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FroM neWbie to

       knoW-All



       Maitree Ganguli competently handles the challenges of her first job,
       as a prerak , to bring about lasting social change in Bokaro district of
       Jharkhand



               I knew nothing
          when I landed here
          about how processes
          and governance
          systems work and
          how efforts are
          channelised and
          basic lacunae are
          addressed.”
          Maitree Ganguli
          prerak, Bokaro
          Jharkhand


        A    first job is intimidating — more so   winning the national Swachhta Hi Sewa award
                                             for constructing the most number of toilets for
             when you are put into the thick of
             things and asked to take charge.   disabled persons to rigorous field visits without
       This was the case with 27-year-old Maitree   leaves or holidays.” Luckily, she found a well-
       Ganguli, when she started her tenure as a   oiled official machinery working smoothly to
       prerak in Bokaro district, after being selected   achieve Swachh Bharat Mission’s (SBM) goals
       from the campus for the Zila Swachh Bharat   when she landed in Bokaro.
       Prerak programme — she was studying for her   However, there was no feedback system
       postgraduate degree in regulatory governance   in place. Maitree took on the housekeeping
       at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences.   challenge and organised training on
       Maitree had started working in her family’s   maintaining Google Sheets. Live data update
       business soon after graduating in production   on SBM parameters was initiated and cross-
       engineering from the Haldia Institute of   verified. Soon, information was made readily
       Technology. Her first job, as a prerak, was a   available on a system so robust that it was
       life-transforming experience for Maitree.  unaffected by a person’s absence.
           In her words, “It has been quite an   To further secure the system, review
       adventure — from the excitement of Bokaro   meetings were initiated, in which, block


    8  TATA WATER MISSION - A Tata Trusts Initiative
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