India the most corrupt Asian country, but Modi fighting against graft: Forbes

New Delhi: If the statistics furnished by the Transparency International (TI), an anti-corruption global civil society organisation, are anything to go by, India has a long way ahead to fulfil one of the many objectives as told by the current Indian government - defeating the malice of corruption.

A recent survey by the Transparency International states that India is the most corrupt country in Asia.

Depicting how pervasive the problem is across Asia, a list released by Forbes - Asia's Five Most Corrupt Countries - says that India beats Vietnam, Thailand, Pakistan and Myanmar, when it comes to bribery rate.

The Forbes article, which rates India the highest in the list with 69 percent bribery rate, describes India as: "In five of the six public services - schools, hospitals, ID documents, police, and utility services - more than half the respondents have had to pay a bribe."

The article goes on to praise Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his 'fight against corruption.'

"However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's fight against corruption has made a mark: 53 percent of the people think he is going it fairly or very well. And it has led to people feeling empowered, as 63 percent believe ordinary people can make a difference," it adds.

India is closely followed by Vietnam at 65 percent bribery rate.

India's neighbour, Pakistan, stands fourth in the list with 40 percent bribery rate. The article describes the nation as: "In Pakistan, about three-fourths of respondents perceive most or all of the police to be corrupt. Of the people who encountered either the police or the courts, nearly seven in ten had to pay a bribe. Sadly, people don't feel things can change-only a third think ordinary people can make a difference."

The 18-month long survey by Transparency International was concluded after talking to more than 20,000 people in 16 countries, regions and territories in the Asia Pacific.

The Berlin-based corruption watchdog had put India at rank 76 out of 168 countries in its Corruption Perception Index last year.

The country's 2015 corruption perception score remained the same as 2014's - 38/100 - showing lack of improvement.

According to figures published in March, 2017, while citizens of Pakistan were the most likely of any country to be asked for bribes in law and order institutions, for India the police bribery rate was 54 percent and for China a low 12 percent.

India had the highest bribery rates of all the countries surveyed for access to public schools (58 percent) and healthcare (59 percent).