Corruption problem in India is serious and it has stunted economy & country’s development from reaching newer heights. Studies have shown that India’s major corruption comes from entitlement programs and social spending schemes of Indian Government followed by the bribery that India’s goods transport industry has to pay every day to numerous regulatory authorities and police checkpoints on interstate highways to stay in business.

indian-currency

Indian Currency

It is a well-known fact that India’s political, judicial, administrative systems are poorly corrupted and government’s revenue and police department top the list. Indian media has widely accused many politicians and government officers of having undisclosed black money in Swiss Bank. Although, it has been accepted by the Swiss Bank in 2015-16, about thousands of Indians are having millions of rupees stashed in their secret bank accounts. However, who owns how much amounts are still mysteries.

While we media have always been blaming individuals for accumulating black money by evading taxation system, Wikipedia has another view about the prime reason of corruption in India. The official website has highlighted that…

– Excessive regulations

– Complicated tax and licensing systems

– Numerous government departments with opaque bureaucracy and discretionary powers,

– The monopoly of government-controlled institutions on certain goods and services delivery, and

– Lack of transparent laws and processes,

…are some of the major causes of corruption in India.

A recent survey conducted by Transparency International gave a corruption score of 41 out 100 to India. India has been ranked 78th amongst 180 nations as per Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index 2018.

Another survey by LocalCircles, in collaboration with Transparency International India, was recently concluded. The survey aimed to determine the levels of domestic corruption in the country. This survey report ‘India Corruption Survey 2019’ conducted the third year in a row, received over 190,000 responses from over 81,000 unique citizens from across 20 different states.

The report highlights the following points:

• While the corruption rate in the country was recorded at 56% in 2018’s survey, it has dropped to 51% in 2019’s survey. The reduced percentage can be considered good news.

• Major credit for the same can be is the ‘Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act 2018’ which was hailed as a force to deter the Government employees from indulging in bribery as it is is evident from the numbers from this year’s survey.

• The report highlighted that around 61% of the surveyed audience was not aware of the government’s existing state hotlines/helplines to report corruption. The government should promote information through appropriate channels.

• Even after the digitalisation of various procedures and payments systems, bribes continue to occur in government offices, in cash and the CCTV surveillance arrangements have been proved ineffective to stop the bribery.

• The report has highlighted ‘Property Registration and Land Issues’, ‘Police Department’ and ‘Municipal Corporations’ are the top three major departments responsible for fostering bribery and corrupt practices in the country. Further, the survey shows that there has been no improvisation in Police bribery in the past 12 months.

• Coercion or inefficiencies prevailing in Government offices have been highlighted as the main reason for corruption.

• While a majority of surveyed people believe that nothing is being done, only 6% of citizens opinionated that effective steps have been taken by their state Government or local administration to reduce corruption during the year.

Here is a list of Indian states, stating which state has a higher percentage of corruption and various other aspects of the survey:

Indian States Percentage Citizen Paid Bribe in a Year Votes Several Times Once or Twice Got Work Done Without Paying Bribe Not applicable or did not have a need
Rajasthan 78% 596 22 56 0 22
Bihar 75% 1054 50 25 25 0
Jharkhand 74% 547 74 0 13 13
Uttar Pradesh 74% 3057 57 17 3 23
Telangana 67% 2740 56 11 11 22
Karnataka 63% 2981 35 28 9 28
Punjab 63% 1075 27 36 27 10
Tamil Nadu 62% 2859 35 27 8 30
Chattisgarh 57% 528 43 14 0 43
Madhya Pradesh 55% 1082 22 33 12 33
Maharahstra 55% 3379 29 26 18 27
Anddhra Pradesh 50% 1100 30 20 30 20
Uttarakhand 50% 546 25 25 50 0
Gujarat 48% 1226 26 22 22 30
Delhi 46% 4317 25 21 19 35
Goa 46% 525 0 20 40 40
West Bengal 46% 1198 36 10 18 36
Haryana 44% 2882 22 22 26 30
Odisha 40% 563 20 20 13 47
Kerela 10% 1089 10 0 50 40

It is map-based depiction highlighting the state-wise breakup of corruption levels in the Indian state:

It is another map-based depiction highlighting the state-wise breakup, highlighting the major areas in value terms in the Indian States:

You can read the whole report:India Corruption Survey 2019 Report