Somalia is the world's most corrupt nation, according to Transparency International's 2010 Corruption Perception Index. The 2010 CPI shows that nearly three quarters of the 178 countries in the index score below five, on a scale from 0 (perceived to be highly corrupt) to 10 (perceived to have low levels of corruption), indicating a serious corruption problem. New Zealand, Denmark and Singapore are the least corrupt countries in the world, according...

The present situation is different from that of 2007-2008, although recent climatic events may significantly reduce agricultural production next season. Must history always repeat itself? We are indeed on the verge of what could turn out to be another major food crisis. The FAO Food Price Index at the end of 2010 returned to its highest level. Drought in Russia and the export restrictions adopted by the government, together with...

A case where request for info on some Budget 2007 notings was rejected by the CBDT, but made available by the Central Information Commission, the Second Appellate Authority under the RTI Act. The Right to Information Act of 2005 is a very important piece of legislation to bring about complete Transparency in the functioning of the bureaucracy and thus increase accountability as well as reduce corruption. Since it is a relatively new...

According to Transparency International, India ranks 87 in the 2010 corruption index in a list of 178 countries, ranked from very clean to highly corrupt. Ranked with India at 87 are Albania, Jamaica and Liberia. India slipped from 84 in 2009. In our country kickbacks, bribes, public swindles and land-grabbing is now virtually institutionalised. Clean politicians, bureaucrats and police officials are now seen as a rare, endangered species. And it’s...

The number of Right to Information (RTI) applications received by the Pune Municipal Corporation has increased from 6,793 in 2009 to 10,552 in 2010, in spite of the civic body providing information to citizens every Monday from 3 to 5 pm. While civic officials cited the increased awareness about the RTI Act among citizens as reason for the rising number of applications, activists said that the Monday scheme has not been...