[Assam] The Foreign Service & the NE - The Statesman

[Ram Sarangapani]

*"There are concerns about never being able to get away from the Reserved
Quota, for those from the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes. "Certain
posts seem to be reserved for 'quota people,'" he says.
*
*But Mr Wallang adds that the "system is great and I am proof of it – that a
young man from a distant place, with my background, without any connections
could make it.""
____________________
* There are a select few in the Indian Foreign Service from the NE. Most it
seems have been selected thru quotas - and then are given postings in
""Certain posts seem to be reserved for 'quota people'"

My feeling is once they are selected, even prized postings ought to be fair
game. Else they ought to get rid of the quota system altogether if 'the
quota' people are to be railroaded into quota careers.

--Ram

**
*A long journey*

Into his late 20s, River Wallang worked as a government officer by daytime
and, in the evenings, helped his grandmother sell fish at the Laban
neighborhood market in Shillong. That was when he decided to appear for the
civil services examination. He worked in the Accountant General's Office in
Shillong but found it boring.
Mr Wallang is the classic story of the young man from the small town who
made it, if not to the top, then to a place where he earned the respect of
his peers and served his country well in at least seven countries. And he's
done it with unflappable dignity, warmth and supported by his wife, a
gynecologist, who has worked with earthquake victims in Yemen and in
hospitals where her husband has been posted.
The first time, he didn't make it. But on the second go, in 1976, he got
through and joined the IFS. He was 27, a late comer to the world of
diplomacy, who knew little of national or international affairs. He went in,
imbued, he says smiling, with "idealism" and was among five in his batch of
20 to be assigned Arabic. Today, he's India's High Commissioner to Zambia,
on his final posting in a career that has taken him to Egypt, Damascus,
Yemen, Spain, Ghana, the Seychelles and Japan, one of about 10 diplomats
from the North-east who are serving in New Delhi and abroad.
In the process, the Wallangs, an amiable couple, have won friends and
influenced communities and governments across the world. In the Seychelles,
they are still remembered for their "open house" where "people could walk in
any time". The Osaka posting he initially did not want because it was as
Consul-General and he was eligible for an ambassadorial position. But it
turned out to be the "most stimulating" of all the assignments because he
was a much sought after speaker.
Mr Wallang brings the easy going nature of his native Shillong to his
assignment in Lusaka, capital of Zambia, where he's been high commissioner
since October 2005. It's his last diplomatic assignment and he's happy to
increase India' stock here and in the Southern African region.
"Our assistance is modest but it comes without strings, we have had a role
in supporting African countries through their struggles against colonialism
and apartheid, we had had a role in human resource development and continue
to work in that direction," he said in a recent interview at his office in
Lusaka.
And over dinner at home with the Zambian President's press secretary, senior
journalists, top businessmen in attendance, and fine sake and wine easing
conversation, he talked of new initiatives in irrigation, energising
Zambia's agriculture sector and involving the role of Indian private
industry. He too wants India to enter manufacturing in Zambia and use it as
a base to reach markets across southern Africa. And the pharmaceutical
industry, with the AIDS pandemic sweeping the continent, can play a role in
healing Africa – and striking a commercial success in the process.
But there are questions about the future of IFS officials from the
North-east: one is why they get posted to "B" and "C" category countries in
the IFS lexicon. They get postings in Africa and the former Eastern Europe,
to Latin America. But rarely in the prized posts of the West.
There are concerns about never being able to get away from the Reserved
Quota, for those from the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes. "Certain
posts seem to be reserved for 'quota people,'" he says.
Diplomats from Assam, Shillong and Manipur seem to fall in this list: UC
Boro is Ambassador to Mozambique, having earlier served in Angola; Rudi
Warjri is Ambassador to Peru while Banbit Roy is additional secretary in the
ministry, and is likely to buck the trend in a senior position. Jordana
Diengdoh is with the Indian Embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Primrose
Sharma, earlier Consul-General in Johannesburg, a native of Manipur, was
posted in Panama.
But Mr Wallang adds that the "system is great and I am proof of it – that a
young man from a distant place, with my background, without any connections
could make it."
— SH
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