Man carried sister's skeleton to prove her death to bank officials in India: Major lesson form Odisha incident
People were shocked when image of the man carrying his sister's skeleton, which he had dug out from the grave, appeared in the media.
There are lessons from the incident. The fact is that if an official or a clerk says 'no', it is 'no', even if this is their own procedural issue or there is an alternative way to redress the grievance.
The spelling error or a certain small inaccuracy that can be sorted out, but the person at the seat is not interested in solving the issue, it remains unresolved.
You need a connection, a phone call or money to grease palm or get a middle-men who specializes in getting things done. In cities, some way may be found.
A politician, activist or media focus, but otherwise, it's tough for common man. For the poor, it is infinitely tough as no one comes to his aid.
In documents, the mistake made or error inserted by a staff member at an institution. The ordinary citizen wants it corrected.
The response is--'no big thing' or 'it can't be corrected' or 'it will require process or no issue', 'no harm due to it', 'chalega', or 'it will take time', 'next time', etc.
In the card, father's name spelling is wrong or address is wrong or anything that people say, is not big issue and can be corrected, but for one man, especially, if he is poor, it may not be corrected despite repeated efforts.
Things become extremely tough for those who are not privileged or not urban. Here, sometimes role of a political party, its unit or a worker who can get things done, becomes important.
In document, a mistake, something that doesn't tally, but is not corrected by a clerk though he made that mistake and now doesn't want to go to his own boss and tell that he made a silly error, makes it difficult for the citizen.
In the unique identification system, Aadhaar card, a person's father's name was mentioned in local language with the word 'late' and it later got changed to 'let' as as a prefix with the complete name.
The bank apparently wanted proof and as his sister had died, he went out to dug and brought out the remains. Carrying the skeleton, he reached the bank. This report led to outrage across the world.
Actually, the extent of poverty and the common man's condition remains bad. But, media tries to project India as a land of Ambanis, Adanis and the rich or wealthy.
Though at ground level, things aren't as rosy. PR job hides the reality. For common man, things are tough. For a illiterate man or tribal, a rural person or an ordinary poor, it's even worse.
To prove that his sister had indeed died, he had to dig the ground and bring the corpse to the bank. Jeetu Munda's plight, even if the bank claims that he was inebriated, which often authorities do [raise such a point to save themselves] has brought to fore the situation on the ground.