India's bribery rate is 69%, highest in Asia Pacific; Pakistan's 40%, China's 26%, Sri Lanka's 23%, Japan's 0.2%: Report

By A Representative
A recent report by a Berlin-based non-profit, Transparency International, has qualified India as the most corrupt country in the Asia-Pacific region. Based on interviews with 21,861 people in 16 countries of the region, the report says that while the “bribery rate” in India was highest at 69%, it was the lowest in Japan, 0.2%.
Conducted in India by Cvoter International for Transparency International through mainly face-to-face interviews with 2,802 people, the survey finds 73% of the poorest people paid bribe, as against the regional average of just 38%. Interestingly, 55% of the richest people in India also said they paid bribe.
The report carries the photograph of activists of NGO Prayas rescuing a trafficked child in a train reaching Mumbai from the India-Nepal border town of Raxaul, insisting, “Corruption is increasingly cited as a key cause and traffickers rarely face justice.
It adds, “Corruption both facilitates trafficking and feeds the flow of people by destabilizing democracies, weakening a country’s rule of law and stalling development.”
Across all the countries, people were asked about corruption in six key public services during the previous 12 months – public schools, public clinics or hospitals, official documents, utility services, the police and the courts.
The report says, as compared to India, the bribery rate was Vietnam is 65%, followed by Thailand 41%, Pakistan, Myanmar and Cambodia (40% each), Indonesia 32%, China 26%, Malaysia 23%, Mongolia 20%, Sri Lanka 15%, Taiwan 6%, Australia 4%, South Korea 3%, and Japan 0.2%.

Activists in Mumbai identify child victim of trafficking,
"rampant" due to corruption

Ironically, despite such high bribery rate, the survey results show that 53% of those interviewed found that the government in India was “doing well” in fighting corruption, while 35% said, it was doing badly. At the same time, 41% of those interviewed said that the level of corruption has “increased” in India.
The survey further found that 63% agreed when asked, “Can ordinary people make a difference in the fight against corruption?” This is against 53% in Pakistan, 49% in Japan, 53% in Vietnam, 66% in South Korea, 72% in Thailand, 73% in Sri Lanka, 78% in Indonesia and 80% in Australia.
Conducted between July 2015 and January 2017, the survey is based on what the report says, “the Global Corruption Barometer 2017”, with questions asked “via face to face or telephone survey in the Asia Pacific region, with a random selection of adults in all 16 surveyed countries, territories and regions.”
“Face to face household interviews were conducted either with Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) or Paper-and-Pencil Interviewing (PAPI)”, the report adds.
“To calculate the total number of bribe payers in the Asia Pacific region, we used the national bribery rates (the percentage of all adults who had paid a bribe) to calculate the number of bribe payers in each country/territory/ region”, says the report, adding, “We then added the projected number of bribe payers across all 16 countries/territories.”
It further says, “The scores are based on the percentage of respondents in each country/ territory who say that corruption has either increased a little or increased a lot over the 12 months prior to when the survey was conducted.”

Comments

Gujarat Information Commission issues warning against misinterpretation of RTI orders

By A Representative The Gujarat Information Commission (GIC) has issued a press note clarifying that its orders limiting the number of Right to Information (RTI) applications for certain individuals apply only to those specific applicants. The GIC has warned that it will take disciplinary action against any public officials who misinterpret these orders to deny information to other citizens. The press note, signed by GIC Secretary Jaideep Dwivedi, states that the Right to Information Act, 2005, is a powerful tool for promoting transparency and accountability in public administration. However, the commission has observed that some applicants are misusing the act by filing an excessive number of applications, which disproportionately consumes the time and resources of Public Information Officers (PIOs), First Appellate Authorities (FAAs), and the commission itself. This misuse can cause delays for genuine applicants seeking justice. In response to this issue, and in acc...

Targeted eviction of Bengali-speaking Muslims across Assam districts alleged

By A Representative A delegation led by prominent academic and civil rights leader Sandeep Pandey visited three districts in Assam—Goalpara, Dhubri, and Lakhimpur—between 2 and 4 September 2025 to meet families affected by recent demolitions and evictions. The delegation reported widespread displacement of Bengali-speaking Muslim communities, many of whom possess valid citizenship documents including Aadhaar, voter ID, ration cards, PAN cards, and NRC certification.

'Govts must walk the talk on gender equality, right to health, human rights to deliver SDGs by 2030'

By A Representative With just 64 months left to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), global health and rights advocates have called upon governments to honour their commitments on gender equality and the human right to health. Speaking ahead of the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), experts warned that rising anti-rights and anti-gender pushes are threatening hard-won progress on SDG-3 (health and wellbeing) and SDG-5 (gender equality).

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

Is U.S. fast losing its financial and technological edge under Trump’s second tenure?

By Dr. Manoj Kumar Mishra* The United States, along with its Western European allies, once promoted globalization as a democratic force that would deliver shared prosperity and balanced growth. That promise has unraveled. Globalization, instead of building an even world, has produced one defined by inequality, asymmetry of power, and new vulnerabilities. For decades, Washington successfully turned this system to its advantage. Today, however, under Trump’s second administration, America is attempting to exploit the weaknesses of others without acknowledging how exposed it has become itself.

Gandhiji quoted as saying his anti-untouchability view has little space for inter-dining with "lower" castes

By A Representative A senior activist close to Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) leader Medha Patkar has defended top Booker prize winning novelist Arundhati Roy’s controversial utterance on Gandhiji that “his doctrine of nonviolence was based on an acceptance of the most brutal social hierarchy the world has ever known, the caste system.” Surprised at the police seeking video footage and transcript of Roy’s Mahatma Ayyankali memorial lecture at the Kerala University on July 17, Nandini K Oza in a recent blog quotes from available sources to “prove” that Gandhiji indeed believed in “removal of untouchability within the caste system.”

'MGNREGA crisis deepening': NSM demands fair wages and end to digital exclusions

By A Representative The NREGA Sangharsh Morcha (NSM), a coalition of independent unions of MGNREGA workers, has warned that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is facing a “severe crisis” due to persistent neglect and restrictive measures imposed by the Union Government.

On Teachers’ Day, remembering Mother Teresa as the teacher of compassion

By Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ It is Teachers’ Day once again! Significantly, the day also marks the Feast of St. Teresa of Calcutta (still lovingly called Mother Teresa). In 2012, the United Nations, as a fitting tribute to her, declared this day the International Day of Charity. A day pregnant with meaning—one that we must celebrate as meaningfully as possible.

Gujarat minority rights group seeks suspension of Botad police officials for brutal assault on minor

By A Representative A human rights group, the Minority Coordination Committee (MCC) Gujarat, has written to the Director General of Police (DGP), Gandhinagar, demanding the immediate suspension and criminal action against police personnel of Botad police station for allegedly brutally assaulting a minor boy from the Muslim community.

Counterview

Search This Blog