Back To Village: A Fading Development Model

The ‘back to village’ programme started last year was first of its kind initiative to reach the people at the grass root level across all panchayats of J&K. The goals were to strengthen panchayats, collect opinion on prevailing government schemes from rural populations and to assess economic potential and unforeseen needs of the villages in J&K. People developed high hopes as soon as this programme was announced. Somewhere the idea people developed of ‘back to village’ was that the long pending demands & several languishing projects of their area would now get the desired attention. Certainly it was quite a new thing for J&K residents and thus in June 2019, people participated in large numbers in this programme. There was much fanfare during the 1st phase and many demands were put forward before visiting officials by people in the both regions of J&K. The 1st phase of the programme ended with high hopes and expectations of “equitable development”.  Time passed by but nothing moved on ground regarding the grievances collected in the 1st phase. With such a response, people got disappointed and thought of this program as the government's ‘half hearted approach’ towards rural people.  

While people were yet talking of non-fulfillment of promises under 1st phase, 2nd phase of ‘back to village’ was announced with a promise to lay emphasis on unfulfilled works of 1st phase. With a larger push and under the media attention the 2nd phase was rolled out in Nov 2019. But in the 2nd phase resentment among panchayats and people came out openly with some panchayats even boycotting the entire phase. Surprisingly, during 2nd phase all highlighted matters of 1st phase were being ignored and sidelined by the visiting officials with a plea that they didn’t visit the same area during 1st phase. And before the end of 2nd phase, the entire hype slowly turned into disappointment. 2nd phase was a traditional risk taken by the government administration to go public without any societal changes. Both phases failed to provide anticipated results and resentment grew high in public against the government. The concept of taking governance to the doorstep of the public through this programme couldn’t take shape. 

Now almost after a year and amid ongoing pandemic, on October 2, 2020 the 3rd phase of ‘back to village’ programme began. The government is pushing one after another with a claim to have brought change on ground but the government’s tall claims got exposed when in some areas of Pulwama district in Kashmir no one appeared before the visiting officials and these officials were forced to visit houses to meet the people. Moreover, reporting the same grievances twice or thrice reflects the mockery of the entire system. The government appears to have not done any homework before going back to the people in the 3rd phase. Why even after two phases, the same things are being repeated by the public?  This also shows that either the government has failed to take feedback from concerned quarters or the bureaucracy in J&K wants to continue by wasting money on such programmes. 

The real intention of the government was to give an ear to the grievances. But having given ear to it, the government now has turned blind eye to the problems of the public. With the majority of issues remaining unaddressed and confined to official files only, this programme is slowly becoming a ‘fading development model’. The ‘back to village’ programme could have become a revolutionary step had the government worked on identified problems in a time bound manner. Basically, the tools adopted to cater to people’s problems appeared disciplined but were very less goal oriented.  Infact things would only change once accountability of the officers is fixed. Mahatma Gandhi said that the future of India lies in its villages. And if the government in J&K demonstrates the ability to hold itself accountable then trust among the people and government would strengthen in this new J&K.

Lesser Known Museum Of Jammu

Wadia Museum of Geology in the City of Temples, Jammu is of International Fame in the field of Geology. But sadly it is known to very few citizens of Jammu & Kashmir specially the Jammuites. This Museum was established in 1912, in the Geology Department of Erstwhile Prince of Wales College Jammu (Now G. G. M. Science College). The Museum since its establishment retains its original setting, except for few changes in the layout done by the Department. Wadia Museum of Geology was named after Dr. D.N. Wadia, commonly known as Father of Indian Geology, as he was one of the most influential geologists in the early part of 20th Century.

This Museum of Geology has the finest and most extensive collections of fossils, minerals, geological maps of the early period, topographical maps, equipments, models, photographic materials, meteorites, zoologic specimens and various kinds of implements and tools.Moreover, the Wadia Archives contains a large collection of books and journals of the early Twentieth Century. All the Fossil collections lying in the museum are important scientifically and historically.

Interestingly, fossil specimens from foreign countries, the Shivaliks and many other parts of India such as 11 feet long tusk (elephus ganesa - a close relation of ancestors of present day elephants) are properly exhibited in the heart of the Museum. The Wadia Museum has some of the finest collections of the ancestors of present day elephants, hippopotamus, horses, turtles, antiers, cattle pigs, crocodiles, fish etc from the shivalik formations of Jammu, famous for its vertebrate fossils that lived 182 million years ago, when the area was carved by rivers and lakes that enabled a highly diverse ecosystem to develop. There are also imported collections of fossil plants, insects, brachiopods, lamelli branches, gastropods, navlitoids, edinoderms, extinct trilobites and ammonoids from different parts of the world. Inside the museum a complete section is devoted to the fossilized shark tooth from Cambridge England which is well preserved till today. We all should be proud of this treasure as the Collection of Specimens is more than 100,000 in addition to rich fossils and minerals.

This Museum is a valuable resource for students, research scholars, academicians, enthusiasts and anyone with an interest to learn about Geology. It is very important to mention here that the Wadia Museum supports teaching and research in earth sciences and scholars from various countries such as the USA & UK have visited this museum for research and study purposes. After having being neglected for decades on this world museum day of 2020 we all in Jammu and Kashmir should take a pledge to:-

a. Converse, preserve & restore this museum to its pristine  glory.

b. To promote this international level museum in a big way all over the world to take advantage of the collections preserved in the museum for research & study purposes.

c. To bring this museum on the tourism map of Jammu for the visiting tourists, pilgrims like Amar Mahal as well as Dogra Art Museum.

d. To publish a document on the Wadia Museum of Geology  of G. G. M. Science College Jammu.

e. To make a portal / website of the Museum.

f. To prepare a directory of the personalities of National – International repute who were students of this prestigious Department of Geology as in earlier days the Museum was famous in North India for studying Geology and had produced intellectuals in the field of Geology who later occupied the highest positions in this field.

g. The Geologists of the Nation must be invited once a year to celebrate the opening day or Geology day under the umbrella of Wadia Museum of Geology, which itself will promote Mice Tourism and one day the event will be of international fame.

But before that the Heritage building of the Department of Geology Govt. Gandhi Memorial Science College Jammu needs the immediate attention of the authorities concerned to save the Wadia Museum of Geology of Jammu with following check points for which DPR’s stand already prepared by the government :-

1. Conservation of Heritage Building as per the prepared DPR’s.

2. Expansion of the building with original architecture design be planned to house the present day requirements such as removal of partitions from the main hall which were erected to accommodate staff, shifting of labs from original verandah, new labs, staff room, faculty room, washroom, stores, pantry etc.

3. Removal of unwanted plants, Algae from the roof and walls to avoid damage to the building and prevent seepage.

4. Interpretation section with I.T. facilities for the visiting faculties, scholars, students & tourists, for briefing about the Museum & the College with introduction of Jammu. 

With this all let’s hope that a system can be built to conserve all museums in Jammu and Kashmir and we don’t fail our young people and their passion for free public museums.

Co Author SM SAHNI (KAS (Retd), Convenor INTACH, Jammu Chapter)