Aircel, Jio, or Facebook: Will the Giants be Accountable?

by Salil Gewali

It quite seems that the Mobile company Aircel has taken off to Malaysia with its booty. No wonder, with a crafty shuffle of the legal papers this company successfully got itself declared bankrupt in India. Very understandable, Anil Ambani received first the big blow of Jio Mobile and now Aircel. Do you know, till some days back Aircel was making its last-ditch efforts to loot the extra penny from the unsuspecting consumers? Even I got tempted and recharged my sim card with Rs 399 rupees as the plan was for 84 days. But I could use the service for not more than 15 days. Will the company "refund" my money, and also the money it has pinched from the lakhs of other customers like me? In this age of capitalism, by mere declaring bankruptcy/innocence, the company can be absolved from all of its sins. How is it morally acceptable and justified? Is it not the travesty of business integrity? Now we can't overlook how Aircel customers are suffering in order to port out from Aircel to other service providers. Since the service has been suspended the customers are feeling rudderless, moving from the pillar to post, to restore the service through other companies.

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Moreover, how is the company bankrupt? How on earth it's owner – Ananda Krishnan (partner being Mr. Raja Arshad…), one of the richest businessmen in Malaysia, having multi companies including media, oil, gas, and properties, is insolvent? No, not at all. His other business sectors are minting money like anything. But why is he not bothering to return back the customers' money from the income of other sources? One angry customer from Police Bazar remarks – "Such companies' owners are high-tech beggars with the digital pots in their hands because we are asked us to pay them online, lol!". But, instantly his another friend corrected, "They are not just beggars, but in some cases, they are like "robbers" because they disappear for good without refunding the poor customers' hard-earned money".

Yes, for money and to fulfill their desire to amass wealth these incredibly rich people can go to an incredible extent. Guidelines, goodwill, and integrity are only the initial eyewash to climb the ladder of material success. These business virtues and ethics might be just junked away like the garbage if something goes amiss and the profit graph falls.

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Does Anil Ambani not owe each of us money which we trustingly pay to his Reliance Communication? Please tell me if Ambani has refunded any of the customers' money and also the security deposits to the tune of corers? So far not. Because rich men do not fear God, they usually fear less-money-in-their wallets.

What about the super-rich Mark Zuckerberg? Is he content with his vast fortunes? He is virtually not. So, his Facebook has other wings that shake hands with the depraved company like "Cambridge Analytica". They use our personal data as ingredients to cook up the dishes that sells in the black market. What is most bizarre is that we still call such people great men and we idolize them without sense and without shame? But I myself prefer to call them cheaters, frauds and uncouth brutes. They are never sent to the jail, so they keep playing "golf" with the virtues of humanity.

Salil Gewali is a well-known writer and author of 'Great minds on India'. Twitter: @SGewali.