Saturday, April 14, 2012

44th Week@XIMB

44th Week@XIMB - 8th April to 14th April, 2012

8th April- I was dehydrated and tired on reaching Bhopal. Yet, journey in Sleeper compartment help me to reconnect with lower middle class of India. A more acute and clear cut picture of India emerges in 35 hours of journey.

9th April- I reported with my college mates to New Narmada Bhavan for the first day of internship. A short and concise meeting was over with brief office work. SEEDS India, UNDP and MP government are the major stakeholders of the complete project. Two days of reading time is given ahead for learning about district. I am allotted Bhind District for next 6 weeks for the work. SEEDS consultancy is overlooking the project at state level.

10th April- All of XIMBians who were intern at SGGPA were accommodated in Administrative Academy. It was a luxurious arrangement. I learned a little about Bhind through district website. I roamed around Bhopal lake and visited science museum also. I was accompanied by Aditya and Ashish who were doing internship at MPWPCL.

11th April - A day utilized in studying and sleeping.I want to bring Buddha and Marx both together in this India. It is time to stop listening to what state say, and start focusing on what they do. Hence, signing off for today.

12th April - First Day of Meeting and brief summary of the disaster and its terminology. There were 31 interns with 30 officers together. I was the lucky-one for whom no has arrived from the respective district. The respective District commandment homegurad has been transferred few months ago.

13th April - This was 2nd day of the meeting and much more technical in the nature. Hazard, Vulnerability, Risk, Capacity (HVRC) Analysis and role of various department were discussed by the consultant. There was no officer/representative today also from Bhind district. This is a cause of worry as this can led to zero assistance in the working area. Most of us were forced to leave Bhopal to their nodal districts even next two days were holidays. There was no arrangement of stay and travel in the working area till this moment of time.

14 April - I traveled from Bhopal to Bhind and the whole day has passed in the journey. With much difficulty, accommodation was made available at circuit guest house.

Let me introduce the basic profile of Bhind district.Bhind is the Northernmost District of Madhya Pradesh,north east of Gwalior, situated at 26°34'50" latitude and 78°48'05" longitude. There are 6 Development blocks in the District namely Ater , Bhind Mehgaon, Gohad, Roan and Lahar. With 95% of the population practicing Hindu religion, there are Jain traders also. Castes of the upper strata like Brahmans and Rajputs dominate the social structure. The proportion of working women (2%) is much less, as compared to the State (19%) indicating a high degree of economic dependence of women on their men counterparts. As per 1991 Census, the district is having 39.06% literacy. 53% of the male population is literate and female literacy is 22%,that is apparently much lower than anational figures. Agriculture and Dairy are the main occupation of the people in the District. Hence, I can assume to be placed and will be working in a deeply feudal society.