Integrity - Positive story

Touching; Worth reading: Veteran Brig SS Ilango recalls an account of exemplary Integrity and Moral Fibre...... 

Thought I'd recount an episode whose central character is also an auto driver like this one. This was when I was the NCC Group Commander in Ahmedabad in 2012-13. Browsing the city supplement of the TOI that morning, I chanced upon this small two para write up on how a local auto driver Raju Barve had voluntarily handed over a whopping amount of 1.9 Cr to its legally entitled owner although nothing would or could have stopped him from keeping the money. Intrigued, I then asked one of my officers to contact the TOI office and ask for details. The section editor whom my officer contacted told him that the TOI themselves had realised that this truly deserved to be in the main edition and now that there were people like us asking for the whole story, they would cover it fully on the front page the next day. Which they did.

The story goes like this. Raju Barve, then 29 years I think, was an auto driver making barely INR 9000/- per month, was the sole breadwinner of his family of five which comprised his wife and two small kids besides his widowed mother. They lived in a dinky little tin roofed house in the shanty outskirts of the town. Very very content and happily, I must not forget to add. 

About 20 years ago when his father was alive, he had bought a small plot in Sanand which is a satellite extension of Ahmedabad, about 40 kms away. He had registered it too and had wanted to build a small house there but never could find the money. After struggling for few years, he sold off the plot for INR 5000/- to a poor farmer who lived in the area and then moved with his family to the city. A few years later he died of ill health.

In 2012, after Mamta had begun to make life miserable for the Tata Group in Singhur in West Bengal, the group struggled to get it's Tata Nano project going. After all the heckling, they swore never to invest in Bengal again and moved out. Since they had already announced the introduction of Tata Nano car they were keen to restart production elsewhere. Modi who was then the CM of Gujarat came in handy and spread out the red carpet for them. The group scouted around and found Sanand the best suited for the project but unfortunately, there wasn't much Govt land there. Land acquisition through the govt was a possibility but since it was a matter of prestige for Ratan Tata who had felt insulted by Mamta. He didn't want to wait. He went about buying up pockets of non - govt land in the project location directly at exorbitant prices from individual owners. Barve's land was one such pocket and the compensation offered to the farmer who had bought that land from Barve's father was INR 1.9 Cr/-. 

Here was the catch. When the Tata project officials went to the Registrar's office to mutate all the land records, they realised that the farmer's land records were missing. They also saw that the owner on records was still Barve's father all these years ! This was because of the innocence and straightforward mindset on the part of both the parties then. Barve's father had just taken the 5000 bucks and left the land and the farmer, a real simpleton, just started tilling away happily. The Tata team ultimately tracked down Raju Barve who was surprised himself. After rummaging through his father's old trunk, he found the parched old document. 

Now comes the golden hour. When the Tata officials told Raju and his family that they were lucky and that they can now get a staggering INR 1.9 Cr/- for that land, Raju's mother told them "But how ? We already got our 5000 from the buyer at that time. It's his land now. So what if the papers were not made on his name ? It's a sin to even think of taking this money " Guess what ? Barve and even his young wife were in complete agreement with what his mother said. 

The Tata official couldn't believe this was happening ! Someone just giving up INR 1.9 Cr/- just like that ? In this Kalyug ? But the whole family insisted that they would not take the money whatever it be. Instead, Barve as his father's only legal heir went along to the Registrar office and transferred the deeds to the farmer the same week. The Tata official was moved by this act of humanity and had contacted the local correspondent of TOI who squeezed in those two paras. But with a few readers like us showing interest in the whole story, TOI brought it to the front page the next day. 

I on my part was moved quite a bit myself. And I thought this is something young and fertile minds need to know, as everything around these days l is so much about consumerism, high life and opportunism. I organised a central lecture by Raju Barve to all NCC cadets from the colleges in Ahmedabad, at my Group HQ the very next day. Was so glad to meet this Young, Nondescript and Humble Man, when my officers brought him to me for a cup of tea. Unfortunately he couldn't get his mother or family. He was nervous and said he has never been on a podium before. We said we never had someone like him at the podium here. He spoke in Gujarati to a young NCC audience of about 600. His short 15 minutes lecture was well received, laced with multiple clapping sessions. I asked the Gujarati officer in the Group to summarise the meaning for me. He said Raju's mother had always told him to be honest, never covet what belonged to others and live happily with whatever God gave. Raju had said that he always followed that. His best moment was when his young daughter and son kissed their father in admiration when he told them the whole story ! 😊

Whew !!!