Padma Award
for Sri Satyendra Dubey
and Sri Manjunath Shanmugan
Sri Satyendra Kumar Dubey (1973 - 27 November 2003) was born at the
village Shahpur,
district Siwan, Bihar. A talented and dedicated boy he did his B Tech
from the
prestigious IIT Kanpur and M Tech from IT-BHU in 1996.
He was selected for the Indian Engineering Service (IES) and in July
2002 he
was employed by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). Here he
exposed some serious financial
irregularities. He discovered that the contracted firm, Larsen and
Toubro had
been subcontracting the actual work to smaller low-technology groups,
controlled by the local mafia. His letters to his NHAI bosses exposing
the
corruption went unheeded and faced with possible high-level corruption
within
the NHAI, Sri Dubey wrote directly to then Prime Minister, detailing the
financial and contractual irregularities there.
In August 2003 when he was transferred to Gaya where he again exposed
large-scale flouting of NHAI rules regarding sub-contracting and quality
control.
On November 27, 2003, when Sri Dubey returned from a journey to Gaya, he
never
reached home and was found dead by road side. The CBI did the
investigations but
Mantu Kumar, a prime accused escaped from the court premises, leading to
different
kinds of allegations. A Patna Court has convicted three accused
including Mantu
for the crime. Sri Dubey's murder drew several protests in India and
abroad, including
the media. Student and Alumni bodies of IITs took the lead in raising
this
issue. IIT Kanpur instituted an annual award, Satyendra K Dubey
Memorial
Award, to be given to an IIT alumnus for displaying highest
professional
integrity in upholding human values. Sri Dubey was recognised
posthumously by
several awards, which included those from Transparency International and
All
India Management Association.
Sri
Manjunath Shanmugam was born on
February 23rd, 1978. After finishing his engineering from SJCE Mysore,
SriManjunath
went into the prestigious IIM Lucknow, and graduated from there in 2003.
Instead
of joining the big corporate firms for hefty pay, this idealist youth
joined the
Indian Oil during campus placements. Here he was posted as the sales
officer in
Lucknow to manage the Lakhimpur Khiri region of UP - a known hotbed of
petroleum adulteration.
While working here, he had ordered two petrol pumps at Lakhimpur Kheri
to be
sealed for three months for selling adulterated fuel. When the pump
started
operating again a month later, Sri Manjunath decided to conduct a
surprise raid
around November 19, 2005.It was this act of his that irked the powerful
patrol
pump owner and that very night, he was shot dead in Gola Gokarannath
town of
Lakhimpur Kheri. His body, riddled with at least six bullets, was found
in the
backseat of his own car. Following the murder, there was immense media
spotlight on the case. The Alumni from IIM Lucknow and elsewhere in the
shape
of the Manjunath Shanmugam Trust took up the case with dogged
determination.
The main accused Monu Mittal (the petrol pump owner) and 7 accomplices
were
convicted of murder by Sessions judge, Lakhimpur Kheri. Monu was awarded
death
sentence, while the other seven accused were sentenced to life
imprisonment.
In the aftermath of murder, the matter of adulteration in petrol and
diesel was
taken up by the Energy Coordination Committee chaired by Prime Minister.
Later
the MS Trust started the Manjunath Shanmugam Integrity Award to honour
those
who have reported and worked to rectify systemic corruption.
>From these brief introductions, we can easily see that these two bright
young men
(Sri Satyendra was 30 when he was murdered while Sri Manjunath was only
27 at
the time of his death) got their life suddenly ended because of their
commitment to fight against the system and because of their
determination and
inner urge to stick to their values and personal ideals. They were not
being
forced by their organization to adhere to these principles; on the
contrary
they often had to face difficulties because of their non-compromising
views.
Another thing common to both was that despite being respectively from
IIT and
IIM, they chose to join the Public sector which has traditionally been
given
lower importance by students of these Institutes. They both had a deep
sense of
commitment and an inner urge to do something for the society. It was
this
burning idealism that ultimately led to their untimely death.
Through their supreme sacrifice they gave a much needed impetus to the
values
they held so closely to their heart. Their sacrifice has not exactly
gone in
vain but they are now the symbol of hope, idealism, commitment and
values for a
society that clearly needs them in huge amounts. It is a fact that most
of us
are not able to follow these principles I our own lives, simply because
we are
not made of the mettle that these two people were constituted of. But
then,
just because we lack these virtues, it does not stop us in any way from
appreciating such values which are the foundation stone of any truly
enriched
society.
The Institute for Research and Documentation in Social Sciences (IRDS),
like a
whole spectrum of people acknowledges the great virtues and the huge
contributions
made by both Sri Satyendra Dubey and Sri Manjunath Shanmugan, who are
now the
heroes of the entire nation. This being so, we sincerely feel that the
Union government
also recognizes this fact officially by bestowing these two Heroes the
honour
they truly deserve. One way of doing this could be to confer one of the
Padma
awards (Padma Bhushan or at least Padma Shree) to both Sri Dubey and Sri
Manjunath posthumously, as has been done in many other instances.
Honouring
them would be to honour their cherished ideas, ideals, principles,
virtues and believes.
We have requested the concerned officials and authorities to consider
this
suggestion. At the same time, I also request you friends to carry forth
this
mission.
Amitabh Thakur,
President,
IRDS,
Lucknow
# 94155-34526
