In the midst of uplifting news on the economy front – thanks to a very sensible budget – and also glimmers of hope from Paris, two terrible recent news must make us all lower our heads in shame and do some deep introspection about where we are heading on the moral front. After all we are all aware that no nation can aspire to become great unless – in addition to economic indicators, infrastructure build-up and institutional strengthening – all citizens, especially those in positions of power and with responsibility of controlling lives of others, also become honest and diligent. The two sad developments (i) IAS officer Khedkar’s shameful saga and (ii) tragic death of three young students at a South Delhi coaching centre have shaken people to the core and left us wondering if we are rapidly sinking to a state of ‘moral bankruptcy’?
Not that these two incidents are new; sadly such things keep happening all the time; but the fact that an IAS officer – one from the highest ‘steel frame’ that administers the country – was involved in all kinds of skullduggery and three aspirants for the elite central civil services lost their lives in a totally avoidable mishap, must lead us all – political leadership, administrators, civic officials, intelligentsia, academia, civil society and the fourth estate collectively, to put our heads together and think where are we going wrong.
That Puja Khedkar was able to “exceed the attempts limit” – even if she was the sole candidate to do so amongst 15,000 candidates since 2009 – speaks volumes about the efficacy of those in charge of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) the top, highly admired institution that examines and selects the best amongst the best who would rule the country. “She faked her identity by changing her own and her parents’ names, her photograph/ signature, email id, mobile number and address” reads like a wicked witch’s tale or the stuff of genies – those jinns or spirits imprisoned in a bottle or oil lamp and capable of granting wishes when released. Surely this can’t be real? You don’t expect us to believe that all these nefarious things happened without anyone in the top hallowed institution getting wind of it?
That the SOP of the UPSC (sic) was unable to detect all these wrongdoings is unbelievable. OK the chairperson has resigned – and rightly so – and we have a new incumbent (strangely for just nine months). We also have the commission’s generous explanation that “if found guilty, Ms Khedkar can face termination”. Brilliant; is that all we can do to punish the guilty – one who defied the supposedly infallible structure of the commission and others who neglected their duties and missed to notice such fraudulent actions or under whose charge all these shenanigans happened. Don’t we want to get to the bottom of the matter and identify all those who either helped her knowingly, may be for personal gains, or are not competent to discharge their onerous duties. And then quickly award them exemplary punishment so that no one ever again tries to commit such a sin? This is an act of treason against the country – weaken the very system that governs us – and should not be looked at like ‘just another slip’ to be forgotten soon.
Death of three young students, due to flooding in the basement of a coaching centre – perhaps the oldest one in the country – that grooms bright boys and girls to clear the fancied IAS examination, also seems to be going the usual way. Blame game has started in all earnestness. The MCD and owners/managers of the centre are furiously engaged in pointing fingers at one another to save their own skin. They have even succeeded in trapping the poor driver who slowly drove past on the flooded road; that his simple innocuous act created a “wave” that caused all the trouble, is again a figment of the collective imagination of the MCD and the centre management in a desperate bid to divert attention and delay any concrete progress in the matter. Anyone – except these two parties – can see clearly that the tragedy was the result of years of dereliction of duty by both.
To start with, why was the centre library set up in a basement and if it was a case of misuse of spaces meant mostly for storage, why didn’t the fire department and the municipal corporation get it sealed/removed? And, what about the police force that too must’ve been aware of the illegal goings on and turned their face the other way. Obviously, money under the table must have changed hands – not once but regularly over the years/decades as ‘protection fee’ for permitting an irregularity. Clearly both parties are guilty – the bribe giver and the bribe receiver. Here’s another glaring case of deliberate dereliction of duty by the civic authorities for material gains, misuse of property and moral turpitude by the centre management, obviously for saving costs for buying/leasing another permissible floor. Both of them colluded/conspired to bring about a situation that caused the death of three young students aspiring to become officers of the IAS or other central services. An abrupt end of young lives and ruin of three families.
The primary reason for the flooding was of course, the clogged drains – an annual affair leading to flooding of even some main roads where there are major bridges like the Tilak and Minto and others. The MCD has actually tacitly agreed on this in their report to the chief secretary. Due to climate change, cases of ‘heavy downpours in a short time and cloud bursts’ are happening with increased frequency – this warning has been repeatedly stated by the environmentalists for at least 15 years now but there’s no significant change in the way MCD and even the elitist NDMC continues to carry on with their apathy and inadequate corrective measures. Here’s yet another case deserving very quick identification of the guilty and exemplary punishment as a deterrent. This is bad management anywhere but infinitely more so in the nation’s capital. There are hundreds of such establishments operating illegally from basements all over the city – waiting for more gruesome tragedies to happen.
