Small pleasure of life

I have just retreated after browsing through the day's headlines (in a Dhaka daily). Corrupt practices breed a lot of evil activities, at all levels of the society. The list makes unpleasant reading (abridged here for lack of space).

The recent fire in a garments (knitwear) factory in Narayanganj is alleged to be masterminded by the owners, who owe Taka one and a half crore in unpaid salaries of the workers. Besides, they would get insurance money from the evil mishap. The CNG filling station are coming up fast (plus useless fare meters), but the equipment imported are cheap and unreliable, and the service staff are unskilled and untrained (no news about training and monitoring).

The majority of the RMG factories are not properly equipped with fire-fighting and safety measures for emergency situations ( locked gates, poor monitoring, no regular drills). The majority of the BTTB card telephone booths are not working, due to negligent maintenance and non-availability of spares for the old equipment imported, and corrupt practices by the private telephone booths.

The civil service has broken down, Rab may be used to evict illegal usurpers of lands and properties (starting with metro Dhaka). The Income Tax department is traditionally loyal to their dishonest manoeuvres. Needless medical diagnostic tests have become hot business, and such testing centres are as popular as the numerous coaching centres for students (the teachers are engaged in double sources of earning extra money). The official pay scales cannot keep pace with the modern needs of materialistic life.

Many NGOs and registered medical centres do not affix Tk revenue stamp to money receipts, for the government to have some income from a traditional source of revenue. In Rajuk, the visitors suffer as the staff can never find the relevant files for quick one-stop-service. The DCC is always looking for useless civil construction projects to keep the hangers on happy. The tender procedure is no longer tender, safe and soft.

The public is getting violence-prone, The DU campus area is not safe, as 'educated' muggers lurk around for some daily pocket money. Politics (a public service) is now violence-prone, and is controlled by hired musclemen, as it is a big and constant source of easy earning. The educational sector is riddled with graft and unfair means. Only cowards are neutral, in the public service sector!

The regime is busy with the next general election many, many months away. Religious intolerance is now a global issue, and sucking away the wealth of the rich nations. Terrorism is an evil offspring of the manipulations of hard-crusted leaders. Life today is fragmented and synthetic--digital bickering does not believe in smooth analogue output.

When the roots are artificial, why bother about the roots and branches?