New Delhi: India improved by one place to 85 out of 180 nations in a corruption perception index (CPI) of 2021, stated a new report by Transparency International. It, however, raised concern over the country’s democratic status.
The index that ranks 180 countries and territories via their public sector corruption’s perceived levels and uses a scale of 0 to 100, in which 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean.
The report released on Tuesday indicated that India’s score has remained stagnant over the past two decades.
“There are concerns over the country’s democratic status, as fundamental freedoms and institutional checks and balances decay.
“Journalists and activists are particularly at risk and have been victims of attacks by the police, political militants, criminal gangs and corrupt local officials,” said the index-based report.
According to the report, there have been allegations that civil society organisations that speak up against the government have been targeted with security, defamation, sedition, hate speech and contempt-of-court charges, and with regulations on foreign funding.
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