Principal Author, North East Region
Vision 2047, MDoNER/North Eastern Council, Govt of India , New Delhi (2024)
Study Director, India’s Connectivity
Infrastructures in Eastern South Asia (MEA/Govt of India- NEDFi) 2022-24
Formerly Prime Minister of India’s
Nominee in the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) on Nepal-India Relations (2016-2018)
Formerly India’s Representative in South
Asia Forum, set up by the 16th SAARC Summit Leaders (Thimphu 2010)
Formerly India’s Representative in
Independent Expert Group set up by the 10th SAARC Summit leaders
(Colombo 1998)
&
Ex-Member, National Security Advisory Board, Government of India
Founding Vice Chancellor, Central University of Sikkim;
Formerly Pro Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University,
Delhi
Principal Author, North East Region Vision 2047, MDoNER-North Eastern
Council (2024)
Mailing Address : 165
Uttarakhand, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110 067
Phones: 9818686637; E mail :
mahendralama1961@gmail.com
I am deeply saddened to hear about the
demise of Pramod Prakash Shrivastav-jyu, a
widely acclaimed civil servant, respected public intellectual and an extra
ordinarily humane soul. Our prayers to all the mountain deities for the
heavenly abode of his soul and deepest condolences to all the bereaved family
members. We shall miss him for many years to come as he remained one of the
strongest instruments to build peace and harmony and inject a sense of
development direction in the entire North East region of India.
I have had very fond and rare opportunity
to work with him on three strikingly far-reaching projects. The first was when
he chaired the National Committee for the Revamping of North Eastern Council
appointed by the Home Ministry in 2004, the second one, when both of us were
members of the Steering Committee for the preparation of North East Region
Vision 2020 appointed by the Ministry of Development of North East Region in
2006 and the third one when I was appointed as the Founding Vice Chancellor of
the Central University of Sikkim in 2007.
We
were always touched and impressed by his humility, simplicity and eruditeness
and his openness to express so forthrightly yet softly and politely. While in
the NEC Revamping Committee we had to visit a number of states and interact
with varied stakeholders to discuss the critical issues. He would initiate the
discussion and hand over the sessions to some of us. He had a very strong sense of history and
institutional memories. When younger generation officers made some remarks
based on incorrect facts and wrong perceptions, while many of us would be upset
and angry, he would politely convince them to follow a different path.
In
one of our dinner meetings, we started to discuss how NEC could be made more
vibrant and effective institution, I suggested that it should be a regional
planning body and counter part of National Planning Commission. I gave example
of already existing Planning Bodies like Sikkim State Planning Commission (of
which I had been a member) and argued that we needed an overarching agency like
the NEC to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate the development projects at
the regional level. He was deeply impressed and in the next day’s meeting he forthrightly
proposed the same. Naturally since he was proposing the acceptance was ready
and universal. It was so heartening to note that PP Shrivastav-jyu was one of
the first members of the revamped NEC in the rank of Minister of State.
Since
the opening and making use of border crossing points with the neighbouring
countries figured as a key development instrument both in terms of making our
borderland commercially and economically beneficial and also engaging the
neighbouring countries more elaborately, our discussion with the then Home
Secretary was very engaging. As usual, he did not want to discuss these issues
under the guise of security concerns as many of us knew that the state
governments, private actors and civil societies wanted to interact more
comprehensively with the neighbouring countries. He turned towards me and
encouraged me to propose something which we had been discussing. I asked the
Home Secretary, Sir till what point trade and commerce through India’s land
borders is a national security issue and at what point of traversing the
borderland these issues become purely economic and commercial exchange issues.
The Home Secretary was upset and preferred to remain quiet while PP Srivastav-jyu
applauded my query as he himself headed the Home Ministry just few years back.
In
the NER Vision 2020 document preparation, he would always say let’s make it people’s
vision and not the vision of the government. As a result, there had been a
massive consultation with the grass root geographies, communities and
institutions. The then MDoNER Minister Shri Mani Shankar Aiyar who was also Minister
of Panchayati Raj remained deeply impressed by this approach and gave us full
support. The chemistry of two former civil servants really converged here. The Vision document was signed by all the
eight Chief Ministers of the North East States and launched by Dr Manmohan
Singh, the Prime Minister of India. Minister Aiyar and all of us in the
Committee celebrated and jumped towards speedy realization of vision goals.
Since
we were in the very inception of Sikkim University building project, I used to
consult PP Srivastav-jyu very often. His presence made a huge difference as he
always said that education is the first requisite for any meaningful
development process and gains. Nothing forbade and stopped him from reaching
Gangtok despite rugged terrains, poor road conditions and vagaries of monsoon
and winter. He was just there in each and every consultation meeting and shared
his experience with us and connected us with the national and global world. He
was younger than the youths in his sprightly dressed presence and intellectual
presentations.
What
was very amazing was his deep understating about the pangs of newly born
institution characterized by all kinds of negative pulls and adverse pressures
from the Chief politician (while conversing with him I used to replace the term
chief by cheap that made him laugh like a child) and his henchmen and also some
politically patronized institutions who found it difficult to grasp, assess and
value the criticality of world class institution and significance of quality
education. He appreciated my personal
stand that institutions are much taller and broader than individuals, and hence
the former must matter. We salute you Shrivastav-jyu
for what you have contributed in building a modern, high quality and all-inclusive
institution.
PP
Shrivastav-jyu was brilliant in recalling some of the most crucial and touching
anecdotes. They could have been collected as a core of the institutional
memories and oral history of modern India. Alas ! some institutions would have
done it.
For
instance, once he told me that during the Sino-India war in 1962 he was posted
in Bomdila as a young officer. His major task was to provide relief of all
kinds to the Indian soldiers. One day when he tried to check the bunkers of the
Indian soldiers, he found that these bunkers were full with Chinese soldiers.
He was frightened and taken aback. However, the Chinese soldiers were all
asking for food with their folded hands and said they want to go back. Given the situation, he thought that it was
not a good decision on the part of the Indian authority to surrender and withdraw.
He said if we had resisted and sustained few more weeks, it would have been
very difficult for the Chinese soldiers to withstand both hunger and frigid
cold weather. Of course, I did remind him of the excruciating famine China was
undergoing exactly during that period.
(Mahendra P Lama)
