If asked to the 1.2 billion indians, the answer would be a unanimous yes.

The country has really

been reeling under the clutches of corruption for years. India has a worldwide corruption
perceptions ranking of 95.In a book on corruption by professor Bibek Debroy and Laveesh
Bhandari, they state that public officials corner about 92000 crores of rupees or 1.26% of GDP.
About a trillion dollars are stashed away in foreign havens.

While a few people are accumulating as much wealth as possible and stocking it for their future
generations, the bulk of the nation is striving hard to fulfill their basic needs.While India finds itself
in the top ten countries of the world in terms of GDP, it ranks 134 in terms of HDI. It is clearly seen
that even though the country is experiencing a high economic growth rates, basic living conditions
continue to be very poor. India is a country with highly rich resources , which it has been exploiting
for years.While Government is doing its due by passing various bills for the improvement of the
living conditions of the common man, it by far has failed to make a big impact.Bills like
NREGA,NRHM, FOOD SECURITY, RIGHT TO EDUCATION have immense potential in improving
Indias HDI. But the execution of these bills were very poor.The middle men between the
government and the common man, Public officials are the major culprits in the non deliverance of
the goods from the govt to the people.Its here , where the majority of corruption( if not in terms of
value, at least in terms of the numbers or the intensity) exists. It is mainly at this point where the
common people suffer the most.Their development is retarded.

India with 1.2 billion people can actually boast about its rich human resource if looked at it in a
different way.Human resource fetches itself the highest value compared to other resources
because it is this resource which makes use of the other resources. Without human resource,
other resources do not have any materialistic value. It is of utmost importance to convert most of
the population into assets rather than liabilities.It is here where the execution of the various
developmental schemes of the government comes into play. And its right here where corruption
presents itself as a large barrier. Looking at the trend of HDI of INDIA over the past decade or so,it
clearly highlights the role of corruption in stalling the country's development.

That's not all. Corruption has not only been a roadblock in india's path to development, but also
has brought shame to the country. Whenever India hosts a international event there is always
some sort of controversy causing embarrassment to the country.Take the example of Common
wealth games, or the Cricket world cup for that matter.These events were often looked upon as a
boost to the tourism industry, as a means to draw international attention, a sign of encouragement
to participate in sports.But corruption has always had its share of involvement abstaining the
smooth functioning of the events.

Corruption has crippled the country.There is a common notion that ' No work can be done in the
public offices without putting sufficient weight on your file.And its true to an a good extent.
Everyone of us have been a witness to this in some or the other form.Corruption has made the life
of common man difficult.The citizens of the country are so fed up that it required just one spark in
the form of anna hazare to create a revolution demanding for strong anti corruption laws.The
movement was so strong that most of the demands have already been met.The country is
experiencing a great revolution putting the past behind, towards a developed nations devoid of any
corruption.Hope the day is not far, when india can finally boast about its ''developed nation'' status
which it truly deserves.