WB clarifies on the CII report

WB clarifies on the CII report, stating Karnataka as most corrupt
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: Regretting that a report by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in association with the World Bank had been ‘misrepresented’ to claim that corruption was rampant between 2000-2003, when Maharashtra Governor S M Krishna was Chief Minister of Karnataka, the World Bank has clarified that the report provided no basis for claiming Karnataka as most corrupt State during that period.

In a letter addressed to Maharashtra Governor's Secretary Jaykar Jerone, World Bank Country Director Michael F Carter “we are deeply concerned that the findings of the report have been misrepresented”.

The report, which was released an year ago had triggered a major political controversy, when JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda used the report to take on his arch rival S M Krishna.

Krishna also hit back in equal vigor, stating that corruption was actually rampant during Janata Dal Government, when Gowda was Chief Minister of the State.

When Chief Minister N Dharam Singh joined the issue stating that he would initiate a probe into the issue if needed, Krishna suggested to begin the probe from PWD, the portfolio held by Singh during Krishna's regime.

Carter said that the survey was conducted using two types of methodology, including 1800 manufacturing firms across 12 States in India.

“Higher proportion of the firms surveyed in Karnataka during 2003 reported corruption as a major growth bottleneck than in any other State covered in the survey”.

‘Such perception-based ranking of constraints and the subsequent ranking of States does not indicate the absolute level of the differences across the States,'' carter said.

If a larger proportion of firms in Karnataka (than in other States) perceive `corruption' to be the major bottleneck, does not necessarily imply that the absolute level of corruption in Karnataka is higher than in other States.

That a large proportion of firms in Karnataka perceive corruption as the major constraint could mean one of many things.

It could mean that other areas (like infrastructure) are better handled in Karnataka or it could mean that given the profile of industry in Karnataka, the expectations of the entrepreneurs are very different from those of other States, Carter explained.

“These points are made very clear in the World Bank's report, and therefore, I can categorically confirm that that report provides no basis for claiming that Karnataka was the `most corrupt' State in India in 2004,'' Carter added.