Shaheryar Hossain for BeyondHeadlines
After the departure of British from India, corruption in the country marked its commencement from the Jeep Scandal in 1948, in which the main accused was VK Krishna Menon, the then high commissioner of India in the United Kingdom. From then onward, India witnessed number scandals by the leaders of the country. Earlier, bribe was paid to get wrong things done, but nowadays paying bribe has become customary for getting right things done.
Corruption is not only associated with leaders but also with a number of malicious factors. High intensity of corruption is the linchpin of poverty in India. Poverty every day increased the numbers of slum dwellers. Its root cause is not the scarcity of food but the substandard political system that allows even charge sheeted people from different walks of life to contest elections, who after being elected engage themselves in devouring the wealth of our country.
No matter India has achieved accolades for its development in the IT sector, unequal income distribution still stands as a major reason for prevailing poverty in the country. Accumulation of wealth in terms of black money in the hands of few influential people and industrialists is the main cause of the under development of common people. The disparity seems like looking a skyscraper from a slum.
To stop the malpractices of leaders and industrialists, the common mass should use education as their weapon and must be aware of the ongoing erroneous activities of politicians. They need to enquire the schemes and opportunities being brought out by the government like WBMDFC scholarship, Kisan Yojna, NCERT schemes, etc.
Moreover, like the struggling Lok Pal Bill, the Indians should initiate an act that should restrict charge-sheeted candidates to join politics.
(Shaheryar is a Kolkata-based journalist. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect BH’s editorial policy)
