Tag Bribe

Why do we need to measure Corruption? 9

Mar11

While searching for information on the scale of Corruption in India, one is struck by the amazing dearth of any credible information.

Corruption Meter Graphics

There are a whole host of scales and indexes for everything under the sun including the esoteric Business Confidence index, Human Development index, Happiness index to the more mundane such as Inflation, GDP, Government Approval ratings etc.
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Customs Corruption creek 5

Feb25

Its not for nothing that Customs is the most sought after cadre behind IAS & IPS in Civil Services Examination. The department reeks of Corruption. Its has got an ever flowing stream of ‘liquid cash’ that beckons new recruits. Estimated average daily bribe collected by Customs officials range from Rs 50,000 to Rs 2 lakh as per graft investigators. Three recent HT stories give us a glimpse of the rot with in the department.

Customs Corruption Image

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Can Gandhigiri solve Corruption? 7

Feb7

I was forced to mull on this question by the runway popularity of a recent post by Fumiko Nagano on the World Bank blog regarding the efforts of 5th Pillar to fight Corruption in India with Zero Rupee Notes. Since then, it has taken the digital world by storm with several hundred twitterattis including @ShashiTharoor and @Gulpanag retweeting its link and several prominent websites including The Economist, CNN, Boing Boing featuring related posts. 5th Pillar is Chennai based, grass roots organisation that has been working against Corruption using RTI and Zero Rupee Notes. It encourages people to use Zero Rupee Notes distributed by them to counter requests for bribe. This is akin to ‘Gandhigiri’ as it tries to shame the Corrupt officials into giving up Corruption instead of using punitive measures. For the uninitiated, the concept of Gandhigiri was introduced by a 2006 Hindi film, Lage Raho Munna Bhai. It consists of confronting the tormentor with moral force, kindness and non-violence in true Gandhian tradition. Since the release of the movie, strikers, protesters and activists have begun to distribute roses or flowers to draw attention to their cause. Even powerful Politicians & Police have sometimes resorted to  Gandhigiri in an attempt to educate the public and convey their message.

Corruption in India Graphic

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Bribe Rate Chart 1

Jan1
Each of us have our own experiences of Corruption to share. Bribe Rate Chart is an effort to pool our common knowledge of Corruption into making a price list of corruption services through out the country. Any reader may add new information to the table and become a contributor to this collective effort. The modification will however be subject to moderation by the moderator. As per decision of the moderator the proposed addition/ change may be accepted or deleted.
Department/ Designation Service Location Rate Reference
Income Tax Refund (Manual IT Return) India up to 10% of Refund Amount @NoBribe
Police FIR – Stolen Car Noida Rs. 5,000/- @Akshay_Khanna
Police Passport Police Verification India Rs. 200 – 500/- @NoBribe
Police Passport Police Verification Bangalore Rs. 100/- msubbudu
Police Traffic Violation Bangalore Rs. 100/- msubbudu
Railways Ticket-less Travel India upto 50% of Ticket Price @NoBribe
BDO/ Mukhiya/ Gram Sevak BPL Card Bihar Rs. 5,000/- Hindustan Times – Patna, 30.04.2010
District Registrar Marriage Registration Noida Rs. 1,100/- @Naina
Karnataka Electricity Board Repairing Main line from Pole Bangalore Rs. 75/- per person msubbudu
TNEB Allocation of Transformer/ Cable to an area Tamilnadu Rs. 5,000/- TOI
TNEB 3 Phase, 50/100 Amps Meter Tamilnadu Rs. 3,000 – 5,000/- TOI
TNEB Replace burnt Meter Tamilnadu Rs. 2,000/- TOI

If you wish to add to this rate chart, please register and then login to be able to edit this rate chart. For help on adding information to this table click help.

Gandhi’s Monkeys 5

Aug18

Out of the many advices that Gandhiji gave to the nation, none has been turned on its head more completely than his three monkeys sermon. His three monkeys symbolised the purity of inner self with ‘See No Evil, Hear No Evil and Speak No Evil’ . The bureaucrats and the politicians have conveniently taken two of his three advices to their hearts - See No Evil and Hear No Evil.  That is what prevents them from seeing any corruption or hearing about any either.

Indian Poitics Image

Governments routinely go about their work with blinkers on, paying scant attention to the rampant corruption all around them. While government can’t find corruption, people can’t seem to lose it. A common man meets corruption everywhere. To him, government itself has become the fountainhead of corruption. Wherever citizens come in contact with government, corruption potentially happens. The incidence of corruption is so pervasive in the day to day life that it is ironical that government vigilance departments have to work so hard to nail corruption. When corruption is present everywhere, all one needs is the determination to confront it. Yet the charade of catching and releasing culprits goes on, while the malady of corruption festers and grows by the day.

If the government is serious about confronting corruption, first of all, it needs to get its head out of the sand and boldly acknowledge the existence of the problem. Any solution can only emanate from there. The government can then begin its war on corruption by holding ‘Anti Corruption Weeks’ for promoting awareness and informing about future corruption control methods.  This should be followed by ‘Corruption Audits’ of departments for both the people as well as the processes. The aim of these audits should be to locate those departments that can be easily rid of corruption and used as models for the rest of the departments. The audits should review official documentation and the procedures that are being followed, especially with respect to common citizens. It should also review the financial status of the officials to match their known sources of income. Most importantly public comments should be invited to gauge the perception about the department. Wherever feasible social media should be used for the purpose. The audits should certify certain departments as ‘Corruption Free’ based on their findings. The rest of the  departments should be asked to draw a migration plan for being certified ‘corruption free’ after repeat future audits.Once certified, the departments should be subject to even higher standards of accountability and any transgressions should be severely punished. All this may seem like a fairy tale but a driven person like T. N. Sheshan or A. P. J. Kalam, as our ‘Corruption Czar’ can quickly turn fairy tales into reality.

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