India is still stuck at the score of 38 points on a scale of 0-100, the same as in 2014 in the latest international corruption perception index 2015 which is prepared and published by the Transparency International just a few days ago.
Corruption is like a hole in a bucket with which we cannot irrigate our garden. There is a close association between human development and anti-graft environment. We can easily see the fact if we compare the rank of a country in Human Development Index (HDI) with that of Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI).
After securing fourth position in HDI, Denmark has topped the CPI as the most corruption free country of the world. Netherlands (5th) and Canada (9th) have got identical rank in both indexes. While the Asian teacher Singapore conquers eleventh rank in HDI and eighth in CPI, HDI topper Norway gets sixth rank in CPI. Similarly, The United States of America (HDI 8, CPI 16), The United Kingdom (HDI 14, CPI 10), Sweden (HDI 14, CPI 3), Switzerland (HDI 3, CPI 7), New Zealand (HDI 9, CPI 4), Luxembourg (HDI 19, CPI 10) and Germany (HDI 6, CPI 10) establish a close relationship between these two indexes. It is also the same story down the ladder. China (HDI 90, CPI 83), India (HDI 130, CPI 76) and Pakistan (HDI 147, CPI 117) – all remain poor performers in both. The corrupt environment indicates a very narrow mindset of the people in power. They cannot have faith in cooperation and sharing. So, there is no takers for HDI booster inclusive growth in a graft raj.
By giving a cruel slash to social sectors, the last year general budget has underlined the fact that Mars and moonstruck mindset cannot prioritise the welfare of people. The budget has witnessed a downsizing in health and family welfare by 16 per cent and school education by 23 per cent. Moreover, it has cut the throats of children welfare by 56 (!) per cent, women welfare by 25 per cent, social justice and empowerment by 5 per cent and rural development by 10 per cent. It is a case of dog eat dog at the lower rung of HDI and CPI indexes.
It is said charity begins at home. We cannot improve the lot of our people until we ourselves believe in the magic of cooperation and sharing that makes lives worth living. The malignant growth of a small part of our society is going to cause cancer to Mother India. The sooner we realize Tagore’s dictum, ‘Whom you push down will pull you down’ , the better for all of us. This realization helps improve our position both in human development and corruption perception Indexes that generally go together hand in hand. Now, let us see what is in store in the coming budget.
