New Delhi: Over 60 per cent people paid bribes to various government departments in the last one year in eight out of 20 states, according to a survey conducted by Transparency International India (TII), an anti-corruption organisation, and LocalCircles, an advocacy group.
In five states — Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh — over 50 per cent of the population paid bribes to government authorities to get their work done, the survey, released Tuesday, stated.
Titled ‘India Corruption Survey 2019’, the survey was conducted to check the level of ‘domestic’ corruption in India and recorded citizens’ responses of dealing with corruption in government departments.
It was conducted in 20 states across 248 districts and saw the participation of 81,000 people.
Northeastern states and the newly formed union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh were excluded from the survey.
The survey received over 1,90,000 responses — 1,20,000 were received in the national survey and 70,000 in the state survey.
Also read: Incidents of bribery down by 10% since 2018, survey of 20 states finds
Delhi police demanded bribes the most
According to the survey, Punjab, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are among the states where more than 60 per cent people paid bribes to government departments.
In Haryana, Delhi, Gujarat, Odisha, West Bengal, Goa and Kerala, less than 49 per cent people gave bribes to get their work done in different departments.
The survey said that residents of the national capital experienced maximum demand for bribes from Delhi Police.
Citizens in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal also paid bribes to police officials.
Property, land are top sectors that demanded bribe
In 9 states, property and land were the sectors where bribes were sought the most.
The municipal corporation is the most corrupt government department in Madhya Pradesh as it demanded the maximum number of bribes from people, according to the survey.
The citizens of Kerala, Goa, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana paid most number of bribes to tax, electricity and transport offices.
The survey, however, also stated that India’s ranking in the Corruption Perception Index has improved in 2018 as it now stands at 78th position among 180 countries. In 2017, India ranked 81st in the index, which is annually published by Transparency International India.
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