India slips down to 81 rank in corrupt nations list.

According to the report published in Times of India quoting a report of Transparency International release which has characterised India as “among the worst regional offenders” in the Asia Pacific region on grounds of journalists, activists, opposition leaders and even staff of law enforcement or watchdog agencies being threatened or even murdered. While it maintained its score at 40 on a 100-point scale where anything below 30 is considered seriously corrupt, its ranking changed from 79th last year partly because Vanuatu, one of the countries added to the rankings this year, was rated higher and partly because others improved, said the report. In this, it was clubbed with the Philippines and Maldives, said the report. “These countries score high for corruption and have fewer press freedoms and higher numbers of journalist deaths,” the report quoted release of Transparency International.