Nowadays, without any doubt Merchant Navy has become one of the most sought after profession in India. Most of the students after passing out from school look up to Merchant Navy as their prospective career option.
But the problem is that most of these students are not fully aware of this profession and are usually misguided and exploited by the greedy agents, some fake institutes and agencies and become a prey of the ongoing fraud in merchant navy.
How The Fraud In Merchant Navy Is Exploiting The Aspirants
I would like to explain it in the following way:
These days what is the biggest source of information available to us?
We all know, it is internet, Google or Facebook to be exact. Just try searching on internet about how to join merchant navy in India, the results will show you how the new comers are mislead and exploited. What we get on Facebook groups or via google search are advertisements by the institutes, fake companies and agents boasting catchy lines like “Opportunity to go abroad and earn up to 100,000/- per month.Get admission here.”
The students who have no information about merchant navy falls into this trap and ruin their as well as their family’s life.
Here, I would like to emphasise that all the institutes are not fake, but there are very few institutes which have some standard and provide placements after the completion of the courses.
In recent past, we saw how the students of one of the best maritime colleges of India came out to protest because of no placement provided by the college. This indicates the present scenario of Maritime sector in India. It also indicates the level of ongoing fraud in merchant navy.
Honestly speaking, Merchant navy is a profession that anyone can fall for without knowing the actual job, what a new comer see? Just the uniform, sea, opportunity to go abroad and most importantly salary, this is what we fall for without any real or true knowledge about the life at sea.
Sadly, in India most of the institutes have sub-standard training facilities and no placement guarantee. Institutes are more focused on taking out money from the students’ pockets rather than concentrating on the proper training to enhance their skills. It is more of a business and less of education these days.
Parents sell their lands, houses, farms and even take loans for the education of their children in the hope that with the high salary of merchant navy, their children will lead a better life in the future.
Securing admission in a maritime college is just the first phase, next and the most painful phase is when one finishes his/her training and have to look for the job and this is the time when the freshers are most exposed to the ongoing fraud in merchant navy. The freshers have to struggle a lot to secure a job, there also one come across many fake and greedy people who are ready to suck out the remaining money out of the students’ pockets.
There have been many cases where agents have taken money for the placement in reputed companies and have eloped with the money.
What The Merchant Navy Aspirants Should Do?
- A merchant navy aspirant should keep in mind that s/he should be well informed about the course he/she is planning to do.
- Should conduct an extensive research on the college one chooses with focus on its placement records.
- One should always choose the right channel for entering in this field.
- One should avoid any agents or agencies.
- Always keep in mind that most of the maritime courses in India are conducted by Indian Maritime University and its affiliated colleges, hence one should try to get in touch with them.
- One should avoid those websites and agents who claim that they can give you coaching for IMU CET. Remember they are there to just loot out your money.
Finally, I would say that yes presently the maritime sector job scenario is not very bright and one might want to avoid getting in this field. If you make correct decisions and stay away from the thugs, you still can go on to achieve that dream of sailing out at high seas. The catch is to proceed via a right channel and make well informed decisions.
Hope this article will be an eye opener for all the merchant navy aspirants.
Do let us know your views in the comments section.
Source: The Maritime Post
