According to the definition of Transparency International, “Corruption is the misuse of public office for personal gain”. It is such a phenomenon that can be encountered in any country of the world. Democratic or non-democratic, poor or rich, big or small, no matter what the country is; corruption is almost everywhere. Now-a-days it has become a burning question of the world.
The poisonous tree of corruption has spread its branches in many places, in many shapes. It has not been created by any single reason. There are a number of factors which are responsible for this problem such as misuse of power, unemployment, political instability, inadequacy of salary, socioeconomic structure, poverty, nepotism and so on. In most cases, corrupted people are not punished strictly. As a result, they don’t dare to do anything that they wish to do. Even the law enforcement department of the government is also corrupted who will stop corruption. Hence, criminals do not care about the law when they commit crime.
In Bangladesh, four major factors are mainly responsible for creating corruption. These are polluted politics, nepotism, unemployment and poverty. The country has got her independence more than four decades ago. But still, it is not economically free. In the country, thousands of people are living below the poverty line. A large number of people are deprived of their basic human rights. People are not getting jobs even after completing their study well. So they are easily trapped by corruption. Finding no other way, they are deviating from the right path.
The most usual form of corruption is bribery. To speak the truth, there is no single sector in Bangladesh, where corruption has not enlarged its paw. Due to the unstable politics of our country, the Anti-corruption Commission has turned into a toothless tiger. The other forms of corruption are nepotism in public services, unequal distribution of Govt. funds, sharing of relief by the officials and so on.
Corruption affects the poorest the most. It can lame a nation entirely. A country gets an undignified introduction worldwide due to corruption. It minimizes the chances of foreign investments and exporting manpower. The project of ‘Padma Setu’ is a burning example of it. To speak in a nutshell, corruption is the biggest impediment to the overall development of any country.
It is time to halt corruption by any means. I think we all have to come forward to remove this cancer from our society. In fact it is a fight more struggling than the liberation war of 1971. Religious leaders, teachers, students, intellectuals, professionals, politicians and the young generation must have to play positive roles regarding this. Electronic and the print media can play a vital role to this. Above all, the corrupted people must be punished strictly and the honesty must be rewarded.
Without taking strong stand against corruption, progress of the nation will remain a dream. To establish a better Bangladesh, we have to go ahead in a body to remove corruption from our country. An all out effort is essential to do that.
