Indians pay 4.6 billion dollars in bribes each year to obtain basic services such as water and electricity, Transparency International said Wednesday.
The survey, titled "India Corruption Study 2005," sought the opinions of 14,405 respondents across India, the graft watchdog's Indian arm said.
The "total monetary value of petty corruption to get 11 basic services is estimated to be 210 billion rupees (4.6 billion dollars)," the report said.
Sixty-two percent of respondents said they had "first-hand experience of paying a bribe or using a contact to get a job done in a public office," the report said.
The other departments named by Indians as corrupt were private schools - where parents paid money to ensure their children gained admission - the lower judiciary, government hospitals and the income tax department, the report said.
The 11 services were chosen based on their public value, availability across the country and monopolistic nature of the amenities, the report said.
The survey found almost 75 percent of those surveyed said they felt levels of corruption had gone up in the past year.
The corruption index scores showed that people said they paid because officials had the potential to disrupt business and home life if they did not, the report said.
India's police service was ranked the most corrupt with as many as 80 percent of those who had interacted with the department saying they had parted with money to get work done.
The lower judiciary was ranked the second most corrupt service with land administration and municipal services - electricity and water - in the third and fourth slots.
India's lawless eastern state of Bihar was found to be the most corrupt in the country while Kerala in the south was voted the least corrupt.
Comments
Comments are closed.