The most debated topic in India after cricket is perhaps corruption. I am fortunate enough to have spent most of my working life in an environment where I have not been directly hit by the malaise. But how can one overlook or be completely untouched by a disease which has engulfed a nation like an epidemic. As librarians we work closely with the book trade. Booksellers who deal with institutions with whopping budgets have bizarre stories to narrate.
One of the leading school textbook publishers of India once took a batch of nineteen school principals to the capital city of India on a sponsored trip. The publisher paid for their travel, accommodation, food and entertainment for a number of days. One evening a dinner reception was hosted at a five star hotel in honour of the principals. A room had been booked in the hotel for the evening in case someone needed to retire or rest for a while. One principal had used the room that evening. The publisher later discovered that a substantial amount of cash which was kept in the drawer had gone missing immediately after the person had left. There are several big time players in school text book publishing where business volumes are huge and competition is strong. Publishers and their agents have a trying time negotiating and clinching business deals for their companies .Such dealings are not always straight and ethical. Decision makers in most schools are an extremely powerful and pampered lot.
The higher education sector is no different. One of the premier universities in South India recently got a grant of several hundred crores to spend on refurbishing the library collection. Several booksellers were selected as vendors. A bookseller from Delhi was asked by three top officials of the university to pay a phenomenal amount in cash (about eighty eight lakhs), before the purchase order could be released to him. Most booksellers grudgingly agree to pay up to stay in business specially when there are competitors breathing down the neck.
An official of a government institution once got his home furnishings sponsored by a bookseller. Similarly one bookseller had to organise and sponsor the shopping trip of a client’s wife who had come to the city on a personal visit. Such experiences are quite common. The recent increase in pay scales of government officials in the academic sector has not changed the scenario in any manner.
One would have thought that at least the academic world would be free of the muck but unfortunately the reality is something very different.
One of the leading school textbook publishers of India once took a batch of nineteen school principals to the capital city of India on a sponsored trip. The publisher paid for their travel, accommodation, food and entertainment for a number of days. One evening a dinner reception was hosted at a five star hotel in honour of the principals. A room had been booked in the hotel for the evening in case someone needed to retire or rest for a while. One principal had used the room that evening. The publisher later discovered that a substantial amount of cash which was kept in the drawer had gone missing immediately after the person had left. There are several big time players in school text book publishing where business volumes are huge and competition is strong. Publishers and their agents have a trying time negotiating and clinching business deals for their companies .Such dealings are not always straight and ethical. Decision makers in most schools are an extremely powerful and pampered lot.
The higher education sector is no different. One of the premier universities in South India recently got a grant of several hundred crores to spend on refurbishing the library collection. Several booksellers were selected as vendors. A bookseller from Delhi was asked by three top officials of the university to pay a phenomenal amount in cash (about eighty eight lakhs), before the purchase order could be released to him. Most booksellers grudgingly agree to pay up to stay in business specially when there are competitors breathing down the neck.
An official of a government institution once got his home furnishings sponsored by a bookseller. Similarly one bookseller had to organise and sponsor the shopping trip of a client’s wife who had come to the city on a personal visit. Such experiences are quite common. The recent increase in pay scales of government officials in the academic sector has not changed the scenario in any manner.
One would have thought that at least the academic world would be free of the muck but unfortunately the reality is something very different.
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