At a time when corruption hyperbole has hit India, a new survey has revealed that overall perception of corruption was on the decline. But, actual corruption in administration of government schemes has remained almost the same.
At a time when corruption hyperbole has hit India, a new survey has revealed that overall perception of corruption was on the decline. But, actual corruption in administration of government schemes has remained almost the same.
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The survey 'India Corruption Study, 2010' released by Centre for Media Studies says only 45% people in 12 states believe that there was increase in corruption as compared to 70% in 2005.
The study says as many as 29% feel that corruption has decreased in government schemes as compared to just 6% in 2005.
"There is change in perception now that the RTI has empowered people in checking corruption," said Bhaskar Rao, chairperson of Centre for Media Studies.
Of the 10,000 people in rural India surveyed in 2010, just 28% admitted of paying bribe. It meant that a bribe of R481 crore was paid, amounting to R194 by each person. The money is equal to the budget of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural for 2010-11 in Assam, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Maharashtra.
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The states, where people reported higher incident of paying bribe, are Chhattisgarh (55%), Bihar (52%), Kerala (46%) and Mahatrashtra (40%).
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The states, where people reported higher incident of paying bribe, are Chhattisgarh (55%), Bihar (52%), Kerala (46%) and Mahatrashtra (40%).
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When the survey narrowed down to four specific schemes — Public Distribution System, Education, Water Supply and Health in 12 states — perception about corruption has not changed much.
Around 42% feel there was corruption in PDS, another 35% said it was prevalent in schools, another 39% in water supply and 39% in availing health services, similar to results of 2005 survey.
The survey also pointed out that corruption was driving rural households away from the PDS system.
As against the government figure of 90% of off-take, the survey found the offtake was not more than 50% and it was declining every year
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.
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