Page 91 - EducationWorld June 2022_Neat

Postscript

Broken Windows state badminton stars. Credit must also accrue to Indian cor-
porates and private donors who funded the establishment
of these and other badminton academies. The plain truth
HE ONCE CLEAN, GREEN AND well-governed
state of Karnataka is fast-transforming into a Bro- is that government-run institutions such as the Sports
Tken Windows society. Researched and developed by Authority of India and sports academies established by
American academics James Q. Wilson and George Kel- state governments beset with nepotism, casteism and cor-
ling in 1982, Broken Windows theory posits that if civic ruption can never produce world champions.
neglect and petty crimes are unpunished, there will be an In the wider context, India’s emergence as a force to
outbreak of serious crimes and criminality in society. reckon with in several sports — especially cricket and
In the once salubrious city of Bangalore, continuous badminton — is the outcome of the expansion of the
tolerance of petty everyday criminality — road traf- middle class and retreat of socialism which mandates
fic offences, shoddy public works execution, bribery in government dominance of education and all spheres of
government offices, arbitrary garbage dumping — has endeavour. Indian cricket and badminton standards have
precipitated a major crime wave. Recent news headlines risen because of private capital infusion and branding in
report mass cheating in police recruitment exams; ruling these sports. On the other hand, Indians are perpetual
(BJP) ministers demanding 40 percent commission for also-rans in games and sports dominated by government-
awarding civic work contracts and clearing contractors’ managed associations. Food for thought.
bills as alleged by the president of the Karnataka State
Contractors Association, in a press conference. PSEs ball & chain
Evidence of a rising crime wave in this once well-
administered state (pop.66 million) is piling up. On April
12, a civil contractor committed suicide because a cabinet ITH THE SALE OF THE PUBLIC SECTOR
minister refused to clear his Rs.4 crore bill without pay- Bharat Petroleum Corp postponed indefinitely
ment of a 40 percent bribe. With margins of civic works Wand the Centre having slashed its disinvest-
contractors reduced to razor thinness because of routine ment receipts target from Rs.1.75 lakh crore in 2021-22 to
extortion of bribes by government employees, pot-holed Rs.65,000 crore this year, socialist India’s public sector
roads, abandoned civic projects and collapsing bridges enterprises (PSEs) look set to remain a perpetual ball and
have become normative statewide. Moreover at a media chain hobbling the Indian economy.
conference, a BJP leader stated that cabinet ministership According to the Public Enterprises Survey of the
can be purchased for Rs.100 crore and the chief minister’s Union ministry of project implementation, of 256 Central
post for Rs.2,500 crore. Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs), 84 reported an ag-
Although Bengaluru city’s buildings aren’t pockmarked gregate loss of Rs.44,817 crore in 2021, i.e, Rs.5 crore per
with broken windows as yet, the garden city’s obstinately hour. Last August, the ministry informed Parliament that
potholed roads and rising crime wave are proof of the 30 CPSEs have incurred a cumulative loss of Rs.106,879
validity of Broken Windows theory. crore.
Hitherto, the standard explanation for this sorry re-
cord of public sector enterprises (PSEs) was inefficiency,
Sports & socialism business illiteracy and social responsibility obligations.
But startling new evidence indicates that a major cause is
sale of PSE (and government) jobs. On May 18, CBI belat-
HE INDIAN BADMINTON SQUAD’S MAIDEN vic-
tory in the Thomas Cup final staged in Bangkok last edly filed a charge-sheet against former Union railway
Tmonth marked a landmark in the history of Indian minister Laloo Prasad Yadav for allegedly trading land
sport. In the final, the Indian men’s squad led by Kidambi and property in several cities countrywide in exchange
Srikanth recorded a 3-0 triumph over Indonesia, whose for jobs in Indian Railways when he was railway minister
players have won the international Thomas Cup tourney in 2004-09. Earlier, former Haryana chief minister Om
introduced in 1949, a record 14 times. Hitherto, the best Prakash Chautala and his son Ajay were sentenced to ten
Indian men’s teams had done was to reach semi-finals years in jail for auctioning government school teachers’
in the 1950s and in 1979. It is also pertinent to note that jobs.
women shuttlers P.V. Sindhu and Saina Nehwal have also Recently in Karnataka, the state’s CID unearthed a PSI
transformed latter day India into a force to reckon with in (public sub inspector) recruitment scandal in which PSI
world badminton, the fast racquets game which requires posts were sold by corrupt politicians and bureaucrats.
lightning quick reflexes, intense concentration and huge It’s self-evident that if jobs are sold to good-for-noth-
reservoirs of stamina. ings, the enterprises that they serve will come to no good.
Hitherto the general sentiment was that Indians were Clearly, PSEs and Indian Railways are losing money hand
too weak, malnourished and under-trained to take on over fist, because induction of unmeritorius employees
Danish, Indonesian, Chinese and Japanese badmin- has hit output and productivity.
ton players. Credit for reversing global opinion in this The plain truth is that post-independence India’s neta-
regard should primarily be given to Prakash Padukone babu brotherhood which has sold self-serving socialism to
and Pullela Gopichand, both winners of the annual All the public, has swamped PSEs and government with un-
England Open Badminton Championship, who after their qualified kith and kin. Little wonder that even ‘right wing’
retirement established globally benchmarked badminton BJP leaders are having second thoughts about privatising
training academies which have nurtured India’s latter day PSEs. They have too much to lose.

90 EDUCATIONWORLD JUNE 2022