By Denis Giles

The news of the arrest of former Chief Secretary of A&N Administration, Shri Jitendra Narain, IAS was quite a sensational event that bought our Islands under sharp limelight, especially in mainland India. And as for the Islanders, it proved to be a shock to some, a relief to few and an unremarkable source of entertainment for all. Will Jitendra Narain be found guilty by the Court of Law? Will the other accused absconding at the moment be booked by the Police? These are a few questions which are being debated in every nook and corner of this town these days. And why not? It is for the first time in the history of A&N Islands that a senior-most IAS has been booked under Law.

While the matter is pending in the Hon’ble Court of Law and remains sub judice, let us examine how the scenario of A&N Islands and its Administration has changed and continues to change over time. Change for good or bad? You be the judge.

It is rightly said that the father is the head of the family. But what if the father becomes nonchalant, aloof towards his own family? Instead of stepping up, he appoints caretakers to look after them. Hence the chances for such a family to survive and flourish are minimal at its core. Something of the same sought is happening with our one big family of islanders residing on these pristine islands.

In the absence of a democratic set-up in the Islands, the sole power of managing the affairs of the same remains in the hands of the Hon’ble Lt. Governor – presumably this Island’s big family’s sole father. While there are elections that democratically take place but ultimately the leaders elected by the Islanders to represent them remain mute spectators with no powers of decision-making. These elected representatives are more like mothers of the family, which in a traditional setup, has a voice and can mark a letter of request or share the concerns of the Islanders (the family) to the father (Lt. Governor), ‘HOPING’ that he would understand and resolve the issues.

In the Islands, the Lt. Governor also holds the position of the Administrator unlike in few other Union Territories of the nation, thus giving him the utmost power of decision-making. With so much of powers and responsibilities at hand, if the head of the family disconnects himself from the family itself, without thinking of the consequences, the doom is bound to arrive sooner or later. And the same is happening now with the islanders headed by the Lt. Governor.

The Islands have seen many Administrators right from the times of Chief Commissioners to the Lt. Governors. While a few have left a good mark in the minds and hearts of the Islanders, there have been a few who are remembered for their mismanagement too.

Over the past few years, there has been a total disconnect between the Lt. Governor and the Islanders. This was also duly pointed out by a former Lt. Governor who had served the longest term of a Lt. Governor, when the news of ‘Sex-for-Job’ scandal erupted up in the national media. The disconnect is such that the once-upon-a-time ‘LG Darbar’ has been confined just to ‘Prashasan Aap Ke Dwaar’, giving false hope to the islanders that all is well. The powers originally belonging to the head of the family are now unofficially exercised by the caretakers of the family such as the Chief Secretary and the team of bureaucrats. Hence in this family, we know that we have a father but he never comes to dinner, he just sends his regards from some enclosed room. Speaking clearly, all that the Islanders know is that there is ‘someone’ who has been posted as a Lt. Governor but the ‘Darbar’ has been shut for them. 

With the powers getting vested upon the Chief Secretaries, the first thing that happened is the attempt to strangulate the voice of the people, not realizing the consequences. In the absence of a democratic setup, it is the media which acted as an opposition to raise the voice and concerns of the people. Strangulating the registered and recognized private media (who fall under the ambit of the Press Council of India) seemed to be a well-thought decision of bureaucrats to keep the opposition away, without realizing that it would backfire sooner or later. From cutting down the subscriptions drastically in the name of cost-cutting to reducing the government advertisement revenue to zero and further going to the extent of arresting journalists for questioning, the A&N Administration tried it all.

It was a well-thought act of dictatorship which involved financially ripping the private media so that instead of reading the truth, the islanders read and rely on the official mouthpiece of the A&N Administration. They were aptly using “Ignorance is bliss”. It sure was a bliss for their administration which dived into the pool of harmony by making fools of the islanders.

The second attempt was to strangulate the minimal democratic setup that existed in the Islands. They purposely delayed elections and thereafter snatched all powers of the elected representatives to retain them with the bureaucracy. By doing this, it was assumed that there would be no end to bureaucratic rule in the Islands. This attempt was nothing but a suicidal attempt promulgated by the so-called think tanks of bureaucracy. With no powers at hand, the elected representatives remained a rubber stamp and the agonies of the islanders kept increasing, testing the patience of the peace-loving Islanders, who were turned down to slaves just like their forefathers who had been sentenced to Kalapani by the British.

The third in the row was snatching the powers of local officers who headed government departments and retaining them again with the bureaucrats. The situation is such that technical decisions are taken by non-technical bureaucrats who don’t understand the profession. Those who tried to explain were served suspension letters without any scope for hearing their plea.

The dilapidated conditions of the road, scarcity of water, the ever-increasing crisis of electricity, unrecognized higher educational institutions, government schools running without heads, pathetic transportation services, the ruining of the tourism industry, unemployment and many such burning issues were lingering while the Administration kept receiving awards for ‘Swachchta’, best Blue Flag Beach and for introducing electric busses in a place where electricity is generated by burning fuel, among others. While the islanders cried for mercy, ambitious mega projects to clear vast stretches of pristine forests and tame the turtles where to lay eggs were being focused upon to impress the Prime Minister and the government at the centre.

In such a situation, if we talk about the ‘sex-for-job’ racket, it wouldn’t be surprising as this was the only alternative for the survival of the islanders in such a bureaucratic raj. Had the case of Shri Jitendra Narain not cropped up, there is not an iota of doubt that the Islands would have been turned into a den of sex rackets, just for the reason that the poor islanders needed to survive. They had not been provided with job skills, no employment opportunities and sometimes not even food to survive. All that was left was their body and at last something heinous happened and the last shred of dignity that these islanders were clinging on to was also snatched, rather brutally.

The arrest of the former Chief Secretary is not only an eye opener to the people of these Islands but is a lesson for the head of the family too, to make him realize … all has not been well and your family is dooming right under your nose.