IndiaUnheard Impact: Corruption Ends In School
VV reporter exposes corruption, brings change in rural school in Jharkhand
Mukesh Rajak, IndiaUnheard community correspondent, has made an impact in his community with his video ‘Pay Bribe, Take Education.’ The video made the local administration take action against a school that took bribes from students.
‘Pay Bribe, Take Education’ was Mukesh’s first video. In this video he highlighted one of the most serious issues within his community: corruption in schools. He interviewed locals who complained that teachers in their village school were demanding bribes from students. Later, Mukesh also interviewed the headmaster of the same school who admitted to accepting money, but insisted that students paid it ‘happily’.
After this video was published in IndiaUneard, Video Volunteers’ team in Goa sent Mukesh a DVD of it, along with the print out of the article that was published alongside the video. In September, 2010, Mukesh took this copy to the local government education office. He met the government official who was in charge of education in his area and told her about the corruption in his village. As a proof, he presented the DVD and the article to the official.
2 weeks later, on October 12, the government official informed Mukesh that the headmaster of Jagdishpur village had been removed from his post and demoted to a teacher’s rank. The official had also ordered the school to immediately stop taking any bribes from students. As a result, about 700 students Jagdishpur village school wrote their terminal exams this month without paying any bribe.
Says Mukesh, ‘The fact that I had proof on video of this corruption helped the Block Education Officer take action. I feel happy to be able to speak for my community. I am also happy to see that the children in Jagdishpur village can now attend school without needing to pay for things they can’t afford and shouldn’t have to pay for.’
Exploitation Of Beedi Workers
Beedi workers in Ghurpur, UP, earn less than the minimum wage and have no access to schemes set up for them.
Beedi-making is an exhausting job. Beedi workers work for long hours, at a hectic speed. They produce up to 1000 beedis per day, and usually work in extremely bad conditions – closed, filthy rooms, lacking light and proper ventilation systems. Hence, many of them suffer from serious ailments – neck problems, due to their uncomfortable work positions and the very high speed of their tasks, as well as TB and breathing problems.
In an attempt to improve their condition, the Central Government of India has been taking various measures. It has sanctioned a minimum wage for beedi workers, amounting to Rs 120 a day and has launched schemes aimed at providing them with houses, educational scholarship for their children, and medical assistance.
But in Ghurpur village, near Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, the private companies producing beedis disregard the law. Ajeet described the situation: “numerous villagers are working in beedi factories, for Rs 15 to 40 a day. These workers do not benefit from the programs that target them, because of the corruption of local civil servants. It starts with the medical officer, who is in charge of distributing benefit cards to the workers. He demands Rs 500 to provide one card.”
For workers earning a miserable salary, this represents a tremendous amount of money that they cannot afford. Hence, Ghurpur villagers have to cut all their expenses. They cannot send their children to school, and usually eat very meagre meals. Since all workers are paid on daily wage, going on strike or protesting is also very difficult.
Ajeet hopes that people will take action after watching his video, and force the medical officer and local employers, to follow and implement the law.
Beedi-making is an exhausting job. Beedi workers work for long hours, at a hectic speed. They produce up to 1000 beedis per day, and usually work in extremely bad conditions – closed, filthy rooms, lacking light and proper ventilation systems. Hence, many of them suffer from serious ailments – neck problems, due to their uncomfortable work positions and the very high speed of their tasks, as well as TB and breathing problems.
In an attempt to improve their condition, the Central Government of India has been taking various measures. It has sanctioned a minimum wage for beedi workers, amounting to Rs 120 a day and has launched schemes aimed at providing them with houses, educational scholarship for their children, and medical assistance.
But in Ghurpur village, near Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, the private companies producing beedis disregard the law. Ajeet described the situation: “numerous villagers are working in beedi factories, for Rs 15 to 40 a day. These workers do not benefit from the programs that target them, because of the corruption of local civil servants. It starts with the medical officer, who is in charge of distributing benefit cards to the workers. He demands Rs 500 to provide one card.”
For workers earning a miserable salary, this represents a tremendous amount of money that they cannot afford. Hence, Ghurpur villagers have to cut all their expenses. They cannot send their children to school, and usually eat very meagre meals. Since all workers are paid on daily wage, going on strike or protesting is also very difficult.
Ajeet hopes that people will take action after watching his video, and force the medical officer and local employers, to follow and implement the law.