Any ideas, Sirji?

Transparency International has formulated the Bribe Payers Index (BPI), which ranks the likelihood of firms from 22 top exporting countries to bribe to receive business or favours from abroad. These 22 countries account for approximately 75 per cent of total foreign direct investment outflows and export goods worldwide. The Index is based on interviews with almost 3,000 senior business executives working in 26 countries. Even though the BPI is for 2008, the corruption index is updated for 2010. Further, such impressions take long to get formed and even longer to get erased, and hence, I have considered this vital statistic especially during the time that this issue has taken centrestage. The 2008 BPI also includes supplementary information on perceptions of corruption across 19 business sectors. Belgium and Canada shared first place in the 2008 BPI with a score of 8.8 out of a very clean 10, indicating that Belgian and Canadian firms are seen as least likely to bribe abroad. The Netherlands and Switzerland shared third place on the index, each with a score of 8.7. At the other end of the spectrum, Russia ranked last with a score of 5.9, just below China (6.5), Mexico (6.6) and India (6.8). The BPI also shows public works and construction companies to be the most corruption-prone when dealing with the public sector, and most likely to exert undue influence on the policies, decisions and practices of governments. On the global corruption index, India ranks 87th and 16th in the Asian region after China, Malaysia and Thailand. If the current Indian government has to survive, it has to work towards cleaning up its act; a first step in this direction could be the introduction of the Lokpal Bill. Similarly, the construction sector needs to enhance its credibility rating to be viewed favourably in the price-earnings multiple scale, currently hovering around 10 to 15, by the fund managers. Finally, its curtains for the elusive Suresh Kalmadi, organiser of the CWG Organising Committee, as he was arrested by the CBI on charges of cheating, conspiracy and corruption, in connection with the awarding of Common Wealth Games'(CWG) contracts. Time and again we have vocalised the need for transparency in tackling this problem. Even while CW investigated the level of preparation for CWG in early 2010 and despite having access to CM Sheila Dikshit, we found a defensive attitude which lacked propriety, professionalism and seemed to be shrouded in secrecy. Questions on lists of contractors/sub-contractors, schedules of completion, etc., were denied response and deflected in order to exhaust our efforts. The respondents also maintained an arrogant stance and most officials were uncooperative in sharing the use of public funds or their accountability on the project accorded to them. Each and every project must mandatorily enlist the scheduled date of completion, cost of project with a brief on the project under execution not only at site but also on its website. This can prevent such a blatant misuse of public position and resources as witnessed in the CWG case. The other challenge snaking up its way to swallow up profit margins is 'inflation' and our cover story unravels how detrimental this can be. Financial costs are likely to be an area of concern although the raising of interest may not necessarily dampen the availability of funds due to the high level of pump priming. With costs comes the need to trim budgets and locate ideas which can revolutionise community lives using inexpensive methods. For instance, a coastal road across the periphery of Mumbai's coastline with a dedicated BRTS corridor and parallel garden promenades could make up for the low green cover in the city even as it solves the traffic problem by making economical public transport effective. Do you have some ideas to share on how we can solve some of the problems plaguing citizens and cities? Email me at Editor@ASAPPmedia.com