Within a week of my assuming charge as governor, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh. It was a landmark event and the whole state was eagerly looking forward to it. On this occasion, Dr Singh announced a huge infrastructural development package of over Rs 20,000 crores, including an airport, a rail link to Itanagar, a four-lane highway from Guwahati, a trans-Arunachal highway of over 1500 kms connecting most of the district HQs, and many hydel power projects. This much-needed initiative has launched the state into a new trajectory of growth and development. (A list of these projects is given in Appendix 9.)
This was the first occasion since independence that such a massive development programme was initiated in the state. The prime minister then had a meeting with me and the chief minister and his team of ministers at the Raj Bhawan. He was given a comprehensive briefing about the security situation and the development needs of our state. He stayed with us for the night and the next day, accompanied by the chief minister and me, he flew to Tezu. There, Dr Singh addressed a gathering of army officers and soldiers of a mountain brigade, which is also known as the hathi (elephant) brigade, and had a cup of tea with them. It was a coincidence that I had served as a battalion commander in the same location during 1981–83. The brigade then had an Assam Rifles battalion, which was authorized an elephant as there were numerous rivers and channels which were not bridged and the elephant helped us cross all these obstacles. Prior to the prime minister’s visit, I met Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and his cabinet to discuss issues that needed to be raised with Dr Singh. We are now witnessing a historical phase of development of infrastructure. With its estimated hydro-power potential of about 55000 MW, Arunachal is gradually emerging as a potential powerhouse of the country, with around one-third of the country’s energy needs being met from what we shall produce here. I perceive that in a decade from now, the Arunachalee people will be amongst the highest per capita income earners in our country.
Besides these major projects, I visualize tremendous potential for tourism, organic farming, floriculture, horticulture, tea, bamboo, handicrafts and cane products and small-scale industry for fruit processing. These activities will result in generation of more jobs for the people. A number of initiatives have been taken by the state government and the Raj Bhawan to encourage people to create self-help groups or become small entrepreneurs, and exploit the potential of the ‘gold mine’ they are sitting on. As the constitutional head of the state, I see my role as that of a guide, mentor and catalyst and the head ‘gaon bura’ too. By the end of my tenure, if I am able to earn and justify the sobriquet of being a ‘people’s governor’, my ambition in my second innings would be realized.
Therefore, I got my ‘swearing-in oath’ framed and put on my desk, so as to be constantly reminded of it. There are two fundamental issues included in our oath, as our constitution framers had conceived it. The first is to uphold the constitution of India and the rule of law, and the second, which I consider to be of equal importance, is to work for the well-being of the people. Besides these, the governor’s office has been given a special responsibility for the maintenance of law and order under Article 371 H of the constitution. Thus, I have a somewhat greater span of responsibilities as compared to most other governors.
As soon as we had settled down, I planned a visit to the district of Tirap, which is affected by the spillover of decades of insurgency from the neighbouring state of Nagaland. On 2 February 2008, I flew to Khonsa, the district HQ. I was accompanied by Ankur Garg, an enthusiastic young IAS officer who was to take over as the deputy commissioner of Tirap on the same day (he later joined as my secretary in November 2009). I was pleasantly surprised when an elderly ‘gaon bura’ approached me and said, ‘Sir, I worked with you during your battalion’s operation in this area in 1981.’ At Tirap I gave a clear message to the security forces, the civil administration and the citizens that law and order will be given the highest priority, and insurgency would not be tolerated. A strong message went across that the governor had accorded prime importance to this issue, and had made sure that his first visit was to this disturbed area. In accordance with the aforementioned special responsibility, I analysed the overall security situation and recommended measures for enhancing the effectiveness of the law and order machinery. At that time, Tirap and Changlang districts were witnessing violence and strife and a vicious struggle for dominance by the two NSCN groups. Forced recruitment, illegal taxation, extortion and coercion were the order of the day. The state police and other security forces were unable to take effective action against these terrorist outfits because of inadequate strength, lack of modern weapons and training. Thus, the modernization, expansion and training of the police and beefing up of force levels in these districts became a priority for us.
The need for a cohesive strategy and coordinated actions of various agencies responsible for combating terrorism in the two affected districts and other areas bordering Assam, where the Bodo or the ULFA terrorists often seek refuge, also emerged clearly. Therefore, I recommended the creation of an apex body – a state-level core group on security with the chief minister as the chairperson with high-ranking representatives of the army, police, paramilitary forces alongwith the chief secretary and other civilian officials as members. As usual, initially we faced resistance from the bureaucracy in Delhi, but eventually, we were able to convince them of our rationale, and this set-up was created. In one of their meetings, important guidelines were conveyed by me to this group. ‘First and foremost an overall security aim should be evolved which would ensure law and order prevails throughout the state and that no terrorist group is allowed to establish its roots or dominance in any part of Arunachal Pradesh. To achieve this aim, a strategy must be worked out by the core group that should accord priority to the tenets of counterterrorism elaborated in Part IV earlier. As a result, there has been greater effectiveness in the law enforcement, and the overall situation is better, though not yet as peaceful as is desirable.
Keeping in mind the security challenges faced by the state, I was convinced that there was a need for raising ‘Arunachal Scouts’, a force on the lines of Ladakh Scouts, to act as a force multiplier for the army for the defence of Arunachal Pradesh. Accordingly, a proposal was forwarded to the government in 2008. Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and I lost no opportunity to impress upon the decision-makers in Delhi the need to sanction this proposal at an early date. On 22 January 2009, I wrote to Defence Minister A.K. Antony:
It is beyond any doubt that the establishment of Arunachal Scouts is of the greatest importance for strategic and other reasons. Further, when we start recruiting the local youths we are ensuring productive employment to a large number of youngsters in Arunachal Pradesh who otherwise may be misled by anti-social elements. The youth selected for Arunachal Scouts would be force multipliers wherever we face a challenge to our security. They would get an opportunity to defend their homeland, act as guides and interpreters, would not require much acclimatization in the high altitudes and would know how to live off the land. It may be recalled that during the Kargil War, the Ladakh Scouts played a vital role in the eviction of the Pakistani intruders, and facilitated the operations of the army tremendously.
The idea of Arunachal Scouts had taken strong roots by then. After almost two years of pushing the project to make it a reality, it was a source of great satisfaction to see that the first battalion of this force has been raised at Shillong. Both the chief minister and I joined in the raising day ceremonies during November 2010. I congratulated the officers and men and complimented them for their high morale and esprit de corps. After my address to all ranks of 1st Arunachal Scouts, I presented a silver trophy to the battalion. Eventually, Arunachal Scouts is likely to comprise four battalions and a training centre. During a visit to Itanagar, the defence minister was happy to announce that the government had cleared the raising of the second battalion. This process could take upto five years.
Most of my illustrious predecessors, barring a few like K.A.A. Raja, Mata Prasad, A. Dave and S.K. Singh, had short tenures in office and some only held additional charge. As such, there appeared to be lack of continuity and an urgent need to streamline the functioning of the Raj Bhawan. Therefore, we set about doing so in right earnest and resultantly, we evolved many new standard operating procedures (SOPs) and streamlined others. We decided to throw open the Raj Bhawan to the public once a week on Sunday. There have been a couple of thousand visitors since then. Rohini and I also decided to make the Raj Bhawan a crucible for new ideas that could make a difference to the lives of the people. Therefore we set up an organic farm with vermin compost as the manure (and banned the use of pesticides or fertilizers), a country chicken farm, bee colonies for production of honey, a small fish farm making use of a rainwater harvesting tank and a green house for an orchid nursery. We also created a lawn and terrace garden which has covered up an ugly-looking rooftop of the Durbar Hall. Florida tifdwarf grass was obtained from Chandigarh. After making a nursery to propagate the grass, the same has been used extensively to beautify other parts of the Raj Bhawan too, as also to make a pretty nine-hole golf course with the expert advice of Colonel Gurdial Singh. We also added to the guest accommodation as Itanagar does not yet have decent hotels. Two bedroom suites were constructed as an extension of the existing guest house as also a unique wooden cottage of four small bedrooms that came in a prefabricated kit, and took only a few weeks to assemble. The interiors and furnishing of these rooms of the ‘Hornbill’ cottage, as it has been named, were done using local materials such as cane and bamboo, the designs for which were created by Rohini. These suites could serve as benchmarks for guest rooms all over the state. Besides this, we have recently added a modern gymnasium, a badminton court, an auditorium, a children’s park and store houses in the Raj Bhawan.
Being a team person always in life, it was but natural for me to make an appeal for ‘Team Arunachal’ and design an appropriate badge for it. We finally chose to make a badge and lapel pin with the hornbill motif on it. I have been liberally presenting the Team Arunachal badge to all citizens who do outstanding work. I have a cherished desire to see the majestic yellow-beaked Indian hornbill in full flight in Arunachal.
The natural beauty and the diversity of flora and fauna have placed Arunachal Pradesh amongst the very few remaining biodiversity hot spots of the world. The state has different climate zones, ranging from the glaciated and alpine climate along the Himalayas to the tropical rain forests in the foothills, with the cool and temperate region with coniferous forests in between. It is a part of the world with places where perhaps no human has ever set foot. There is over 82 per cent area under forest cover, which is amongst the highest in the country. It is also the most sparsely populated region of India with about 17 persons per square kilometre as against the national average of over 382 people. During the past three years alone, four new or extremely rare species of fauna have been found: a multicoloured small bird called Bugun Liocichia, a catfish with grey head and brown body (Erethistoides senkhiensis), a butterfly known as Bhutan Glory (Bhutanis lidderdalii) and recently, a rare mammal, Black Pika (Ochotona nigrita), sighted for the first time in India.
However, it was astonishing to see that despite the enormous potential for tourism, this sector had not seen commensurate development of infrastructure. [According to Lonely Planet (2012 edition), Arunachal Pradesh has been rated ‘fourth’ among the top-ten regions to be visited in the world.] Tourism had thus become one of my foremost thrust areas and I had to somehow get things moving on this front. Besides that, in my meetings with the concerned ministers in the central government, I stressed the need for making more areas accessible or opened up for tourists. Importantly, we also took up the case for issuance of the inner-line permit ‘online’ and for streamlining the procedures to make them tourist-friendly. In view of the absence of road communications, many scenic places are out of reach of the people and thus I advocated the concept of heliports. We were very pleased when the tourism ministry agreed to develop Mechuka, one of the most beautiful valleys in Arunachal, as the first tourist heliport in the state. Arunachal Pradesh is an inalienable part of our country and we must provide easy access and facilities to as many Indian and foreign visitors as possible so that they can see the natural beauty of the state.