Transparency International is the world’s largest anti-corruption organization. It played a central role in the birth of the global anti-corruption movement in the 1990’s and presently has chapters in over 100 countries. For overall organizational efficiency in the anti-corruption field, CEAS considers our Recommended Charity Integrity Action to be the best. However, there is one country that commands special attention for anti-corruption work: India. Transparency International’s India Chapter appears to be the most credible organization working in the country to take on this task.

The leading impediment to development in India is corruption and fraud, which is all-pervasive in both the public and private sectors. It is very difficult for a government to help the poor of its country when tens of billions of dollars are misappropriated every year, and even the poorest don’t receive a public service such as policing or electricity without paying a bribe. The only way India will transcend poverty and meaningfully increase quality of life is if corruption in the public, private and nonprofit sectors is reigned in.

Why India?

There are a number of factors that make India the most important country for anti-corruption action:

1. Population. India has the world’s second largest population at 1.3 billion people. That is 300 million more than all of sub-Saharan Africa. China has more people, but it is nearly impossible for citizens to reform the public sector. With a huge population, reforms can affect many people by being national in scope or by being replicated in other parts of the country.
2. Pervasiveness of corruption. Levels of corruption of all sectors of society are very high in India. It scores 40/100 on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, which is very poor.
3. Social issues and poverty. India has serious social problems such as poverty, casteism, and sanitation. Corruption inhibits progress in all aspects of the society.
4. Potential for economic growth. India is an emerging economy with many large corporations, a well-developed IT sector, and world-class health care. Without the burden of corruption, India’s economy could lift hundreds of millions more out of poverty.
5. Highly neglected. There is no substantial, sustained anti-corruption movement across India. There have been major uprisings against corruption, such as in 2011, but they generally have been uncoordinated and short-lived.

Why Transparency International India?

There are a few NGOs in India that claim to fight corruption, but CEAS cannot verify their credibility. Almost all charities in India are complete frauds. Claiming to combat fraud does not guarantee that a charity is itself legitimate. Transparency International has strict standards for transparency and ensuring that country chapters are credible, so we feel that supporting Transparency International India is a safer bet than the alternatives. It also runs high quality programs (see below).

Transparency International India has very little funding — under $100,000 USD/year. For an effort commensurate with the scale of the corruption problem, a budget upwards of $10 million USD/year would be more appropriate. That is not a lot of money to prevent the tens of billions of dollars each year from being plundered from treasuries and extorted from the poor.

Transparency International India runs a number of programs to combat corruption in the country. These include:

Integrity Pact

Seeks to prevent grand corruption by decreasing opportunities for corruption in public procurement contracts.

ALAC

The Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre provides free legal advice and assistance to witnesses and victims of corruption.

Pahal

Empowers the poor to demand and access their entitlements and public services.

Development Pact

An agreement between the government and organizations of the poor to guarantee that government will deliver on items such as access to food, land and water, safety/security, employment, roads, credit, and so on.

While it is hard to measure the success of anti-corruption activities, Transparency International India may be a very cost-effective charity to help raise living standards and decrease injustice in India. Anti-corruption is a very neglected cause in India. Its tractability may be unpredictable, but the magnitude and neglectedness of corruption is such that the expected value of donations to TII is exceptionally high. TII presently has paltry revenue, so it can easily absorb a few million dollars a year in increased funds without reaching diminished returns. There presently are no major funders interested in corruption fighting in India, so there is a little chance of your donations discouraging other funders from contributing.