by ANDREW BUNCOMBE
The sad truth is that in both India and Pakistan, as elsewhere in South Asia, corruption is endemic within everyday life. People, especially the poor, pay bribes to police, government officials and middlemen. Politicians, powerful businessman and, in Pakistan, feudal landowners conspire together to enrich themselves and maintain their status. So-called “black money” represents a parallel economy.
And yet rarely do such issues get properly discussed. While individual cases of corruption are highlighted and exposed, a broader national conversation about the way corruption permeates every aspect of life, is – perhaps for obvious reasons – never held.
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