thought

Root cause of rampant corruption

Rampant corruption is a prime concern for honest countrymen. On the eve of Holi while hundreds of wishes are flooding in , I find myself in a state of pensiveness. I know the issue of corruption is boggling my mind since the early morning. It is quite usual with me but I succeed often in controlling myself. Today I feel like expressing something to you and lighten myself.

Corrupt leaders, corrupt bureaucracy, corrupt doctors, corrupt engineers,corrupt corporates, corrupt judges, corrupt advocates, corrupt managers,corrupt journalists,corrupt businessmen, corrupt ..., corrupt ..., corrupt ..., and corrupt teachers. I have not given this list in any logical sequence, but the mention of teachers in the last of all is certainly a deliberated one.

I find myself almost fully confident that teachers are in the root of all this, because all the above ranks are taught and tutored by the teachers... the teachers I believe ought to take  responsibility for producing such conflict personalities.They have been utterly failing in inculcating morallity into the personality of their pupils. Our present socio-political system has for the last four decades very cautiously tried to corrupt the teaching communities from top to bottom, so that the game of corruption can easily be played uninterrupted.

Our's is a country in which the teachers used to be king makers, to whom our kings felt pride in sending their sons for getting practical trainings and receive learnings, before whom the kings and their courtmen would bow in reverence. The GURUS would impart knowledge without any rewards ; as no reward was greater than the honour and respect they got from the ruling class and the society at large.

Only one example of a hurt teacher , Chanakya , would suffice to prove that a single GURU is enough to demolish a corrupt Government. I wonder , where these Gurus are reclusing thesedays ? Where has gone their prestine power ?. The Surveys of today have the answer : the Department of Education now ranks within first three as far as the issue of corruption is concerned. One can understand how a teacher brought up, taught, trained, appointed, and forced to work in a corrupt environment may be able to develop his own personality strong enough to influnce his pupils, his society, his system and his environment ?.  Where the receiving end is sick , powerless and unequipped, how the transmission unit will work ? And where the transmission unit itself is weak how can it reach the receiving end properly ? Our educational system seems to have been failing in producing the competant human resourse needed for the country for the present.

I am a teacher for the last 35 years . Many of my colleagues may not agree with my views , many will agree to disagree also , and many will not agree at all. But to agree , one would require to have courage. Those who have a little introspection would feel that a teacher  can not evade this important responsibility of preparing infrastructure for the country. Teachers  are failing in their this vital role and they have started sailing in the same boat in which the corrupt lots are seated with heads high and sights low.

Since 1947, education has been one of the most neglected field by the governments, both at the central as well as the states levels. We have failed in our understandings that education and literacy mission are two different things. Today , most of the high school , intermediate and graduation level students are not able to read, write and speak out their subject lessons correctly , with confidence and command. Most of the B.Ed., LL.B.,Ph.D., today are unable to write correctly these degrees in full forms.. ( those who can will kindly excuse me, because I do never mean to let down any body ).

 In a country wherein teachers become sick, the whole Nation becomes sick. We are now a sick nation today, governed by sickmen, where people commonly tolerate the whole parliamentary session going waste due to opposition bycott, demanding fair probe by a parliamentary committee; and in the next session the wise govt. yields to the demands. The corrupts have started to challenge today to prove their corruption. The anti corruption agencies have become puppet in the hands of the machinery of the govt. and our judicial system is busy in relieving rail tracks, roadways, instead of passing fast judgements for those who are accused of anti-social and anti-national activities. Those accused of such activities are freely roaming on the streets and finally succeeding in reserving a berth in the present political system. The Election Commission, the Vigilance Agencies , etc.all looking helpless , as if we are living not in a DEMOCRACY but in a DEMONOCRACY.

Historians have on record that such committees and commissions have been constituted in the past as well ; but their findings have never been made transparent to the common public who make the Government. So we the people of India , that is BHARAT, have a significant role in making our Government , but unfortunately have no role in the doings of Government once made. When top politicians , bureaucrats, technocrats and others are now neck deep in the rotten system , it is they who are to be blamed for , because the tools they have supplied to the roots have become rusted, and one can not help when the policeman becomes a thief.

The journalists , who claim to be  the FOURTH COLUMN , can play important in such situations , but alas ! their role too is partition ridden , they are lathi-charged , purchased, used in favour of interests.

 Dr.Jairam Singh

   Sr.Historian