India is ranked 95th behind China (75th), but ahead of Pakistan (134th)

Somalia, N Korea perceived as 'most corrupt', India at 95th : Report By ANI | ANI – Mon, Dec 5, 2011
London, Dec 5 (ANI):Somalia and North Korea are perceived as the most corrupt countries in the world, while India is ranked 95th behind China (75th), but ahead of Pakistan (134th).
The German watchdog organisation Transparency International said New Zealand is seen as the most corrupt -free nation in the world.
Mostly European nations were top performers except Singapore at fifth rank and Australia at eighth, The Daily Mail reports.
Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Iceland, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Belgium and Ireland occupied top 20 ranks.
Bulgaria, which ranked 86th was the lowest-performing European Union country.
Britain was 16th least corrupt on a 'corruption perceptions index' while the U.S. came in at number 24.
Myanmar, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Sudan, Iraq, Haiti and Venezuela were at the bottom of the index.
Transparency International used reports based 'on different assessments and business opinion surveys carried out by independent and reputable institutions' to compile the 'corruption perception index'
The organisation said it took into account perceptions about corruption and did not measure corruption since it is an arduous task because corruption exists in concealed form.
"Over time perceptions have proved to be a reliable estimate of corruption," Transparency International said. (ANI)
Somalia, N Korea perceived as 'most corrupt', India at 95th : Report
Food for thought
Can a more corrupt Nation fight a less corrupt Nation?

Protest March from Jantar Mantar- Fight against Corruption

Protest March on 01 May 11 from Jantar Mantar to India Gate, FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION
Dear All,
Crusader Anna Hazare sat on fast unto death from 5 April to 10 April 2011 at Jantar Mantar and the Government had to accept all his demands to draft a strong and effective Jan Lok Pal Bill. IESM had strongly supported the movement and veterans under the banner of IESM were present in large numbers on all days at Jatar Mantar to show solidarity and support to the movement against corruption. But as is the wont of politicians they started putting road blocks even before first meeting of the drafting committee to ensure that the proposed bill does not see the day light. Some vested interest have started a maligning contest and are spreading canard of lies to discredit the drafting team picked by veteran Anna Hazare. India against corruption has decided to undertake a solidarity march from Jantar Mantar to India Gate on Sunday 1 May at 1700h to show solidarity and confidence in the drafting committee of the Jan Lok Pal Bill. More than 10000 citizens of Delhi have confirmed their participation in the proposed march. IESM has decided to lend its support to the march and will participate in the march with full force. All veterans will participate with their caps.

All veterans are requested to reach Jantar Mantar sharp at 5PM on 1 May 11 Sunday with their caps to patricipate peacefully in the march under the banner of IESM to show solidarity with the India Against Corruption team and support the Crusader Veteran Anna Hazare.
Regards
Gp Capt VK Gandhi VSM
Gen Sec IESM

For every success in fighting corruption, there’s a fresh backslide

Newsweek- Pulling Hands Out of the Till
The best countries keep public and private sector graft in check.
For every success in fighting corruption, there’s a fresh backslide. Although the U.S. and Europe have made spectacular gains in cracking down on corporate bribery, the financial crisis and its $20 trillion in bailouts and stimulus spending created a rash of opportunities to shift public resources to private pockets. It didn’t help that the programs concentrated on some of the most fraud-ridden sectors, such as banking, real estate, energy, and infrastructure. China alone has arrested more than 3,000 officials for graft related to its $586 billion stimulus.

Go to the Head of the Class What’s clear, however, is that some countries do much better than others in rooting out corruption. Their lessons, according to corruption experts at Transparency International, the Basel Institute on Governance, and the Brookings Institution:

Get government out of the shadows. Corruption thrives not just on plainly illegal bribes, but even more on legal practices such as political donations, lobbying, and the revolving doors that reward lawmakers and regulators with juicy jobs in industry. Sweden, a star performer in the corruption rankings, has cleaned up government by opening virtually all government records to the public. It’s no coincidence that economists consider Sweden the world’s textbook example for how to resolve a banking crisis resolutely and at minimal cost to taxpayers.

Peer pressure. For years, the U.S. was the only country seriously pursuing corporate bribery. After relentlessly exposing many of the world’s biggest companies, the U.S. shamed others into stiffening their laws and stepping up prosecution. Britain, where Prime Minister Tony Blair once snuffed out an inquiry into British Aerospace payments in Saudi Arabia, just passed the world’s toughest anti-bribery law. Germany, until recently, considered bribes standard business practice and even made them tax-deductible. Reluctant German prosecutors didn’t start investigations of their own until after German companies kept showing up in U.S. courts.

Litigate, litigate, litigate. Massive fines have made bribery a high-risk game. Germany’s Siemens has paid $1.6 billion and still faces prosecution in several other countries. That both the U.S. and U.K. can litigate any bribe anywhere as long as the company involved does business in America or Britain could one day make even Chinese, Indian, and Russian companies come clean (they now count among the world’s most corrupt, according to Transparency International’s Bribe Payer Index). Already, über-corrupt Russia has begun to cooperate with OECD anti-corruption fighters as the country tries to raise its standing in Western trade and economic bodies.
Courtesy: Newsweek: The most corrupt countries

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IIT- IIM Professors Strike and Bureaucracy

IIT and IIM Professors are going on strike. Anything strange?? What is strange is that they are not workers in a factory. They are the Gurus of India’s best brains, the best engineers and management professionals, who are sought after by the top most companies in India, America, Europe and other developed countries. They are the brains behind many path breaking inventions like the Pentium chips, exotic software and running of internationally renowned companies like Pepsi!! These professors are the best and if they want to join the private sector or go abroad, they will earn lakhs of dollars/ Euros. The bureaucracy is behind such learned and revered professors being forced to go on Hunger strike.

There is a pattern that the bureaucracy is following. As is well known by now, it is they who are responsible for creating dissatisfaction amongst another center of excellence; the Defence Forces, by cunningly awarding them inadequate salaries and pensions than their due. By downgrading the in-terse status of the Defence Services officers vis a vis the bureaucrats and the Police/paramilitary forces. They are the ones who forced the hands of the three Service Chiefs to refuse to implement the award of the 6th Pay Commission, for the first time!! It is they who are the cause of Indian Military Veterans going on hunger strike and returning their bravery and other medals to the Supreme Commander, the President of India, for the first time in their glorious history.

Have you ever seen IAS officers going on strike!!! Not they are overly loyal and devoted to the Nation (even more than the Defence Services!!!!!) The plain reason is that whenever a Pay Commission is set up, they are the ones who take the creamy layer and add to their pay and perks. This they do as they provide the secretariat, draft the report, interpret it, explain to the ministers and sit on judgment when other organs of the Government who feel aggrieved, put forward their requests. So they never have no reason to resort to any strikes.

The IAS which is present in all organs of the Government are so self centered and crafty. The politicians who are supposed to control them when they come in power have no experience and time for governance. They depend so heavily on the noting of the Babus on files. They have no courage to take any action against the bureaucrats even if they know that the facts put up in the noting are wrong. In any case the IAS has made such rules for themselves that to punish an erring Babu is well nigh impossible.

The bureaucrats are bent upon breaking the back of all centers of excellence in the Country. It is such a sad happening that they are forcing soldiers and elite professors to go on strike due to their short sightedness. They sit on important matters, procrastinate, cause delays, look at each and every issue with a myopic and bureaucratic angle. And they think they are doing yeoman’s service to the Nation!!!

There is hardly any project, acquisition of military equipment, construction of airports, roads etc on time. If all such delays are enquired into, the prime cause would be the bureaucracy!!

India’s progress in economic, industrial, health care, agriculture and other such areas is so slow and way behind. Its National security is at peril. Till IAS is reformed, nothing will change. India will crawl along and left way behind other nations. We may have even to suffer humiliating defeat, since no combat aircraft, artillery guns, aircraft carriers, submarines and other important weapon and other systems have been added to the three Defence Services for decades. Bureaucratic intransigence, controls and delays are also the primary cause of India being branded one of the top most corrupt nations!!

There is a dire need for administrative reforms, the way the government functions and manner of working of the IAS, if India is to survive as an independent nation. Indian polity should raise its voice and start a movement to safeguard the future of the Country and take the functioning out of the clutches of the IAS.

Lt Gen Harbhajan Singh, PVSM (Retd)
Related reading:
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IITs go the Munnabhai way, turn to 'Gandhigiri' to secure pay hikes

Corruption and the Nation

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely
It is not easy to define corruption. But in a narrow sense, corruption is mostly concerned with ‘bribery’ and it takes several forms. Corruption is a global phenomenon and it is omnipresent. Corruption has progressively increased and is now rampant in our society.

National scenario
Corruption in India is a consequence of the nexus between Bureaucracy, politics and criminals. India is now no longer considered a soft state. It has now become a consideration state where everything can be had for a consideration. Today, the number of ministers with an honest image can be counted on fingers. At one time, bribe was paid for getting wrong things done but now bribe is paid for getting right things done at right time.

Effects of corruption
Indian administration is tainted with scandals. India is among 55 of the 106 countries where corruption is rampant, according to the Corruption Perception Index 2007 Report released by Transparency International India. Corruption in India leads to promotion not prison. It is very difficult to catch ‘big sharks’. Corruption in India has wings not wheels. As nation grows, the corrupt also grow to invent new methods of cheating the government and public.
Corruption in India

Comments: The Bureaucrats are undermining the Honour, Rank and Status of the Military. The SCPC anomalies committee has conveniently subverted the Cabinet Decision on Pay and Allowances to the Armed Forces. Anomalies of 5th Pay Panel is yet to be resolved because the decision- making process has been confused out of shape by the self- centered Bureaucrats sitting at the helm of affairs.

India Household Corruption Study 2007

Below Poverty Line (BPL) households in India pay about Rs 9,000 million (€136 million, US $212 million) in bribes to get access to basic and need based public services, according to a study released by TI India (TII) and the Centre for Media Study (CMS) on 28 June. The TII-CMS India Corruption Study 2007 focuses this year on the poor who are more dependant on public services and therefore disproportionately affected by corruption in the public sector. “This kind of corruption denies people their entitlement to basic and need based services, many of which may be ‘free’ by law, resulting in the poor finding themselves at the losing end of the corruption chain”, said Admiral (Retd) R H Tahiliani, Chair of Transparency International India.

By surveying 22,728 BPL households and examining 11 selected public services where corruption is seen as a barrier to access in households across the states, the study shows that many BPL families, pay bribes to gain access to basic public services. Of all the public services examined, the police were perceived as the most corrupt, with an estimated 2.5 million out of a total of 5.6 million people reportedly having paid some kind of bribe on coming into contact with the police. According to the study, land records and registration services were also noted for their “alarming levels” of corruption.

The study is the third of its kind conducted by TII and the most detailed yet, including BPL households in both rural and urban areas in all 31 states and Union Territories, as well as offering more extensive solutions to the problems. The studies were developed as a tool to sensitise the general public and concerned stakeholders to the effects of corruption and to prompt the government and civil society groups to take up locally relevant action.

TII aims to improve the lives of the poorest by acting as a catalyst and providing the knowledge and leadership necessary to fighting corruption. This will be done by conducting consultation workshops, training and capacity building with various stakeholders. TII will also use the study as a basis for advocacy programmes to raise awareness among people, to empower the poor to stand their ground and demand their right to receive access to the basic services that they are entitled to without paying bribes.
Anti-Corruption Work

Comments: We need a similar independent organisation to reduce the negative impact of the rampant corruption in the Defence Forces Household. The basic Annual Immovable Property Statement submission should be made mandatory for all the officers who acquire vast properties beyond sources of normal income from salaries. This is applicable mostly to senior officers holding appointments with vast financial powers where misuse of powers is so evident. The aim being to ensure that the best rated services and goods are delivered to serving Jawans, thereby maintaining the troops morale at its peak!