Nepotism refers to the unfair favoritism shown towards relatives or personal friends by those in power, against co-workers or the deserving candidates. The unfair privileges are given due to the relationships of closeness rather than their abilities. It is derived from an Italian word, nepotism that is again derived from a Latin word Nepos that means nephew.The term nepotism originated when catholic popes and bishops started assigning their nephews to cardinal positions back in the 14th century. This was because the popes and bishops had taken vows of chastity and had no offspring. So, they gave their opportunities to their nephews. Although then it was done within the field of religion, it can occur in various other fields like politics, business, music, acting, entertainment, organizations, etc.In political nepotism, a powerful political figure provided similar power which he/she holds to his/her relative or any close acquaintance. For example, suppose a politician nominates three of his sons for an election without them having any early political knowledge. It is a very common occurrence in politics in the contemporary period as members of the ruling party often let their relatives ascend to similar power as theirs.In organizational nepotism, a person can be given a job in an organization not because he has all the qualifications necessary for the job but because they have familial ties or recommendations which get them the job they want. Even in the line of entertainment, people having connections with the personalities belonging to cinema, radio, television, or art, can achieve easily the posts which commoners cannot even think of getting without going through various auditions, competitions, and so on. This practice is unethical as it obstructs the talented skilled people from occupying those positions. There are laws that prohibit discrimination in workplaces based on race, ethnicity, caste, class, etc. Since nepotism leads to discriminating deserving candidates for preferring close relatives, such laws can be applied to prohibit this practice as well. The employees who have become the victims of such discrimination must be able to show that the employer was discriminatory based on any of the above-mentioned categories. Many workplaces even have policies to prevent nepotism. Another concept called ethnic nepotism is central to sociology which states about the human tendency for in group bias or favoritism deriving from nepotism. This is mostly seen within a multi ethnic society towards people of the same ethnicity. This term emerged in the 1960s in the backdrop of ethnic tensions arising in the then Sub-Saharan Africa such as Nigeria which had become independent recently. Nepotism is a very sensitive issue that has become the subject of controversies and debates. While on one hand, people argue that they have every right to use their resources for the benefit of their offspring and relatives, on the other hand, others oppose it viewing that we being a part of a non-discriminatory free country should get equal opportunities without being subject to biasness. Nepotism is unfair and unjust to jobless people or people who are in the position that they deserve better.
So if we start hiring employees based on their skills, knowledge, and experience we will see a significant difference in the production of goods. The end of nepotism will help us avoid Administrative corruption and financial corruption. Nepotism and Corruption are curse in every sphere of life and not only in public service but their impact is worst in public life compared to others. In public life, responsibility is of public services like health, education, various schemes of government which affect the common people. Also, the money used in public life for all these services is the money of public and not private money. If in these cases there are favours done in health, education or in any scheme, in giving jobs to relatives or friends then it will impact others and deserving people and needy people will not get these services. Also, government’s money if used for personal purposes or used for relatives of friends then it means the money is illegally used which is public money. So for all these reasons it is considered unethical and morally wrong. Nepotism impacts on society:
It brings the moral of deserving people down.
It creates more differences between people.
It brings down the faith of people on public servants and on a whole on society.
It may bring violence and gives rise to negative elements in the society. It creates dissent among the hardworking people and people who are in real need. Basically nepotism and corruption are not good for any society and they are not good for a democratic country like India as it hinders the overall development of country. Learn the ins and outs of migrating Atlassian products to cloud.I believe nepotism doesn’t kill the talent but killing the opportunity that should go to the real talent. Eventually people who are talented but weak hearted are getting stressed and making their lives into trouble. Rather they should focus more, put more and more hard work to prove themselves. Committing suicide will neither reduce the issue nor the people who created it. If you have a goal for yourself and deviating from it just because of others will not impact others but yours and your goals. If you end up your life because of nepotism and favouritism, who will achieve your goal? The unfortunate reality is favouritism and nepotism is existed in every sector of the country. The shoutings and allegations made by us may reduce it temporarily but not permanently. In such a world, we should be stronger mentally and keep ourselves focus on what we want. Else we will become losers by ourselves only not by others. If you want to change something in a system, put your whole strength and work hard to become an influential power to make the change you want. Deviating from it (including suicide) will never be the solution of your goal.
(The author is a teacher at Education Zone Mawar of North Kashmir’s Kupwara district. Views are his own)
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