Poor Peoples IAS Officer : Armstrong Pame

Pakinrichapbo *

'People's Road' connecting Tousem in Tamenglong district with Halflong in Assam :: Pix - Hueiyen Lanpao

This gentleman belongs not only to his own tribe nor family, clan, village or his State but belongs to all the poor and deprived section of the society here in the Northeast region.

Before I present to you, this young gentleman, let me give a brief insight of his tribes, he belong to a Zeme Naga speaking family of Mpa village at Tamenglong District, Manipur. Zeme tribe is brother tribe of Rongmei, Impui and Liangmai together known as Zeliangrong, even the name of these tribes are new, probably named around 9th or 10th century or might be even before that, for lack of written records of our History, the correct answer is un-answerable however the Famous Rani Gaidinliu says that once we were also known as 'Haomai'.

And with the passing of age, generation and evolution in human civilization these brothers' tribes of one parent, came to be found today in three different States in India.

Because of manmade identities and policies, the Government of these three States has given these brothers tribe's different names leading to identity crisis, disintegration and in the process losing their culture to a great extent.

They are recognized by Government of these three State as Kabui and Kacha Naga in Manipur, recently changed from Kacha Naga to Zeme and Liangmai and from Kabui to Rongmei, Zeliang in Nagaland and as Zeme in Assam.

He belongs to a big village and to one of the biggest clan where his clansman from both side of his parents spread across three State of Manipur, Nagaland and Assam. This is the very reasons he said to his IAS interviewees that the results of his interview is going to affect not only his family members but thousand of clansman and tribesman from the three state in Northeast and by God grace, he became one of the youngest officer from the Northeast regions and first from the Zeme speaking tribe.

To cut the long story short, he faced lots of financial crisis in his school and college days even going hungry most of the times and education loans taken with interest rises up to lakhs of Rupees. But with hard work and prayers from all quarter he cleared UPSC exam and got into reputed and most sought Indian Administrative Service.

And shortly after his posting at Tamenglong District, one of the least developed and most neglected district in Manipur and one of the most backward district in entire India, he accomplish what the Manipur Government could not accomplish in almost 50 years since its creation of statehood.

With cooperation from all walks of life, he completed the "Peoples Road" construction of 100 km road connecting Manipur to Nagaland and Assam. Helping the poor villagers get access to schools, medical needs etc. before this accomplishment, there are many untold stories of poor villagers losing their precious lives due to poor road connectivity to get proper medical aid on time.

In all these difficult times, he came as a savior and deliver his people where the State Government has turn their back on their own citizens thereby going against the principle of democracy, "government of the people ,by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth" in short, the curse of democracy in failing to uphold its principle.

For his extraordinary efforts in building road with donation and volunteers, he was invited to face book headquarters in California, a rare honor for an Indian forget an IAS Officer. In 2012, he was nominated for CNN-IBN Indian of the year in public Service Category.

He is also a recipient of many prestigious awards like India's Most Eminent IAS Officer, Times of India young achievement award … Besides all these awards he was invited as a special guest in popular reality TV show hosted by legend Amitabh Bachan and also Represented India in World Economic Summit at Geneva.

Besides all this Achievements, he still spares his precious times for student's community visiting many reputed Institutes and Colleges in our country as a resource person and inspiring and motivating them.

He also runs an Orphanage home and supports orphans educations at Tamenglong. Of all the accomplishment and achievements made by this fine Gentlemen, the building of Peoples Road stood tallest to my naked eye. For a life lived for the poorer section of the society is a life worth to be remembered and missed even after one is long gone.

Our country has thousands of IAS Officer Say past or at present yet we fail to see or hear of an Officer sacrificing this much for the people. If we had more Officers like him I am cent percent sure we be seeing or hearing different India or different States stories. And not to forget that we Nagas wherever we may be, we have lots to learn from him.

The irony is that our own tribe's man has not done enough to facilitate or glorify his achievements and recognize his contributions. But I believe he will soon be in the ranks of world personalities like Mother Teresa, Florence Nightingale, Malala Yousafjai and all those famous World Personality who have given their lives serving the poor.

I also pray that he continue to work more and more for the poor in the near future and become a role model for all the youths around the world.

God Bless and Long Live Mr. Armstrong Pame IAS.