W for Whistle-blower, W for Win

Out of blue, a few days back Railway Board issued an order constituting a committee for revamping RDSO (Research Design and Standards Organization at Lucknow) and naming me as Secretary of the committee. RDSO is an organization of Indian Railways that is supposed to be the root cause for annual loss of thousands of crores of rupees in procurement I and The Statesman have been talking of. Therefore this action of the Rly Board, though belated, is a clear official recognition of my efforts so far as a whistle-blower. In Indian context it is something unprecedented and the Railway Board deserve kudos if they did it out of free will and not under unavoidable compulsions or pressure. I should feel elated since by God's grace it does signal win at last for me as a whistle-blower.

As the initial euphoria dies down, the harsh reality dawns. There will be any achievement only when corrections or improvements are incorporated in the system and as a result of those thousands of crores of public money are saved year after year. That appears too far still though seed has been sown. At present the loss continues unabated as the existing self inflicting rules and procedures continue to rule. With fingers crossed, let us pray something good ultimately comes out for our deprived country-men.