Corruption: Why India is worse off today

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Editor's note: Hiding in plain sight, the elephant in the room or that which shall not be named—there are multiple epithets that could be deployed to describe the one issue that affects everybody and yet, in recent years, has vanished from what passes for India’s public discourse. That issue is corruption. Especially corruption inside governments. This is noteworthy for two reasons. First, the national uproar and movement against corruption that India witnessed only a decade ago and led to a change of government. Second, multiple research reports and public opinion polls released recently suggest the prevalence of a high degree of corruption that ordinary citizens and businesses are concerned about.  Take, for instance, the recently released Corruption Perceptions Index 2021 prepared by the Berlin-based Transparency International. Last week, as much noise and attention in the news and social media was about the Republic Day celebrations as well as assembly elections, the latest Corruption Perceptions Index report presented a grim diagnosis on the state of corruption and human rights in India. The not-for-profit outfit, which boasts of chapters in more than 100 countries, …