AN IDEAL EXAMPLE FOR INSTITUTIONAL PATRIOTISM

I didn’t intend to write anything after I witnessed the state of affairs of the Bangalore University in Jnanabharathi yesterday. It is literally a tale of woes and a galore of loopholes. Badly maintained and blocked toilets, dilapidated hostel rooms greeted me and Mr CT Ravi, Minister of Higher Education. The ego clash between the two key players i.e., the Vice Chancellor and the Registrar is the rootcause for the present day malady. As I said, “When two elephants clash, it is the grass that suffers.” Unfortunately, in this case, the suffering grasses are the hapless students who have their own dreams but are full of night mares today.  The Institution which otherwise should have been an epitome of emulation is sadly a shocker by the state of affairs it has been reduced to.

But, what prompted me today to pen my feelings was my visit to the Direct Taxes Regional Training Institute at Bangalore today. DTRTI as it is shortly described is an arm of the National Academy of Direct Taxes which heads the training sector of the Income Tax department of India. The Institute offers training for departmental personnel from Karnataka, Goa and Andhra Pradesh.

You will never believe it is a Government run Organisation. So high is the degree of professionalism that has been infused in its working atmosphere. DTRTI is located amidst the lush green campus near Jalahalli. Constructed four years ago at a total cost of 30 crores, the whole campus is so aesthetically built, that it has everything that an ideal training centre offers. The building has six state of the art lecture halls named after philosophers from different parts of the world.

DTRTI offers specialised training in frontier areas such as e commerce, e-investigation with professional capability in core areas of direct taxation, law-jurisprudence, accountancy and attitudinal reinforcement through soft skills. These specialised courses have national jurisdiction. Training of Tax administrators of other countries too, of late has become a feather in the cap of the Institution.

So much of care has been taken so the whole campus is quite sensitive towards the environment that every existing tree has been protected and retained by designing the construction around its presence. Rain water harvesting, ground water recharging, using treated water for horticulture and flushing purposes, sensor based taps - everything is in place to make it ideal. On top of all, the cleanliness- it’s just spic and span. The zero tolerance towards dust and waste has made the whole Institute so neat and clean.

The Institute stands out, all thanks to the single minded pursuit of one person. Mrs Jhankab Akthar who heads this wonderful office is the one who has brought the reform here. Being herself, an IRS Officer, she has completely eradicated the hierarchy. She has lead from the front for the continuous upliftment of the Institute. I should mention special thanks to her relentless enthusiasm in making this Institute a truly world-class.

While I was still languishing to come out of the awful experience of yesterday, it was a refreshing feeling that assured faith in the system we are in.

I wrote in the visitor’s book this way: BOTH HARDWARE (STRUCTURE) AND SOFTWARE (ATTITUDE) ARE EXCELLENT AND WORTH EMULATING. That summed up the feelings of my visit to this excellent campus.