Tag Archives: Maldives

13 Journalists Killed In Pakistan, Five in India This Year

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Pakistan saw the highest number of journalists losing their lives in South Asia with 13 of them dying in the line of duty, followed by India with five among a total of 25 media-persons falling victim to violence.

“In 2012, South Asia- the most volatile region- mourned the murder of 25 media persons, with Pakistan again remaining in the lead. 13 journalists lost their lives in Pakistan, followed by five in India, three in Bangladesh, and two each in Nepal and Afghanistan,” a report of the South Asia Media Monitor said.

The report states that though no journalist was killed in Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the Maldives, media persons there continued to face professional challenges and hazards.

“The media also came under scrutiny for laxity in professionalism in achieving accuracy and being unbiased,” the report said.

Insurgency affected Balochistan and the northern parts of Pakistan were the most dangerous areas with the range of threats and trauma growing.

 In India, five killings point to the dangers journalism faced apart from the constant pressure of commercialisation.

Tensions persisted in the conflict prone regions such as Kashmir, the report said.

It claimed that journalists working in North-East India face threats from both the Maoists and the security agencies.

In Sri Lanka, media has seen no major improvement even after the end of the civil strife there, the report said.

Indians, Second Largest Bribe Payers in South Asia

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Indians grabbed the second position for bribing among the six South Asian countries. 54 percent of the Indians have said to bribe policemen when they messed up with them, reported by anti-corruption organization Transparency International. It also stated that more than 1 in 3 people pay bribes in order to deal with the public servants, institutions, policemen, to access basic services, to speed up their work or sometimes to avoid problems.

Indians, Second Largest Bribe Payers in South Asia

A survey was done with 7500 people from Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, by Transparency International in between 2010 and 2011. This report helps to explain why these countries have high corruption rates. Some of the countries score less than 3.5 out of 10 in the list.

In this list of six countries, Bangladesh tops the list followed by India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Maldives. 66 percent of the Bangladeshis prefer bribing, whereas this is 50 percent in Pakistan. People in these countries mostly pay to speed things up. It shows how corruption is rising high and hence becomes a barrier to business expansion in many countries.In Sri Lanka, people pays bribes to tax authorities rather than for any other services. In Nepal and Maldives, Customs services are mostly paid bribes.

Mostly the bribe takers in these countries are the policemen, the political parties, who are the most corrupt institutions according to the reports. This list is followed by parliament and public officials. They entrusted to oversee deals related to buying, selling, inheriting and renting land were the next likely to demand a bribe. But mostly the viewpoints of these people across the countries is that this problem of corruption is getting worse and worse and they need a solution for this. But people in India and Pakistan are most reluctant about the fact. Thousand of Indians are demonstrating for strong anti-corruption laws since August but less than a quarter on Indians thought their efforts to fight against was effective.

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