India slips to 85th spot on corruption list
New Delhi: Corruption in the police force, politics and the lower judiciary has dragged India further down in the transparency list, placing the country at the 85th spot among 180 countries. Last year, India had been placed 72nd. India’s integrity score too has slipped from 3.5 on a scale of 10 in 2007 to 3.4 this year.
Transparency International’s (TI) annual study has rated Denmark and New Zealand as the best while Iraq, Afghanistan and Myanmar have been declared three of the five most corrupt. TI India’s chairperson R H Tahiliani said sluggish reforms in major sectors like power and banking had also contributed to India’s slide in a big way.
India slips to 85 on corruption index
The cash-for-votes scandal that marred the July 22 trust vote might well have cost India a few points on the transparency index as it has slid to the 85th slot in terms of the global ranking for corruption from 72nd last year.
The fall by 13 places may not surprise those who have had a brush with its governing mechanisms, but it’s not the report card an economy growing at 8% would expect. Even a small improvement would’ve been welcome but the usual suspects—police, politics, and lower judiciary—pulled down the score.
India seemed to have been hurt by sluggish reforms in sectors like power, banking and insurance, slow progress on regulatory processes, lack of transparency in government contracts and non-passage of bills like the Lok Pal legislation.
India’s integrity score on a scale of 10 has gone down from 3.5 in 2007 to 3.4 this year, but other nations have improved. At 85, India is pretty much in the middle of the Corruption Perception Index of 180 nations. Given its size and politics, a comparison with high-scoring Nordic countries would be out of place, but even holding the 72nd slot would have been consolation.
Transparency International ranked Denmark, New Zealand, Sweden, Singapore and Finland as the five least corrupt nations. Britain came 16th and Japan shared the 18th slot with the US. Afghanistan, Haiti, Iraq, Myanmar and Somalia were the most corrupt nations.