Thumbs down for the cops

In the second part of the report on people?s perception of govt agencies, we deal with the Delhi Police, the DDA and Delhi?s two civic bodies, the NDMC and MCD.

In the second part of the report on people’s perception of government agencies, we deal with the Delhi Police, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Delhi’s two civic bodies, the NDMC and MCD. The state government has some control over only the last mentioned; this control is, however, indirect.

HT Image

It seems the stock of all three agencies is pretty low with the people. The Delhi Police faces severe indictment: a staggering 54 per cent think the force is totally corrupt, 29 per cent think it is somewhat corrupt, and only 7 per cent think it is not corrupt.

The DDA comes next, narrowly edging out NDMC/MCD for the tag of the ‘second most corrupt agency’. Forty seven per cent of Delhiites regard DDA as being totally corrupt; for the NDMC/MCD, the figure is one percentage point less.

The unhappiness of the people with their police cuts across social classes. There is no class in which Delhi’s lawkeepers are not considered corrupt by the largest group. It is a telling statistic that a whopping 57 per cent each of both Delhi’s big businessmen and manual labourers think the force is fully corrupt. The uneducated are a little less severe: among this group, 48 per cent think the police are totally corrupt.

Professionals and the well educated are the most upset with the DDA — 58 and 57 per cent of the people in these groups think the Authority is completely corrupt. As with the police, it is the uneducated who bring the DDA some cheer: only 29 per cent think it is very corrupt.

The well-educated (graduates and above) are the unhappiest with the city’s two civic bodies. Professionals, big businessmen and the rich are marginally happier. Forty-nine per cent of the middle class thinks the MCD and NDMC are fully corrupt.