The report released
in Berlin shows that India moved up nine places, which is good news, but the bad news is that the country’s score is still 38. This means levels of corruption have remained, more or less, the same, but because nine other countries fared badly we moved up. The 78th position among 168 countries means we are around the half-way mark. One thought one and half year of Narendra Modi’s rule would have sent the country all the way to the 40s region, but that did not happen. The fact that our score did not change means Modi’s anti-corruption campaign was just a lot of hot air. The promise to bring back black money never materialized. It never should have been made in the first place, but then political campaigns are filled with promises which cannot be fulfilled. Corruption in India
is endemic and efforts are being made to reduce it by curbing
discretionary powers of politicians as well as bureaucrats. The
journey towards a cleaner and more transparent system is a
long and gradual one which can be speeded up if laws like
time-bound delivery of service and right to information are
given more teeth.
