The incident involving a Jet Airways expat pilot who allegedly not only harassed a woman passenger but also apparently assaulted her and let loose racist abuse at Indians in general, and a physically challenged passenger in particular, is disgraceful. Racism of all kinds may be inherent in a variety of people. But when such a nasty trait is publicly displayed by a foreigner working in India for an Indian airline, it shows how acute the problem of racism is in our country. The airline expressed regret and de-rostered the pilot, but only belatedly after cricketer Harbhajan Singh tweeted on it. But it’s clear a fuller remedy is needed: this problem simply can’t be tolerated where the customer and the staff interact face to face.
There’s just no room for the spewing of personal prejudices in the public domain. This is not a particularly good time for airlines: that are getting busier by the day under the “open-skies” policy and are under pressure to perform to stricter supervision of on-time parameters. But it’s still up to Indian companies to train all their staff in continuous programmes highlighting the need for acceptable behaviour while dealing with the public. Nothing can be done about what someone may feel in his/her mind on such matters until we bring stricter laws to tackle racist behaviour in public. It is, however, obvious that those in industries serving customers every day have to be on their best behaviour. Very high standards of dealing with people are called for. This is where corporate responsibility must kick, the sooner the better.
