Bengal has been in the news a lot over the past few weeks, and all for the wrong reasons. The arrest of senior Minister and close Mamata Banerjee aide Partha Chatterjee, the discovery of huge mounds of currency and valuables from the apartments of his close lady associate, and then the arrest of Trinamool strongman Anubrata Mandal, have shamed Bengal.
But this is not really new. Bengal has become steeped in scams over the past decade. The chit fund scam, illegal coal, sand and stone mining scams and the teacher recruitment scam are the major ones to have hit the headlines.
Add to this the widespread ‘syndicate’ and extortion rackets, the culture of ‘cut money’, and corruption that has become commonplace in the state.
Bengal, till a few decades ago, produced leading scientists, doctors, engineers, professionals, artistes, academics, writers, intellectuals and public figures of sterling repute.
So why has Bengal degenerated into a ‘scam state’ where corruption and crime are so widespread, where unemployment is rife, where all organs of the state–and educational institutions as well–are heavily politicised, where many lead a subsistence existence, and a fog of gloom and pessimism envelops its all?
There are many answers to that weighty question, but the primary one–and from which all the other answers stem–is economic. The root of Bengal’s degeneration in all spheres–and the recent scams that have shamed the state are manifestations of that degeneration–lies…
