I am an Electrical Engineer by profession and work in a multinational oil and gas company. I want to tell you a short story in connection with the recent budget. Some years back, Koffi Annan, the then President of UNO, was on an official visit of Pakistan and by accident he met a poor Pakistani lady named Najma.
The lady told him she was a widow with two girls, both hospitalised and has no source of income. One of the hospitalized is a victim of cancer while the other is suffering from heart disease and she needs Rs 1,000,000 to tackle her financial problems. Koffi Annan sympathised with her and assured her that he would arrange Rs 10 lacs for her.
However, he made it clear that all the money would be transferred to her account through proper channels ie the government structure. He took personal interest in her problem and ordered his subordinate to make arrangements for the transfer of money.
The very next day, Prime Minister of Pakistan received a call from Koffi Annan's secretary, who informed the PM that Rs 1,000,000 had been transferred to the government of Pakistan and they were required to give it to the needy widow (Najma) as soon as possible. The PM called the President and informed him that Rs 500,000 have been provided by Koffi Annan for Najma and arrangements were needed to make this transfer.
President co-ordinated with the provincial official and notified him that Rs 300,000 were to be awarded to Najma from Koffi Annan. The provincial official made a phone call to the City Nazim that Rs 100,000 were to be given to Najma from Koffi Annan. The City Nazim called Nazim of Najma's area that Najma was blessed with Rs 20,000 so that she could spend it on her daughters' health. At the end, Najma received the call from local Nazim that Koffi Annan had sent her "best wishes".
The characters of this story are fictitious ones but happenings and events are as per our reality today. This is the way government allocated fund for the poor (if any) is distributed. Level of the corruption goes up as you climb the hierarchy. Rung by rung, deceit and deception for mundane wishes increase in intensity and scale. It has been proved for more than 60 years now and the story is still finding its application with minor modifications.
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