HVK Archives: Naturally fresh
Naturally fresh - The Week
V.K. Shashikumar
()
April 12, 1998
Title: Naturally fresh
Author: V.K. Shashikumar
Publication: The Week
Date: April 12, 1998
For Omak Apang, one may run short of introductions. Here's the
tea plantation owner and rice farmer in Saing, Arunachal Pradesh,
who tried to introduce community farming among tribals; the
maiden MP; the son of Chief Minister Gegong Apang. But more than
any of these, Omak is the youngest minister in the Atal Bihari
Vaipayee's ministry.
The trappings of ministership rest lightly on his young
shoulders. His demeanour is unaffected and a touch of subtle
humour lights up his conversation. Does he feel subdued in the
presence of political heavyweights in the Union ministry? "I am
27 and Atalji is 72," he said disarmingly. "It's a nice feeling.
I haven't had the time to think about it."
He claims he "had no political ambitions", but the post-election
alliance between the AC and the BJP pitchforked him to the
Central government. It was a quid pro quo arrangement support of
the BJP-led government for representation in the Union ministry.
In fact, infighting within the AC, which had been floated by
Gegong Apang, had resulted in his selection as a compromise
candidate. "I didn't think it [ministership] would come to me. I
was not expecting it," Omak said.
As minister of state for tourism he has his task cut out-
promoting tourism in the northeast. "People from other states
are ignorant about the northeast," said Omak. "But the people of
the northeast are aware of even the remotest corners of the
country and follow the developments in mainstream India".
Omak, who won from Arunachal West, is clear about the tourism
policy for the northeast. "The system of Inner Line Permit (ILP)
has to remain because it has been effective in blocking illegal
migration from across the eastern borders of India," he said.
"However, I have not yet decided my priorities because I have to
conduct detailed discussions with the officers of the ministry".
The ILP, he said, had never been an hindrance to tourism. It only
required finetuning so that tourists could visit breathtaking
places like Tawang which are inaccessible. The ILP necessitates
Central clearance to visit Arunachal. Another system, the
Protected Area Permit (PAP), regulates foreign tourists.
The whole process might be cumbersome, but Omak is convinced that
it is the only way the country's strategic interests and the
state's cultural distinctiveness and fragile ecosystem can be
protected. "It has stopped the Bangladeshis from migrating to
Arunachal, thereby putting an end to demographic instability and
social tensions," he said. The other northeastern states have
been thrown open to tourists with the Restricted Area Permit
(RAP) no longer in operation.
Building tourism infrastructure and encouraging tourist inflow
are Omak's priorities. His first act after assuming charge was to
write to all the state governments asking for feedback and
suggestions for a new tourism policy.
"I see my work as a minister as an expansion of the social work I
did in Saing," Omak said. He wants to do something to protect
fragile ecosystems. The community farming that he introduced in
Saing sprang from this concern. "If you take care of the
community then it can take care of nature," he said.
Omak's community consciousness is a reflection of his tribal
heritage. "Since we are from a tribal background we are not
individualists. We like to socialise," he said. He is a collector
of beads, in keeping with the tribal culture in Arunachal, and
has precious and semi-precious beads from Venice, China and
central Asia. "Beads strengthen bonding within the community,"
Omak said.
He is married to Aubrey, who hails from Meghalaya, and they have
an eight-month-old daughter, Natasha. They have moved in with him
to the chief minister's suite in Arunachal Bhavan, but are yet to
get used to life in Delhi. "Delhi is not the city of old. It is
crowded, has a maddening traffic and is polluted," said the man
who loves adventure sports, comics, particularly Asterix, and
cartoons.
Omak was a student of Modern School and Hindu College in Delhi.
After graduating in sociology he went to Slovenia on a UNDP
scholarship for an MBA. But it is Kerala, not Delhi, that he
considers his "second home". "We have lot of friends in Kerala
and every year I go there," he said. "I have travelled from
Kasargod to Thiruvananthapuram, all of them mostly village
trips."
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