Forced To Retire, Jasbir Singh Bir Now Does Charity Work For Prabh Aasra Which Helps The Downtrodden!
“Political corruption has really affected bureaucracy because those who follow their political masters and promoted and rewarded financially but it is a huge disservice to democracy. Corruption is forcing bureaucracy to service the whims of the politician and not the citizens they are elected to serve,” said retired IAS officer Jasbir Singh Bir.
By R. Paul Dhillon
SURREY – Deep-rooted corruption may have become a “brand-name” for India and Indian society which inevitably makes life much harder for honest government officers like Jasbir Singh Bir, who as a career civil servant had to take on his political masters on more than one occasion in Punjab and he lives to tell about the price he paid for standing up to what he considered wrong under government rules and the constitution.
“My philosophy has been that to never compromise in my life over principles and that has been the case in my work as well,” said Bir, who dropped by at the LINK offices this week, to talk about his visit to Canada and his work on behalf of Prabh Aasra organization which provides home for the homeless, helping everyone from orphaned kids, the downtrodden, the sick and those that have been neglected by society in general and government in particular.
Born in humble background to a poor family in Anandpur Sahib, Bir was forced by circumstances to work as a child to help his family, living in what he described as a house that consisted of one room where his parents and siblings resided.
Bir’s story is a tribute to the individual’s battle to breakout from the circumstances one is born in and with sheer will seek to become something much greater than those circumstances, which he did by going to school while working as six-year-old child in the local dyeing trade.
“It’s this through this great hardship of life that I went to, ingraining myself that I will not compromise that I stood my ground when I felt that elected politicians did not want to follow rules and wanted to circumvent the rules and then wanted the bureaucrats to take the fall,” Bir said.
“Political corruption has really affected bureaucracy because those who follow their political masters and promoted and rewarded financially but it is a huge disservice to democracy. Corruption is forcing bureaucracy to service the whims of the politician and not the citizens they are elected to serve,” he added.
Bir’s biggest battle came when he butted heads with the Badal political dynasty and paid a huge price of being forced to take premature retirement, which he described undergoing great “mental trauma.”
“To my understanding, public servants are not only officials of the government but also have a constitutional role to perform. It is their duty to serve society by keeping in mind the overall welfare of the public. Whereas pm the one hand, the government of the time expects them to be fully accountable, on the other hand it also expects them to respect government institutions while discharging their duties for public good and public cause with integrity for which the Indian Constitution has kept constitutional safeguards for the security of their government jobs,” Bir wrote in resignation letter.
In the final paragraph of the letter, Bir, an IAS officer with the Punjab Secretariat, Dept of General Administration, expressed his deep emotional turmoil: “My resentment is not against you (Badal). This notice, given in protest, may be taken as a voice from my soul against the administration system which has forced me to undergo mental trauma doing my duty in public interest during my long service tenure.”
Since joining the Punjab civil service in the mid 1960s, Bir has been a very competent and honest civil servant, making his way up the ladder since former Punjab and national Congress leader Giani Zail Singh promoted him to Officer on Special Duty. Since then he has worked across Punjab in many capacities such as Public Relations, Tourism, Transport, Excise, Revenue, Licensing, Roadways, including serving in senior posts such Deputy Commissioner in Patiala and Secretary Finance in Punjab government.
Since retiring, Bir has worked as an advisor-consultant for private corporations including hotel chains, but his passion has been his work on behalf of Prabh Aasra, where he serves in the capacity of Advisor, helping to raise awareness among government and political organizations like SGPC that it needs to fund organizations like these which help the people of Punjab who are desperate in need of help.
“The SGPC has a budget of 905 crores and we are requesting them to allocate even a very small amount of that budget to Prabh Aasra as this organization is truly doing the work that the government and even SGPC should be doing,” Bir said. “Government is wasting money on paying crores to film stars to come to at Kabaddi Cup but ignoring their social responsibilities.”
The organization, which consists of doctors, former officers and other wealthy and professional individuals, has been helping the homeless, helpless, mentally ill, handicap, orphan and missing destitute children since December 2003. They have treated 1078 destitute individuals of which 745 have been reunited with their families after getting treatment.
They currently provide shelter for 241 people on an going basis and are looking expand their facilities to accommodate more as the need keeps growing with so many needy knocking on their door for help with police and hospitals constantly sending them more people.
Bir said he would delighted if Punjabis in Canada can also help with the cause of Prabh Aasra by making whatever donations they can. Donations can be made to Universal Disabled Care Taker Social Welfare Society. For more information contact them at – Shamsher Singh @ 91-9815103793 or Rajinder Kaur @ 91-9915083793. You can also email them at [email protected] or you can view their work on youtube by searching under Prabh Aasra.
