The Hindu : National : India 70th in world corruption index

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 08, 2006
ePaper

National

National

India 70th in world corruption index

Special Correspondent

Correlation between corruption and poverty

NEW DELHI: India has been listed in the 70th position along with eight countries, in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) for 2006. But, despite being bracketed with the second half of countries, India has made "a significant improvement in perceived levels of corruption" along with Algeria, the Czech Republic, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon, Mauritius, Paraguay, Slovenia, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uruguay, the watchdog organisation said.

Worsening ones

Countries with "a significant worsening in perceived levels of corruption" include the U.S., Jordan, Israel, Tunisia, Brazil, Cuba, Laos, Seychelles and Trinidad & Tobago.

The CPI is a composite index that draws on multiple expert opinion surveys measuring perceived levels of public sector corruption in 163 countries. Finland, Iceland and New Zealand share the top spot (as the least corrupt), followed by Denmark in the fourth position. Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland are perceived to be the fifth, sixth and seventh least corrupt countries.

Correlation

The latest CPI, launched on Monday, points to a strong correlation between corruption and poverty, with a concentration of impoverished states at the bottom of the ranking.

"Corruption traps millions in poverty," said Transparency International Chair Huguette Labelle.

"Despite a decade of progress in establishing anti-corruption laws and regulations, today's results indicate that much remains to be done before we see meaningful improvements in the lives of the world's poorest citizens."

"A strong correlation between corruption and poverty is evident in the results of CPI 2006. Almost three-quarters of the countries in the CPI score below five (including all low-income countries and all but two African states) indicating that most countries face serious perceived levels of domestic corruption. Seventy one countries — nearly half — score below three, indicating that corruption is perceived as rampant. Haiti has the lowest score at 1.8; Guinea, Iraq and Myanmar share the penultimate slot, each with a score of 1.9," said a TI release.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National