Slump in shipping industry leaves merchant navy officers rudderless

Merchant navy officers have been cast adrift is the result of the current slump in the shipping industry.

Sumit MITRA

Jagannath Dubasri

January 6, 2014

ISSUE DATE: September 15, 1985

UPDATED: March 26, 2014 16:19 IST

Kamal Wadhawan, 26, is a thin-faced lad from Delhi who can be seen most evenings at the Seaman's club in Bombay's salt-sprayed Ballard Estate playing billiards on the club's rundown table.
Three years ago, after graduating from Rajendra, the training ship for merchant navy officers, he served as a cadet on board a ship belonging to a reputed shipping company, passed his second mate's examination, and sailed with the company. After a year at sea, he asked for leave to get married.
On his return, however, he was told that his services had been terminated. Wadhawan took a loan from his wife to acquire a moped agency, hoping to pay it back with the Rs 50,000 his company owed him in arrears. But even after 17 reminders, the company failed to pay his dues. Wadhawan's marriage, barely half a year old, was on the rocks and the pair finally separated.

"The day I decided to join the merchant navy was the beginning of my troubles and there is no end to them." Kamal Wadhawan, 26 unemployed

Today, Wadhawan is unemployed and cannot get a decent job because he is not a graduate and lives a hand to mouth existence on money borrowed from others. Says he bitterly: "The day I decided to join th