A study by Transparency International India and the Centre for Media Studies says as much as Rs 8.83 billion was paid as bribes by those living below the poverty line to avail of 11 types of basic government services

India’s poor paid nearly Rs 9 billion in bribes over three months to avail of basic public utility services, according to a new study released by the NGO Transparency International India (TII). The survey was carried out by the Centre for Media Studies (CMS). This is the first time that CMS, which has been conducting surveys on corruption since 2000, has studied the impact of corruption on poor people.

The survey, conducted between November 2007 and January 2008, found that Rs 8.83 billion was paid as bribes by people living below the poverty line (BPL) to avail of 11 types of services, including the public distribution system, hospitals, school education, electricity and water supply, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), land records and registration, forests, housing, banking and the police.

The police department, in fact, emerged as the most corrupt department with two out of every five people seeking its help being forced to pay a bribe. Those involved in land records and registration services took second spot on the list of bribe-takers.

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) which promises 100 days of paid work to every rural household that asks for it is also plagued by corruption, the report says.

‘School education up to Class 12’ was the least corrupt service, but even here BPL households paid Rs 120 million in bribes. “This kind of corruption that denies people their entitlement to basic and need-based services, many of which may be ‘free’ by law, results in the poor finding themselves at the losing end of the corruption chain,” said TII Chairman Admiral (Retd) R H Tahiliani.

“Usually, there is talk of corruption only in higher places since that is more glamorous though it is the poor that suffer the most due to corrupt government activities,” said Arvind Kejriwal, a right to information activist.

Predictably, the government played down the findings of the study with Minister of State for Power Jairam Ramesh saying: “We all know there is corruption at lower levels and we do not need studies to prove that.”

Other findings of the study:

• Almost 4 million BPL households had to bribe hospital staff for services like getting admission to hospital, getting a bed, diagnostic services, and getting an OPD card.
• The total amount of bribes paid to hospital staff by the poor in the last one year is estimated to be Rs 870 million.
• Nearly 1 million households were denied hospital services simply because they either refused to pay bribes or could not afford to do so.
• 5.36 million BPL families had to pay bribes or use a contact to avail of the public distribution system (PDS); a majority bribed officials in order to get a ration card.
• People had to bribe officials in order to get an electricity connection or get a faulty electricity meter rectified.

Source: www.sify.com, June 28, 2008
           www.livemint.com, June 28, 2008