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Postscript

Egregious negligence blow up this minor sexual encounter into a full-blown
rape case. Now even as they sit pretty on the side-lines,
the careers of two media professionals and the prom-
HE TRAGIC LOSS OF 66 LIVES OF SKILLED ising investigative magazine have been ruined. Well-
permanent and contract employees of ONGC (Oil intentioned legislation to prevent sexual assaults against
T& Natural Gas Corporation), the country’s largest women was hijacked to make a broader protest and a test
crude oil and gas exploration and drilling company, who case against male chauvinism. Following Tejpal’s acquit-
were drowned at sea on May 17, has all the fingerprints tal the Goa government has vowed an appeal against the
of gross negligence and bureaucratic sloth for which the sessions court verdict. This indignation is unwarranted.
country’s 348 government-run public sector enterprises Enough damage has been done.
(PSEs) have acquired infamous reputation. These valu-
able lives were lost because of failure of the company
and/or its contracted agency Afcons Infrastructure Ltd, Great institutions builder
to evacuate them from an ONGC offshore Bombay High
drilling platform in the Arabian Sea, despite six days prior WRITE THIS OBITUARY WITH A HEAVY HEART.
warning that Cyclone Tautkae was headed their way with I
Dr. Bijaya Sahoo, promoter-chairman of the Bhu-
wind speeds of 150-180 kmph. baneswar-based SAI International Education Group,
This egregious act of negligence raises renewed ques- comprising the Sai International School (SIS, estb.2008),
tions about the capabilities of the ONGC management. Sai Angan Preschool (reportedly the largest pre-primary
Since it was promoted in 1956 to extract crude oil and in Asia, estb.2015), Sai International College of Com-
natural gas from India’s vast hydro-carbons rich terrain, merce (2015) and Sai International Residential School
despite unlimited budgets and employing 48,000 person- (2018), all new millennium, globally benchmarked insti-
nel, this PSE’s annual production has inched up to a mod- tutions with an aggregate enrolment of 5,260 students
est 32 million tonnes of crude oil in 2019-20. Against this and 756 teachers, passed away in Hyderabad on June 3 at
India’s oil imports aggregated 228 million tonnes valued the relatively young age of 58, following a long battle with
at Rs.8.81 lakh crore in that year. Covid-19. With his demise Indian education, especially
This latest disaster (there have been others) caused by the socio-economically backward eastern seaboard state
sheer negligence and typical disregard for skilled human of Odisha which he impacted on the education map of
resources, is further proof of ONGC’s ineptitude. Public India, has suffered an incalculable loss.
opinion must ensure that the families of the dead and A commerce and law graduate of Utkal University,
injured are paid heavy damages by the corporation and/ Sahoo pressed on to qualify as a chartered and cost ac-
or Afcons. Meanwhile, ONGC should be added to PSEs countant and built a prosperous practice in Bhubaneswar,
belatedly short-listed for privatisation by the BJP/NDA also co-promoting several business enterprises. However,
government at the Centre. Pronto.
in the new millennium he sold his practice and business
interests after he experienced an epiphany to the effect
Gender warriors damage that universal high quality preschool-class XII education
is the best prescription to place the people of the outlier
state of Odisha (pop.43 million), ill-famed for famines
HE ACQUITTAL BY A MAPUSA (GOA)-BASED and starvation deaths in its Kalahandi district, on the
sessions court of Tarun Tejpal, publisher-editor of road to sustained socio-economic development. For five
TTehelka, the once well-known investigative journal- years he toured the world visiting reputed schools and
ism magazine, on a rape charge on May 21, has come as studying their best practices before promoting SIS, as the
a slap in the face of the monstrous regiment of women pioneer new age day-cum-boarding school of Odisha.
whose full-time occupation is to instigate gender wars. Shortly after the first unprecedented annual Edu-
Now eight years after the incident, Tejpal has been acquit- cationWorld India School Rankings (EWISR) that rate
ted on all charges. Implicit in the sessions court verdict — primary-secondary schools countrywide on 14 parameters
pronounced after the victim was cross-examined for over of education excellence was launched, Dr. Sahoo met
100 hours — is acceptance of the defence that there was with your editors and resolved to develop SIS on a broad
some degree of consent in the contretemps. front across all parameters. Fittingly in EWISR 2020-
Tejpal’s predicament was aggravated by an ill-advised 21, SIS was ranked India’s #1 day-cum-boarding school.
written (emailed) mea culpa sent by him to his victim Simultaneously, Sai Angan was ranked Eastern India’s #1
apologising “unconditionally for the shameful lapse of preschool.
judgement that led me to attempt a sexual liaison with In recognition of his commitment to education excel-
you”. Yet this apology letter which should have worked in lence, in 2019, Dr. Sahoo was appointed special advisor
his favour was used by the monstrous regiment to initiate with cabinet rank of the Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya San-
a national witch-hunt led by rabble-rousing Republic gathan with the mission to establish one CBSE-affiliated
Television news anchor Arnab Goswami among others, English medium government school in all 314 admin
who forced the Goa police to file formal sexual assault and blocks of the state. Working with customary speed and
rape charges against Tejpal. In the circumstances a minor efficiency, he ensured that 214 K-12 OAV schools were
sexual harassment incident, which should have ended operationalised within two years before the deadly virus
with Tejpal’s mea culpa, ballooned into a cause celebre. claimed him. The consolation is that the excellent educa-
The true villains of this latter day tragedy are feminist tion institutions he built will enshrine his memory forever.
warriors who instigated the young woman journalist to

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