Futility of Education in India

I was recently traveling to Bhopal and found myself in the company of three young boys of around 23 years. They were happy among themselves playing pranks, watching videos etc. They had almost all the gizmos like high range mobiles, I-pods, I pads etc which children of their own age would crave for. They did notice the presence of an elderly person amidst them and maintained decorum and were respectful. Being a teacher who loves the company of students, half way through my journey, I inquired them about their education. Incidentally, we turned out to be alumni of the same institution as they left college after their first year education. Concerned, I asked for reasons and prompt came the reply, “what is the use of this education, when postgraduates are driving auto rickshaws for their living”. Thank god, I did not disclose my profession to them.

The boys went on to tell me their story. After their 12^th in a school, they joined B.Com like many other students in our country. In college, there was no serious education happening. Classes are rarely held, there is no control and many don’t come at all. Those who come disturb the class more than learning and the teachers are not concerned. Many of them read exam oriented notes available in the market and pass the university exams. In the university exams, marks are proportionate to the number of sheets one writes and in many cases students start with their answer, digress on to the write story of a recently seen movie, and finish with the answer and yet get good marks because they fill in more sheets. Then the question is what to do after such B.com? Either do M.Com or MBA. M.com has no value and MBA has only perceived value. One ends up spending at the least 3 to 4 lakhs to do an MBA and then some of them get a job of Rs. 10,000/- PM which hurts.

I was curious to know, what they do for their living and there came another prompt reply. They struck a deal with their respective parents to lend them Rs. 6 lakhs each, which is the rough cost the parents would have incurred in educating them up to MBA. They learnt mobile repairing from one of the vocational training institutions and started their own mobile repairing shops. The most enterprising of the three earn about Rs 40,000 a month and the other two earn in the range of 25 to 30 thousand. They are their own bosses and all three want to upscale their operations to include selling of handsets which they hope to do within the next 2 years. They do not take any money from their parents instead buy their parents and other siblings an occasional gift. They have repaid a major portion of the loan taken from their parents. They smoke and drink a beer occasionally, but all from their own earnings.

On the other hand, I had met a young engineer who was interested to join the defence services. He had his own story too. He was fairly bright in studies but could not balance between IIT/AIEEE and CBSE. Hence, did not get rank in IIT/AIEEE and also scored average marks (72%) in the boards and was left with no choice but to join a local engineering college. Finished engineering without a backlog but did not get any placement and is now looking at any government job including the ones in the Defence. Has also applied for group 2 job and is completely frustrated. Parents took a loan of 6 lakhs to educate him and he is jobless with the EMIs staring at the family.

Unfortunately, he is not the only one. Being an author of a guide on defence selection, I do receive several desperate calls from across the country. My mobile number has become a kind of a helpline for many such distraught students. The worst part is, many of them come from humble families and the son is the only hope of their family. Most of them, even after finishing 16 years of education, are unable to speak in English and there is no way they can be helped to join the defence services. Most private engineering and management institutions make all kind of promises and project a bright future to the innocent parents and aspiring students, knowing very well that the student does not have the right base to become an employable engineer or manager. Once the seats are full, the management does not bother at all and the end result is absolute frustration. Some of them in their desperation to get the numbers, even offer fee discounts and once admitted, go back on their words and force the money out. I have seen desperate parents who have been victimized by greedy institutional owners.

Listening to these stories, I wonder at the futility of the present day education in India. I admire the three young boys who refused to study more and instead got themselves trained to start their independent business. Is there a lesson for all the students, parents and the educationists? Don’t we have enough opportunities for small and micro businesses in a country of 1 billon plus?

India Stinking - Part 2

Many of my friends tell me that I have turned cynical as all my writings are about negativity in the society. As I ponder over this remark, I feel each of us face these situations; it is just that I write about them vociferously while others suffer this passively. Most of my readers and followers are young citizens of our country and I want them to feel the misery of this generation and take a proactive stand towards changing this society.

I may sound cynical once again, but here is another true account of the treachery one has to face in this country. I parked the entire arrears of the 6^th Central Pay Commission in a property in Bhopal in May 2009. It was ideally located next to the cantonment, away from the hustle and bustle of the city. It was a Delhi based company (Niho Constructions Limited) which was developing the project and I should have expected it all. But, the greed of owning a peaceful residence close to the cantonment towards the end of my long career in the Defence, dragged me in and along with me some 40 service officers invested in the project. The documentation was quite elaborate and included a penalty clause in case of delay in giving possession  beyond 24 months and we thought it to be very safe. The project worked well till Feb 2011 and suddenly the work stopped. My house progressed till internal plaster and it stands still thereafter and I have already paid 90% of the agreed price. The agreed 24 months expired in May 2011 and gradually all the employees started leaving the project and the entire office now looks deserted with one peon and a security guard on the rolls and one executive from Delhi making an occasional visit. I retired in Apr 2011 and thought of living in this house but had to shift to Nagpur finally.

Initially I tried writing letters to the company with no response. Finally, sent a legal notice in Aug 11 and filed a case in the consumer court in Oct 11. As of any other consumer forum in this country the case is going on and on. The other customers in Bhopal approached the collector, police commissioner and even the chief minister. I met the magistrate personally once and gave a written complaint. I even wrote a letter to the chief secretary of the state, copy to chief minister. But none of this could move the state machinery while the company was still booking phase 2 of the scheme. I approached the local print media to cover the story and to my utter shock, the PR agent conveyed the reluctance of the print media as this company gives them advertisement business. Finally, I went all the way to Delhi to meet the Directors of the Company but could meet only a lower level employee who claimed ignorance. The matter stands at that and I look towards the sky and ask for justice. Is there anything else that a common man could do to get justice in this country!!

I know of a senior citizen who won a civil suit in Mar 2011 and the honorable court ordered the party to pay up Rs 2 lakhs to the senior citizen within a month. You may be surprised to know that nothing really happened till date because the party has manage  not to received the court order and the court staff has not served the summons till date. The point is, even if the consumer court or any other court gives a verdict in favour, the implementation of the order is next to impossible. It is the bureaucracy that had squarely failed this country in every way. Do I have a case to be cynical!!!

India Stinking

Corruption, betrayal, red tape, loot etc have become indelible characteristics of Indian society. Here is another true account of the ordeal of a common man. I purchased a duplex bungalow in 2008, in the outskirts of Nagpur. At the time of giving possession, the builder demanded an extra amount of Rs 82,000/- being service tax which the government levied after the agreement was signed. He also declared that the builder’s association has represented against this and that if the decision is ruled in favour of the builders, the amount will be returned. I coughed up the amount by a cheque and obtained a receipt for the same.

Two years later, in 2010, I accidentally came across a government notification stating that the service tax initially levied has been taken back based on the representation made by some builders’ associations. Citing this order, I asked my builder to repay the amount and there started another episode of fraud and the fight against it. The builder claimed to have paid the amount to the government exchequer and despite several request both written and verbal, he failed to give a copy of the voucher as a proof of payment. I sought information from the service tax department through RTI and there came a prompt reply that the firm is not even registered under service tax. I confronted the builder once again but it failed to make any dent on his predisposition and finally, after sending a legal notice, I had to go to the consumer court. A case was filed in Oct 2011 and after dodging the system for some time, he finally filed a reply claiming that he has remitted the amount to the service tax department, but failed to provide any valid proof. Quoting his affidavit, I made a written complaint to the service tax department in Apr 2012 urging them to take action as the builder amassed huge sums of money from almost 250 households and did not pay the same to the government. However, there was no reply or action till about Jul 2012. I initiated another RTI to know the status of the case and a reply was received stating that a different department is handling the case and that I must write to that department to obtain the information. Another RTI was originated in Oct 12 to the concerned department and I am still waiting to hear from them.

On the other hand, the President of the consumer forum retired in Jul 12 and till date a replacement has not been positioned by the Government of Maharashtra. Instead President of some other bench has been asked to look into the cases of Nagpur who finds it beyond his capacity and only gives new date each time the case comes up for hearing. The end result is there is no justice.

The builder collected Rs. 25,000/- being one time maintenance money from each household and till date he has not formed a society and handed over the funds. The residents are not concerned and are busy in their own affairs and the end result is that the colony is stinking of filth littered all over the place. There is no sewage system, garbage collection and disposal system, municipal water system and yet the authorities have given approval to build a township of over 300 houses. One wonders at the mindless colonization taking place.   

Is there any governance in this country!!! I wonder what are we paying taxes for? It also seems that the society at large has resigned to the realities of our great nation; which stinks more than it shines.

The New Generation Entrepreneurs

I always advocated and even motivated my students to start a small / micro business instead of looking for a job. However, the meaning and nature of business as witnessed by me, discourages me from giving this advice anymore.

I once chanced upon a young engineering graduate in Bhopal who had established a successful business in web designing and software development and I even recommended him for a Young Entrepreneur’s Summit to be held in Indore and he was indeed called to address the future Entrepreneurs. At a later date when I decided to have my own website, I approached him and since he was known to me the deal was struck quite easily and I agreed to pay Rs 40,000/- for this. The site came up after a few initial snags but remained dormant as I did not do much with it. After a year and half, I realized that the site is not working anymore. I called up the firm to know that since the domain name and server space was not renewed the same had expired and I was squarely blamed for this. About a year later, I decided to activate the site once again and in the meantime, I came across another young entrepreneur in Nagpur who belonged to a disadvantaged community. Out of compassion for people from disadvantaged community and young entrepreneur, I struck a deal once again. He asked me for the source code of the original site which was never given to me by the earlier firm. I was told that the source code is the property of the client and I had a right to claim this. I got back to the earlier firm who after half a dozen calls on different dates claimed to have lost the data as he had a server crash etc. However, he was willing to redevelop the same for Rs 10,000/-. Since I had relocated to Nagpur and the earlier firm was in Bhopal, I thought it would be better to get it done at Nagpur. All was well, till I learnt from some of my new IT savvy acquaintances that this is a business model. In all probability, the earlier fellow has the source code and is only trying to suck in more money from me. Also, the source from where domain name and server space is purchased send reminders promptly to the purchaser which in most case is the service provider who do not alert the site owners intentionally so that higher money can be charged later.

I decided to go for a new website design and struck a deal with my new service provider for Rs 10,000/- and felt happy for I had to pay Rs 40,000/- last time. I picked up fascination for this new service provider and all went well for one year. I did collect the source code this time and noted the date when the domain name and server space renewals would be due. Proactively, I approached the service provider in Jul 2012 and paid Rs. 3,000/- for renewal which was due in Aug, and left station on work. However, the site went down and even after repeated calls he was not renewing the site on some pretext or the other and later stopped attending my calls. Finally, after almost 3 months, I returned back to Nagpur and visited his office to find him missing. The staff was well trained in giving all sorts of evasive replies and I was getting frustrated. Finally, I was forced to behave like a hooligan. I awakened the animal in me which had become dormant after living in a sober environment for almost 26 years. I recollected my college days, the gang wars, brute force etc and decided to relive my older days. I barged into his office and started hauling, threatening to break some of his PCs and laptops, if he does not return the money. Seeing the bad side of me, he issued a cheque for Rs 3000/-. Satisfied, I returned home but the challenge of hosting the website was still staring at me.

On checking back with my acquaintances, I knew nothing can be done unless I get the entire server and domain details from the service provider. I was also told that he is not likely to part with this information as this is how they make the clients dependent and fleece money. I had to motivate my 'animal' once again and walked into his office like a bollywood bad boy, to find him missing and his staff seeing my horrific demeanor started flipping the register where such details are maintained. Finally, I got every detail and started exploring it myself. The domain and server space was purchased from ‘bigrock’ and because the domain name was not renewed on time, it was costing me Rs. 4,835/- to get the same domain name. Had it been renewed on time, it would have cost only Rs. 600/- + the server space which would have cost another Rs 900/-. I had paid just double i.e. Rs. 3,000/- (100% margin) and still such poor service and unfortunately it is by design and not default. At last after some more wait, I repurchased the domain name when it came up for resale and exploring a little further, I could host the website myself without any further cost. The irony is, I could have designed my website using ‘bigrock’ utility and saved even the Rs 10,000/-. This is the cost of ignorance one pays in India.  

A week later I learnt that the cheque of Rs 3,000 had bounced for want of funds. The only legal recourse available was to send a legal notice, file a civil suit and wait for eternity to get the money back. I had developed more faith in my ‘animal’ and promptly recovered the money and this time in cash. Can you ever trust anyone in this country!! It is a jungle out there and each one is for himself!!!  ‘Greed’ and not ‘Trust’ is the rule of business today. Does this country suck enough??

Mr. Pallam Raju: please do more than just introducing modules of moral values in school curriculum.

Indian Navy Reluctantly Relents

After waiting of over 10 years, Indian Navy reluctantly relents to say that they have no records of the Redressal of Grievance (ROG) submitted by me in 2002 to the then Commanding Officer of INS Hamla, Commodore Paras Nath against his initiating a false citation in favour of his crony, then Commander OP Kaura. However, a copy of the letter written by the Commanding Officer to Vice Admiral Madanjit Singh (Retd), the then Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Naval Command and an accused in Adarsh Scam has been forwarded, without enclosures.  

Apparently, the then Commodore justified his actions by stating blatant lies and what happened thereafter, is now a mystery. However, this letter is good enough to know that the entire edifice of the Indian Navy is standing on deceit with corrupt senior officers going out of their way to protect their protégée just because they share similar values or come from the same academy. If the system was fair, it would have instituted an enquiry and dug the truth out, when the episode was still fresh.

Drawing a contrast with the expose of Mr Kejriwal, I wonder if there is any difference between the politicians, bureaucrats and the senior service officers. I conclude, after putting a brave fight for over a decade and resigning my commission that this country is stinking of filth. That day is not very far when either there will be a civil war or this country will be taken over by a foreign power.

We do not need enemies from outside; we have enough within.

Amen!!!