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Part 61, Issue # 125 - July 17, 2003
Umesh Kakkeri from
Mumbai sent the following message on July 13, 2003: "Since last few issues you
have stopped the PCI cases update. Please let us know exactly what has happened
or what is going on in these cases. The fight that was going on is still on or
stopped? Or is there any other reason for not publishing about it. Please do
incorporate the news regarding PCI cases in every issue of your journal, even
though the case may have been adjourned for the next hearing, to keep the matter
alive."
In our meetings with PCI members all over the country, institutional as well as
individual, we find that there is very little or no information available with
them regarding the past history and current activities of the PCI.
Some say that PCI members themselves are responsible for this state of affairs
as people get the government they deserve. If a small group of self-centered
individuals, better known as P Company, controls all the affairs of PCI in gross
violation of democratic norms and legal provisions, it is so because the members
inadvertently allowed it to happen. Members either did not take interest in the
affairs or were afraid that if they question any member of the P Company they
will not be included in the distribution of medals and offices of profit. There
is an ancient Indian saying 'silence is a sign of approval' (maunam sweekriti
lakshnam). Emboldened by this silence, the P Company has falsely been claiming
sole representation of philately in India and of Indian philately in
international forums.
The way PCI has been run from its very inception as a private business; it is
not surprising that members do not have a sense of belonging that is so
essential in an active organization. Several well known philatelists preferred
giving up philately in disgust instead of stooping low to match the activities
of the P Company is a matter of record.
Now this may appear as 'whether chicken came first or the egg' kind of problem -
whether the members of PCI or the P Company is to be blamed for allowing
mismanagement to happen. Whether the members were not sufficiently vigilant or
the P Company hijacked the controls.
We have been updating our readers on a regular basis regarding the activities of
PCI and would continue to do so in the forthcoming issues as well.
A society is the sum total of its members and every member's action and inaction
affects the society. We believe that it is time for every member to introspect
and interact with other members to decide how they want their society to be.
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