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
NALCO
NALCO Refutes Reports of Capex Deferral, Confirms Rs 30,000 Crore Smelter Expansion is on Track - Know the Matter
Northern-Coalfields-Limited-NCL-Resized
NCL Signs MoU to Support Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities in Singrauli - All Details Inside
Ruchika Chauhan IAS
Leading By Example: Gwalior DC Ruchika Chauhan Arrives At Her Office Boarding An E-Rickshaw! Delivers A Strong Message On World Environment Day
KVIC Khadi and Village Industries
KVIC Disburses Rs. 300 Crore Margin Money Subsidy Under PMEGP to Boost Self-Employment - Details Inside
HUDCO New Logo
HUDCO Champions Green Urban Development on World Environment Day 2025
Mayur Dixit IAS
Who is IAS Mayur Dixit, the New DM of Haridwar? Uttarakhand Bureaucracy in Buzz Amid Land Scam Fallout
Prime Minister’s Museum & Library, Delhi1
IRSME Ashwani Lohani Appointed Director of Prime Minister’s Museum & Library, Delhi - Know More About Him & the Historic Institution
World Environment Day
PSUs Observe World Environment Day 2025 with Strong Commitment to Sustainability and Green Practices - Check Here!
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Videos
Monika Singh
Monika Singh’s Life Beyond the Bureaucracy | Video Interview 
IAS Tushar G Nikhare
Modernising Governance: A Digital Transformation in Gangtok
IMG-20250523-WA0036
Abhishek Singh's SECRET: Vipassana, Anthropology & Smart Answer Writing | Video Interview 
ADVERTISEMENT
UPSC Stories
Divyanshu Pal Nagar IFS
5 Years, 5 Mains, 4 Interviews: How Divyanshu Pal Nagar Stumbled in CSE, Triumphed in IFS - A Lesson for Every Aspirant
Divyanshu Pal Nagar’s inspiring five-year UPSC journey shows how perseverance, disciplined self-study,...
ANUBHAV SINGH UPSC IFS 2024
9 Years, 8 Attempts, 7 Failures: How Anubhav Singh Cracked UPSC IFS 2024 with AIR 3 Against All Odds | Exclusive
Anubhav Singh’s inspiring journey to UPSC IFS Rank 3 showcases relentless perseverance, strategic preparation,...
Jogender Sihag
“I Cleared UPSC, But My Grandfather isn’t Here to Hear it,” Jogender Sihag, AIR 521, UPSC CSE 2024
"Life is short; make the most of it, whether in civil service or any other field. Just have a clear vision...
Social Media
Tiger jump Sundarban
Stunning Viral Video Shows Royal Bengal Tiger Making Spectacular 30-Foot Leap Across River in Sunderbans - See It Here
Retired Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer Susanta Nanda shared the clip online, which quickly went...
shubham kumar ias marriage
IAS Topper Weds BPSC Topper: Shubham Kumar Marries IRS Officer Priyangi Mehta in Patna; Wedding Video Goes Viral
Topper Couple Alert: Shubham Kumar, Priyangi Mehta’s Wedding Grabs Spotlight in Bihar
parveen kaswan elephant
Elephant Outsmarts Electric Fence! IFS Parveen Kaswan Shares Incredible Video!
In the now-viral 51-second clip, the intelligent giant approaches a wooden pole supporting high-voltage...
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Latest
NALCO
NALCO Refutes Reports of Capex Deferral, Confirms Rs 30,000 Crore Smelter Expansion is on Track - Know the Matter
Northern-Coalfields-Limited-NCL-Resized
NCL Signs MoU to Support Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities in Singrauli - All Details Inside
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Videos
Monika Singh
IAS Tushar G Nikhare
IMG-20250523-WA0036
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT