Rob Jenkins’s research while affiliated with Birkbeck, University of London and other places

In Transparency International's 2005 survey of the world's most and least corrupt countries, India tied with eight others in 88th position. Most believe that corruption is an important reason why India's infrastructure is less impressive than it should be. Nevertheless, the current state of corruption is not seen as an obstable to sustained economic growth. This is because India is now too alluring an economic prospect for corruption to keep foreign investors away. One problem though is that India's growth is not producing enough jobs to keep pace with the growing population. To its credit, the coalition government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recognized the potential political hazard of continued jobless growth. In 2005, India's parliament passed the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). The program is designed to guarantee a minimum number of days of employment on government works programs for poorer families. However, critics of NREGA have expressed concern that the program will be a huge source of corruption. Overall, a combination of two factors shows that combating corruption in India will not be effective. These reasons include corrouption's perverse legitimacy and the fact that voters find it less attractive to vote on the basis of which party is most likely to clean up government than to support one that promises group rewards.