Young Bureaucrat Transforms Jharkhand’s Gumla into Ragi Capital, Earns PM's Award Nomination

The new agro-industry coming up in this remote district is an initiative of a young bureaucrat Sushant Gaurav who said he would like Gumla to be the Ragi capital of eastern India.

About 100 km away from the state capital Ranchi, his work in Gumla has been selected for the Prime Minister’s Awards for Excellence in Public Administration which recognizes exemplary work by civil servants across India.

Formerly, Gumla’s economy whirled around rain-fed agriculture with the cultivation of one crop- rice.

Sushant Gaurav, the deputy commissioner, told in an interview that the Ragi cultivation commenced with the procurement of high-quality seeds through the National Seed Corporation.

“From base cultivation of Ragi in 1,600 acres, it was expanded to 3,600 acres. Net output rises 300 percent which assisted in the success story is procurement by Sakhi Mandal Samuh (women’s self-help group).

Gaurav said, “We established a Ragi processing center which is the first in Jharkhand. Ragi Laddus, snacks, and flour are being produced which aids in battling malnutrition and anemia (as it is rich in protein, iron, and calcium).”

On Friday, Gaurav will receive the award in the “holistic development through aspirational district program, the overall progress with special focus on saturation method” category at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.

This is for the first time that a Jharkhand district has been selected for the award.

The DC said that the laddus made of Ragi are being provided to children to fight malnutrition besides ‘saag and vegetables’ from identified 52 types prominently moringa powder and curry leaves in the mid-day meals to augment nutrition at a very affordable cost.

Avinash Kumar, Mahatma Gandhi National Fellow, Ministry of Skill Development, Government of India on behalf of the deputy commissioner who made a case study presentation at Harvard Business School said that the institute is doing a case study on the Gumla model which will be circulated among international business schools and will be utilized for training bureaucrats.

The deputy commissioner said a door-to-door survey was done among school children and lactating mothers and they were identified as having “severe, moderate and medium anemia and malnutrition for which preventive and curative measures were taken.

A multi-projected approach was adopted to fight anemia, aiming to address and identify it at a very early stage among lactating and pregnant mothers and adolescents.

The deputy commissioner said, “Over 400 model Anganwadi centers were set up equipped with digital hemoglobin meters, innovative blue MTC (malnutrition treatment card), height growth charts, and follow-up cards.”

Emphasis is given to fitness, ensuring indoor stadiums, and education as many schools got IT facilities, he said.

Officials said, in the district where 85 percent of the population has agriculture as the primary source of livelihood with over 90 percent of small and marginal farmers, drip irrigations, solar lift systems, and renovation of ponds have also helped in raising the proportion of irrigated land.

The administration has also expanded acreage under mango cultivation to 9,492 acres, promoted organic farming to 5,000 acres besides organizing pilot projects for pear, dragon fruit, and strawberry cultivation.

Recognising the significance of millets or Nutri-cereals, and creating a domestic and global demand along with providing nutritious food to the people, India headed the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) resolution for declaring the year 2023 as International Year of Millets.