A recent conversation I had with a taxi driver in Kolkata illustrates the principle of give and take pretty well. Justifiably or unjustifiably personnel of Kolkata Police called 'mamus' are pretty unpopular.
The taxi driver said that the police sergeants have targets (like any modern day business, if I may give an example), as in they might be asked to collect such and such amount in the form of fines. Now if the general public follow traffic rules properly there is no way that the policemen can meet their targets. So they occasionally catch hold of the taxi drivers and ask them to take on a small case voluntarily. The taxi drivers also accept. Does this sound strange? Well, there is a reason for this.
According to the taxi driver, legally a taxi is allowed to carry one passenger in the front and three passengers in the back. Thus a total of four passengers (only) are allowed. But occasionally five or six people get into a taxi. On other occasions a person might choose to transport luggage in a taxi, which is not actually allowed. So on these occasions the traffic sergeants turn a blind eye. If the taxi drivers refuse to take on 'voluntary' cases, the policemen will not ignore such violations of rules as mentioned above.
There is another thing I wish to write about today. I have written about the media previously also. This is a small write-up on media hypocrisy. There have been double murders in Noida recently. A girl and a domestic help had been murdered. Arguably, it can be said that the investigation has been swift. There was a telephonic interview on NDTV with a senior police officer. The interviewer had asked the officer if media pressure had had a good effect on the increasing the pace of the investigation. The police officer, instead of supporting her view started ranting against her. He said it was media pressure that caused police personnel to say irrelevant (I don't remember the exact words) things. He said that the media personnel went all over the crime spot thus destroying valuable clues. He was thus ranting on, when suddenly the interviewer said thank you and cut the call short. When the media is unhesitating in criticizing activities of politicians and policemen (among others), it should also be prepared to take some!
The taxi driver said that the police sergeants have targets (like any modern day business, if I may give an example), as in they might be asked to collect such and such amount in the form of fines. Now if the general public follow traffic rules properly there is no way that the policemen can meet their targets. So they occasionally catch hold of the taxi drivers and ask them to take on a small case voluntarily. The taxi drivers also accept. Does this sound strange? Well, there is a reason for this.
According to the taxi driver, legally a taxi is allowed to carry one passenger in the front and three passengers in the back. Thus a total of four passengers (only) are allowed. But occasionally five or six people get into a taxi. On other occasions a person might choose to transport luggage in a taxi, which is not actually allowed. So on these occasions the traffic sergeants turn a blind eye. If the taxi drivers refuse to take on 'voluntary' cases, the policemen will not ignore such violations of rules as mentioned above.
There is another thing I wish to write about today. I have written about the media previously also. This is a small write-up on media hypocrisy. There have been double murders in Noida recently. A girl and a domestic help had been murdered. Arguably, it can be said that the investigation has been swift. There was a telephonic interview on NDTV with a senior police officer. The interviewer had asked the officer if media pressure had had a good effect on the increasing the pace of the investigation. The police officer, instead of supporting her view started ranting against her. He said it was media pressure that caused police personnel to say irrelevant (I don't remember the exact words) things. He said that the media personnel went all over the crime spot thus destroying valuable clues. He was thus ranting on, when suddenly the interviewer said thank you and cut the call short. When the media is unhesitating in criticizing activities of politicians and policemen (among others), it should also be prepared to take some!
