Corruption is a complex social, political, and economic phenomenon that affects all countries. Corruption undermines democratic institutions, slows economic development, and contributes to governmental instability.
On October 31, 2003, the General Assembly adopted the United Nations Convention against Corruption. The Assembly also designated December 9 as International Anti-Corruption Day, to raise awareness of corruption and of the role of the Convention in combating and preventing it. The Convention entered into force in December 2005.
According to Transparency International, corruption is defined as the abuse of entrusted power for private gain. India has been ranked at the 80th position among 180 countries and territories in the Corruption Perception Index (CPI) prepared by Transparency International. The findings were released in January 2020.
In the last eight years, only 22 countries significantly improved their CPI scores, including Greece, Guyana, and Estonia. In the same period, among the 21 countries that saw a significant fall in their scores are Canada, Australia, and Nicaragua. In the remaining 137 countries, the levels of corruption show little to no change, the report said.
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A survey conducted by the TII reads that at least one in every two people in India has paid a bribe in the past year. The survey gathered 190,000 responses across 20 of India’s 28 states. Some 24 per cent of respondents said they had paid bribes several times in the past 12 months, while the remaining 27% said they had done so only once or twice.
People also paid bribes to the tax department, transport office, municipal corporations, and other local authorities, the report found.
The report also found that nearly one in five people who accessed public services, such as health care and education, paid a bribe in the preceding year. This equates to approximately 836 million citizens in the 17 countries surveyed.
Late former President of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam once said, “If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the Father, the mother, and the teacher.”
In addition to paying bribes, citizens often resort to other means, including the use of personal connections to access the public services they need or to receive a better service. Interestingly, there are gender differences in which types of services are accessed through personal connections.
International Anti-Corruption Day Theme
International Anti-Corruption Day 2020 theme is United Against Corruption. As corruption is considered to be one of the biggest obstacles in life in order to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. The 2020 theme would continue to support the next decade’s agenda, which targets to have more youth component in their campaign.
