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New Delhi: In a video which has become viral online, a trainee Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer can be seen doing sit-ups by holding his ears, like the punishment typically given to students in our schools.
The IAS officer was doing the sit-ups amid a group of people, and the incident has sparked intense debate. It happened in Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur. Rinku Singh, the IAS officer, did sit-ups on the first day of his posting as Sub-Divisional Magistrate because his tehsil lacked cleanliness.
Rinku Singh came to Shahjahanpur's Powayan tehsil as the new Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM). When he inspected the town, he saw many people urinating in the open with a public toilet right beside them. To set an example, he made the offenders do sit-ups in public.
He was told by a lawyer that he cannot go inside the public toilet since he is a Brahmin and was thus urinating in public. Also, he was the parent of some school students who were wandering with their children instead of sending them to school. Singh said, "It felt that primary school students were missing out on education because of their parents. To educate parents on the importance of education and discourage such behaviour, ensuring kids go to school, I made parents do sit-ups."
Rinku met the protesting advocates later, and they refused to speak with him, questioning Singh about the sit-ups. He said, "I explained that the act was meant to prevent repeat offences. They then pointed out that the tehsil premises were also dirty, the toilets were filthy, and stray animals roam around. They asked if I would do sit-ups for that, too? I said yes. Since it was my mistake, I accepted it and did sit-ups."
Singh, in a courageous and humble act, stood between a group of protesting advocates and did five sit-ups after it was found that the angry people were unrelenting. He further said, "The tehsildar told me that the place was even more filthy until 10 days ago. He recently got the place largely cleaned. Even after this, if the problem remains, it is our mistake, and I accept it. I have asked people to point out our mistakes so that we can rectify them."
