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the ZSBP
initiative is the most
innovative way to
tackle the challenge
India faces today.”
David Rajbangshi, prerak
Darrang, Assam

the little things

thAt MAtter

through David Rajbangshi’s leadership and people-rallying skills, Darrang
district in Assam is well on its way to becoming open defecation free
l ike most youngsters his age, David Prerak (ZSBP) programme in a job portal
caught his attention, and he signed up to join
Rajbangshi had been following a
conventional career path. Yet, for the Darrang district as a prerak in April 2017.
Guwahati-based electronics engineer, his heart Posted at the district headquarters
was set on something else — working for the of Mangaldai, David, 29, found that the
social development sector. A 17-month tenure SBM-G officials here weren’t sure about the
as Project Monitoring Engineer with the North role of preraks and how they could help.
Eastern Development Finance Corporation “The whole idea was alien to them,” he says.
(NEDFi), where he conducted third-party After a month of touring Darrang’s villages,
monitoring and evaluation for government David submitted a report on his observations
projects in remote sites of Assam and Arunachal and recommendations to the Deputy
Pradesh, made this resolve even stronger. Commissioner (DM) of the district Public
David went on to complete his MBA from Health Engineering Department (PHED),
Tezpur University in 2016, followed by a stint who also heads the local SBM-G operations.
with logistics major DHL in Gurugram and “I pointed out that the SBM-G team in
Jaipur. It was on a trip during a Bihu festival Darrang was scattered and sat in three
break that he decided to return home for good. different locations,” he says. “They needed to
An advertisement for the Zila Swachh Bharat be in one place.”

6 TATA WATER MISSION - A Tata Trusts Initiative