Page 168 - EW December 2020

Postscript

Ingrate nation equity of this hi-tech city by renaming it Bengaluru —
stringent fines decreed for minor traffic offences includ-
ing parking, have engendered well-oiled rackets which are
Y ANY METRIC OF MAN MEASUREMENT, new multiplying the already huge number of crooked cops. For
technologies industry leader Faqir Chand Kohli
B(FCK) who passed away on November 26 was an instance, heavy fines decreed for jumping traffic lights
extraordinary individual who made a huge, insufficiently has created a great opportunity for traffic policemen to
extort less amounts for personal enrichment. With the
appreciated, contribution to the national development
effort. An alumnus of Punjab University and MIT, Boston second offence fine raised to Rs.1,000 this fraternity is
ready, willing and able to overlook first time infringement
where he studied engineering, unlike many of his genera-
tion in the 1950s, FCK returned to India to serve the na- for Rs.200-300. Without a receipt, of course.
Moreover, to ‘book’ more offenders, an added refine-
tional interest. He was handpicked by the late JRD Tata ment is for the green lights to turn red instantly, with
and given charge of Tata Electric Co which supplies power
to Bombay (later Mumbai). Within a decade of presiding barely a second for a flash of orange. As a result there
are a large and rising number of wealthy traffic cops in
over Tata Power, FCK transformed it into the country’s
most reliable power supply company. In 1968 JRD Tata the garden city whose assets need investigation. In the
selected him to head Tata Consultancy Services (TCS). US, there is a second layer police department known as
Internal Affairs whose full-time mandate is to monitor,
During the period 1980-99 when Tata Group was
experiencing hard times, TCS (currently ranked among detect and prosecute crooked cops misusing their office.
A similar institution is urgently required in this unhappy,
the world’s Top 10 IT services companies) contributed 80
percent of its profit and saved it from disintegration. over-taxed country.
Your editor formed a long and enduring friendship
founding editor of Business India and Businessworld and Lincoln disproved
with FCK during my decade in business journalism as
later as publisher-editor of EducationWorld. Unusu-
ally, FCK was quick to discern the intimate connection LTHOUGH IT IS THE NATION’S PROUD BOAST
between education, industry productivity and economic that India is the world’s most populous (not larg-
growth. He promptly accepted our invitation to join the A est) democracy, evidence is mounting that the
Board of Advisors of EW and although he had retired idealistically heroic decision to introduce universal adult
as CEO of TCS in the new millennium, he facilitated the franchise when a mere 12 percent of the population was
launch of the annual TCS-EducationWorld Teachers literate, was an error. Since 1951 when post-independence
Award in 2005 to felicitate the country’s best, unsung pri- India’s first General Election was held, gullible, unedu-
mary and secondary school teachers. At that time he also cated electorates have given huge majorities to political
focused his attention on popularising the CBFL (com- parties led by charismatic leaders who have repeatedly
puter-based functional literacy) programme developed betrayed their trust.
by TCS under his watch. This unique programme now in Corruption and criminality engendered by socialist
cold storage, enables an illiterate adult to be able to read licence-permit-quota raj became ubiquitous and struck
and comprehend newspaper headlines after 40 hours of deep roots to the extent that the worst elements of society
instruction. are routinely elected to top-level positions in the Central
Yet in the end, FCK was stalled from revolutionising and state governments. The recently concluded legisla-
Indian education by the perpetually ungrateful establish- tive assembly election in Bihar (pop.104 million) offers
ment. The TCS-EducationWorld Teachers Awards (annu- startling evidence of this trend. According to a detailed
al expenditure Rs.6-8 lakh) were capriciously discontin- study conducted by the Delhi-based Association for
ued by N. Chandrasekharan when he was appointed CEO Democratic Reforms, 68 percent (cf. 58 percent in 2015)
of TCS in 2009. And neither the BJP/NDA nor Congress- of the newly elected MLAs have criminal charges filed
led UPA governments at the Centre permitted duty-free against them with 51 percent (40 percent) facing serious
imports of junked computers from Western countries for criminal charges.
distribution in village India towards implementing the Nor is criminality a BJP/JDU monopoly in this
CBFL programme. Thus these enterprises of great pith benighted state (per capita income: Rs.43,000 cf. the
and moment which would have been an enduring memo- national average of Rs.1.35 lakh). Fifty-four of the 74 win-
rial to this great corporate and education visionary, have ning candidates of the main opposition RJD party have
faded into oblivion. criminal charges, and 44 have serious criminal charges
filed against them. These MLAs disprove the popular
Uniformed racketeers morality adage that crime doesn’t pay. Their average as-
sets are evaluated (on the basis of self-declarations in their
filed election forms) at Rs.4.32 crore and 81 percent of
A them are crorepatis (assets valued at over Rs.1 crore).

SERIES OF HEAVY FINES DECREED BY state
Evidently in contemporary Bihar, Abraham Lincoln’s
governments for minor civic offences such as not
famous aphorism that you can’t fool all the people all the
wearing face masks or jumping a traffic light,
which far from deterring offenders, has had the adverse time has been disproved. Following Gresham law that
effect of increasing retail police corruption manifold. bad money drives out good, in 21st century Bihar, crooks
In the garden city of Bangalore — the state’s rustic and villains drive the best people out of the hustings and
politicians have senselessly surrendered the global brand democracy has been driven off the rails.
168 EDUCATIONWORLD DECEMBER 2020