16th Article published in HANS INDIA (27th September 2014). The
article is titled "the curious case of blatant cheating". This article
is very close to my heart. It was in making for the last 17 years. Lot
of thinking, research, writing and rewriting has gone in. Read it and
give me your feedback.
E-version of the article:
http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/2014-09-27/The-curious-case-of-blatant-cheating--109423
http://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/2014-09-27/The-curious-case-of-blatant-cheating--109423
The curious case of blatant cheating
September 27,2014, 12.49 PM IST | Dr M Anil Ramesh
One of the issues that need to
be addressed urgently is the eroding value system, the binding thread
of the Indian society. Honesty is no longer the best policy. Cheating
has become rampant, something that many take for granted. Cheating
according to the Oxford dictionary is the ‘use of fraud to obtain an
unfair advantage over others. It implies conducting matter fraudulently
for profiting one self. E.g. cheat at cards’.
In this modern world, the winner takes
it all. Nothing succeeds like success. Success at all costs has become
the in thing. Cheating indeed has become a fine art that is indulged in
many areas. Let us first look at various examples of cheating. It is
important that such an exercise is undertaken because the fields that
indulge in this art of cheating are seen as glamorous and they in many
cases shape our behaviour, aspiration and outlook.
Some examples of cheating include practices like:
Goods once sold will not be taken back -
Goods that we purchase come with this tag attached. The seller is
saying that once the sale is transacted the relationship has ended. In
the era of high pressure selling it is quite possible that the buyer was
taken in by the hype and would regret the purchase decision later.
Sales approach - Many of the
professional salesmen are trained to talk only about the positive
aspects of the product and keep silent about the negative aspects. For
example an electronic typewriter salesman explaining about the letter
style and keeping silent about the bold lettering facility. The buyer
buys thinking that the bold facility exists only to realise at a later
stage that such a facility is not available. Caveat Emptor (buyer
beware) exists on paper, but was the buyer aware?
Cheating when attending interviews -
Blue chip companies allow the candidates selected for the final
interview a train travel in 2nd AC to the corporate headquarters. Many
candidates book the 2nd AC tickets, take a photo copy and cancel the AC
ticket. Subsequently they purchase a 2nd class sleeper ticket and
travel. They submit the 2nd AC photo copy at the time of reimbursement.
Their reward - a paltry sum of Rs 1,000 - 1,500.
Unknown to them a clerk of the concerned
company would have visited the railway station and checked whether the
candidate had actually travelled by 2nd class sleeper or 2nd AC as
claimed. The company would happily pay a candidate who has cheated his
2nd AC claim. These cheaters would not be considered for placement.
Cheating by students -
Students face severe pressure as their results dictate their jobs and
their future. Thus it is not surprising that they indulge in various
forms of cheating. Some such examples of students cheating are:
Students taking additional sheets in the
examination for the single purpose of making the answer look bulky. It
has been noticed that the students write only around eight lines
amounting to sometimes 50 words in a page. Lots of blank space and
sheets are also left unwritten.
Telephonic interviews have become
common. Telephonic interviews are very popular among the US employees.
It has been noticed that many of the students indulge in subterfuge that
is the student who is being interviewed is not the same as the student
who applied for the job. In many cases it is the faculty member of the
institute who takes the interview.
Many of the applicants who apply for H1B
apply with fake credentials. This has become such a rampant practice
that students of some universities are viewed suspiciously by the
embassy officials of many countries.
There have been cases of students trying
to tamper with the OMR (optical magnetic recorder) answer sheet that is
used in many competitive examinations. There is a recorded instance of a
student who darkened all the holes and got 100/100. If only had he got
darkened 90/100 he would have succeeded in his attempt.
Cheating in Politics:
Politicians have made cheating a fine tuned art. Booth capturing,
rigging and impersonation have become common occurrences. In this
context it is interesting to note what a senior leader like Ajit Panja
of Trinomol congress has said about the electronic voting machine.
Panja had remarked that when using the
machine the voter should first press the green button on the EVM. The
sound of the beep means the machine is in working condition and later
the voter can press the button of his choice. What he had in his mind
was very dubious in nature. It goes without saying that the first button
of the EVM in that particular election had the TC symbol and the minute
that green button is pressed the vote is cast.
Advertisements glorifying the use of cheating to obtain an unfair advantage:
Bajaj Scooter: Father
and son are talking about a scooter purchase. Father gives his son Rs
25, 000 to buy a Bajaj scooter. The scooter costs the son Rs 21 000 and
so he conveniently pockets Rs 4,000. He doesn’t admit the same until the
father deliberately points out the difference (the idea is to drive
home the cost effectiveness of a Bajaj scooter). The influence this
advertisement has on the impressionable youth is too frightening even to
fathom.
Cadbury Perk: The scene
is of a hunger strike and many people are shown fasting. A perky
teenager picks up her Cadbury perk and slyly eats it only to be followed
by the rest of the group. Mahatma Gandhi must be turning in his grave
in anguish seeing the trivialisation of his noble method of civil
disobedience.
Soaps: Soap
advertisements show in graphics that their products get rid of all
germs. But if observed one can see that even ‘Life Buoy gold’, leaves
the person with some germs as if to say that the germs would return and
the same soap has to be used again.
What can be done to arrest this alarming trend? Some of the things we can do are:
- Be honest to one self.
- Believe in the means as much as the ends.
- A name earned out of honesty is worth ten times the money or fame earned out of cheating.
- Believe in building long term relationship based on trust and genuine concern.
- It is not glamorous to cheat; in many cases it shows the desperateness.
- People will finally associate themselves with honest people, would you like to have an honest person for a friend or a person who cheats?
Way to conduct business properly:
‘Hindustan Lever Limited’ believes in
ethics and in moral values so much that any person fudging even a petty
travel bill or borrowing from the distributor is taken to task.
The advertisement of ‘Royal Challenge'
also touches the heart. Two friends are playing basketball. One of them
has his son watching him play. His friend graciously allows the father
to win the game. The look on the beaten man’s face says it all. You need
not win at all times. Sometimes you could lose and win too.
