Investigating the smell is not enough. The rot is deep.

What is the point in asking for a CBI investigation after resisting it for so long that everyone suspects you have something to hide? Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh has finally surrendered to the media outcry for a CBI investigation into what is known as the Vyapam scam. The CM has a record of 5 terms as member of parliament and 3 terms as chief minister, winning the last assembly elections in 2013 with a landslide. The scam broke in 2013 based on a report by a civil rights activist. Seems that imposters were appearing in selection exams for admission to medical and engineering colleges in the place of genuine candidates. Naturally large sums of money were paid by the parents of the children to the imposters and middle men who were contacts. Since then there has been a series of deaths of people linked to the scam. Some were accused while others were whistle-blowers, some seem due to natural causes while others were due to suicides or accidents. The CM set up a Special Investigation Team but, since this consists of the local police and reports to the government, it is not trusted. He should have immediately called for an impartial investigation by the CBI and stayed above the fray. Now it is too late. People smell something rotten and are whispering about allegations of dumper scam involving his wife. Since all these people had money we can assume that they are rich. Assuming that 7,000 people were involved, a statistician has calculated that we can expect 35 people to have died of natural causes but 5 deaths in the last one week has a probability of only one in a million. Why resist the CBI? How many politicians has it put in prison? We have not forgotten the Bofors scandal and how the CBI could never bring Ottavio Quattrocchi to justice despite running around top tourist spots in the world. The entire episode is just political theater because no one will talk about the reason for the scam. The education system in India is a disaster. There is a system of reservation of seats in higher education, which is supposed to help the disadvantaged sections of society, but has been cornered by the politically powerful. With half of all seats unavailable to merit students there is an enormous sense of injustice. People think it is justified to use any method to give their children a start in life against those who do not deserve it. Naturally poor quality students cannot pass, prompting a university in Lucknow asking to pass students with less marks after they repeatedly failed the MBBS exam. Poor students claim that it is their birthright to cheat because they cannot afford the tuition of the rich. Those students who are undeserving are incompetent in their jobs and resort to corruption. The future of our children is being ruined. So sad.