The shame of living in a corrupt country

This has reference to the article, “Caught in web of corruption” (January 20) by Arindam Chaudhuri. A high GDP growth is critical for our country from a purely economic point of view as it creates a positive atmosphere for the domestic and foreign investors. But at the same time, we should be seriously worried about our pathetic ranking in the Corruption Perception Index.
This ranking is directly proportional to the sentiments of foreign investors. One the one hand the investors are aware that India is an emerging economy and it is the country to be doing business in at this juncture. But on the other hand they are apprehensive and develop cold feat when they know that nothing moves in India if palms are not greased properly.


And, with fiscal deficit at an alarming level in the country it is all the more essential to change the perception that India is a corrupt nation, by bringing in revolutionary changes in the way things function here. The Global Financial Integrity’s finding in its report sums up the issue of how hundreds of crores of rupees in black are flowing out of country with ease and our Government is not able to control it, leave alone name the guilty and act against them. Should we then assume that our Government is incapable or is there is more to it than meets the eye?
Whatever be the case, we should be ashamed of the image that our country has developed because of corruption. The sooner we do something about it the better it will be for all of us. If we do not act soon, the double-digit growth that we talk about and can achieve, will remain a dream on paper. After all, sustainable growth and prosperity to all citizens of the country is just not possible with corruption eating away into the vitals of the economy.