The annual Corruption Perceptions Index highlights a truism among experts in development: Conflict creates the kinds of shortages and desperation that breed corruption, making ordinary citizens prey to government officials, shopkeepers, and rebel warlords. Corruption even works its way into the very institutions set up to alleviate suffering among non-combatants, such as peacekeepers and aid workers.
Customs are often perceived as one of the most corrupt institutions in developing countries. Though difficult and complex, fighting corruption in customs is possible but requires an approach that is less centered on transposition of norms and practices from developed countries.
India among most corrupt nations
To start, the Nordic countries are a safe bet for business, with Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway all among the least corrupt nations. Rounding out the top five are New Zealand, tied for first with Denmark with a score of 91, and Singapore, tied with Norway for No. 5.
A Somali man walks in front of a high-rise apartment building under construction in Mogadishu on Nov. 4. Somalia, along with North Korea, is seen as the most-corrupt country in the world, according to the Corruption Perception Index released today by Transparency International. Farah Abdi Warsameh/AP hide caption
Four Scandinavian nations and New Zealand are the world's least corrupt countries while North Korea and Somalia are the most corrupt, according to the Corruption Perception Index released today by Transparency International.
The group also called on rich countries to do more to prevent money laundering and to prevent secret companies from hiding corruption. It urged the nations at the top of the index to create public registers that would make clear who owns every company. Denmark already has such a measure, and Ukraine and the U.K. are in the process of creating one.
India is followed by Vietnam on the number 2 spot with a bribery rate of 65%. Of all 16 countries surveyed, people in Vietnam (and Malaysia) were the most negative about the situation in their country. As per the report, as many as 60 pct of the Vietnamese people believe that their government is doing a poor job of combatting corruption.
On the fourth spot is Pakistan with a bribery rate of 40 pct as three-fourths of respondents perceive most or all of the police to be corrupt. 7 out of 10 people admitted that they had to pay a bribe to the police or the courts. The fifth and the last spot went to Myanmar with a bribery rate of 40 pct. About half of the respondents believe that most or all police are corrupt but at the same time, less than a fourth believe corruption has increased over the last year.
New Delhi, October 20The talks between China and India on the vexed border issue have entered a new stage of "setting forth major guiding principles" taking into account the strategic, long-term perspective and deeper level of mutual adjustments.Highly guarded in directly expressing Beijing's support to India's bid for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), Chinese state councillor Tang Jiaxuan expressed optimism about the future prospects of the talks on the border question.Mr Tang, however, said China endorsed India's stand to play a "more important role in international affairs and the UNSC for world peace and development."On the vexed border issue, the visiting leader who now oversees China's foreign policy, emphasised that in his 44-year experience he has found resolving border disputes to be the most difficult and time-consuming task. "Such negotiations are based on continental interests and the sentiments of the people of the two countries," he added.Mr Tang, former foreign minister, told a select group of mediapersons here that the negotiations had to be positive and prudent along with protecting the interests of other nations. "All out efforts have to be made to reach a just and mutually acceptable solution. Such negotiations are very sensitive in the regional context and at home. It will take some time and both sides need the opportunity to settle the boundary question at an early date," he said.He said a "very good start" had been made in the three rounds of talks between the special emissaries of the two countries on the boundary issue. In this context he spoke about National Security Adviser J.N. Dixit going to Beijing next month for a new round of negotiations. On the specific issue of the alignment of the Line of Actual Control (LAC), Mr Tang said the matter had entered a new stage.He said China's stand had been most consistent and unequivocal on the Kashmir issue. "We support India in its endeavours to settle the Kashmir issue through peaceful means." On measures taken by Pakistan to control terrorism from its soil, Mr Tang said China had expressed its concerns in this regard to Islamabad and impressed upon them to adopt more forceful methods to tackle this problem.Mr Tang drew pointed attention to China and Russia settling their border dispute which was more complicated.Similarly, the proposition of the leaders of China and India is to end quarrels and move ahead on the principles of mutual understanding and concessions, he added.On dealing with terrorism, Mr Tang said his country was also a victim of this menace and Al Qaida. Terrorism was the common enemy of mankind in defiance of peace, development and stability. "We are willing to cooperate with India to fight terrorism. It is necessary to study the symptoms and root cause of this problem for dealing with it in a comprehensive manner."
India has been ranked lower in corruption than neighbouring Pakistan but higher than China by graft watchdog Transparency International in a survey released on Tuesday. Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia have been ranked as the world's most corrupt countries while Denmark and New Zealand are nearly squeaky-clean.
Worldwide, almost 70% of nations are thought to have a "serious problem" with public servants on the take, and none of the 177 countries surveyed this year got a perfect score, said the Berlin-based non-profit group.
"That's what you see when you look at the countries at the bottom. Within those countries, it's also poor people who get hurt the most. These countries will never get out of the poverty trap if they don't tackle corruption."
Going by a survey report of anti-corruption global civil society organisation Transparency International (TI), it is clear that PM Modi's efforts have started bearing fruit. Though the report, titled 'People and corruption: Asia Pacific - Global corruption barometer', concluded that India was the most corrupt country in Asia, it also inferred that the people were optimistic about the efforts being made by the government to root out corruption.
The report says only one in five people thought the level of corruption had decreased recently, while two in five thought the level of corruption had increased and a further one third had seen no change. "People in China were most likely to think the level of corruption had increased recently - nearly three quarters of people said corruption had risen. This compares with just 14 per cent in Thailand who reported corruption had increased," it said.
According to the report, a half of people in the region said that their government was doing a bad job at fighting corruption, while around two in five said that they were doing a good job. "People in India, Indonesia and Thailand were most positive about their governments' efforts, with over a half saying they were doing well. In contrast over three quarters of people in South Korea rated their government badly at addressing corruption," it said.
The report said the people in South Korea were most likely to rate their government as doing badly at stopping graft. Over three quarters rated their government badly (76 per cent). Governments in Hong Kong, Vietnam, Japan, Mongolia, and Malaysia were perceived to be doing badly at fighting corruption by six in 10 of their citizens (from 60 per cent to 62 per cent).
The TI report stated that across the region, nearly two in five said that they thought most or all police officers were corrupt, which was the highest of any group. In addition, just under a third of people in the region who had come into contact with a police officer in the last 12 months had paid a bribe, which was the highest of any service we asked about.It further said the law and order institutions in Pakistan were the most likely of any country that TI surveyed to accept bribes - around seven in 10 people who came into contact with either the police or the courts had to pay a bribe (75 per cent and 68 per cent respectively).
On this topic, the TI report said only 7 per cent of bribe payers in the survey said that they had actually reported it to the authorities. "The main reason most corruption incidents went unreported was because people were afraid of the consequences, followed by a belief that it would not make a difference and a lack of awareness of the appropriate reporting channels," it said.
Across the different corruption issues covered in the survey, the report said, citizens in Malaysia and Vietnam were the most negative in the region across five of the key questions in the survey. People in Australia were the most positive.
The Fiscal Monitor shows that countries with lower levels of perceived corruption have significantly less waste in public investment projects. We estimate that the most corrupt emerging market economies waste twice as much money as the least corrupt ones.
Corruption also distorts government priorities. For example, among low-income countries, the share of the budget dedicated to education and health is one-third lower in more corrupt countries. It also impacts the effectiveness of social spending. In more corrupt countries school-age students have lower test scores.
The effects of these forces are difficult to tease apart, because the poorest nations are often also the most corrupt. To try to isolate these influences, we quantified a global relationship between national corruption8 and a nation's per capita income9. It showed that some nations are more corrupt than anticipated. It is in these countries that about 83% of all deaths from earthquakes in the past three decades have occurred. 2ff7e9595c
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