Many of us may have heard of IIM graduates drawing salaries in the higher 7 digits. This is mainly true for the majority. It is often felt that IIM graduates would do a lot more for the country if they were to join in the ailing PSUs and government owned companies rather than favoring the private sector or foreign companies.
This is the story of one such person, a person who believed in his values, a person who believed in his ideals, and a person who believed in his motherland. This is the story of one Shanmugam Manjunath.
Manjunath was a student of the famed IIM Lucknow - an institute that brings pride to the nation. He was unconventional in his thought right when he joined the Indian Oil Corporation as a Sales Manager. Manjunath was someone who was in charge of solving an issue that plagued almost all of the country’s oil PSUs. It was the problem of adulteration and mixing of fuel with other material.
In the two and a half years that Manjunath worked for Indian Oil Corporation he came across many petrol pump owners. Many of whom had been allotted petrol pumps by scrupulous loopholes in government schemes.
There were clear cases of adulteration and Manjunath was only doing his job. His job of protecting the consumers’ rights, his job of ensuring the quality of his product was not compromised by the distribution channel, his job of doing what was ethical and morally correct. He received threats many a times, he received bribes many a times, his family warned him often but he was none to listen. He was none to give up. He was there to do his job. He often registered complaints against these scrupulous petrol pump owners and even sealed a few of their establishments.
However on the ill fated day of November 2005, his body was found in the Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh. A body that was ridden with bullet wounds, proof of a merciless murder that was performed to carry on with the dirty trade of the adulteration of black gold.
The entire nation was up in outrage. This was very similar to the Satyendra Dubey case who blew the whistle on the road mafia while working for the National Highway Authority. Only to lose his life to the very same mafia he was trying to expose.
This week is a landmark week for the modern generation of India, one that has grown up to see corruption, black marketeering and exploitation all around them. The Sessions court in Lakhimpur – Kheri in Uttar Pradesh has convicted and punished all 8 accused in the case for the murder of Manjunath.
The prime accused has been sentenced a death sentence as it was proven that the murder was a planned one. All other accused have been sentenced to 2 years of rigorous imprisonment for conspiracy and destruction of evidence. However the defense lawyers are already on their way to the High Court in a bid to appeal and the ruling and save their clients. The death sentence is subject to confirmation by the High Court.
The question that I would like to ask is, what is the real price of the fuel we run our cars on. Already one life has been lost and another is being taken away. For all we know the families of the 8 accused will be left with little face in society. I do not say that the punishment is too severe or unnecessary. My point just remains on asking whether the fuel we use is worth the number of lives we have lost to it or will lose in the future.
Cannot the system be improved to ensure that such circumstances do not arise at all. Wy cant we have a Manjunath in every IIM graduate, why cant we have a Manjunath in every Indian citizen. My take is that we do. You, I and everyone around us has a Manjunath somewhere with in, a Manujnath whom we have often silenced and rarely trusted.
Let us all wake up and embrace that Manjunath within us and around us. ONLY then will his voice have reached its true destination and only then will he smile on us from the heavens up above.
GOD BLESS HIS SOUL!
Written By: The Maverick Observer (maverickobserver@gmail.com)
This is the story of one such person, a person who believed in his values, a person who believed in his ideals, and a person who believed in his motherland. This is the story of one Shanmugam Manjunath.
Manjunath was a student of the famed IIM Lucknow - an institute that brings pride to the nation. He was unconventional in his thought right when he joined the Indian Oil Corporation as a Sales Manager. Manjunath was someone who was in charge of solving an issue that plagued almost all of the country’s oil PSUs. It was the problem of adulteration and mixing of fuel with other material.
In the two and a half years that Manjunath worked for Indian Oil Corporation he came across many petrol pump owners. Many of whom had been allotted petrol pumps by scrupulous loopholes in government schemes.
There were clear cases of adulteration and Manjunath was only doing his job. His job of protecting the consumers’ rights, his job of ensuring the quality of his product was not compromised by the distribution channel, his job of doing what was ethical and morally correct. He received threats many a times, he received bribes many a times, his family warned him often but he was none to listen. He was none to give up. He was there to do his job. He often registered complaints against these scrupulous petrol pump owners and even sealed a few of their establishments.
However on the ill fated day of November 2005, his body was found in the Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh. A body that was ridden with bullet wounds, proof of a merciless murder that was performed to carry on with the dirty trade of the adulteration of black gold.
The entire nation was up in outrage. This was very similar to the Satyendra Dubey case who blew the whistle on the road mafia while working for the National Highway Authority. Only to lose his life to the very same mafia he was trying to expose.
This week is a landmark week for the modern generation of India, one that has grown up to see corruption, black marketeering and exploitation all around them. The Sessions court in Lakhimpur – Kheri in Uttar Pradesh has convicted and punished all 8 accused in the case for the murder of Manjunath.
The prime accused has been sentenced a death sentence as it was proven that the murder was a planned one. All other accused have been sentenced to 2 years of rigorous imprisonment for conspiracy and destruction of evidence. However the defense lawyers are already on their way to the High Court in a bid to appeal and the ruling and save their clients. The death sentence is subject to confirmation by the High Court.
The question that I would like to ask is, what is the real price of the fuel we run our cars on. Already one life has been lost and another is being taken away. For all we know the families of the 8 accused will be left with little face in society. I do not say that the punishment is too severe or unnecessary. My point just remains on asking whether the fuel we use is worth the number of lives we have lost to it or will lose in the future.
Cannot the system be improved to ensure that such circumstances do not arise at all. Wy cant we have a Manjunath in every IIM graduate, why cant we have a Manjunath in every Indian citizen. My take is that we do. You, I and everyone around us has a Manjunath somewhere with in, a Manujnath whom we have often silenced and rarely trusted.
Let us all wake up and embrace that Manjunath within us and around us. ONLY then will his voice have reached its true destination and only then will he smile on us from the heavens up above.
GOD BLESS HIS SOUL!
Written By: The Maverick Observer (maverickobserver@gmail.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment