From Desk to Changing Destinies

As Director of Social Welfare Institute in Raiganj, I was working directly with communities, toughing the lives of over 200,000 children, and thousands of families. One of the most important part of satisfaction was the employment I was able to generate for hundreds of families through various interventions and programs. In India, if one can do a great service, it is giving employment to another person. Many of those staff moved into better positions, and good number of them joined various low level government positions in health sector. 

In Kolkata, when I worked as State Inter Agency Coordinator (2009-2010) in the post-Cyclone Aila response, though not much of controls were with me in the response days, the information I processed and provided enabled reaching out to several deserving communities. I also focused on state level capacity building of humanitarian agencies. So, number of partnerships were developed to strengthen human capacity to respond to disasters. As State Emergency Response Coordinator with Core Group Polio Project, (2011-2013) again I got the opportunity to work in the thick of things, with services reaching out to the unreached children, specially those denied of vaccination by those who are supposed to protect the children: their own families. Managing partnerships, reaching out to over 200,000 children, with more than 300 staff engaged in the process was an amazing experience. 

The Uttarakhand experience in a sense was desk based work, leading a small team of highly qualified humanitarian workers who had lot more experience than I did. However, soon I knew why the UN Disaster Management Team (UNDMT) had placed me there. It was a whole lot of negotiations that were conducted patiently with various levels of government officials, designing and setting the course of action, clearing the paths for early recovery of communities through appropriate guidance, advice and advocacy in the Districts and State. Soon I found that we had achieved more than we had hoped for. We had built a new way of doing things! We had influenced the way services would be provided to hundreds and thousands of people who had been affected / impacted by the disaster of May 2013. It was an incredible experience. 

The experience of working on the Multi-Hazard Vulnerability Mapping (MHVM) project (2014-2015) was an unique experience in the seven months I was engaged with the project. Key outcomes: the name of the project had to be changed to increase acceptability at the government level, designed how the project needs to be implemented for better long term impact, and set the course of action through a government owned process. The Uttarakhand amd MHVM project experiences have increased my confidence in working with government, and my negotiation skills. I have learnt how to strike at the root without being too vocal in public. I have learned how to analyze systems and power structures, so that the interventions are truly owned by the stakeholders and give the maximum output.

Then I had the break from mid-Feb to mid-April break to welcome our son Rajarshi. I began working from 15 April at UNICEF India Country Office as Consultant - Disaster Risk Reduction. Highly desk based so far. If someone asks me what do I do, I say, " I am like the housemaid. I do whatever comes on my way, besides some regular tasks....". People laugh and wonder! As of now, the tasks are multi-fold. I prepare number of TORs for various positions and consultancies, attend some meetings, prepare several types of reports. Some of the key documents I reviewed and gave inputs on include: Government of India's policy document on Smart Cities (and prepared a brief and a presentation on the same); prepared a beautifully designed Risk Profile of Bihar State (albeit with limited data); and a document on School Safety.

Present tasks at hand besides making of TORs that don't seem to end, (a) preparation of a district level risk profile for all states of India along with two colleagues in UNDMT; (b) designing program on preventable disaster risks; and (c) planning for expanding program interventions in the country on DRR. One key problem: I am still not able to measure how many people would be positively impacted by what I do. It is only that information can satisfy my heart. 

Alert: Corruption in Airport

On 21 July, Sunday, I traveled from Kolkata to Delhi by Air India AI 763. I was to fly by the 11.10 am Jet Airlines flight to Dehradun from IGI Airport Terminal 3. As I went to check-in they saw that my suitcase weighed 19 kg, i.e. 4 kg more than permitted. The gentleman at the counter told me, you may shift 4 kg to your handbag as he gave me the Boarding Pass saying that he would issue me the luggage tag when I resubmit it. I rearranged a few things and I knew that I have not done much as there was not much space in the handbag too. A loader (the person who loads luggages) came to me and said he would get it weighed. When he saw that it was weighing 17 kg, he said, "Sir, you will have to pay Rs. 500 for the excess baggage. But I can get it done, you just give me some money!" I got a shock! Waaw....when did this kind of corruption get in? I planned to take the risk. I said, "Okay". He took the Boarding Pass from me.

He went to one of the counters, spoke to the guy on the check-in counter, and then got the luggage tag on my Boarding Pass, and got my luggage moving. As he was busy at the counter, I pulled out my Samsung SII Galaxy, switched on the audio recorder to capture whatever discussion may take place between me and him. He returned to give me the Boarding Pass and said, "See, it would have cost you 500. You give me 400 !" He stretched out his hand in front of so many passengers. I walked ahead, and he followed me. As soon as we were away from the lines, I pulled out two hundred rupee notes and two 50 rupee notes from my wallet and told him that I have only this much - Rs. 300. I also noted quickly in my mind the last four digits of one of the 100 rupee notes. He moved away quickly.

I too took a stroll around so that he does not begin to watch me, and then I asked one of the Jet Air attendants walking by for the Supervisor. He showed me towards the check-in counters. I knew that that is not the correct position for me. I walked up to another information desk and I told the gentleman there that I had to bribe someone and I want to make a complaint. He directed me to the GMR Information Desk at the Departure Hall. I narrated the event to the gentleman there. He was very quick. He asked me if I can show the location or the person. I said I can clearly identify him, and even the money! He picked up his wireless and started talking into it, "Delta ...calling....### Delta.... Over" in some kind of code language. In couple of seconds another gentleman with stern eyes came to the counter and the GMR person asked me to narrate the event and walk with them. By then another young lady in jeans joined us. I asked them, "Who are you?" They said, "We are from the Vigilance Department". I narrated the event once again, and I led them to the counter. I identified the loader who had by then moved away from there to another counter area. 

The vigilance officer called him and immediately in a fraction of second plucked his Identity Card. The loader's name is Jai Singh Meena. Hei, now he cannot escape and run out of the airport! He was checked, and they pulled out the money from his pockets, and the money was identified and matched. Then we were taken to another counter. I was asked to give a written complaint. Meanwhile we were joined by two more officers one from the Jet Airways and another person, a senior officer, who said that he is the "Inspector". I was handed over the money and then I practically ran for the flight as it was time to catch up! 

Beware of Corruption in Airports and anywhere. Fight it intelligently. Take time to fight it. Do not shy away. We do have good officers who can respond to situations responsibly.

Journey for Assessment

30 June 2013 : At last I was leaving for Uttarakhand. It had taken over 10 days for this plan to happen, because I had few other pending works to complete in Bengal, and then required an organization under whose banner I can move. As a RedR India member, I was scheduled to visit Uttarakhand and do a Emergency Needs Assessment of various districts in the first phase. I had been alerted by RedR India that I may have to stay on in Uttarakhand for about 2 - 3 months to help in the coordination of relief and response. When I reached Bolpur with my heavy suitcase and back-back, I found that my ticket had not been confirmed and that several trains are running late. The one that came when I was standing there was so badly packed that people were over-flowing from the train. It would have been impossible for me to go without a confirmed ticket. So, I hired a car and reached Kolkata where I stayed for the night.

01 July 2013 : Almost all my colleagues who would be part of the team had reached by 11.30 am, and I too reached around the same time in Delhi. We were checked in into a hotel, and then we proceeded to the UNICEF office Lodhi Road.  The meeting with UN team took place at the UNDP Conference room. I was a bit discouraged as the entire meeting dwelt around how to fill an assessment format, which was just a rework on the commonly accepted Rapid Assessment Format. This format is usually used within 24 hours or maximum of 72 hours of a disaster. But we were using it two weeks after the disaster had struck. I did not get the key to this, except that we were informed that this assessment will be collated, mapped, and will be shared with the government and other agencies. 

One of the members from the team said in confidence, "My son in the college could have done this survey!" He felt that it was almost sounding like a survey than an assessment. We returned back to the hotel and wondered why are we waiting here in Delhi....