LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 17:5 May 2017
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Portrayal of Poverty and Corruption Ridden Postcolonial India in
Aravind Adiga’s The White Tiger

Sanjib Kr Biswas
Dr. Smriti Singh, M.A., Ph.D.
Indian Institute of Technology Patna


Abstract

Most of the Third World countries in Asia and Africa have been going through extreme poverty in their postcolonial age. The political freedom, which they achieved from the European invaders after their prolonged struggle, could not free them from the ultimate servitude. Though the caste discrimination in India almost got slightly diminished after the Independence, the struggle among social classes has become prominent to a great extent and the upper class society has been subjugating the middle and lower classes to suit their own needs. Aravind Adiga’s Booker Prize winning novel The White Tiger (2008) explores the controversial issues of Indian poverty and corruption vividly in a setting of 1990s economically booming modern India. Adiga has shown how poverty has usurped the whole society where the poor people are deprived of the basic rights of free citizens, like education and health. They are exploited for the financial and political benefits of the upper class as well as by the government. Such exploitation leads the characters like Balram Halwai to indulge in betrayal, murder and adultery. This epistolary novel shows the hidden truth behind India’s entrepreneurship through the protagonist who becomes a “self-made entrepreneur” after committing murder of his master and usurping his wealth. This paper will investigate the poverty and corruption in postcolonial India as shown by Adiga along with the social injustice upon the downtrodden people.

Keywords: postcolonial, poverty, corruption, globalization, The White Tiger, class struggle

India as a Poor Country – Adiga’s The White Tiger

Few days ago, India erupted over the Snapchat CEO’s remark on India as a poor country and the same hatred was faced by Aravind Adiga when he published The White Tiger (2008) focusing the poor Indians and the corrupted Indian politicians and entrepreneurs. The prestigious Booker Prize winner novelist Aravind Adiga is a Chennai-born Oxford educated fellow and his concern over the poor and the downtrodden of India is truly very insightful in the novel. Despite leading a luxurious life, Adiga has felt from his heart that India needs global attention to focus on the extreme suffering of the masses living under the poverty level without the benefits of health, sanitary system, food and education. Henry F. Carey, in his scholarly article “The Postcolonial State and the Protection of Human Rights” focuses on how the nations in Asia and Africa possess very poor records of protecting the human rights of their citizens in their postcolonial age. The writer broadly discusses that the existence of neo-imperialism and the economical domination which were created under the colonial rule, still control the postcolonial nations like India, by their own elite groups. Only the authority has been changed from the colonial masters to the upper class landlords and industrial magnates. Carey suggests that India and other developing countries should follow the way of liberal economic structure, not only theoretically, but also practically and they should get rid of their hatred against the western capital and investment. While discussing the postcolonial economical systems of India and Philippines, H. F. Carey remarks:
Repression is more or less as common as in India; both countries are marked by more than one third of the population remaining in poverty in part because of the continuous oligarchic economy, which independence has been unable to reform. It is not true, however, as postcolonial theory suggests, that former colonies are always marked by the continuous hatred of the outsiders or their local clients. Indeed, both the Philippines and India, the 'jewels' in the US and British empires, are today marked by their friendliness toward foreigners and foreign capital. (62)

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Sanjib Kr Biswas
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
Indian Institute of Technology Patna
Amhara, Bihta.
Patna 801103
Bihar
India
sanjib.phs16@iitp.ac.in

Dr. Smriti Singh, M.A., Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
Indian Institute of Technology Patna
Amhara, Bihta
Patna 801103
Bihar
India
smritichotu@gmail.com

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