Corruption
Corruption undermines economic growth, creates institutional mismanagement and hurts society by holding back economic development at all levels. Some governments do try to combat corruption, with well-publicised trials of officials. However, it is generally accepted that we all need to confront corruption in daily life to defeat it.
How does corruption affect your life? What can we do as individuals to fight it? How should we deal with those found guilty of corruption? Will we ever be free of it?
We cannot fight corruption when everyone sees it as a normal thing.
Veronica Kwabla, Accra
AIDS
The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) reported in June 2000:
» 19 million HIV/AIDS related deaths have occurred
» 4 million of those deaths were children under 15 years old
» 3 million people died in 1999 alone, nearly 500,000 were children in 1999, there was one AIDS related death every 11.2 seconds, and one new infection every 5.4 seconds nearly half of the population of sub-saharan teens and twenty-something adults are expected to die before or during their
Caste
Caste is the great wall of India. It is the bedrock on which Indian society is founded. Though the caste system is supported and sustained more than anything by scriptures of Hinduism,it has also penetrated deeply in other religions due to conversion of people from different castes. The caste is raising its ugly tentacles in different countries due to migrations of Indians. It is therefore not just a national issue, but it is an issue concerned with human race. Recently, the caste based discrmination was exposed in UK. The caste kills people, rapes women and humiliates human personality. The recent atrocity in the heartland of Buddhism in India, the Vidarbha, is an eyeopener. However this is just a tip of iceberg when compared to number of atrocities committed every hour in India in the name of caste.
Drugs
Punjab is facing a drug addiction and AIDS crisis (also read article1, article2). The menace of drug addiction and the AIDS epidemic in Punjab has reached an alarming proportion. There isn't a village that is not affected. A whole generation is as good as destroyed. Alcohol is not the only poison. There is opium, charas, ganja, mandrax, smack, heroin, cough syrups, shoe polish, lizard's tails to name a few.
