Corruption: India Slips 6 Places As Lower Level Corruption Is On The Rise
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
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By Linus Garg
First publised on 2021-01-29 08:32:34
About the Author
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
View all posts by this Author
Although the NDA government is perceived to be doing a lot against corruption and corrupt practices and Prime Minister Modi is seen as an honest leader in successive national polls, India's unimproved score and slippage by 6 spots in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), 2020 shows that something is seriously wrong somewhere and the government's efforts are not bearing fruit at the grassroots level. Otherwise, why would people perceive the country to be corrupt?
Although Transparency International (TI), which conducts the survey before publishing the yearly CPI for 180 countries, said that Indiaâs CPI at 40 remained constant from last year, it slipped as others gained. New Zealand and Denmark emerged as joint toppers with a score of 88, while Somalia and South Sudan were at the bottom with just 12.
As far as corruption is concerned, the situation has not improved with the coming of the NDA is most government departments. Although the government has made a push for transparency and online tenders and direct cash transfers to weed out corrupt practices, one feels that the situation has actually worsened. Nothing moves in most government departments without 'speed' or 'cut' money (although the Centre and some state governments are doing exemplary work in making public services accessible to citizens without hindrance and bribes) and the citizens are harassed and fleeced everywhere for getting what is theirs by right.
The government has to do a lot more to weed out corruption in government departments and push further to take most services online under the Digital India push. It also has to cut the red tape and reduce the paperwork from all services. As long as bureaucrats and clerks get the opportunity to harass citizens for this or that paper, they can demand bribes. If processes are well defined and online, the harassing power of government employees will decrease and so will corruption.
