Man crooked ... if gets chance
have you ever tried to solve a problem and it got worse? this is called the “cobra effect”.
during britain’s colonization of india (1858-1947), the authorities faced the problem of the presence of too many poisonous cobra snakes in the streets.
it was decided to offer a bounty for each dead cobra, so the plan succeeded, and their numbers in the streets decreased, but the number of dead cobras which fetched the reward continued to rise.
after research, it was found that the residents started raising snakes in their homes, then killed them to get the reward, so the reward project stopped.
the people then released the snakes because they were now valueless and the situation became worse than it was before. this example applies to many things we have encountered over the past few decades.
for example, the government tried to reduce road congestion by stopping the issuance of driving licenses, except in the narrowest limits.
after a few months, it became clear that the number of cars did not decrease but rather increased, with the increase in demand for drivers, so many resorted to paying officials to obtain a driver''s license, so the traffic problem remained the same, and the bribes increased.
to reduce the number of cars on the crowded streets of mexico, the authorities have limited the cars that are allowed to be driven on all days of the week by the last number of their license plates. the congestion decreased a lot for a short time, only to rise again.
years ago, our government also decided to increase the number of citizens working in religious sectors, including muezzins, imams of mosques, and teachers of islamic education. it encouraged their enrollment in religious schools, institutes, and colleges, and gave them financial rewards.
after a while, it became clear that almost no one wants to work in the subjects they have specialized in, with the continued increase in the use of non-kuwaiti imams and muezzins.
the reason is that most students of religious subjects joined it for the ease of its study materials, considering their certificates a launchpad to get better jobs, whether through waste or otherwise.
with time, government agencies stopped absorbing all graduates of religious schools, so unemployment increased among those who were not qualified to do anything other than what they studied, so the magic turned on the magician.
after the corona pandemic, the government decided a good initiative, to reward those who sacrificed and risked standing in the front lines in the face of the deadly and contagious disease and asked all government agencies to submit lists of these names.
the reaction came strong and fast, as the government received too many requests that included the names of thousands of those who did not deserve them, whether with false testimonies from those who issued them.
the state was forced to pay billions of dollars in compensation, a large part of which went to those who did not deserve it, a lot of public money was lost, and to increase the number of counterfeiters including citizens, residents, and others who claim piety.
