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A Culture of Dishonesty-
Until a few weeks ago, it was not necessary to obtain Visa at the Malaysian Embassy to travel to Malaysia from India. As soon as the Indians reached Kuala Lumpur and other cities in Malaysia, Visa was issued to them. Now the Government of Malaysia has announced that it has stopped this process of issuing Visa to the Indians.
A few years ago, the Malaysia and Singapore governments had issued another notice saying that their governments had stopped the priority given to the Indians in job recruitment. Instead, Indonesians were given priority because the Indians were identified as Tamilians in Malaysia and Singapore. The working capacity of the Tamilians who go abroad has gone down and the criminal activities have shot up.
Until a few years back, Visa was not required to the Indians travelling to these countries as well as the European Countries. Once upon a time it was so; those days have gone now.
The thought that the Tamilians were sincere workers, would discharge their duties perfectly and would not indulge in unnecessary brawls is slowly getting shattered.
Not only in the foreign countries, but also in our country, in our own state has this weed taken deep roots and flourished in growth into thorny bush. I was at Puduchery a few weeks back. A friend of mine belonging to a good family and running a quality hotel, was constructing a hotel cum restaurant there, since Puduchery had become a tourist centre.
I asked him, 'Is the construction work over? When have you proposed to inaugurate the restaurant?' I was stunned by his reply. He said , 'Sir, the conditions are not conducive at present. It isn't possible to get labourers. Even, if we bring workers from villages, they don’t come in time. Those who come late, go early. If you ask them why do they do so, they simply stop coming to work from the next day. Gone are the days of sincere work. Even if they come to work, they don’t work properly during working hours. They come late, go early and sometimes they stop coming to work abruptly. Hence,the work gets prolonged. Now I have brought contract workers from Bihar and Northeastern states, and the construction is somewhat carried on'.
If you make an enquiry at the sites where new constructions are going on, you can understand that the same work-negligence culture is prevalent not only in Puduchery but also in Chennai.
An example happened / happening at New Delhi: a large Water-Heater Manufacturing unit in one of our district capitols has opened up branches across the country, which function successfully now.
Its branch is also in Delhi. The Manager of the branch is my friend.Whenever I went to Delhi, I used to stay with him. Once he took me to his office. There I saw nearly 10 youngsters working. But none of them was a Tamilian. I asked my friend who belonged to the southern district, 'There are many jobless youngsters in our place. Can’t you provide jobs at least to a few of them?'
He replied, 'If I employ them, I have to close my entire unit. They will create lots of problems. They’ll tremble to speak Hindi to the customers. If I send them out somewhere, they will ask five undred questions. Instead, if I employ Punjabis, they'll discharge their duties very well. Most of them are from Delhi, Punjab and Hariyana. One of the reasons for my successful business is their proficiency'.
Among youngsters the intention to work is slowly declining or it is coming to an end. The well-settled thought is that the Tamilians will hesitate to work and this idea exists not only in foreign countries but also in Tamilnadu
Reasons for this sluggishness and ways to solve these problems must be reflected upon. The working force of our country has undergone changes in three different ways.
1. Work force during the British period (before 1947). The work force was excellent. It was authentic and there existed trustworthiness and genuine work force. The laborers exhibited high protocol. Hence, the output and whatever they manufactured were good and satisfactory.
2. After Independence, national political parties began to rule the country. There were dynamic leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru, Vallabai Patel, Jeyaprakash Narayan and Rajaji. Their impact was felt throughout the country. Hence the industries started during that period flourished.
3. After the demise of Nehru, darkness shadowed the working force due to some of the policies endorsed by him. The Linguistic State division Policy, Reservation Policy based on communal division and rights on the basis of Religion started to assume a gigantic shape.
As a result, national point of view began to decline and regional outlook occupied its place. Regional leaders began to emerge. As they did not have the capability to rise to the national level, they gave priority to sensitive issues like Language, Religion and Community.
Moreover, the leaders behind these sensational issues were self-centered, hypocritical, deceitful and non-transparent. This injustice in public life is intensely deep-rooted, has reached its zenith and spread top to bottom.
Generally the citizens of India and especially the Tamilians adopt the principles of their leaders, as per the proverb, 'As the king is so his subjects are'.
Subsequently, the plant of deception has spread and sprouted into a wild bush. This has led to the denial of work which in turn has developed into a culture of refraining from work. This will change only when the public life is based on selfless service and noble sacrifice.
Dr. K.P.Aravanan,
Former Vice-Chancellor,
Manonmaniam Sundaranar University.
