PASSAGE-3
Give people power and discretion, and whether they are grand
viziers or border guards, some will use their position to enrich themselves.
The problem can be big enough to hold back a country's development. One study
has shown that bribes account for 8% of the total cost of running a business in
Uganda. Another found that corruption boosted the price of hospital supplies in
Buenos Aires by 15%. Paul Wolfowitz, the head of the World Bank, is devoting
special efforts during his presidency there to a drive against corruption.
For most people in the world, though, the worry is not that
corruption may slow down their country's GDP growth. It is
that their daily lives are pervaded by endless hassles, big and small. And for
all the evidence that some cultures suffer endemic corruption while others are
relatively clean, attitudes towards corruption, and even the language
describing bribery, is remarkably similar around the world.
In a testament to most people's basic decency, bribe-takers and
bribe-payers have developed an elaborate theatre of dissimulation. This is not
just to avoid detection. Even in countries where corruption is so common as to
be unremarkable and unprosecutable—and even when the transaction happens far
from snooping eyes—a bribe is almost always dressed up as some other kind of
exchange. Though most of the world is plagued by corruption, even serial
offenders try to conceal it.
Related items
One manifestation of this is linguistic. Surprisingly few people
say: “You are going to have to pay me if you want to get that done.” Instead,
they use a wide variety of euphemisms. One type is quasi-official terminology.
The first bribe paid by your correspondent, in Ukraine in 1998, went to two
policemen so they would let him board a train leaving the country. On the train
into Ukraine, the customs officer had absconded with a form that is needed
again later to leave the country. The policemen at the station kindly explained
that there was a shtraf, a “fine” that could be paid
instead of producing the document. The policemen let him off with the
minimum shtraf of 50 hryvnia ($25).
Another term widely used at border crossings is “expediting
fee”. For a euphemism it is surprisingly accurate: paying it will keep your
bags, and perhaps your contraband, from being dumped onto a floor and sifted
through at a leisurely pace. (A related term, used in India, is “speed money”:
paying it can get essential business permits issued considerably faster.)
Paul Lewis, an analyst with the Economist Intelligence Unit (a
sister company to The Economist), describes the
quasi-business terminology typically used for bribery in the post-communist
privatisations of eastern Europe. A mostly useless but well-connected insider
at the company is hired as a “consultant”. The consultant is paid a large
official “fee”, nominally for his industry expertise, on the understanding that
he will cut in the minister and other decision-makers.
A second type of euphemism dresses up a dodgy payment as a
friendly favour done by the bribe-payer. There is plenty of creative scope.
Nigerian policemen are known to ask for “a little something for the weekend”. A
North African term is “un petit cadeau”, a little gift.
Mexican traffic police will suggest that you buy them a refresco, a soft drink, as will Angolan and Mozambican
petty officials, who call it a gazoso in
Portuguese. A businessman in Iraq told Reuters that although corruption there
is quite overt, officials still insist on being given a “good coffee”.
Double meaning can help soothe the awkwardness of
bribe-paying. Baksheesh, originally a Persian
word now found in many countries of the Middle East, can mean “tip”, “alms” and
“bribe”. Swahili-speakers can take advantage of another ambiguous term. In
Kenya a machine-gun-wielding guard suggested to a terrified Canadian aid
worker: “Perhaps you would like to discuss this over tea?” The young Canadian
was relieved: the difficulty could be resolved with some chai, which means both “tea” and “bribe”.
India lives in several centuries at the same
time. Somehow we manage to progress
and regress simultaneously. As a nation we age by pushing outward from the middle–adding a few centuries on either end of the extraordinary CV. We greaten like the maturing head of a hammerhead shark with eyes looking in diametrically opposite directions.
and regress simultaneously. As a nation we age by pushing outward from the middle–adding a few centuries on either end of the extraordinary CV. We greaten like the maturing head of a hammerhead shark with eyes looking in diametrically opposite directions.
I don’t mean to put a simplistic value judgment
on this peculiar form of “progress” by suggesting that Modern is Good and Traditional
is Bad–or vice versa. What’s hard to reconcile oneself to, both personally and
politically, is the schizophrenic nature of it. That applies not
just to the ancient/modern conundrum but to the
utter illogic of what appears to
be the current national enterprise. In the lane behind my house, every night I walk past road gangs of emaciated
laborers digging a trench to lay fiber-optic cables to
speed up our digital revolution. In the bitter winter
cold, they work by the light of a few candles. It’s as though the people of India have been
rounded up and loaded onto two convoys of trucks (a huge big one and a tiny
little one) that have set off resolutely in opposite directions. The tiny convoy is on its
way to a glittering destination somewhere near the top of the world. The other
convoy just melts into the darkness and disappears. A cursory survey that tallies
the caste, class and religion of who gets to be on which convoy would make a good
Lazy Person’s concise Guide to t
Questions:-
1. Why does the author calls 'progress' as peculiar?
a. Because Modern is good and traditional is bad.
b. Because of its unbalanced nature.
c. Because it differs politically and
personally.
d. None of these.
2. What do you infer from the sentence -'For some of us, life in
…...but emotionally and intellectually'?
a. A person has one leg in one truck and the other in the second
truck.
b. A person meets with an accident.
c. The nation is moving in two different directions.
d. The nation is suffering from many road accidents
3. How does the author feel about 'Globalisation' in India?
a. Curious b.Hopeless
c.Enthusiastic
d. Speculative
4. What does the sentence "We greaten like the maturing head of
a hammerhead shark with eyes looking in diametrically opposite directions.'
implies?
a. Indian people are barbaric in nature.
b. We are progressing in some areas and regressing in the others.
c. India has a diverse culture.
d. Some people are modern while the others are traditional in
approach.
5. What do you infer from the sentence in context of the
passage-'India lives in several centuries at the same time.'?
a. We are progressing in some areas and regressing in the others.
b. People from different countries are living in India.
c. India has a diverse culture.
d. Some people are modern while the others are traditional in
approach.
6. What do you infer from the following lines-'In the lane
behind my house, every night I walk past road gangs of emaciated labourers
digging a trench to lay fiber-optic cables to speed up our digital revolution?
In the bitter winter cold, they work by the light of a few candles.’?
a. India has a balanced mixture of both traditional and modern
people.
b. Progress is unbalanced.
c. Digital revolution is very important for our economic growth.
d. There is shortage of electricity in India.
7. What does the phrase "cultural insult" imply?
a. People from one culture do not respect people from the other
cultures.
b. Disrespect of British towards Indian Culture.
c. White people's definition for us. D.
Ill-treatment at hands of British
8. Why does the response towards 'Globalisation in India' differs in
different parts of India?
a. Due to different literacy
levels.
b. Due to religious diversity
in India.
c. It will not benefit all sections of the society.
d. It may not have all the answers to India's current problems.
Comments
Post a Comment