1: Sooner or later, India would be a super power and will beat the U.S and the other top 19 countries in the list by demonstrating to the world the kind of talent and skills it has. The only thing that still would take time would be to resolve the internal issues in India. Once India achieves it, within a year or 2 India would top the list and will emerge as a super power.

Posted by: Anonymous - 12:00 AM Jul 29, ' 08

2: SI is a prime example of corruption by how it uses misleading headlines to bring one to its website.

Posted by: Borun Chowdhury - 12:00 AM Jul 29, ' 08

3: >> TOP NEWS

U.S. overtakes India in corruption

From the headline it appears that US is more corrupt than India but after reading the article it is clear that India is more corrupt

Posted by: Hitesh - 12:00 AM Jul 26, ' 08

4: Nothing to worry. India is still ahead of US.

Posted by: rs gauba - 12:00 AM Jul 25, ' 08

5: There is no doubt in getting this kind of result. Mainly B'coz our govt empl's working style is like that, starting from peon level to top level every one in the sense like 80% to 90% are corrupted staffs.

In some cases we may don't even have options in getting the job done without paying bribe a best example would be getting an approval to build a house/getting a license from labour dept. to do our business/getting a voter ID or ration card etc..,

We need to work against corruption by escalating the issues to higher & higher level or we need to put it across to press with the names, dept, designation & place with contact numbers of the person asking bribe.

Hope it works on!!!!!!!! Lets look forward to work against corruption!!!!!!

Posted by: Dasharath - 12:00 AM Jul 24, ' 08

6: How pathetic is SI's sense of journalism. The email headline says "US overtakes India in corruption" What???
This is the list in ASCENDING ORDER of corruption index. So India, at 74th rank, is MORE corrupt than US, at 20th. DUH!! Stupid Indian...

Posted by: Hollow India - 12:00 AM Jul 23, ' 08

7: We all are responsible for this. The only solution to this is stop giving bribe for small efforts you have to make and you are not doing. Start filing your IT & Service Tax returns on time. Start wearing halmets / seat belts. All these small corruptions can be eliminated atleast from our dailt lives. And then only we can go ahead and think about changing the system.

Posted by: Anand - 12:00 AM Jul 23, ' 08

8: The Nange Paon Satyagraha in Chhattisgarh has sought to battle itself against Corruption.We pledge to eradicate this in our district by 2010 and from Chhattisgarh by 2012.Your co-operation is badly solicited.

Posted by: Rajesh Singh Sisodia - 12:00 AM Jul 23, ' 08

9: Either the statistical system or the people running it screwed up. Either way, this is crap. Who are you kidding?

Get your facts straight and right and don't waste our time trying to elicit viewing "traffic" with headlines which are plainly in error.
How can US be more corrupt than India?

This is more than an error - it is a misrepresentation

Posted by: Kala Shanmugam - 12:00 AM Jul 23, ' 08

10: - When we will see India in Top 5 list?
Narsimha, hopefully in 3008. ;-)

Posted by: Arun Bamania - 12:00 AM Jul 23, ' 08

11: When we will see India in Top 5 list?

Posted by: Narasimha - 12:00 AM Jul 22, ' 08

12: its amazing

Posted by: vivek - 12:00 AM Jul 22, ' 08

13: It is a shameful news. as kaushal mentioned govt achieved in getting vote of confidence. but people will teach lesson in general election. If the top rule makers plays such a worst game it cannot contole corrution in its subordite offices.

Posted by: Sathish - 12:00 AM Jul 22, ' 08

14: corruption is a business that has a capacity to buy any thing which one can not think of and result is just before you i.e. "vote of confidence" therefore it is said true "Polytics is a bad game"

Posted by: npkaushal - 12:00 AM Jul 22, ' 08

15: India is the country where corruption born .Its thee from ancient peroid when Rama killed Vali to favour sugriva bcoz he wants his help to search .Rma Kiled vali only to get his wife traced with help of sugriva the same thing is being foolowed by the nxt generatins

Posted by: vamsi - 12:00 AM Jul 22, ' 08

16: Its wonder to see India in 74th position instead it is most courrupted country than any in the world rt now . the people who are ruling the country the politicians are the most courrupted .

Posted by: vamsi - 12:00 AM Jul 22, ' 08

17: just think about it... HOW CORRUPT IS THE ORGANIZATION WHICH CAME UP WITH THE RANKINGS?

Posted by: Think Tank - 12:00 AM Jul 22, ' 08

18: what a waste discussion ... if we have any solution to resolve this problem then we should discuss or else there is no point discussing the well known problem of our country ......

Posted by: Harish - 12:00 AM Jul 22, ' 08

19: Hey mrinalini I think you are a fucker.

Posted by: baba - 12:00 AM Jul 22, ' 08

20: A general comment for SiliconIndia Editors: I have noticed that the quality of writing in the news reports has deteriorated in the recent months.

Specifically about this article:
The headline is misleading since it implies that India is perceived to be LESS corrupt than, say, the USA.
Also the article does not sufficiently clarify that the higher the number (rank), the MORE corrupt the country is perceived - that a rank of 20 (USA) is BETTER than a rank of 74 (India).

According to the 2007 CPI, USA is perceived as LESS corrupt than India.

Posted by: Anonymous - 12:00 AM Jul 22, ' 08

21: i think still it is reasonably low, it deserves to be at no!, and all the Indians are to be held responsible.

Posted by: mrinalini - 12:00 AM Jul 22, ' 08

22: They have corrected that problem now .

Posted by: honest - 12:00 AM Jul 22, ' 08

23: Immature fools read the statistics properly - Pakistan 140th ; Russia 145th ; China 73rd ; India 74th and the USA is 20th.

That means China is less corrupt than India but India is still much more corrupt than the USA !!! :-)

Posted by: Somuj - 12:00 AM Jul 22, ' 08

24: Corruption is a very sweet word though it is present everywhere in the world and I think nobody is escaped anyhow and this will not be to say exaggeration that corruption is in the blood of everyone. Yes, of course, its weight is varies country to country, place to place and the matter how important is. But from my point of view, people must try to minimize it if they can’t eliminate.

Posted by: n.p.kaushal - 12:00 AM Jul 22, ' 08

25: Deliberately misleading or corrupted headlines or more likely just dumb. How is the 20th level standing of the US worse than the 74th level standing of India.

Posted by: bo - 12:00 AM Jul 22, ' 08

26: In India corruption is a way of life. And when something is a way of life, how can it be corruption?
The Indian psyche in the aftermath of thousands of years of being conquered and subjugated was not prepared for complete independance. It may be recalled that India as a country is a British legacy. Prior to that it was just small principalities and kingdoms.
Post independence, there was chaos everywhere - more so in our Govt. portals. And the hiatus between the rich and the poor was and continues to be unbridgeable, so where is the corruption in such a system?
The problem is alredy there. Now the solution should be found and ,sad to say, with our babudom there is not one in sight.

Posted by: Charu - 12:00 AM Jul 22, ' 08

27: Only 74th!!! I still see some corruption in ranking. Look at the amount of horse trading to fix the legs of chair of Dr. M. Singh.

Posted by: mahesh - 12:00 AM Jul 22, ' 08

28: Corruption in the US is much deeper, and profound. The smart FBI and almighty US intelligence was not able to find a clue of 9/11 series of attack, do you think it happened all that simply? There is much more about US than people know through Hollywood movies, MTV and King George 'Bush' II.

Posted by: Free World - 12:00 AM Jul 22, ' 08

29: Ley us analyse this from a different prespective.

Is this corruption or freedom?

Sweden and Singapore

Sweden - very prospherous, less populated place. There is no need for corruption.

Singapore - Strict and populated. You bribe, you get jail.

So india is neither prosperous nor less polulated.

So if you remove bribing/ corruption out all you get is a strick life inside jail or a strict life outside jail, which from my prespective are same.

So either you get "disciplined" and travel in the correct lane, dont sneeze (or spit) in public, dont park in no parking zone, even if you are likely to get a heart attack or your angry girl friend is to be missed...

or do anything you want any where any time and get away with it (by paying a small fee)

what you get for this small fee is freedom.

Think inside your heart, are we for Free world or disciplined world?

Now looking at the larger numbers (like bofors), scandels this level happens every where. Why do you think america (and other allies) always wants war. Do you think it is good for your health? Its all about the billions that can get under the rug un accounted.

So when you get your next jobs offer letter calculate what is after the tax and the tax.. forget about it.. its for the hard working politiciens who has risked their life and climed the stinky ladder of politics.

Start thinking this way.. you get more peace of mind and FREEDOM.

And you live the short span of life with good food, accomodation, friends and family with FREEDOM.

Posted by: Stanly - 12:00 AM Jul 22, ' 08

30: Well, there's nothing new to read in this article except for some slight number change which is kinda vestigial. Ask anyone in India, that how much corruption is there in India, you don't have to wait for any time to get the response, as it is spontaneous. And if some one says that in some way americans are more corrupt than India, Aah, i really feel proud and so will anyone else here, doesn't matter if we still know that, this can not be true as far as this issue is concerned.
As commented by Dave, In India, corruption is at a very low level, Giving a govt. employee some money to get things done you call gratuity, that's fine, But what can we call to the money given to a traffic men at the next signal, when you are caught drink 'N' drive, well, that is something more than a gratuity, that is a very low kinda corruption , but Has anyone heard of Bofors scandal, Temme even a single American PM, who was related to this kinda corruption scandal. Now, these days, Ruling Govt. party is busy buying out the MLA's (some of whom have 150 criminal cases lodged against them) to keep the Govt. running running afloat, Now that is what one can call, the flexibility of the Indian administration system, which the ruler can use to get the things done the way he/she can. And mind that this is quite a big game. Thus, making it an asset for some politicians. Actually, while framing this administration system, I guess, the assumption was that, all the coming leaders are just the images of our freedom fighters like Gandhi, or say Nehru, But, situation is exactly opposite to that (Sometimes, I personally feel bad for this, but to mention, I’ve not done anything to change it).
I’ve read in some book a wonderful concept, It says that, There is no case of a politician who has done suicide, and whoever does is hurt very badly, emotionally or physically. So one commits suicide when he gets hurt, that is, he/she feel really bad about something, But politicians don’t feel anything. That is they don’t have any kind of feelings. After reading, I was so amazed that I read that 2 times again. Now, what can we say about it!!!

Posted by: pankaj - 12:00 AM Jul 22, ' 08

31: Hello,

With around 333 cases pending against corrupted MLA's I doubt how the CPI has arrived that US in No.1 when compared to India. We are very happy to have tainted ministers like Shibu Soren, Lalu and many others in the brand wagon. I think there is some flaw in the report.

Posted by: A R Sudhindra - 12:00 AM Jul 22, ' 08

32: india is first number in corruption.

Posted by: Michael Braganza - 12:00 AM Jul 22, ' 08

33:Just shut ur mouth.you cant say like that widout any proof.so it's better to KEEP SHUT.

 heramb replied to: Michael Braganza 
 post - 05:58 AM Mar 31, ' 09

34: When you enter the spa you would often discover all are naked. Colour of the underpants just might differ. Corruption is more or less even across the world. It is just that it gets manifested in some places at a very low level of administration. Think about it, we talk of scandanavian countries and some part of orient to be least corrupt. Imagine how Olof Palme got killed and the Japanese premiers are removed almost at the drop of the hat. In some society promiscous relations also is deemd to be a serious corruption. Remember Bill?

Posted by: Rajeev - 12:00 AM Jul 21, ' 08

35: People who think this report is crap and that there is no corruption in US, doesn't know how things work in US! Yes, in India you see corruption at low-level (day to day life). In US, it happens at a very high-level and the Govt. itself manipulates things. Its legal to lobby in US (that's nothing but offical corruption).
Have you heard of Enron? You may not be able to name a single big Indian company which has collapse due to corruption.
Look around to see the fraud done in the housing boom/bust in US.
The list goes on and on.

Posted by: Sridhar - 12:00 AM Jul 21, ' 08

36: nothing can save india from the clutches of corruption....

Posted by: prav - 12:00 AM Jul 21, ' 08

37: INDIA is going ahead in ALL fields

KEEP IT UP

Posted by: Gajendra - 12:00 AM Jul 21, ' 08

38: Corruption is inhuman. Try getting anything done at most govt offices and the torture they will subject a fellow countryman through. It is unpatriotic in the least. The population explosion in the last few decades has only worsened the situation.

Posted by: speedy - 12:00 AM Jul 21, ' 08

39: and you want us to believe this crap.....I lived in the US for 20 years
and never had to bribe for anything.....atleast for my day to day living...
and when i go to india for a 2 or three week trip i have to bribe atleast
2 or three times to get stuff done ........... In addition to the blue labels I take
there to bribe the officers there......they like free stuff it tastes better....

Posted by: Ja Kri - 12:00 AM Jul 21, ' 08

40: HTF is at 74th position as compared to 20th points to less corruption?

Posted by: Denali - 12:00 AM Jul 21, ' 08

41: Such corruption indexes and reports are by themselves CORRUPT.

In India corruption is widely spread but In US corruption is deeply buried. thats the difference.

Indians are not professional in practicing corruption and it affects the common man. People exaggerate, share with maximum no. of people If they have -ve / bad experiences.

No two societies can be compared in terms of corruption just like we compare size of the population or the number of automobiles.
Bhutan or Nepal will definitely be less corrupt than India or China.

CORRUPTION reporting has no meaning nor it has any significance.
This is another sensational trash of a news item with a wrong title.

Posted by: kingofthehill - 12:00 AM Jul 21, ' 08

42: I would think it is a sampling error! And then 15% tipping at a restaurant is expected as a norm in the US. Would you come away without tipping your waiter 15% in the US ? Would you so handsomely tip the Indian counterpart ? Perhaps not.
The metrics for measuring corruption levels are strongly tied to socio economic factors that cannot be ignored.

In India , the lowest rungs of people are also subject to corruption hence we hear of more cases, where as in the US its mostly with the upper echelons of power and influence and the $ involved is larger a lot of it undisclosed.
I am not sure if this survey accounts for extraneous factors. If it does then indeed woe is me!! India had better buckle up!
On a lighter note, what is teh difference between corruption in the US and India?
An American defines it as bribing somebody to do what he is not supposed to do, but in India it is to get somebody to do what he is being paid for! (example: release your official university transcripts) :-))

Posted by: AP - 12:00 AM Jul 21, ' 08

43: I am really surprised with this list of corrupt counties by "so" called "Transparency India" because I remember reading another (but reliable) article that listed India in TOP TEN corrupt countries just couple of years back. Other countries that featured in the Top 10 list were Pakistan, Mexico, Russia, Indonesia and China.

Posted by: Neal - 12:00 AM Jul 21, ' 08

44: Majority of us think India is very corrupt democracy but that's not the case. You may be right that there is too much corruption in India still all the states in India are less corrupt than state of New Jersey in America . Every one in USA says 49 other states are less corrupt than NJ and I say NJ is world's most corrupt & racist state. Most disgusting is NJ is legally corrupt and legally racially segregated under its Pro Israeli Rulers.
India a Country where the Benchmark "President's salary is $2,000.00" when it trickles down to other gov jobs some of the people make less than $200.00 in State/Federal Jobs which does not even allow them to come dressed in a civilized way to the office they are holding or to take care of their family's basic needs. If that person asks for $5-$10 or even $50-$100 to move your file it can not be called corruption, it is gratituty or tip.
I challenge Mainstream US Media, Hollywood & Wall Street for open discussion and will use their data to prove it we "Americans" are more corrupt & racist and especially NJ this state is legally corrupt & legally racially segregated under siege by a minority who are dreaming to Rule America by manipulating coming Presidential Elections.

Try to find another state in the entire world where for 8.5 mil residents living in 8,000 miles have more than 1 Elected official & 50 Employees per sq mile under 588 governments with over 9,000 Elected officials and 400,000 Employees with a Budget of $35 Billion for state and another $38 Billion for 587 Local Governments governing 566 racially segregated Kingdoms/Towns with uneven area and uneven population ranging from 285,000 for a colored town with all kinds of problems and 35 people in a white town. Then NJ has 250,000 children in 31 colored towns who can not read and write (American Media says they can't comprehend in basic education!) despite the fact New Jersey has the highest cost in the world $19,000.00 to educate a student in rich districts and $28,000.00 in poor districts. We still call our selves most advanced, highly educated, most affluent Democracy United States of America.

P.S. Pre Independence India in 12.6 Million Sq Miles used to have 600 Princely Kingdoms for 450 million residents and New Jersey in 8,000 Sq miles has 566 Princely Kingdoms for 8.5 Million subjects/residents!

Posted by: Dave Makkar - 12:00 AM Jul 21, ' 08

45: as per the cpi table (http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/ surveys_indices/cpi/2007), India and USA hold the 72nd (not the 74th) and the 20th positions respectively.

more importantly, a country with a larger rank has worse corruption that a country with a smaller rank. in that sense, india is way more corrupt than the US.

even this article and title look corrupt.

Posted by: deva - 12:00 AM Jul 21, ' 08

46: completely misleading

Posted by: Chandra - 12:00 AM Jul 21, ' 08

47: Well, our Iraq adventure has done wonders to lower our place in the world, but the article has conveniently read the source material backwards. In this case, higher numerical rank (such as 100 vs 20) indicates a perception of more corruption, not less, so the US is percieved as more corrupt than only 19 other countries and less than >100. So, check back in a few years. We have not yet caught up to the rest of the world in corruption, but we're working on it!

Posted by: Robert - 12:00 AM Jul 21, ' 08

48: Oh thats surprising. In fact I thought Indians are the smart cheaters in the world. There are more smarter cheaters in the world.

Posted by: Ramesh - 12:00 AM Jul 21, ' 08