Recent scams a national shame: Swraj Paul

Lord Swraj Paul, the Britain-based NRI business magnate, said scams that have recently come to light 'do not make any Indian proud' and called corruption a 'national shame'.

Apparently referring to the 2G Spectrum scam and the Commonwealth Games irregularities, Paul in an interaction with PTI on Monday said, "Corruption should be condemned because it has become a national shame.

"The most difficult thing is to kill corruption completely."

Saying that the recent scams 'do not make any Indian proud,' Paul added, "If you have to follow the law, then we have to make sure that the people who ought to be punished, should be punished.

"India has many of the richest people but on the other hand it has more poor people too. Thirty per cent of Indian children still have not got primary education and that cannot be acceptable," he said.

Asking the corporates to be "more honest with themselves", he said, "in corruption, there is always a giver and a taker. It cannot be a one-side story.

"The responsibility of removing corruption should not fall on one side and both the giver and taker should hold responsibility."

Paul, also the Chancellor of London-based Wolverhampton University, alleged education in India has become a business.

"It is a very dangerous trend happening in India on education. Most importantly, (education) should be done as a contribution to lift the society.

"But it is a problem in India. If you want to (provide) education, then for God's sake give it as a service," he said.

"India is not short of teaching, India is not short of bright students but we need to give them the right freedom," he said.

Admitting that the number of students taking up research in their respective area was minimal in India, Paul said he faced many 'hurdles' on setting up a research institution at his hometown Jalandhar in India in the name of his daughter Ambica Paul.

He said the number of students joining various universities abroad for higher education was comparatively less and that was where India needed to take a big step.

"In the Western world, almost 47-53 per cent of students go for higher education. But, India it is below 10 per cent."

Paul and senior faculties from Wolverhampton University were in Chennai on Tuesday to award an Honorary Doctorate degree to editor-in-chief of The Hindu newspaper Narasimhan Ram for his contribution to journalism.