Kheer of Gratitude: IAS Officer’s Barhi Trek Inspires Birhor Village Transformation

By Harshika Singh

Circa 2014

It was October 2014. I had joined Barhi of Hazaribagh district as a Sub divisional Magistrate. This was my first independent posting as an IAS officer. I had completed my probation in Hazaribagh itself, so the district felt familiar. However, the Subdivision was very new to me.Nestled around 110 kms away from Ranchi on the Gaya border of Bihar, the subdivision had 5 blocks. The geography had imprints of dense forests and tough terrain typical of North Chotanagpur Plateau.
The Barhi stint was a memorable experience. I got an opportunity to conduct state elections amidst the Naxal areas, implement development schemes and execute revenue administration in the subdivision while maintaining the overall law and order in the subdivision.
I fondly remember one anecdote from Barhi days …
After joining the subdivision, I planned to visit all the Birhor tolas (a PVTG community residing in the area) atop hill top.I also planned to visit the farthest part of the subdivision to gauge the development challenges (if any) in the area. During one such weekly review, I was told that there is a Birhor Tola atop a hill about 47 kms away from the headquarter. A trekking of about 8 kms then up the hill would be needed for us to reach the Tola. The team very hesitantly also mentioned that the mere distance and tough route has prevented the administrative teams from going there frequently.
This raised a curiosity in me and made me think that we should definitely visit the place even if it meant trekking steep slopes. (After all I was fresh out of the LBSNAA Academy and thought to myself that what is the use of long Gangotri trek if I cannot trek this hill for my work).
Next day I motivated my SDM office team and started for the place with them at around 6 am in the morning. After about an hour and half we reached the place from where the up trek had to start. Slowly with the team we started the trekking. The hill slope was in fact steep. The muddy, rocky routes were interspersed with different types of foliage. Frankly, I was worried that though I had taken my entire team of
officers for the said field visit but there were officers amongst them who were above 50’s and thought it might be harsh on them. However, I was pleasantly surprised when one of my office staff who was in late 50’s and on verge of retirement in fact led the trek team as team leader. All in fact took up the little expedition with enthusiasm and a lady staff served all of us “sattu sarbat” while we rested on way.
At around 10 am we finally reached the hilltop. The little mud and leave houses were perched all across the top amidst the backdrop of tall trees. It was beautiful. There were only about 37 Birhor families staying up the hill. As soon as we reached, the Birhor families literally ran and hid themselves in their homes. Maybe they were initially afraid to witness so many people amidst them suddenly. We however slowly started going to their home and with some effort started interacting with them.
We could very soon realise that there were issues of drinking water, electricity, basic health services, issues of PDS and some deficiency of welfare benefit scheme. Our team did a meticulous door to door survey, and we decided to conduct a dedicated all department camp in this Tola for two days.
This visit was undertaken by me in the month of October and frankly amidst the hustle and bustle of SDMship, I had forgotten about it completely. One day around the end of the year in the month of December, a very old lady, an octogenarian came to my office in late afternoon hours. Since I had series of meetings and reviews lined up for the whole day, I could not meet the lady at that hour. When I returned back to my office around 6 pm in the evening, I saw this lady sitting at the entrance of my room. She was holding something in her hand wrapped in white plastic bag. She became very happy on seeing me. Somehow the smile was so infectious that I smiled back at her. Once back in my room, I asked my guard to send the lady inside. Since it was a Naxal affected subdivision, the guard initially was very cautious of me meeting someone during that hour of the day. More so, he mentioned that she was carrying something in her hand.
I asked him to send her inside while he can also be present in the room itself just in case as per his security protocol.
The Old lady came in. She smiled on seeing me. From her typical way of dressing, I could make out that she belonged to the Birhor community. She came across my table and, in her language and through her hand expressions, she could communicate that she belonged to the same Birhor Tola that we trekked once upon a time. With much love and affection, she opened the white plastic bag.. There was a small steel bowl with some “Kheer” in it. She offered them to me and informed that post our visit, there were development camps organised in her tola. During this camp, her pension form was submitted and sanctioned .Two days back she received her pension amount. She then remembered me and came down to feed me
“THE KHEER”, she had prepared with a part of that pension amount. That was her way of expressing gratitude for the pension amount she received at this ripe age of her life.
I was silent. I was wordless. In spite of all my efforts to control my tears, my eyes welled up.
This was just part of my duty.
But this was a reiteration for me that every small action taken as a public servant has an impact which is not always visible to the eyes. There are myriads of human lives affected by single stroke of one’s pen.

Harshika Singh. IAS 2012 batch, Madhya Pradesh cadre.
Presently posted as Director Budget, Deptt of Finance, MP.

Harshika Singh