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It is a common phenomenon in India to “complete the paperwork” – where the paperwork is less the documentation of reality and more about manufacturing whatever documents procedure needs – whether true or not to avoid disqualification – when deserving of disqualification. This, of course is corruption, but few are willing to see the demon within and pay the price of being honest.
Kunal Majumder is a person I admire for his integrity. For the time I know him on Twitter, he has consistently and uncompromisingly held values over all – including himself. I value this, and I think his following tweets are an example for us to have witnessed as a counterpoint to the thousands we see of “gaming” regulations.
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“[Personal declaration] Last evening I was told my attendance is short for my Mphil course at Jamia & must present a medical certificate(1/5)
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“[Personal declaration] Last year I had written an op-ed attacking the protesting students of Jamia for producing false medical cert. (2/5)
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“[Personal declaration] Ethically it would be wrong on my part to do the same. I was tempted but I decided to answer my conscience. (3/5)
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“[Personal declaration] My mother is angry, my friends unhappy that i decided to quit my Mphil but I had to do what I had to do. (4/5)
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“[Personal declaration] Greatest influence in my life my school teacher Ms Usha Gupta always asked me to answer my conscience and I did (5/5)
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“Usually I don’t tweet about my personal life. Because I had written a public piece on this, I thought a public declaration was necessarily
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I remembered reading something vaguely, but I wanted to read again knowing this new context, so I asked for the link.
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“@Vidyut Here is the piece I wrote last year against protesting Jamia students who produced false medical certificate tehelka.com/story_main49.a…
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Noting some replies because they are quite typical of our thinking too – where education is made s
o important that ethics being sacrificed is seen as a necessary evil. I have heard these responses when I refused to fake for the “greater good” too. -
“@RajeeveMalik University rules allows for 15% extra attendance for medical certificate. I was not ill & will not produce false one
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Others make sarcastic comments on the same attitude being widely justified.
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“Twitter taaliyan for @kunalmajumder 🙂 Now you know what creeps Jamia ppl are. You should much rather apologize to the students 😀
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“@ShehlaRashid Why should I apologise to those students? Of course they were wrong in producing false medical certificate. Jamia still rocks
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Some support.
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“@kunalmajumder hey man.really sad to know that u hav had to drop ur mphil.i was impressd n happy that u were doing so well in so many areas.
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“@kunalmajumder but pat on ur back dude.u hav taken a rare step.respect 🙂
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“@ck2085 :)) That’s the problem with us journos — Ethics 🙂 the same Jamia taught me to follow ethics during my MCRC days
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Excerpts from that article outlining the basic scene. Read the article for sure, because we all need to think more such thoughts and see this perspective on accepted malpractices of the system, where we vilify the system when we fail to meet its requirements.
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“On May 8, around 1,500 young men and women appeared for the entrance exam of the reputed MA Mass Communication degree at the Mass Communication Research Centre (MCRC) of Jamia Millia Islamia in New Delhi. Outside the university gates pamphlets titled ‘AJK MCRC– Opening the Pandora’s Box’ were distributed. Signed by ‘grieved ex-students’, the note ‘warned’ aspiring students against joining the centre. It claimed faculty members do not take more than 10-15 lectures in a year and refuse to teach or review students’ work. It went on to say that classes held are erratic, irregular and many times don’t even take place in the middle of the course.
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“Nobody connected the dots between the smear campaign against Jamia with those students who have been debarred by the university and then the Delhi High Court from sitting for their exams due to shortage of attendance.
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I have made this compilation, because I think this is an example that needs more people to understand what it means. Not just in terms of honesty or refusing to lie, but in terms of living up to values of respecting institutions and safeguarding their integrity.The other thing, on a macro scale is that if enough people don’t lie to make a system work, then real problems become visible and they can be addressed through improvement of systems so that no one is required to lie… but for that to happen, it needs enough of us to make the trust fall and live our reality.
