Gen Ed 3 Sip

Good morning Teachers and friends.

I am Soon Meng Yao, a concerned citizen of India.

Every day I wake up, open up my newspapers, and the number of times I read news on politicians denying corruption accusations is comparable to the number of breaths I took since birth.

This is a major problem! Our country’s future is at stake! Based on corruption index, we are only given a score of 38/100! Any person who have taken tests before would know that is a fail! We need capable leaders to lead our country! And we need to take action now!

First of all, SGD3200, is what our Prime Minister receive per month. Now imagine, how much are our normal ministers are being paid. Imagine again, what happens when you are given a job of authority but with a low pay. Bribery.

Secondly, our government is not transparent at all. I will just give 1 example. When Association of Democratic Reform sought and demanded information regarding the political financing of the 6 national parties in India. And guess what? Only 1 party (Communist Party of India) disclosed all the necessary information. The rest? Either do not reply or give stupid reasons. Probably because a large bulk of their financing arises from black money.

What would happen to my country if corruption is to continue?

Let’s talk about on the economic level. First of all, India is the 4th largest coal producer in the world. However, India’s economy is not doing very well, the annual GDP growth rate has dropped from 10% to 5%. Why is this happening? Reason being India lacked credibility abroad, deterring investors from investing in the country. If nothing is done to stop corruption, my country is going to suffer economically.

What will happen to people like us?

Well, the rich will continue to get richer, the poor will continue to get poorer. Given that our Indian government had kindly offered their hands to help the poor by funding their welfare, Below Poverty Line (BPL) ration cards are given such that they are able to afford food at a very cheap price. However, because of the lack of proper supervision and accountability, the genuinely poor are being excluded whilst the ineligible get several cards and middlemen for the distribution/selling of food are consuming a proportion of the stock meant for them! This is just 1 of the many examples the welfare schemes are being taken advantaged by the rich and if this were to continue, the disparity among the rich and the poor will only worsen.