs 5 Crore Since Privatisation?
Former Diplomat Ashok Sajjanhar
Iran Is Weakest Now, Needs a Face-Saver
WhatsApp Image 2025-06-23 at 12.39
Retired Officers Lead 7-Day Mission to Revive Betwa River with 55 Check Dams | Video Interview
ADVERTISEMENT
UPSC Stories
Sanish Kumar Singh
“If you want it badly enough, you’ll find a way,” Sanish Kumar Singh AIR 8, UPSC IFS 2024 
The real interview, he says, was much more humane. “The board was conversational. The chairman opened...
Raju Wagh
When the Battlefield Became a Study Room and a Dream Took Flight
Amid IED blasts and anti-Maoist operations in Bastar, CRPF Commando Raju Wagh taught village kids, studied...
WhatsApp Image 2025-06-18 at 10.31
"I Just Wanted to Breathe Again": The Man Who Fought Death and Made It to UPSC
Struck by COVID at the peak of his UPSC prep, Devanand Telgote spent months on ECMO, unsure he'd live,...
Social Media
Shailaja Chandra
“Nanis & Dadis Have a Brain”: Former IAS Officer Shailaja Chandra Weighs in on 1970s vs 2025 Life Debate - “This Generation Has It Better”
Responding to Viral Post on Middle-Class Struggles, Ex-Bureaucrat Offers Candid Reflection on Then and...
Tigress Arrowhead
The End of an Era: A Queen Falls - Ranthambore’s Iconic Tigress Arrowhead (T-84) Passes Away at 14, Hours After Daughter’s Relocation
Ranthambore mourns the loss of one of its fiercest and most beloved tigers, Arrowhead, the granddaughter...
Screenshot 2025-06-13 194001
Wild Elephant Disrupts Riverside Picnic, Sparks Debate on Human Encroachment; IFS Parveen Kumar Shares the Video - Watch Here!
Mr. Kaswan used the viral video, which has garnered over 1.5 lakh views, to highlight the risks of human...
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Latest
Hindustan Shipyard Limited HSL
PESB Declines to Recommend CMD for Hindustan Shipyard; Ministry May Extend Current Chief’s Tenure
IAS Ajitabh Sharma
“80% of Time Spent on Non-Core Tasks”: Rajasthan Principal Secretary Ajitabh Sharma Questions IAS Work Culture, Calls for Reform
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Videos
WhatsApp Image 2025-06-25 at 5.07
Former Diplomat Ashok Sajjanhar
WhatsApp Image 2025-06-23 at 12.39
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT