India has improved its ranking on the global corruption index in 2018, whereas China lagged far behind, according to the annual index report released on Tuesday, by an anti-graft watchdog.
The transparency international has said the released annual index on Tuesday has ranked India 78 out of 180 countries in the world on the global corruption index of 2018, while its nieghbour China has ranked 87 in the list.
According to TOI news reports, the global watchdog said, “As India gears up for its upcoming elections, we see little significant movement in its CPI score, which moved from 40 in 2017 to 41 in 2018.”
It further added, “Despite spectacular public mobilization in 2011, where citizens demanded that the government take action against corruption and advocated for the passage of the comprehensive Jan Lokpal Act, these efforts ultimately fizzled and fell flat, with little to no movement on the ground to build the specialist anti-corruption infrastructure required.”
The top nations on the index list are New Zealand and Denmark with scores of 87 and 88 respectively. South Sudan, Syria and Somalia has stood at the bottom of the index list with scores of 13, 13 and 10 respectively.
Overall, above two-thirds of the countries has scored below 50 in the index list of 2018 CPI, including an average score of about 43.
It said the United States has dropped four points since last year to 71, which has marked the first time since 2011 for the US falls outside the top 20 countries on the CPI list.
At transparency international, acting representative to the US Zoe Reiter said, “A four-point drop in the CPI score is a red flag and comes at a time when the US is experiencing threats to its system of checks and balances, as well as an erosion of ethical norms at the highest levels of power.”
He added, “If this trend continues, it would indicate a serious corruption problem in a country that has taken a lead on the issue globally. This is a bipartisan issue that requires a bipartisan solution.”