Oct. 18: Believe it or not! India is a tad less corrupt than it was a year ago.

Transparency International’s annual corruption perception index has placed India 88th among 159 countries. Not a place of pride for an aspiring superpower but it is better than its “performance” in 2004 when India was 90 on the list.

India scored 2.9 in 2005 on a 10 to 0 scale. The higher the score, the lower the perceived level of corruption.

Some of India’s neighbours have better ranks ? China and Sri Lanka share the 78th position. But Bangladesh (along with Chad) is the most corrupt while Pakistan trails India at 144.

The index by the Berlin-based NGO draws on 16 surveys from 10 independent institutions to produce a “poll of polls” on perceived corruption levels in 159 countries.

In India, Kerala walks away with the least corrupt state trophy. Bihar tops the most corrupt list. In Bengal, water supply service is ranked the most corrupt.