From a letter of
‘Department of Personnel & Training Officer’ D.N Misra, sent to the states,
did I get to learn that the pre independence ‘District Gazetteers’ might be in
for a revival. The said letter distinctively reads ‘I am directed to
say that Prime Minister’s Office has desired that information related to
District Gazetteer may be furnished…’.
During the British raj
in India, ‘District Gazetteers’ was a document maintained at the district level
for geographic, economic, social & cultural records. The same fell into
disuse after India attained its independence. The ‘District Gazetteers’ was
first initiated by the ‘East India Company’ in year 1803.
In the coming days many
might find this revival attempt by PM Narendra Modi as being regressive and
many will vehemently defend it as being progressive. I might not be a diehard
Modi fan but for this I feel it is a good step. Many who have been following me
will be astonished with this statement from me. Yes, I am an ardent advocate of
de-centralization and this attempt of the PMO to interfere at district level
bypassing the federal structure certainly seems adverse to my advocacy but
never the less I still feel it is a good step. We might spend billions of
rupees in publicizing the ‘Swach Bharat Abhiyan’ but the way of life in India
as on date is that we have filth all around us. Similarly, idealistically I
wish to have de-centralization of power to attain true democracy but the way of
life as on date in India is that we have a heavy centralized rule. Reality is
that our Nation moves on three nodal points DM, CM & PM.
I do not know if the
revival of the ‘District Gazetteers’ will actually withstand the storm of
political adversaries of PM Modi and finally come to conclusion but should this
happen it shall map a lot of details enabling a swifter delivery of PM Modi’s
vision document. However, I must clarify here that I do not fully endorse the
vision exhibited in the past 500 odd days by the Modi Sarkar thus one might
feel that this mapping will enable the play of the flawed? Yes, possibly, but
never the less the districts, the states and the nation will have a concrete
record to assess & deliver. We must not forget the British rule or miss
rule whatever you choose to be with, even in those days, with no modern day
transportation, communication etc. had a much stronger delivery system than
that of the present day. India was much more fragmented & much more plural
in those days but that did not stop the British to effectively deliver ‘their’
agendas. Well there is no harm in accepting that the ‘District Gazetteer’ was a
strong tool responsible for the said.
________________________________________
www.fb.com/SuparnoSatpathy | www.SuparnoSatpathy.in
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.