by Rajesh Kumar Sinha 28 January 2022
An important factor that has largely been attributed to faster economic growth and development of a society or a nation, has been the level of its commercial/economic integrity and transparency. No wonder, we come across Scandinavian nations like Finland, Norway, Denmark, and others such as New Zealand, Singapore that are among the least corrupt nations who are economically developed and have stable political, economic systems. On the other hand, examples of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Angola, Yemen, Syria, South Sudan have a much higher rate of corruption in their public domains and are economically/politically unstable.
The latest report of Transparency International (TI), 2021 that deals with the existing levels of corruption through its Corruption Perception Index among the 180 countries of the world, has put Denmark (88 points out of 100), along with Finland and New Zealand at the top of the table. Interestingly, all three nations have been among the top-ranking nations for many years, suggesting that public probity and honesty remain a way of life in those countries.
At the same time, nations with a ranking of less than 50 points, regarded as among the most corrupt ones in respective public life and dealings, broadly remain the same ones. A large number of countries from Africa, Asia, and South America make the rankings while Europe and North America remain less bedevilled with the menace of corruption, if the TI rankings, is anything to go by.
Talking of South Asia as a whole, some interesting observations could well be evolved, based on the study of the latest rankings. Tiny Bhutan, also figures among the most, Happiest Nations of the World (8th) is the best performing nation in South Asia with a rank of 25th. Taiwan is another nation that scores quite well on both the Happiness (24th Rank) and Corruption Perception Index (25th rank) ranking. It is important to understand that both nations also are among the fastest-growing economies in the whole of Asia. That in itself is suggestive of the importance that honesty leads to material and spiritual growth and development, leading to the overall progress of society and the nation.
Moving ahead, however, there comes a travesty of such an analysis when we see China coming up with an impressive ranking of 66th on the TI Corruption Perception Index, 2021. The largest populated nation with a huge geographical area, China has been able to contain corruption to a significant extent. At the same time, it needs to be understood that it’s a single-party government/state apparatus with no room for dissent and complete censorship. So its success in containing public corruption to a reasonable degree through appreciative is to be seen in that context.
Surprisingly, India with a ranking of 85th comes up next in the region, giving company to the tiny Maldives. While the latter in recent years has been in focus on account of varied media reports suggesting corruption at the highest levels, especially on account of foreign state investments, notably from China, yet except in specific deals, the overall corruption scenario in the Maldives does not seem horrifying.
India on the other hand for long, has been regarded as among the most corruption-prone nations in the world. Since independence, due to the initiation of faulty license-inspector raj policies and political mismanagement, the country has had to suffer decades of slow economic growth and unbearable poverty for millions of its citizens. Corruption became a norm rather than an exception for it for a long time. The national psyche of India has unhesitatingly accepted corruption as a way of life which is reflected in various spheres of public life in the country.
However, things have started changing and improvement is evident. One of the most maligned acts of the incumbent Modi administration has been the demonetisation of 2016. The government purportedly did demonetisation for cleansing of the economy and control of black money. It is true that the action has failed to completely alleviate black money and remove financial corruption but one of the by-products of this had been the rapid digitisation of the economy and society.
The initiation of visionary socio-economic policies in the form of Jan-Dhan Yojan, Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT), social security policies like insurance at merely INR 12/month, educational-social scholarships for minorities, free health insurance through Ayushman Bharat Yojna, Sukanya Samriddhi Yojna (SSY), Beti Bachao Beti Padaho schemes for girls, all have helped substantially in ensuring a better sex ratio, social security for unorganised and poor while saving billions of dollars for state by preventing the incessant leakage of subsidies that had been the norm since 1950s.
Add to that, the usage of technology in the form of consistent encouragement to online/digital means of financial transactions, ensured that new fintech Indian companies came into vogue, brought out new, innovative technologies, and arranged for a much greater financial transparency that has been witnessed in India ever before. Tax collections improved, greater financial probity happened and the use of hawala money for terrorism could be contained to a significant extent. All such developments helped in enhancing the stability and growth of the Indian economy too. It is on account of these developments that the ranking of India in the corruption perception has improved while the economic/political stability to has been witnessed.
Sri Lanka (102nd) and Nepal (117th) are the other nations in the region that have seen a deterioration in their rankings. An interesting point to be noted here is that along with the Maldives, the two countries to have seen a significant upsurge in politico-economic relations with China, greater allegations of financial corruption among their politico-administrative elite followed by a looming debt crisis. All three of them are passing through an unstable political-economic scenario and that is affecting their economic growth and development process too.
Myanmar and Pakistan rank (140th) on the list and both have a legacy of troubled political, economic, and military past. Economically, both countries are close to being broke with the former continue to be under various economic/political sanctions on account of its present military rule, the latter with a slightly better off political structure where the Pakistan army continues to rule the country through what many calls, the Imran Khan-led ‘selected government’, yet economically inflation and unemployment at an all-time high, forex an all-time low, unmanageable debt with monthly scurrying to UAE, Saudi Arabia, China, and the IMF for financial grants/aid to be able to run the country, forgetting the economic growth story.
Bangladesh though is doing quite fine on the economic growth curve, recording one of the faster growths in the region. However, the high degree of corruption in the country could be attributed to severe demographic and geographical divergences, sectoral successes mostly in textiles and manufacturing, and a high level of political interference in the social-economic life of the nation.
Afghanistan (174th) finishes in the rear of the index in the region. However, this ranking is based on the pre-Taliban era though not much is expected to have been changed for the better, in the light of the continuous deteriorating socio-economic landscape of the country. When resources become scarce, the incidences of financial-social corruption only increase. With Afghanistan virtually on the edge, the possibilities of an increase in corruption levels cannot be ruled out.
Though there will always be issues and question marks on various studies and rankings prepared by international organisations and in many cases, objectivity is to be questioned, TI rankings may broadly be classified as based on clean, objective analysis and interpretations of data. All countries so classified need to make an objective assessment and work out areas of improvement, wherever necessary. South Asia collectively as well as individually, is home to a significant chunk of the global population and owes a moral responsibility to gradually reduce and eliminate corruption to offer them a better way of life.