For nearly last 50 years I have been observing that the society has refused to continue with the previous single track approach to its activities. Like the parallel economy, in other walks of life also this parallelism has strongly developed and by all probabilities appears to stay. Why we prefer to this approach ? What are the losses and gains of this new practice ? It is our duty to sit and think over. I am afraid, if we gave it a long rope, it will ultimately hamstring the primary institutions.
Previously, we sent our wards to government schools as there was no concept of any other alternative. Then came the so-called public schools which are practically private. They charge higher fees and teach in English medium. Still today in India, the general understanding is that a good knowledge of English opens the door of success. Particularly for competitive examinations, this foreign language becomes a decisive factor. Moreover, getting the children admitted in a public school also enhances the social status of their parents. Consequently, this experiment proved to be a booming business. Today parents run from pillar to post to get their children admitted to any reputed public school for which they have to shell out a good part of their hard earned money. The thing does not stop here only. Despite being in a good school, in the present age of cut throat competition, the parents send the students to coaching classes for better results. Coaching has developed into an industry today. Coaching is available right from class I to post-graduation and for civil service examinations and other professional lines like medical, engineering etc. In this race, the mother institution is left behind and the parents are getting impoverished.
If you come to health sector, once again this parallel practice has weakened the established system. Government hospitals, which were previously the mainstay for all, is now meant for only have-nots. Anybody of some status goes to a private hospital. Since the fashion of cashless treatment is made available by the employers, or CGHS card rebate is permissible, the beneficiaries invariably will run to a private hospital where the accommodation is hygienic, crowd is less and even the doctors are amicable and more responsive. This private treatment has also run into menace of parallelism due to greedy behavior of several doctors. They will see the patients and advise them to come to their own clinic for special attention. Even otherwise, they will force the patients for tests to a particular laboratory which will give commission to the doctor.
Today for every other services like Aadhaar card, passport, election i/card, ration card, paying telephone and electricity bills etc services are available in the open market. You have not to go to the concerned offices having huge crowds and incooperative officials. This parallel service has its own drawbacks. The govt. officials deliberately avoid doing work because the agents will give them commission. Most of them in a telephone office, I have seen playing cards in the nearby lawns for three hours. In such a situation, work culture becomes a misnomer. What about the post office? The parallel courier service has made it redundant. Similarly mobile phone has replaced landline. Money transfer in banks has made moneyorder a thing of past.
I once again wish people to think over this developing parallelism or alternativism to decide its relevance to the society. For some comfort or false satisfaction, are we not killing the basic institutions?
Previously, we sent our wards to government schools as there was no concept of any other alternative. Then came the so-called public schools which are practically private. They charge higher fees and teach in English medium. Still today in India, the general understanding is that a good knowledge of English opens the door of success. Particularly for competitive examinations, this foreign language becomes a decisive factor. Moreover, getting the children admitted in a public school also enhances the social status of their parents. Consequently, this experiment proved to be a booming business. Today parents run from pillar to post to get their children admitted to any reputed public school for which they have to shell out a good part of their hard earned money. The thing does not stop here only. Despite being in a good school, in the present age of cut throat competition, the parents send the students to coaching classes for better results. Coaching has developed into an industry today. Coaching is available right from class I to post-graduation and for civil service examinations and other professional lines like medical, engineering etc. In this race, the mother institution is left behind and the parents are getting impoverished.
If you come to health sector, once again this parallel practice has weakened the established system. Government hospitals, which were previously the mainstay for all, is now meant for only have-nots. Anybody of some status goes to a private hospital. Since the fashion of cashless treatment is made available by the employers, or CGHS card rebate is permissible, the beneficiaries invariably will run to a private hospital where the accommodation is hygienic, crowd is less and even the doctors are amicable and more responsive. This private treatment has also run into menace of parallelism due to greedy behavior of several doctors. They will see the patients and advise them to come to their own clinic for special attention. Even otherwise, they will force the patients for tests to a particular laboratory which will give commission to the doctor.
Today for every other services like Aadhaar card, passport, election i/card, ration card, paying telephone and electricity bills etc services are available in the open market. You have not to go to the concerned offices having huge crowds and incooperative officials. This parallel service has its own drawbacks. The govt. officials deliberately avoid doing work because the agents will give them commission. Most of them in a telephone office, I have seen playing cards in the nearby lawns for three hours. In such a situation, work culture becomes a misnomer. What about the post office? The parallel courier service has made it redundant. Similarly mobile phone has replaced landline. Money transfer in banks has made moneyorder a thing of past.
I once again wish people to think over this developing parallelism or alternativism to decide its relevance to the society. For some comfort or false satisfaction, are we not killing the basic institutions?
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