The Hindu Business Line : India fares better on corruption index

For the first time, India has come in for special praise by Transparency International, the Berlin-based watchdog tracking corruption in individual countries across the world.

TI's 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index surveyed 163 countries, the largest number ever, based on multiple expert opinion surveys. It scores countries on a scale from zero to 10, with zero indicating high levels of perceived corruption and ten indicating low levels.

FINLAND TOPS

Finland (score 9.6) has been ranked first, with Singapore (9.4), the only Asian entry in the top 10, running up a close second. The next best Asian performance was by Hong Kong (8.3, rank 15). Haiti has the lowest score at 1.8; Guinea, Iraq and Myanmar share the penultimate slot.

India (3.3, rank 70 compared to 2.9 and 88 last year) has been listed among those "with a significant improvement in perceived levels of corruption." Also on this list are Japan (7.6, rank 18), Mauritius, Turkey and Turkmenistan.

The BRIC (Brazil-Russia-India-China) entity lay in tatters at least from the point of view of perceived corruption, with only China (3.3, rank 70) being assigned the same rank as India. Though scoring on par, Brazil (3.3, rank 70, as against 3.7, rank 62 last year) has been grouped under those with a "significant worsening" levels. Russia (2.5, rank 121) wallowed way below the rung as it did the last year (2.4, rank 126). Interestingly, the US (7.3, rank 20 against 7.6, rank 20) also has been bracketed alongside.

The 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index, launched in Berlin on Monday, pointed to a strong correlation between corruption and poverty, with a concentration of impoverished states at the bottom of the ranking.