Few Good Men

Recently there were couple of accidents in the construction site of Delhi Metro. There has been much hue and cry demanding the blood of senior officers. Criticism and accusations were part of daily news. I was surprised at such negative media attention on an organisation that in my mind is an icon of national pride.

I “Googled” for some facts. Since the construction work started in 1998 there have been a few accidents in at the Metro construction sites. But the incidences have been very few and except one or two instances these were minor. Even by international standards the accident history of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) related to its construction activities is quite low. On the other hand in the last eight years of operation of the Phase 1, there has been not a single accident in its operations.

I agree that we cannot condone accidents and we need to expose inefficiencies, failures and corruption in all public projects. When I read through the press coverage on the recent accidents at DMRC construction sites, I almost got a feeling that it is one of the most poorly managed projects.

But the reality is that this is one of the few institutions that our country can be proud of from the point of its magnitude, scope, design, implementation, operations and maintenance. Name any area the score is superlative. It has been spearheaded by a man who has proved himself multiple times in projects of such scale and national importance which has been widely acclaimed around the world.

We don’t need to treat such people and institutions like Gods and close our eyes when they make mistakes. But when we present these cases we should place these in proper perspective. Very often we see these cases blown out of proportion whereas the incidences which need true and sustained exposure are buried so fast.

The reasons for this phenomenon are many. The real scams get buried because media may have been bought over with the financial and political muscle of the perpetrators. Lack of support to genuine organisations and genuine people have many underlying reasons. The corrupt don’t want ‘the clean’ to succeed or deliver. The ‘good’ believes that only his goodness is the authentic variety. Then we have the “Indian Crab syndrome” which cannot stand the other guy rising above mediocrity. We are happy to pull him/ her down. Recently I was talking to a person who was instrumental in establishing and nurturing an institution of national importance. He confided to me that he was surprised at the extent of anger (not just jealousy) that the success of his institution had evoked.


We recently witnessed this kind of failure when practically very few took a public position to support Shahrukh Khan when there was a backlash against his remark about allowing Pakistani Cricket players to play in IPL. We have seen many more such examples of unwarranted allegations and criticisms; Sound bites on RK Pachauri, CB Bhave, Shashi Taroor etc are examples of this.

There is nothing new in this other than a suggestion that there is a need to stand up and support those few good men who try to make a difference. If you are too scared to open your mouth, at least try to take a position as a group.

"First they came for the unions, but I didn't speak up because I wasn't union. Then they came for the communists, but I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, but I didn't speak up because I was Protestant. And then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak up."

- Reverend Martin Niemoller a German Lutheran monk who was arrested by the Gestapo in 1937