With depressive emotion, I finish reading the book Behind the Beautiful Forevers by Katherine Boo. The book talking about Husain familys story and other people in the slum in Mumbai. Everyone seeks opportunity to make money. Though everyone is poor, the poor people bully the poorer people. Life, death, and hope in a Mumbai undercity is the subtitle of the book, but I think there is another keyword for the subtitle corruption. Corruption is a big issue in Annawadi, and it is the main reason to cause the society and economy cannot improve.
In other words, corruption makes the wealth inequality worse. Although, corruption in short-term can help people to make money, in long-term corruption increasing the gap between poor and rich people, and keep the whole society from improving. In short-term, people bribe, manipulate, lie, cheat, and sell themselves in order to make money. However, in the long-term, people make money is hard, but money make money is fast. For instance, the process Sunil makes money is very difficult he could not solve the food problem.
Then, Sunil sells the pot and his fathers shoes to learn to make money. This process is long and hard. On the contrary, Asha, for example, she can get money easily in many corruptive ways. She knows that people like to ask her for help, and she helps them only when she can get financial profit. Therefore, she sometimes makes problems for people and then waiting for people to ask her for help in order to get money. Thus, the poor people become more and more poor, and rich people become more and more rich.
However, corruption limits security, stability, dignity, and even life of people in Annawadi. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Right, Article 25 Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. We know that health care is required for people.
People need to be strong and healthy to go to work. Otherwise, they cannot make money and fend their family, or even being tortured by sick. According to the book, Mumbais public hospitals were supposed to do such operations for next to nothing, but the hospital surgeons wanted under-the-table money. Sixty thousand rupees, said the surgeon at Sion Hospital. The doctor at cooper Hospital wanted more. (24) The surgeons get under-the-table money corruptly cause the cheap fee raised up so that so many patients cannot have treatment. This happened to Mr. Kamble, Mr.
Kamble had been one of Annawadis great successes a man deemed worthy of titles like ji or mister until the day he collapsed while cleaning a shitter. (24) Even Mr. Kamble cannot afford the fee of operation, then not to say the poor people. Most time lower class people even lose dignity and life. For example, Unidentified body, the Sahar Police decided without looking for the scavengers family. Died of tuberculosis, the Cooper Hospital morgue pathologist concluded without an autopsy. Thokale, the police office handling the case, wanted to move fast, for he had business with B.
M. Patil Medical college in Bijapur. Its anatomy department required twenty-five unclaimed cadavers for dissection, and this one rounded out the order. The doctors and the policies do not responsible for their work they just want to move fast. In this corrupt place, life is as weak as nothing. Corruption creates wealth inequality by ignoring the importance of education. Educated people can find a good job, or can create a job by themselves, and people who are not been educated has no job, or have a job with very low salary.
So education is important for people and the society. However, the education system is very lack because corruption in Annawadi. Its totally against with Article 26 in Universal Declaration of Human Right, everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.
In Annawadi, for free education, Nearly 60 percent of the states public school teachers hadnt finished college, and many of the permanent teachers had paid large under-the-table sums to schools officials to secure their positions. (63) Those teachers because a position for people to make money they are not really teachers. At Marol, we paly, take recess, paly again, then have lunch, was how the Nepali boy, Adarsh, described the municipal school curriculum. (63) The teachers dont teach, and students dont study. The school is more like day care.
Education has become a opportunity for corruption. Furthermore, school that is not free charge very high fees so that only a few families can afford it. For instance, Zehrunisa expected Mirchi to pass ninth grade at the third-rate Urdu-language private school for which they paid three hundred rupees a year. Theyd had to pay, since spreading education opportunity was not among the Indian governments strong suits. The free municipal school near the airport stopped at eighth grade, and its teachers often didnt show up. 13) Therefore, the lower class only can get to free education can learn nothing. Family which can afford the pricey tuition can be educated and find a job and become richer.
Consequently, the economic gap become larger. When seeking out opportunity, peoples desire has thoroughly exposed selfish and envious. They dont share, and dont help each other. Everyone has their own secret that they dont want anyone know. his general approach toward his neighbor was this the better I know you, the more I will dislike you, and the more you will dislike me. So let us keep to ourselves.
They are lack of share experiences. Moreover, according to the context, Sunil found a fellow scavenger lying in the mud Now the mans leg was mashed and bloody, and he was calling out to passersby for help Thousands of people passed this way every morning At 230 p. m. , a Shiv sena man made a call to a friend in the Sahar Police Station about a corpse that was disturbing small children. At 4 p. m. , constables enlisted other scavengers to load the body into a police van, so that the constables wouldnt catch the diseases that trash-pickers were known to carry.
Thousands of people pass by and see the injured man, but no one sent him to the hospital. What a tragedy Humanity is diminishing. This community is too apathy. Because there is no benefit for helping the man, and people dont want to get into trouble, then this man dead. Same example as I mentioned before, Mr. Kamble ask help for Asha, but Asha envy of Mr. Kamble and think his payment is less, so she rejects to give any practical help to him. It is hard to improve a country that no one helps each other and share experiences.
As you can see, Annawadis corruption through health care, education, and relationship in peoples life. Corruption makes the community dark. All the thing that people care about is money and themselves. People who give doctor and under-the-table money can become healthy and strong then go to work to make money, and people who cannot afford it lost job and waiting for death. Therefore, the wealth gap become larger and larger. Education also makes this issue worse. To better the country, the government need to focus on health care and education. People need have a closer relationship, to help others, to share.
