India's position remains unchanged on corruption index By Vishnu Makhijani, Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi, Aug 29 (IANS) India's image as a corrupt country has remained static over the past one year while China, Pakistan and Russia have improved their image somewhat, a global anti-graft watchdog has reported. While India remained static at 2.7 on a scale of 10 for the second successive year, China improved from 3.1 to 3.5, Pakistan from 2.3 to 2.6 and Russia from 2.3 to 2.7, Transparency International reported in its annual corruption perception index (CPI). The higher the rating, the less corrupt a country is considered to be. Corruption levels hamper a country's growth since they directly impact on the levels of foreign investment, a measure of a nation's potential for development, the watchdog contends. Statistics on this are revealing. During 2001-02, India attracted foreign direct investment worth $4 billion; China received $46.6 billion during the fiscal. In the case of Pakistan, the figure was $484.7 million, an increase of 33 percent from $332.4 million in 2000-01. "Foreign direct investment in a country is directly linked to its perceived levels of corruption. Every one percent rise in corruption levels decreases FDI up to five percent," C.M. Ramakrishnan, vice-chairman of Transparency International India, told IANS. "Politicians in India have paid lip service to the fight against corruption, they have failed to crack down on corruption to break the vicious circle of poverty and graft," Ramakrishnan contended. "Pakistan might not have democracy but the military regime seems to have taken steps to improve its systems and its image, though this is not to suggest that corruption is not rampant in Pakistan. It seems that the levels are lower than in India. "Russia had been in the grip of the mafia since the break up of the Soviet Union but the present government seems to be moving to restore order," Ramakrishna contended. Just how serious India was about tackling corruption was evident from the just-enacted ordinance on poll reforms that had ignored a Supreme Court directive asking candidates to declare their assets before contesting elections, he said. "Ethics and morality have taken a back seat. Indian politicians seem hell bent on undermining the system," Ramakrishnan lamented, holding that this would send negative signals to foreign investors. "An investor looks at two countries and wonders where there is a better chance of him getting his money back. If he feels A is less corrupt than B, that's where he will go." For over two years, Ramakrishnan pointed out, the Indian arm of Transparency International had been pleading for the creation of an ombudsman to control graft in public and for reforms to overhaul the judiciary at the middle and lower levels. "Our self-serving political establishment will never enact laws that are needed to come to grips with the cancerous growth of corruption," said TII chairman Admiral (retired) R.H. Tahiliani, a former navy chief. Transparency International has rated Finland as the least corrupt with a rating of 9.7 out of 10. Bangladesh is at the bottom of the list of 102 countries surveyed with a rating of 1.2. With a rating of 5.3, Singapore has been ranked the least corrupt among Asian countries, ahead of nations like Britain, Canada, Germany and the U.S. The ratings were drawn up on the basis of independent surveys conducted by eight different organisations like Gallup International, Economist Intelligence Unit, Columbia University and PricewaterhouseCoopers. --Indo-Asian News Service =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-W-E-B---S-I-T-E-=-=-= To Subscribe/Unsubscribe from GoaNet | http://www.goacom.com/goanet =================================================================== For (un)subscribing or for help, Contact: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Dont want so many e=mails? Join GoaNet-Digest instead ! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Help support non-commercial projects in Goa by advertizing!! * * * * Your ad here !!
