Crescent International
Apart from the Indian-doting West, few were surprised to learn that Transparency International (TI) has found India is the most corrupt country in Asia.
It has left behind such regularly-vilified countries as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines etc.
The results of the survey—the Global Corruption Barometer (GCB)–Asia—released on November 24 showed that India also had the highest rate of people using personal connections to access public services.
India has a bribery rate of 39 percent—highest in the region—while 46% of the people use familiarity to get access to services.
The GCB-Asia report noted that India’s “slow and complicated bureaucratic process, unnecessary red tape and unclear regulatory frameworks force citizens to seek out alternate solutions to access basic services through networks of familiarity and petty corruption.”
Half of those surveyed (50%) revealed they paid bribes because they were asked to.
And 32% said they used connections because they would not have gotten the same service otherwise.
Distrust of government was also quite high among people surveyed in the 17 countries.
Nearly one in three believed that government corruption was a big problem in their country.
Corruption was not only rampant, 38% of the people also believed that corruption had increased in their country in the last 12 months.
While Transparency International concerned itself with only looking at corruption in government bureaucracy, had it probed a little deeper, it would have found that a whopping 40% of lawmakers in India face serious criminal charges such as rape, murder, extortion etc.
Laws in the world’s “largest democracy” are framed by absolute criminals yet little of this finds any mention in the Western media.
India is also the most polluted country in the world. Delhi ranks as the most polluted city.
And then there is widespread poverty. More than 400 million people live in absolute poverty.
The pandemic has further ravaged India’s economy and all the propaganda about ‘Shining India’ is just humbug.
Rape of women and racism against minorities are also rampant.
True, Transparency International did not concern itself with these issues but they are related to corruption.
India’s rape statistics are alarming. Rape of Dalit women—and now Muslim women as well—is rampant.
The police often refuse to lay charges against the perpetrators.
Caste plays a large part in this gross injustice. Women are not only raped they are often murdered as well after being gang-raped.
If India’s situation can be summed up in a few words, it would be squalor, filth and discrimination.
But don’t expect to read about this in any Western media outlet.
Ruled by Hindu Nazis, India can do no wrong. It is an “ally” against a rising China, which has been declared enemy number one.
That is enough to turn a blind eye to all of India’s excesses from corruption, rape and lynching to militarism and gangsterism.
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