India ranks 93 out of 180 countries in corruption perceptions index 2023
New Delhi, Jan 30: India ranked 93 out of 180 countries on the corruption perceptions index for 2023 as its overall score remained largely unchanged, according to a Transparency International report.
The index, which ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and business people, uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
In 2023, India's overall score was 39 while in 2022, it was 40. India's rank in 2022 was 85.
"India (39) shows score fluctuations small enough that no firm conclusions can be drawn on any significant change. However, ahead of the elections, India sees further narrowing of civic space, including through the passage of a (telecommunication) bill that could be a 'grave threat' to fundamental rights," the report said.
In South Asia, both Pakistan (133) and Sri Lanka (115) grapple with their respective debt burdens and ensuing political instability, it said.
"However, the two countries have strong judicial oversight, which is helping to keep the government in check. The Supreme Court of Pakistan strengthened citizens' right to information by expanding this right under Article 19A of its Constitution to previously restricted institutions," it said.
The report said as Bangladesh (149) emerges from the least developed country (LDC) status, with economic growth supporting a continued reduction in poverty and improving living conditions, the flow of information on the public sector is hindered amidst an ongoing crackdown against the press.
Noting that China (76) has made headlines with its aggressive anti-corruption crackdown by punishing more than 3.7 million public officials for corruption over the last decade, the report said a closer study of the cases with guilty verdicts found that public officials often use corruption as a way to drive up their income.
However, the country's heavy reliance on punishment rather than institutional checks on power raises doubts over the long-term effectiveness of such anti-corruption measures, the report said.
The report said as the Asia Pacific region faces a big 2024 election year, with people coming out to vote in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Solomon Islands, South Korea and Taiwan, the 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) reveals another year of little to no meaningful progress towards curbing corruption.
"For five years in a row, the average CPI score for the region stagnates stubbornly at 45 out of a possible 100. Very few countries show sustained turnarounds that indicate significant changes in corruption levels and several historically at the top are slowly declining," it said.
Seventy-one per cent of the countries across Asia and the Pacific have a CPI score below the regional average score of 45 and the global average of 43 out of 100. These weak scores reflect the lack of delivery by elected officials on anti-corruption agendas, together with crackdowns on organised civil society and attacks on freedoms of press, assembly and association, the report said.
"Countries with continued high scores, such as New Zealand (3) and Singapore (5), maintain their positions at the top of the index globally, followed closely by other countries with stronger corruption control mechanisms, such as Australia (14), Hong Kong (14), Japan (16), Bhutan (26), Taiwan (28) and South Korea (32)," it said.
The bottom of the index includes fragile states with authoritarian regimes, including North Korea (172) and Myanmar (162). Afghanistan (162) continues to face one of the worst humanitarian crises in history.
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Will allow only individuals with more than two children to contest local body polls: Andhra CM
Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) (PTI): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said that an individual can become a sarpanch, municipal councillor or a mayor only if he/she has more than two children, hinting that it will arrest the falling population.
Naidu said he will bring out policies to encourage people to have more children.
"At one time, individuals with many children were not allowed to contest the panchayat (election) or local bodies. Now what I am saying is that individuals with lower numbers of children cannot contest. You will be a sarpanch, municipal councillor, corporation chairman or a mayor only if you have more than two children," he told reporters in Naravaripalle here recently.
According to the CM, North India may lose its advantage of having a stable fertility rate in about 15 years.
The TDP supremo noted that the older generations had more children, while the current generation brought it down to one child and also highlighted that some 'smart' people nowadays are going for double income no kids (DINK) concept to enjoy.
"Your parents bore four to five children and you reduced it to one. Even smarter people now are saying double income no kids let us enjoy. If their parents had thought like them, they would not have come into this world," he said.
All countries made this mistake, and we have to make the decision at the right time, said Naidu, adding that the importance of having more children was not stressed and the situation went out of hand.
Citing countries like South Korea and Japan and continental Europe, he said people in those places did not realise the danger of plummeting populations but only focused on creating wealth, raising income and taking those countries forward.
"Now they need people, we have to send them. We came to that situation," Naidu added.
Early this month, Naidu flagged the falling birthrates and said India should not repeat the mistakes committed by other countries such as South Korea and Japan, where birthrates have plummeted.
The CM said some couples are averse to having children nowadays because they do not want to share the money they earned and use those riches for their own enjoyment.
Naidu, in October last year, said there was a need to manage the population in Andhra Pradesh given that there will be an increase in the aging population.
"Till 2047, we will have the demographic dividend, there will be more youngsters. After 2047, there will be more old people…if less than two children are given birth (per woman), then the population will reduce. If you (each woman) give birth to more than two children, then the population will increase," Naidu had said.
