GS Paper II

News Excerpt:

India is ranked at 93 out of 180 countries on the corruption perceptions index (CPI) for 2023, according to the Transparency International report.

About the CPI:

• The CPI is released annually by Transparency International, an independent nonprofit organization that aims to fight corruption, especially in the public sector.
• The CPI is based on surveys of domestic and international business executives, financial journalists, and risk analysts. Therefore, it reflects the perceptions of experts and business elites, not of the general public.
• The CPI, being based on evaluations, is a valuable alternative source of information about the degree of illegal practices among civil servants and politicians in a given country.

Key points of the Index: 

• The 2023 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) shows that corruption is thriving across the world.
• The index ranks 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and business people, and uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
• Over two-thirds of countries score below 50 out of 100, which strongly indicates that they have serious corruption problems. 
• Most countries are largely failing to stop corruption, over 80 per cent of the world’s population lives in countries with CPI scores below the global average of 43.
• The vast majority of countries have made no progress or declined in the last decade.

Major reasons behind global decline:

• The rise of authoritarianism in some countries contributes to this trend, and even in democratic contexts, the mechanisms that keep governments in check have weakened. 
• Governments across the political spectrum have undermined justice systems, restricted civic freedoms and relied on non-democratic strategies to address recent challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Ongoing under-resourcing of the judiciary, police and other justice institutions, combined with insufficient levels of independence from other branches of government mean that corruption often goes unpunished.

India’s Position in CPI 2023:

• In 2023, India's overall score was 39 (93rd rank), while in 2022, it was 40. India's rank in 2022 was 85th.

• India (39) shows score fluctuations small enough that no firm conclusions can be drawn on any significant change.
• According to the CPI report, 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.

CPI Report on Asian region:

• Both Pakistan (133) and Sri Lanka (115) grapple with their respective debt burdens and ensuing political instability.
• But the two countries have strong judicial oversight, which is helping to keep the government in check.
• Although Bangladesh (149) emerges from the least developed country (LDC) status, the flow of information on the public sector is still hindered amidst an ongoing crackdown against the press.
• 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 country's heavy reliance on punishment rather than institutional checks on power raises doubts over the long-term effectiveness of such anti-corruption measures.

Top and Bottom scorers:

• Top scorers: 

• • 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).

• Bottom scorers:

• 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.

Conclusion:

This year’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) shows that only 28 of the 180 countries measured by this index have improved their corruption levels over the last twelve years, and 34 countries have significantly worsened. Despite progress made across the planet in criminalising corruption and establishing specialised institutions to address it, corruption levels remain stagnant globally. Corruption therefore remains a challenge that directly or indirectly harms most people.