I hate when the door bell rings at 7 O'clock in the morning but today was an exception! To my surprise there was a postman from India Postal Services standing downstairs and even more surprising was the fact that he had come to deliver the passport of my son ‘Arav’! My lucky day, it must be, for sure.
Well as you are aware (and if you are not aware, read my older posts with the passport story of mine here), I was pretty sure about the way I was gonna behave in this system and follow my path … Path of not paying bribe to any Government official. I must say and am proud to say that I got my son’s passport without paying a single penny as a bribe to anyone.
To be frank, it’s not a miracle and I have not done anything great here. But I just want to tell you all that you can get your work done from Government even if you don’t pay bribe to anyone. I know it’s not simple but trust me, it’s not impossible either. What happens really is that you pay bribe for your comfort and you make these Government employees used to this thing called bribe. It’s you who can stop this and only you can make the coming generations happy with a small step.
I have never liked the concept of doing a favor to anyone for getting any work done all my life. The problem with Indians in general is that they are by now used to things like doing a favor to get their work done. Well, a good example is we Indians pay bribe even to GOD! We offer him worship in the form of money, flowers and what not. Isn’t it bribe? I think so and it’s not necessary that you agree with me. I got my own thinking!. Instead of offering money in temples, if Indians start using the same money for good caused like poor children’s education or providing food to deprived children, I think the GOD (if there is one) will be more happy.
So from today, always stand against corruption in any form. You have to lead the way. No single person can bring change – I have been hearing this all my life and been told every time I fight for justice in the corrupt system, but I know that an ocean is formed cause of the drops. Billions of drops make an ocean and we are a billion people country!
Last but not the least, if you want to know whom to approach in case there is injustice to you with respect to getting your passport, please get in touch with the below people:
Appellate Authority
Shri A. Manickam,
Joint Secretary (CPV) & CPO,
Room No. 20, CPV Division ,
Ministry of External Affairs,
Patiala House, Tilak Marg,
New Delhi-110001
Fax no +91-11-23782821
E-mail : jscpv@mea.gov.in
Central Public Information Officer
Shri Bidhi Chand
Deputy Passport Officer & CPIO
Room No. 31 CPV Division.
Ministry of External Affairs
Patiala House
New Delhi - 110001
Tel & Fax : 0091-11-23388648
Email: uscpvrti@mea.gov.in
If you don’t get any response from the above two guys, you can escalate your problems to the Union Minister of State – Ministry of External Affairs, Smt.Preneet Kaur at her mail ID preneet@sansad.nic.in. In my case, I had to reach out to the Minister of State and it worked. I didn’t even go to the passport office for my issue and it was resolved by approaching her.
You can also visit the RTI (Right to Information) website at http://rti.gov.in/ . If you are more interested in knowing the RTI and its first four years, you can download a research paper by just clicking here.
Take an oath this Independence Day – “I will not pay bribe for any work to any Government of India official”. Your next generation will be very happy with your simple step taken today!