Transparency International's corruption report of 180 countries was released on Tuesday (January 30). It revealed that corruption has been on the rise in India over the past year, increasing incrementally from 2022 to 2023. In the report's Corruption Perception Index (CPI), India was ranked at 93rd place in 2023, whereas a year ago in 2022, India was at 85th place. In this ranking, the country at number 1 is the least corrupt and the country at number 180 is the most corrupt. According to the report, India’s neighbouring country China is at 76th position and Pakistan is at 133rd position.
Report's Corruption Perception:
India has come down to 93rd place in the index in 2023, while a year ago in 2022, India was at 85th position. In this ranking, the country at number 1 has the least corruption and the country at number 180 has the most corruption. According to the report, Denmark was at top of the rankings while Somalia was at the bottom. India saw a dip of 8 places, ranking 85th in 2022 and 93rd in the most recent report.
For this index, experts from Transparency International assess corruption in the public sector of every country. After this, every country is given a score between 0 to 100. The more corruption a country has, the lower score it is given. On this basis the ranking in the index is determined.
India's score has been set at 39 in the 2023 report released today. In 2022, this score was 40. Due to loss of just one number, India has slipped down 8 places.
Modi Government did not improve the situation:
If we compare the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government headed by Congress from 2005 to 2013 and the current NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government led by BJP, there has not been a significant improvement in the situation. India’s ranking did improve in the matter regarding corruption in 2006-07 during which India was at 70th and 72nd position.
During the last period of UPA rule i.e. in 2013, India slipped to 94th position. The best situation during the tenure of NDA was in 2015, when India had reached 76th position in the world ranking.
Here is a brief rundown of the situation of corruption in Asian countries:
In the countries of Asia, the average CPI score has remained around 45 for the last 5 years with only a few countries noticing a dip in Corruption. Corruption has gradually increased in most of the countries of Asia.
The score of 71 countries in Asia including India is below the average score here (45). The report claims that the leaders of these countries have not taken the issues of corruption seriously. Besides, the free press has also been attacked in these countries. This has increased the cases of corruption.
China has sentenced 3.7 million government officials involved in corruption in the last decade, the report said. It was discussed all over the world, but China did not take strict steps to reduce corruption in its institutions. This raises doubts on their policies, according to experts.
The report states that there is a burden of debt and political instability in Pakistan and Sri Lanka. However, due to the strong judiciary in these countries, corruption has been controlled to some extent. At the same time, Bangladesh (149) has emerged from the status of Least Developed Countries (LDC). There has been economic development here and poverty has decreased.