Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI): Bhutan Ranks Top in SAARC Countries

Today, a click on the link posted in Facebook wall took me to the Transparency International (TI) homepage. Immediately, I started searching the name of my country in the list of Corruption Perception Index 2011. To my expectation, I scrolled all the way bottom of the table and read the table bottom up. Nepal ranks 54th but this rank didn't stop me searching further more. I wanted to compare the rank of Nepal with previous year and SAARC countries. What a pity! Nepal is the most corrupt country among the founding members of SAARC. It has fell eight positions down this year and stood 154th among 182 countries in the world. Nepal scored just 2.2 out of 10. The CPI ranges from 0 (highly corrupt) to 10 (clean). TI consider countries with score of 3 or less are "Corrupt Country". Nepal is raising its ranks every year in the list of corrupt country. Only Afghanistan ranks below Nepal in SAARC region. 

Figure: CPI Rank of Nepal in the World (Data source: Transparency International)

To my surprise, Bhutan with a CPI score of 5.7 stands best among SAARC countries. It is also among the least corrupt country in Asia Pacific region. This small kingdom in Himalaya ranks 7th in Asia Pacific region and 38th in the world . The country ranked 49 with a CPI score 5.0 in 2009. What a great achievement by Bhutan! We Nepalese and other SAARC countries have to learn from Bhutan. 

New Zealand, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Bhutan, South Korea, Brunei, and Macau secure places in the top ten in Asia Pacific region. The emerging economic giants in the region, China and India, rank 75^th and 95^th. Afghanistan (180), Myanmar (180), and North Korea (182) rank bottom globally, with scores of 1.5, 1.5 and 1 respectively. Number in parenthesis indicates global ranking. 

Table: Corruption Perception Index 2011 SAARC countries (Source: Transparency International)

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SAARC Rank	Global Rank	Country	Score	Region Rank	Region
1	38	Bhutan	5.7	7	Asia Pacific
2	86	Sri Lanka	3.3	16	Asia Pacific
3	95	India	3.1	17	Asia Pacific
4	120	Bangladesh	2.7	22	Asia Pacific
5	134	Maldives	2.5	26	Asia Pacific
6	134	Pakistan	2.5	26	Asia Pacific
7	154	Nepal	2.2	29	Asia Pacific
8	180	Afghanistan	1.5	33	Asia Pacific

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   

My Thought

The only way to improve our situation is to work together with all political parties, governments and civil society. I have following ideas/points in my mind at this moment;

* Value based education school to university (let everyone realize that corruption is worse than robbery/prostitution; heavy emphasis on social service; Nepal needs honest people than intelligent).

* Comfortable salary necessary for good living to civil servants, law makers, ministers etc (human being or animal can do anything in a survival mode; let them provide comfortable living environment).

* Serious punishment and rapid court hearing (both long term imprisonment and heavy fine/penalty)

* Implementation of National Security Number (NSN) to keep track of income, taxes, and personal history.

Click here for complete report: Corruption Perceptions Index: Transparency International

Free Live Civil Engineering Webcasts

The CE News offers Webcasts series on various topics affecting the business of civil engineering. Webcasts series are free of cost. You may be interested to attend live webcast to learn new technology, keep yourself up to date or earn continuing education credit. Click the link below for schedule and registration:

http://www.cenews.com/webcasts

Good luck.

Nepalese Students' Association (NeSA) Election 2012

Fifth general election of Nepalese Students' Association (NeSA) at New Mexico State University (NMSU) main campus was held at Corbett Center, NMSU, on Saturday 12th November 2011. The election committee was chaired by Dr. Ram N. Acharya. All officers and committee directors were elected by unanimous consent of the general meeting. The following officers and directors will hold their office for the term of 2012: 

 
Executive Committee:

President: Bishnu Hari Dhakal
Vice-President: Bigal Prasai
Secretary: Sanjiv Jha
Treasurer: Menuka Karki
Member: Gangadhar Acharya
Member: Prasamsha Dhakal
Member: Rishi Sapkota

How to Show HTML Codes in Blogger Post: Three Simple Steps

If you have a blogger platform (blogspot) and want to display HTML code in your blog post, you can not copy/past HTML code directly into the blog post. If you directly copy/paste the code, browser will read and execute the code and it won't show on the screen. Here is a simple three steps procedure the will prevent HTML rendering and show your HTML code on the screen. This is especially useful for writing HTML related tutorial blog.    

1. Go to the Quick Escape website
2. Copy your html source code and paste into the Raw HTML code box and click on "Convert to escaped characters" 
3. Now, copy converted HTML code with escaped characters and paste into your blog post. 

Example: Check this blog post. 

Facebook LIKE and SHARE Button for Blogger

Facebook "Like" and "Share" buttons are great to use in your blog to let your friends/visitors show their reaction. They can like, comment and share your post using their Facebook account. There are several design for Like and Share button. However, I personally liked the following button  and I have installed into my blog couple of months ago. If you are interested in similar one, follow the following procedure:

A. Facebook Like Button

Like

D.b. Rana, Ujir Rai Tilung Mukchhimchha and 26 others like this.

Step 1. Dashboard >Template >Edit HTML and check "Expand Widget Templates"

1. Go to your blogger dashboard.
2. Select "Template" from the design menu.
3. Choose "Edit HTML" and click "Proceed".
4. Check "Expand Widget Templates".

Step  2. Press Ctrl-F and find following line of code inside the template box:      

     <data:post.body/>

Step  3. Copy and Paste the following code just below the code. This step will show your button at the end of your blog post.

     <!-- Facebook Like button Start -->

     <b:if cond='data:blog.pageType != &quot;static_page&quot;'>

     <div style='float:left;padding:5px 5px 5px 0;'>

     <iframe allowTransparency='true' expr:src='&quot;http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=&quot; + data:post.url + &quot;&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=false&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;font=verdana&amp;colorscheme=light&amp;height=35&quot;' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' style='border:none; overflow:hidden; width:440px; height:35px;'/>

     </div>

     </b:if>

     <!-- Facebook Like button End -->

Step  4. Now "Save Template".

Note: It is always good idea to backup your template before you do any change in your current template. You can restore your previous template if anything goes wrong.