I felt immensely happy when I came to know that Deep Joshi came to the academy (LBSNAA) to teach the Phase-IV participants as a part of the in service training programme. I am reminded of my last meeting with him when I and Gunjan went to his home in Gurgaon (in May, 2008) and solicited his advice on my idea of preparing for the civil service examination. He also remembers the same and it is the first thing he told me after I entered his room in Kalindi guest house on 29th September, 2011. He joked that he failed to dissuade me from writing the exam and that I have now become part of the power structure.
He is still very energetic and in fact travelling more extensively than when he was in PRADAN. He told me that he went to Orissa, M.P., CG, JH and few more states in the last month itself as a part of IFAD evaluation team and also being part of other committees and Boards. He is on the Board of IRMA and also participates in several meetings in Delhi as a member of the National Advisory Council (NAC). Interestingly, another NAC member Farah Naqvi, NAC Joint Secretary K Raju and Nikhil Dey of MKSS also came to LBSNAA at the same time.
The most striking thing that fills me after more than two hours of interaction is his strong conviction in participation-centric development process. It reinforced my belief that there are no shortcuts in development journey. Intense grassroots work whereby we engage with the rural poor working on their capabilities can only give lasting solutions. He was telling that without the countless meetings and continuous engagement we have in Kesla with women poultry producers, Kesla Poultry Sahakarita could not have been what it is today. I could easily relate the same with Jatara instantly.
He was enquiring about the training imparted to us at Mussoorie. He commented that I am now undergoing my second probation here (I finished my first in PRADAN when I completed my Apprenticeship for one year). He asked me about any human process labs being used as a part of our training. I also realized that PRADAN is way ahead in these respects (it conducts L-Group sensitivity training, MBTI exercise, Field Guide training etc.) I could sense his pride in PRADAN’s Apprenticeship programme (he agrees that though it is not a comprehensive programme, it is a fairly rigorous one).
I greatly share his conviction in process centric solutions for India’s development problems. He feels that technology can be an aid but not a one stop solution to our society’s ailments such as poverty and inequalities. He greatly believes in working with Panchayats (he disagrees with Dr. Ambedkar in this regard) and patiently building their capabilities. He wants us to go beyond even Gram Sabha and focus on hamlet level planning for programmes like watershed and MNREGA etc. In this regard, he has less belief in technology centric solutions like Unique Identification Number (UID) and feels that these numbers cannot make lasting changes in rural society.
He has great passion for regenerative use of natural resources in place of the present exploitative use of the same. In fact, he heads a sub group of NAC working on making MNREGA more livelihoods centric through Natural Resource Management (NRM). He says that we should encourage the youth to work at the grassroots with PRIs. His idea is to build vibrant PRIs which can take care of NRM, livelihoods, programme implementation, school management and many more. Convergence of programmes is his another concern whereby departments, agencies and programmes shall work together in conjunction.
He urges all of us to realize the fact that India’s rural population will surely be more than the urban population in 2030 and possibly even in 2050. Hence forcible migration of the unskilled labour cannot solve our problems. We must be able to provide decent livelihoods to everybody. Hence, we need to reflect upon the kind of lifestyle that we want to envisage for our rural masses. Lavish and affluent lifestyles destructive to environment need to be replaced by a world view which places mother earth at the center of our development process. Social sector investments in education and health in rural areas can no longer wait. Innovative solutions are expected from everybody in these complex times (Deep gave me the example of JRK Rao, IAS, Collector of Lohardaga in early 1990s when he encouraged Manas to take up lift irrigation schemes).
The time that I spent with Deep was really satisfying (Kabir who designed TRC and other buildings in Kesla was also in Mussoorie and spent time with us). He advised me to be fearless, humble and keep my conviction in people’s capabilities to take charge of their matters. He gave me the examples of Harsh Mander, Appu, Sankaran sir etc. I came out of his room after taking his written comments on my PRADAN’s experience letter cherishing and reliving those 4 years in Kesla and Jatara.
