The Corruption Which is Associated with Annawadi People - Essay Example

The divisions between the houses are made of sheets and aluminium scrap that you can smell and even hear everything from the neighbour’s house and a house partitioned with bricks even if not safe enough, was a sign of upward mobility. The presence of the rats, cockroaches, sewage and the garbage heaps are an indicator of the poor hygienic conditions in Annawadi (Boo, 2012). Most of the residents of Annawadi make a living by collecting scrap metal and waste bottles from garbage heaps and selling them to a middleman, Abdul who then sorts them out and resells them to the recyclers.

By the time Mrs Boo came to Annawadi, only six out of the 3000 inhabitants of Annawadi were employed (Boo, 2012) . With the prevailing economic conditions in Annawadi, corruption is viewed as an opportunity to get ahead in life and the law and its representatives are viewed as the enemy of the people (Boo, 2012). In as much as some of the inhabitants of the slum would like to live honest and corrupt free lives, the circumstances would not allow them. Corruption is manifested in many different ways; an excellent example is that the local police abuse their authority by extorting money from the residents.

When they learn that a family in the slum is making some money, they visit the home every other day to extort some money as was a case where a constable Pawar brutalized a homeless girl, little Deepa, who sold flowers by the Hyatt. For Abdul, bribe represented the only chance for him to be served justice and set free after being falsely accused of setting fire on Fatima ‘The one leg’ after a dispute. Abdul is a garbage merchant who runs a business without a licence, buying recyclable garbage from garbage scavengers.

The garbage he buys range from plastic bottles to stolen scrap metal. He then sorts them out and sells to the recyclers. Through this business, he can support his large family since his father is a sick man. Abduls 14 year old brother goes to