Indians pay Rs 21,068 cr per year as bribe

The common man pays bribes totalling Rs 21,068 crore a year for various public services, says the 'India Corruption Study — 2005’, released by Transparency International on Thursday.

Sixty-two per cent of those surveyed said corruption is for real, having indulged in it.

A third of them said corruption is on the rise compared to last year (2004-05).

Police are on top of the corruption chart, followed by lower courts and land administration.

Government hospitals indulge in corruption while denying medicines, securing admission, consultations with doctors and availing of diagnostic services.

Despite reforms, electricity services are high on the corruption index.

The public distribution system is lower down, since those availing of it are affected by leaks in the system rather than direct monetary corruption on the part of the service providers.

Water supply figures at the other end, ranking the lowest on the corruption chart.

Among the states, Kerala is the least corrupt, while Bihar emerges as the most corrupt. J&K comes next to Bihar, Madhya Pradesh third.

High on the list are Karnataka, Rajasthan, Assam, Jharkhand, Haryana and Tamil Nadu.

Delhi comes in the middle, 11th among the 20 states surveyed. Among the less corrupt are Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

The findings are based on a national survey, claimed to be the largest ever with 14,405 samples across 20 states and 151 cities.

Releasing the survey, Admiral (retd) R H Tahiliani, a former Navy chief, said the situation could be remedied by legislations like the Right to Information Act, a positive role by the media and by public awareness.