‘Three Out of Four Indian Families had to Pay Bribes’

This year’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), released on Thursday by Transparency International (TI), put India at No. 95, eight positions down from its 2010 rank. The country also gets a score of 3.1 (down from 3.3 last year), on a scale where 10 indicates very clean and zero highly corrupt. The CPI focuses on corruption in the public sector, involving public officials, civil servants or politicians. The data sources used to compile the index include questions relating to the abuse of power and bribery of public officials, kickbacks in public procurement, embezzlement of public funds and such. In that sense, the CPI covers both the administrative and political aspects of corruption. Huguette Labelle, chairperson of Transparency International, tells Labonita Ghosh that when it comes to combating corruption, India is definitely moving in the right direction, despite its disappointing showing in the recent survey.