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THE GREEN TIGER

From the title, I‘m sure that the instinctive reaction that most of you‘ll would have is that this article might just be a metaphor or spoof of the Booker win-ning ‗The White Tiger‘ by Aravind Adiga. However, what I‘m referring to here is one of the biggest hurdles in India‘s development- CORRUPTION.

Corruption has spread its evil wings to every strata of society- be it at the grass root level, or at the Government level. By corruption, I mean political corrup-tion, which is the dysfunction of a political system or institution in which govern-ment officials, political officials or employees seek illegitimate personal gain through actions such as bribery, extortion, etc.

Its many ill effects in various fields are:

1. On politics, administration & institutions:

Corruption erodes the institutional capacity of government as procedures are disre-garded, resources are siphoned off, and public offices are bought and sold. In elec-tions, it reduces accountability. People lose their trust in the ruling bodies, which affects representation. Corruption in the judiciary compromises the rule of law.

2. On Economics:

In the private sector, corruption increases the cost of business through the price of illicit payments themselves, the management cost of negotiating with officials, and the risk of breached agreements or detection. Corruption also lowers compliance with construction, environmental, or other regulations, reduces the quality of gov-ernment services and infrastructure, and increases budgetary pressures on govern-ment .

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3. On Environment & Society:

More often than not, a lot of projects and factories are audited without any Government objection, despite them having flouted several laws. On the other hand, the one who refuses to pay under the table is unfortunately the one who‘s at loss. Officials often steal state property. In Bihar, more than 80% of the subsidized food aid to poor is stolen by corrupt officials. Simi-larly, food aid is often robbed at gunpoint by governments and criminals and sold for a profit.

On health, public safety, education, trade unions etc.:

Bribes made by suppliers of safety equipment, etc are hardly uncommon. To-day, corruption has become widespread in the field of education, where in, parents literally PURCHASE seats for their children. Corruption can also affect the various components of sports activities (referees, players, medical and laboratory staff involved in anti-doping controls, members of national sport federation and international committees deciding about the allocation of contracts and competition places). Match fixing is yet another form of cor-ruption.

The most glaring of all corruption related offences, however, is compromise in secu-rity related matters. All of us are aware that no terrorist attack can succeed without an inside hand. Take for instance the 1993 Bombay bomb blasts. The perpetrators could not have even got the weapons through to the Indian shores had they not been assisted by the Naval commandos and small time henchmen, who for a paltry sum, risked a nation as a whole. Not once did they flinch at the thought of selling their country for the sake of money.

Citizens do not report crimes to the police, fearing action against them for having charged powerful/well to do individuals.

Cash for vote is another scandal, which has become quite prominent of late. Several politicians, actors and businessmen bribe Income Tax officials for tax eva-sion.

Contractors bribe employees of companies in order to receive lucrative con-tracts without having the merit to serve with honesty and efficiency.

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It is thus not wrong to say that the system itself is corrupted.

Examples are endless and occurrences- infinite!!

So why am I calling Corruption, The Green Tiger??

Just as a tiger waits to pounce on his prey, corruption is laying its hands on everything that it can possibly find. It is a hungry animal which can attack anything it can sight, and if not curbed, can lead to the complete failure of democracy.

Corruption is worse than prostitution. The latter might endanger the morals of an individual; the former invariably endangers the morals of the entire country.

SAY NO TO CORRUPTION; SAVE YOURSELF FROM THE GREEN TIGER!!

-Kavitha G T.e. etrx