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Contents
Foreword Preface Acknowledgements and Donors Abbreviations Summary 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. About The Study Coverage and Methodology Estimation of Bribe Services Ranked Relative Position of States on Corruption Follow-up to India Corruption Study Part - I: National Report National Report I. II. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 Introduction An Overview Part - II: Perception and Experience of Corruption: Service-wise Public Distribution System Introduction Interaction with PDS Service Purpose of Interaction Difficulties Faced During Interactions Perception about PDS Service Measures Taken to Improve Service Experience of Corruption Reason for Paying Bribe Route of Bribe Payment Estimation of Bribe Amount Where Do States Stand? Service Providers Perspective Suggestions to Improve PDS Service Delivery 37 37 39 40 41 41 42 42 43 44 45 45 46 47 09 10 11 xvii xviii xx xxii 03 03 03 04 04 04 05
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India Corruption Study 2008 Hospital Services Introduction Interaction with Health Services Purpose of Interaction Difficulty Faced During Interaction Perception about Hospital Services Measures to Improve Service Experience of Corruption Reason for Paying Bribe Route of Bribe Payment Estimation of Bribe Amount Where Do States Stand? Service Providers Perspective Suggestions for Improving Hospital Services School Education Introduction Interaction with School Education Service Purpose of Interaction Difficulty Faced During Interaction Perception about School Education Service Measures Taken to Improve Service Experience of Corruption Reasons for Paying Bribe Route for Bribe Payment Estimation of Bribe Amount Where Do the States Stand? Service Providers Perspective Suggestions to Improve School Education Services Electricity Service Introduction Interaction with Electricity Service Purpose of Interaction Difficulty Faced During Interaction Perception about Electricity Service Measures Taken to Improve Service 56 56 57 57 58 58 58 59 60 60 60 61 61 62 70 70 71 72 73 73 74 74 75 76 76 77 77 78 87 87 88 89 90 90 91
2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6
Contents 4.7 4.8 4.9 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 Experience of Corruption Reason for Paying Bribe Route of Bribe Payment Estimation of Bribe Amount Where Do the States Stand? Service Providers Perspective Suggestions to Improve Electricity Services Exemplary Initiatives - Delhi Water Supply Services Introduction Interaction with Water Service Purpose of Interaction Difficulty Faced During Interaction Perception about Water Supply Service Measures Taken to Improve Service Experience of Corruption Reason for Paying Bribe Route of Bribe Payment Estimation of Bribe Amount Where Do the States Stand? Service Providers Perspective Suggestions to Improve Water Supply Services National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Introduction Interaction with NREGS Purpose of Interaction Difficulty Faced During Interaction Perception About NREGS Measures Taken to Improve Service Experience of Corruption Reason for Paying Bribe Route of Bribe Payment Estimation of Bribe Amount Where Do the States Stand? Service Providers Perspective Suggestions to Improve NREGS Services
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92 92 93 93 94 94 95 96 98 98 100 101 102 102 103 103 104 105 105 105 106 107 109 109 110 110 111 112 112 114 114 115 116 116 117 119
viii
India Corruption Study 2008 Land Records & Registration Service Introduction Interaction with the Land Related Service Purpose of Interaction Difficulty Faced During Interaction Perception about Land Related Service Measures Taken to Improve Service Experience of Corruption Reasons for Paying Bribe Route of Bribe Payment Estimation of Bribe Amount Where Do the States Stand? Service Providers Perspective Suggestions to Improve Land Records & Registration Services Forest Service Introduction Interaction with Forest Service Purpose of Interaction Difficulty Faced During Interaction Perception about Forest Department Measures Taken to Improve Service Experience of Corruption Reasons for Paying Bribe Route of Bribe Payment Estimation of Bribe Amount Where Do the States Stand? Service Providers Perspective Suggestions to Improve Forest Services Housing Service Introduction Interaction with Housing Service Purpose of Interaction 120 120 121 121 122 123 123 124 125 126 126 127 128 129 131 131 132 133 134 134 135 135 136 136 136 137 138 138 140 140 142 143
7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 7.9 7.10 7.11 7.12 7.13 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8 8.9 8.10 8.11 8.12 8.13 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3
Contents 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 9.9 9.10 9.11 9.12 9.13 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 10.8 10.9 Difficulty Faced During Interaction Perception about Housing Service Measures Taken to Improve Service Experience of Corruption Reasons for Paying Bribe Route of Bribe Payment Estimation of Bribe Amount Where Do the States Stand? Service Providers Perspective Suggestions to Improve Housing Services Introduction Interaction with Banking Service Purpose of Interaction Difficulties Faced in During Interaction Perception about Banking Services Measures Taken to Improve Service Experience of Corruption Reason for Paying Bribe Route of Bribe Payment
ix
144 144 145 145 146 147 147 147 148 149 151 151 152 152 153 154 155 155 155 156 156 157 158 158 160 160 161 161 162 162 163 164 165
10.10 Estimation of Bribe Amount 10.11 Where Do the States Stand? 10.12 Service Providers Perspective 10.13 Suggestions to Improve Banking Services 11.0 Police 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 11.8 Introduction Interaction with Police Service Purpose of Interaction Difficulty Faced During Interaction Perception about Police Service Measures Taken to Improve Service Experience of Corruption Reasons for Paying Bribe
India Corruption Study 2008 Route of Paying Bribe 165 166 167 168 169
11.9
11.10 Estimation of Bribe Amount 11.11 Where do the States Stand? 11.12 Service Providers Perspective 11.13 Suggestions to Improve Police Services
Contents 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 6.9 Service-wise Positioning Service Providers Perspective RTI & Citizens Charter Source of Awareness About RTI Chhattisgarh About the State General Perception about Corruption Interaction with Public Services Perception about Services Grievance Redressal Mechanism Incidence of Corruption Relative Positioning of Services Service Providers Perceptive RTI & Citizens Charter Delhi About the State General Perception about Corruption Interaction with Public Services Perception about Services Grievance Redressal Mechanism Incidence of Corruption Service-wise Positioning Service Providers Perception RTI & Citizens Charter Goa About the State General Perception about Corruption Interaction with Public Services Perception about Services Grievance Redressal Mechanism Incidence of Corruption Service-wise Positioning Service Providers Perspective RTI & Citizens Charter
xi
215 216 216 217 218 218 218 220 221 223 223 226 226 227 229 229 229 231 232 234 234 235 237 238 240 240 240 242 243 245 245 247 247 248
xii
India Corruption Study 2008 Gujarat About the State General Perception about Corruption Interaction with Public Services Perception about Services Grievance Redressal Mechanism Incidence of Corruption Relative Positioning of Services Service Providers Perspective RTI & Citizens Charter Haryana About the State General Perception about Corruption Interaction with Public Services Perception about Services Grievance Redressal Mechanism Incidence of Corruption Relative Positioning of Services Service Providers Perspective RTI & Citizens Charter Some E-governance Initiatives Himachal Pradesh About the State General Perception about Corruption Interaction with Public Services Perception about Services Grievance Redressal Mechanism Incidence of Corruption Relative Positioning of Services Service Providers Perspective RTI & Citizens Charter About the State General Perception about Corruption Interaction with Public Services Perception about Services 250 250 250 251 253 254 255 257 257 259 260 260 260 261 262 263 264 266 266 267 268 270 270 270 272 273 274 275 277 277 278 280 280 280 282 283
7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8 7.9 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 8.7 8.8 8.9 8.10 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 9.9 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4
Contents 10.5 10.6 10.7 10.8 10.9 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 11.7 11.8 11.9 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 12.7 12.8 12.9 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 13.8 13.9 Grievance Redressal Mechanism Incidence of Corruption Relative Positioning of Services Service Providers Perspective RTI & Citizens Charter About the State General Perception about Corruption Interaction with Public Services Perception about Services Grievance Redressal Mechanism Incidence of Corruption Relative Positioning of Services Service Providers Perspective Awareness about RTI and Citizens Charter About the Sate General Perception about Corruption Interaction with Public Services Perception about Services Grievance Redressal Mechanism Incidence of Corruption Relative Positioning of Services Service Providers Perspective RTI & Citizens Charter About the State General Perception about Corruption Interaction with Public Services Perception about Services Grievance Redressal Mechanism Incidence of Corruption Relative Positioning of Services Service Providers Perspective RTI & Citizens Charter
xiii
284 285 287 287 288 290 290 290 292 293 294 295 297 297 298 300 300 300 301 303 304 305 307 307 308 310 310 310 312 314 315 315 318 318 318
11.0 Jharkhand
12.0 Karnataka
13.0 Kerala
xiv
India Corruption Study 2008 321 321 321 323 324 326 326 329 329 330 332 332 332 334 335 336 337 339 339 340 342 342 342 343 345 346 347 349 350 351 352 353 353 353 355
14.0 Madhya Pradesh 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 14.5 14.6 14.7 14.8 14.9 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 15.6 15.7 15.8 15.9 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 16.5 16.6 16.7 16.8 16.9 About the State General Perception about Corruption Interaction with Public Services Perception about Services Grievance Redressal Mechanism Incidence of Corruption Relative Positioning Services Service Providers Perspective RTI & Citizens Charter About the State General Perception about Corruption Interaction with Public Services Perception about Services Grievance Redressal Mechanism Incidence of Corruption Relative Positioning of Services Service Providers Perspective RTI & Citizens Charter About the State General Perception about Corruption Interaction with Public Services Perception about Services Grievance Redressal Mechanism Incidence of Corruption Relative Positioning of Services Service Providers Perception RTI & Citizens Charter
15.0 Maharashtra
16.10 Source of Awareness 17.0 Orissa 17.1 17.2 17.3 About the State General Perception about Corruption Interaction with Public Services
Contents 17.4 17.5 17.6 17.7 17.8 17.9 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 18.5 18.6 18.7 18.8 18.9 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 19.5 19.6 19.7 19.8 19.9 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 20.6 20.7 20.8 20.9 Perception about Services Grievance Redressal Mechanism Incidence of Corruption Relative Positioning of Services Service Providers Perspective RTI & Citizens Charter About the State General Perception about Corruption Interaction with Public Services Perception about Services Grievance Redressal Mechanism Incidence of Corruption Relative Positioning of Services Service Providers Perspective RTI & Citizens Charter About the State General Perception about Corruption Interaction with Public Services Perception about Services Grievance Redressal Mechanism Incidence of Corruption Relative Positioning of Services Service Providers Perspective RTI & Citizens Charter About the State General Perception about Corruption Interaction with Public Services Perception about Services Grievance Redressal Mechanism Incidence of Corruption Service-wise State Positioning Service Providers Perspective RTI & Citizens Charter
xv
356 358 358 361 361 361 364 364 364 365 367 368 369 371 371 371 373 373 373 374 376 377 378 380 380 381 383 383 383 385 386 387 388 390 390 391
18.0 Punjab
19.0 Rajasthan
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India Corruption Study 2008 393 393 393 395 396 397 398 400 400 402 403 403 403 405 406 407 408 410 410 410 412 413 413 413 414 415 417 417 419 420 420 421
21.0 Uttarakhand 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 21.5 21.6 21.7 21.8 21.9 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5 22.6 22.7 22.8 22.9 About the State General Perception about Corruption Interaction with Public Services Perception about Services Grievance Redressal Mechanism Incidence of Corruption Relative Positioning of Services RTI & Citizens Charter Service Providers Perspective About the State General Perception about Corruption Interaction with Public Services Perception about Service Grievance Redressal Mechanism Incidence of Corruption Relative Positioning of Services Service Providers Perspective RTI & Citizens Charter
22.10 Initiatives in Uttar Pradesh 23.0 West Bengal 23.1 23.2 23.3 23.4 23.5 23.6 23.7 23.8 23.9 About the State General Perception about Corruption Interaction with Public Services Perception about Services Grievance Redressal Mechanism Type of Corruption Relative Positioning of Services Service Providers Perspective RTI & Citizens Charter
Foreword
his is the third, in a series of surveys, which TI India has done to measure the extent of petty corruption. The first was done on a regional basis in 2002. It elucidated a certain amount of interest and awareness but there was no follow up. The second was done for 20 major states, which were graded, from the least corrupt Kerala to the most corrupt Bihar in 2005. TI India went about conducting workshops in major state capitals of the six most corrupt states to persuade the government functionaries, Civil Society Organisations and the media to adopt methodologies to contain this type of petty corruption. Jammu & Kashmir has been the only state which passed a bill to attach the assets of corrupt public officials when there is prima-facie evidence against them, pending investigations and prosecutions. Two other notable features, which came out in this survey, were that petty corruption was markedly less when technology was used for delivery of the service, and when Civil Society Groups were involved in assisting citizens. This third attempt India Corruption Study 08 is TI Indias most ambitious survey done in collaboration with the Centre for Media Studies. It covers all 31 States and Union Territories and is focused on the poorest and rural areas. It includes below the poverty line people in both rural areas and urban slums. Our PhaseII and PhaseIII of this endeavour would include training of grass-root level workers and activists and arming them with information about the extent of the corruption in different areas and the use of Right to Information Act to empower the poorest to stand their ground and not pay bribes while demanding and accessing the services they are entitled to. We hope to provide each BPL household a passbook of entitlement and keep these updated periodically, to fight poverty and improve the lot of the poorest in the country. India Corruption Study 2005 covered only 20 major States. Our countrymen in North Eastern States expressed their unhappiness at corruption not being surveyed in these States. Since India Corruption Study 2008 focuses on the BPL citizens, where ability to bribe is limited, the figures computed are likely to appear more modest than those, which would have been discovered if all sections including the middle class had been surveyed. We are grateful to our collaborators, Centre for Media Studies, and supporters like Concern Worldwide, ONGC, Coal India, SAIL, Mahindra & Mahindra, Dolphin Offshore Enterprises and others for financial support in this most ambitious project of Transparency International India. The financial support provided by others will be acknowledged in our quarterly newsletter in addition to the official receipt. It is pertinent to mention that TI India is a registered charity and contributions to our projects are exempted under Section 80 (G) of the Income Tax Act. R.H. TAHILIANI CHAIRMAN Transparency International India
Preface
n 2000, when CMS first initiated these annual studies on corruption involving citizens, some people wondered why we were flittering our resources, since corruption had become a fact of life in India and was beyond redemption. Even when CMS studies in 2003 and 2005 showed that corruption involving citizens had declined, however marginally, in certain public services, those who rely more on perception were skeptical. Planning Commission had in its Xth Plan Report noted that Corruption is most endemic and entrenched manifestation of poor governance in Indian society, so much so it has almost become an accepted reality and a way of life. In the XIth Five Year Plan too, it somewhat reiterated that good governance is not possible without addressing corruption in its various manifestations, especially in the context of basic services. The ultimate proof of inclusive growth, for bridging the divides and equity goals is the extent of access to essential services by those below the poverty line. For inadequate access means denying them an opportunity to share the benefits of national growth. Also because the poor are disproportionately affected by corruption since they depend more on public services. India Corruption Studies have been concerned precisely on this aspect, in the context of the basic and need-based public services that a citizen frequently avails. A unique feature of CMS methodology has been to recognize that corruption has two sides, each sustaining the other and reinventing itself. One is perception, the dimension which is relatively easy to talk about. The second is actual experience of corruption. Perception and experience are often two separate issues requiring separate, but parallel efforts. That is what CMS PEE model is all about. This model has brought out the gap between Perception and Experience in the context of citizen. The other aspect is Estimation of total money involved in corruption. It is arguably as yet another tool to sensitize the nation about its seriousness so that corruption is not seen as high-return-low-risk activity. Perceptions are accumulated impressions, based on ones own immediate and past experience and those of neighbors/ friends. More importantly, perceptions these days to a large extent are also molded on the way corruption is portrayed and hyped, particularly, in visual media. Experience, on the other hand, is where a citizen or household does not get the service as a matter of course, but as a discretion and on exchange of certain money as bribe for attending to or deprived of access for not paying bribe or having to use a contact to influence discretionary role. This study also provides a benchmark for the extent of awareness about RTI Act among BPL households across the country and their use of the three-year-old Act.
Preface
xix
TII-CMS India Corruption Study2008 should be viewed as a tool to sensitize the larger public, concerned stakeholders and prompt Governments and civil society groups to take locally relevant initiatives. The report hopefully helps put social activism on the right course and the Governments on a competitive course to take initiatives for good governance and inclusive growth. Our experience with the previous India Corruption Studies, particularly the 2005 one, where we ranked the States for their overall level of corruption, was a mixed one. But consultations with experts and social activists convinced us that it is better to group States on levels of corruption than ranking them individually. Hopefully, this would bring more seriousness nationally and in taking up systemic solutions for serving the poor more reliably. Dr. N. Bhaskara Rao CHAIRMAN Centre For Media Studies (CMS)
Acknowledgements
This study acknowledges the valuable insights and suggestions given by the following eminent experts and social activists (in alphabetical order) during the Consultation Series. Shri Ajit Bhattacharjea, Senior Editor Shri Ajoy Bagchi, Executive Director, The Peoples Commission on Environment and Development India Shri Alok Swarup, Vigilance Director, Delhi Development Authority Prof. Anand Kumar, Centre for the Study of Social Systems, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi Shri Anil Padmanabhan, Chief of Bureau, Mint Ms. Aruna Roy, Social Activist Shri Arvind Kejiriwal, Parivartan Shri Balwinder Singh, former City Police Commissioner, Hyderabad Dr. D.P. Kaushik, Associate Director, Rajiv Gandhi Foundation, New Delhi Shri D.R. Kaarthikeyan, former Director, CBI Shri Harsh Mander, IAS (Retd) Prof. Jaya Indiresan, Consultant, UGC Ms. Maja Daruwala, Director, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative Dr. M. Aslam, Professor, Rural Development, School of Continuing Education, IGNOU Prof. M.M. Ansari, Information Commissioner, Central Information Commission, GoI Dr. N.C. Saxena, Consultant UNICEF and former Member, Planning Commission, GoI Shri N. Innaiah, Chairman, Centre for Inquiry India Shri Naveen S., Social Researcher Dr. O.P. Kejariwal, Information Commissioner, Central Information Commission, GoI Shri P.L. Sanjeev Reddy, IAS (Retd), Former Director, Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) Prof. P.V. Indiresan, former Director IIT, Chennai Shri Prashant Bhushan, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India Shri Prityush Sinha, Central Vigilance Commissioner, CVC,GoI
Acknowledgements Dr. Rajiv Sharma, IAS, Director General, Centre for Good Governance, Hyderabad
xxi
Shri Rahul Sarin, Addl. Secretary (S&V), Ministry of Personnel & Public Grievances, and Pension, GoI Ms. Ranjana Kumar, Vigilance Comissioner, CVC GoI Shri Raju Narisetti, Managing Editor, Mint Shri Sanjay Parikh, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India Shri Sudhir Kumar, Vigilance Comissioner, CVC, GoI Shri Venkatesh Nayak, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative Major Gen. (Retd.) Vinod Saighal Shri. Wajahat Habibullah, Chief Information Commissioner, Central Information Commission, GoI Prof. Yogendra Yadav, Senior Fellow, Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
DONORS
CONCERN WORLDWIDE Camden Street, Doublin 2 (Ireland) India Office: A/7, Ashok Nagar, Unit -II , Bhubneshwar-751009, Orissa, (India) OIL & NATURAL GAS CORPORATION LTD. (ONGC) 9th Floor, Jeevan Bharati Building, Tower II, 124, Indira Chowk, New Delhi - 110 001 MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA LTD. Mahindra Towers, 5th Floor, Worli, Mumbai 400 018 DOLPHIN OFFSHORE ENTERPRISES (INDIA) LTD. LIC Building, Plot 54, Sector 11, CBD Belapur (E), Navi Mumbai 400 614 STEEL ATHOURITY OF INDIA LTD. (SAIL) Ispat Bhawan, Lodhi Road, New Delhi- 110 003 COAL INDIA LIMITED Coal Bhawan, 10, Netaji Subhas Road, Kolkata 700 001 MAHANADI COALFIELDS LIMITED At/P.O. Jagruti Vihar, Burla, Dist-Sambalpur 768020 (Orissa)
Abbreviations
AAY AY APL ARWSP BPL CAG CDB CEB DPEP EDI EGS&AIE FPS KYP MWS NAP NDWM NUEPA PEE RoR RGGVY RGNDWM SC ST URP VA VEC WUA : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : Annatodaya Yojna Annapurna Yojna Above Poverty Line Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme Below Poverty Line Comptroller & Auditor General Community Development Block Census Enumeration Blocks District Primary Education Programme Educational Development Index Education Guarantee Scheme and Alternative & Innovative Education Fair Price Shops Kutir Jyoti Programme Million Wells Scheme National Aforestation Programme National Drinking Water Mission National University of Educational Planning & Administration Perception, Experience and Estimation Record of Rights Rajeev Gandhi Grameen Vidutikaran Yojna Rajeev Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission Scheduled Caste Scheduled Tribes Uniform Reference Period Village Accountants Village Education Committee Water Users Association
About TI India
Transparency International India is a non profit organization that endeavors to work towards reduction in corruption by promoting and supporting transparent and ethical practices in government, raising awareness among people, planning policies to support Government for better delivery of public services, working towards reducing public corruption and combating political corruption. We pursue our mission through India Corruption Study, raising awareness among people about good governance, promoting Integrity Pact in public contracting and procurements awarding journalists for excellence in exposing corruption, engaging with other civil society organizations with parallel themes and bringing out publications.
WHAT WE DO
1. Promote Transparency and Accountability in Governance
By raising awareness among people, focusing on pillars of good governance Setting up camps and hand holding for people in rural areas for implementation of Right to Information, Social audit and citizens charter Improving procurement transparency in public sector undertaking through the adoption of Integrity Pact and monitoring the implementation By influencing Government policies By involving media
About CMS
CMS is registered under Societies Registration Act, 1860 since 1991. CMS is an independent, national level multi-disciplinary development research and facilitative body of eminent professionals nationally known for its advocacy initiatives. The Centre has been set up with an objective to tap and integrate various sources of information, analysis and initiate research towards a more informed decision. CMS activities include social, environmental and developmental issues. Since last two decades, CMS has several studies to its credit and has been involved in evolving appropriate strategies and social policy options as well as in evaluating their implications in the context of civil society. Today, CMS has emerged as an inter-disciplinary research group with wide interest and capability in the areas of social research, communication research, public opinion surveys and operation research. The centre emphasizes on research, monitoring, evaluation and advocacy for policy and planning. It also organizes dialogue and debate on important public issues, disseminates research findings to contribute to knowledge and understanding of society and thus helps in better-informed decision-making.
VISION
Research is not an end in itself, rather it is a means for change, the betterment of society and to promote equity in people.
MISSION
Going beyond the conventional concerns of research and analysis, CMS mission includes advocacy, planning, promoting peoples participation, facilitating interface between different sections of the society, and sensitizing the public on issues of national concern. The motto of CMS is objective information gathering and analysis which can contribute to a better society.
Summary
Summary
1. ABOUT
THE
STUDY
This India Corruption Study is unique. Unlike earlier annual surveys, this one for 2008 focused on BPL households, mostly in rural India. The coverage of this study includes all parts of the country. The study, like the earlier ones, is based on perception, experience and estimation(PEE) model where the scope is not only limited to perceptions about corruption in general, but perception in specific context of a service and, more importantly, actual experience of paying bribe by BPL households in availing one or more of the 11 selected public services. Depending on frequency of interaction, the eleven services are divided broadly into basic services (PDS, Hospital Service, School Education (up to 12th), Electricity Service and Water Supply Service) and need based services (Land Records/Registration, Housing Service, Forest, NREGS, Banking Service and Police Service (traffic and crime)). The study does not include operational irregularities in the system and even corruption that does not involve citizens directly. This round of India Corruption Study is designed and conducted by Centre For Media Studies (CMS) in collaboration with the Transparency International India (TII).
bribe paid or use of a contact in availing a service in the previous one year. In this process, the study also brings out the per centage of BPL households who could not avail the particular service as they could not pay bribe or they had no contact. Together, these three types indicate the total size of BPL households caught in the trap or affected by corruption while trying to avail the services. For example, over all, more than 40 per cent of the BPL households, who approached Police Service, Land and Housing Services in the previous one year, either (actually) paid bribe or used a contact. Relatively, higher per centage of people paid bribe in the case of need based services than in (the case of) basic services. Another interesting fact is that there is not much difference in the extent of corruption that BPL households experience in urban and rural areas.
3. ESTIMATION
OF
BRIBE
Based on the incidence of bribe paid by sample BPL households, an estimate is made for the total amount paid as bribe by BPL households in the country during the last one year in the eleven services. The total bribe amount involved in a year in BPL households availing the eleven services covered in this study is estimated as Rs. 8,830 million.
4. SERVICES RANKED
School Education (up to class XII and Government schools) among the 11 services studied stands last in the ranking that is the level of corruption is the lowest among all. But when one looks at this service individually, it is also entrenched with some corruption involving BPL households. That police service stood number one corroborates the general impression. The Land Records / Registration and House/Plot, which are specially tailored for BPL households, stand at two and three in the rank is a matter of concern. While the level and extent of corruption in Police service was high in all States, as if it is universal but the ranks of other services show variations across the states. Given the nature of need based services which are monopolistic or involve asset creation or volume, these services ranked high on corruption as compared to basic services.
Table 2: According to level of Corruption Ranking of Services
Services Police Land Records/ Registration Housing Water Supply Service NREGS Forest Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 Services Electricity Health PDS Banking School Education (up to class XII) Rank 7 8 9 10 11
5. RELATIVE POSITION
OF
STATES
ON
CORRUPTION
This India Corruption Study, brought out that corruption involving citizens including BPL households, is all pervasive across the States and public services. No State or service is anywhere near zero corruption level. Nevertheless, taking the degree of variation from State-to-State and service-toservice, the States are grouped into four levels to explain the extent/level of corruption based on a weightage scheme Moderate, High, Very High and Alarming. This grouping and positioning of States is limited to interaction of BPL households in availing the eleven services covered in this study.
Summary
Table 3: Levels of Overall Corruption in States (involving BPL households)
Levels of corruption States by size Big Alarming Assam, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh Very High Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu High Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Kerala, Orissa Moderate Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttarakhand, West Benga Chandigarh, Mizoram, Pondichery, Tripura
Small/ UTs
Goa, Nagaland
Meghalaya, Sikkim
The grouping of States on corruption reflects relative position of States in the context of all eleven services. States under alarming group calls for serious introspection, restructuring and even repositioning of certain services meant for BPL households. In Himachal Pradesh the level of corruption is moderate in all the 11 services studied whereas in the case Madhya Pradesh and Assam corruption level in all the 11 services was high or very high or alarming. In Delhi and West Bengal, for example, corruption level was moderate in most services surveyed. Among smaller States (North-East and UTs), in Nagaland and Goa, most of the 11 services had high or very high or alarming level of corruption. Whereas it was moderate in Chandigarh and Tripura.
6. FOLLOW-UP
TO
Some of you might ask. What next, after the study? TI-Indias role as a Civil Society Organization does not end here. We have the public mandate and potential to work towards improving the lives of the poorest by providing them the impetus, force and leadership to wage fight against corruption by increasing transparency and ensuring accountability of Government towards people. Keeping this in mind, the next step that TI-India (TII) will conduct a consultation workshop with different stakeholders in order to identify priority actions by TII. This will help those Below Poverty Line (BPL) people to have greater access to these services with fewer problems. The workshop will also discuss TIIs efforts to improve Governance in rural areas, making government more accountable. This is possible by making people aware of their rights and working towards l increasing transparency in the government services. To achieve this it is necessary that people at the grass roots are familiarized and made aware of their rights so that in turn government is made more accountable to people. The second step after the workshop is organizing training and capacity building of various stakeholders in various tools of good Governance such as RTI Act, Social Audit, Citizens Charter and e-Governance.
TII project team will visit different States and hold training sessions for NGOs, CBOs, government and local government officials, school teachers, health workers, opinion leaders, with the help of experts, in order to enable them to understand the rationales and methods of good governance. It is expected that they in turn will play a useful role in sensitizing people to seek information, drawing on the Right to Information mandate that can result in an ongoing watch on public authorities. Transparent standards for service delivery can be introduced through Citizens Charter. Social Audit will be used to hold the government accountable to people. Similarly, State Governments will be encouraged to use Information Communication Technology (ICT) for disseminating information and people will be sensitized and encouraged to use it for faster and smoother delivery of services. The third dimension of the project is Advocacy in order to familiarize, sensitize and raise awareness among the people, with a view to empower them. NGOs, CBOs, opinion leaders, Self Help Groups and other stakeholders who have been trained by TII project team on tools of good governance will do this. The main focus of sensitization and awareness raising would be to identify community participation and collaborative activities that would help government to understand the specific needs of the community. Participatory activities includes activities such as holding community meetings to understand needs and acquire feedback at the preliminary level, camps at village, block and district level, capacity building of government and local government officials and targeted beneficiaries, effective use of communication materials in local language and street plays to involve children women and underprivileged groups and use of community radio. An important outcome of the project would be greater involvement and participation of women and disadvantaged sections in local self-governance. Also there would be increased responsiveness from district and block administration towards Gram sabha (primary level meeting of local selfgovernment) making them more accountable to people. Further, local self- government such as Panchayat will be more actively involved in bottom-up planning and monitoring the social sector programme. The Project will lay special emphasis on tribes, marginalized communities and women. Attention will also be paid to identify needs and capacity building of TII and its state chapters to effectively carry out its initiatives to enhance transparency and accountability in various government departments in India.
National Report
SOME HIGHLIGHTS
OF THE
STUDY
This round of India Corruption Study confirms a wide gap between perception and actual experience about corruption in public services irrespective of recent measures to improve service delivery and curb corruption. About one-third of BPL households, across the country paid bribes in the last one year to avail one or more of the eleven public services covered in the study. It shows the poor are not spared even in the case of targeted programmes. In the last couple of years, several initiatives have been taken to improve delivery of public services. Citizens Charters, RTI Act, Social Audit, e-Governance measures, including the massive computerization, etc. are among some of them. The benefits of these measures have not substantially percolated to the poor as yet. The percentage of BPL households, who paid bribes, to avail the particular services covered in the last one year ranges from 3.4 per cent in the case of School Education to as high as 48 per cent in the case of Police Service. About four per cent of BPL households used a contact in the previous year to avail such services as PDS, School Education, Banking Services; and as high as 10 per cent in the case of Housing and Land Records/Registration. Nearly two services, as to services. not obtain reasons. per cent of BPL households could not avail PDS, School Education and Electricity they could not pay bribe or alternately had no contact or influence to get access In fact, in the last one year, more than four per cent of BPL households could Land Records/Registration, NREGS, Housing and Police Service for the same
The fact that most of the poor who claimed to have paid bribe - did so directly to one or the other functionary within the delivery set up, is a revelation particularly because quite often the reasons for repeat visits were absence of staff and/or their apathetic attitude. This lends strength to the perception that the poor are not a priority even in the case of some of the programmes designed for them. Procedural delays are the other reasons that make BPL households vulnerable to paying bribe or depriving them from availing the service. There is hardly any evidence in this study that egovernance initiatives taken in different States, involving some of the services, made much difference in the levels of perception about corruption or even actual experience.
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India Corruption Study 2008 Police and Land Records/ Registration services stand out for their alarming level of corruption involving BPL households among the eleven services covered in this study. Whereas, School Education (up to class XII) and Banking Service (including at Post Offices) comes out with moderate level of corruption but also implying that even these services are not free from corruption. As regards the relative position of States on corruption in availing the eleven public services by BPL households, states of Assam, J & K, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have an alarming level of corruption, while Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Delhi and Punjab have moderate level. The important fact is that the poor deserve better attention in getting access to public services, particularly some of the targeted programmes meant specially for them, than they seem to be getting now. Despite claims and some initiatives for redressal of complaints in services like Police, they have not helped either in reducing perceptions nor experiences of BPL households. However, some dent seems to have been made in the case of Schools and Banking services. Overall, a higher percentage of BPL households, who tried to avail these services, found that corruption had increased in the last one year, particularly in the case of Police, Land Records & Registration and Housing services. The percentage of households having income-level of BPL category not having a BPL Card was relatively high in North-Eastern States, West Bengal and Delhi. The study estimated that Rs. 8,830 million, in all, was paid as bribes by BPL households in the last one year, in availing one or the other 11 public services. It is estimated that the poorest households of our country paid Rs. 2,148 million to Police only as bribe.
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11
The fieldwork for the study was carried out between November 2007 and January 2008 by about 150 experienced investigators and dozens of senior researchers, who validated and analysed the field data. The survey covered 22,728 randomly selected BPL households across the States. The fieldwork was independently audited and the field survey was validated by sub-samples checks at a few places. The preliminary findings were further put through a series of extended consultations with about 35 outside experts whose advice was brought to bear on the analysis presented here. The perceptions about corruption in the specific context of the eleven services include whether corruption increased or declined in the last one year and whether presence of any redressal mechanism was noticed. Similarly, experience of corruption includes actual bribe paid or use of a contact in availing a particular public service in the previous one year. In this process, the study also brings out the percentage of BPL households who could not avail the particular service as they could not either pay bribe or they had no contact. Together, these three type indicate the total size of BPL households caught in the trap of corruption. Overall, more than 40 per cent of the BPL households, who approached Police, Land Records & Registration and Housing services in the previous one year, either (actually) paid bribes or had to use a contact. On the other hand, a higher percentage of people paid bribe in the case of need-based services than in the basic services. Another interesting finding is that there is not much difference in the extent of corruption that BPL households experience in urban and rural areas.
Table 1: Services Covered
Basic Services 1. Public Distribution System (PDS) 2. Hospital 3. School Education (up to class XII) 4. Electricity 5. Water supply Need - Based Services 6. 7. 8. 9. National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Land Records and Registration Forest Housing
II. AN OVERVIEW
The Gap: This Study brings out that one out of every three BPL households had paid bribes in availing one or more of the 11 public services in the previous year. The study brings out the wide gap between (levels of) perception and experience of BPL households about corruption. This gap, however, is relatively narrow in the case of some need-based services like Land Registration, Housing, Forest and Police in comparison to basic services (like PDS, Hospital, School Education). Access to Service: At the national level, about two-thirds of BPL households possess a BPL Card. More than half of the households in Delhi, West Bengal and in most of the North-Eastern States did not have a card for one or the other reason including because they could not pay bribe or they did not have a contact to influence. Their frequent migration could also be a reason for not having a card. More than half of eligible households in the North-Eastern States did not have a BPL card. As could be seen from table 2, ten per cent of BPL households contacted / visited / used Police Service in the year against 88 and 80 per cent in the case of PDS and Hospital services, respectively.
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The extent of the interaction depends on how many BPL households were in need of these services during the year.
90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
78 70 54 42 28 8 12 5 11 11 11 46 44 47 36 26 7 11 52 32 36 69
Percent of BPL hh
S Ed uc at io up n pl y Se rv H ic os e pi ta lS er vi ce El ec tri ci ty
W at er S
Perception
Experience
Most of the BPL households (more so in rural areas) do not require to interact frequently with the services like Housing, Land, Electricity, Water and School Education. Those who applied or registered in the earlier years for these services, they need not to interact with the department every year. If someone already had electricity or water connection, he needs no interaction with the department for that service. That is how percentage of BPL households who interacted with the service in the previous one year varies distinctly from state-to-state and service-to-service. For example, in services like, Police or Land Registration, the percentage who interacted would be much lower than in the case of services like Hospital or PDS.
Table 2: Interaction with Services
(Figures in percentage)
Basic Public Distribution System (PDS) Hospital School Education (up to class XII) Electricity Water Supply 88 80 39 52 14
Need-Based NREGS Land Records & Registration Forest Housing Banking Police 24 18 15 14 38 10
Perception about Corruption: Perception about corruption was a mixed one. Corruption, as perceived by users of the service, is relatively high (two-thirds or more) in Police, Land and Housing services. In these services, the percentage of those who think corruption has increased in the previous year is also high. These services are monopolistic in the nature, with more scope for discretionary decision making and also because the money involved in these transactions is higher.
La nd
S ec er or vi ce ds /R eg is tra tio n
Se rv ic e
Fo re st
PD
EG
Ba nk in g
Sc ho ol
ou si ng
Po l ic
Se rv
ic e
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More households acknowledged that corruption had declined in the last one year in the case of School Education and Banking services. But over two-fifths of BPL households opined that corruption in the specific context of most of the services covered in this study continues to be the same.
Table 3: Perception about Corruption and whether it has Increased/Decreased
(Figures are in percentages)
Level of Corruption Services BASIC Public Distribution System (PDS) Hospital School Education (up to 12 class) Electricity Water Supply NEED-BASED NREGS Land Records & Registration Forest Housing Banking Police 47 69 36 70 27 78 22 12 24 14 40 7 46 43 57 41 43 39 31 45 18 45 17 54
th
Corruption Exists
Come down
Same
Increased
54 46 28 44 42
22 24 37 22 25
46 51 46 49 50
32 25 18 29 25
More than half of users of all the services perceived that corruption in the service had remained at same level or increased than the percentage of those who thought it had decreased. In the case of Police service, a higher percentage (54) of users thought that corruption had increased. Percentage, who thought that corruption had declined in the last one year, is less than half in all the services. Both perception and experience of corruption among BPL households are relatively more in the case of need-based services like Police, Land Records & Registration and Housing as compared to basic services like PDS, School Education and Hospital services. Also, more BPL households think that corruption has either declined or remained same in the case of basic services than the need-based services. Any Improvement in Redressal: Despite various kind of measures taken, like computerization, e-governance, use of Citizens Charter, RTI Act, Social Audit, etc., to improve the delivery of services, there has not been much difference on users grievances perhaps because the benefit is yet to be realized by BPL households. In the case of services like School Education, Electricity, Water Supply and Banking, however, relatively more (20 per cent or more households) had acknowledged existence of one or the other grievance redressal mechanism. In fact, more than half of BPL households using the services in the year found redressal practice same as earlier. Although, some households see that redressal had improved, a much higher percentage of the BPL households thought that redressal situation had not changed over the previous year.
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Services BASIC Public Distribution System (PDS) Hospital School Education (up to class XII) Electricity Water Supply NEED-BASED NREGS Land Records & Registration Forest Housing Banking Police
Improved
Same
Deteriorated
21 23 33 21 22 19 12 20 13 37 7
52 55 53 58 60 54 54 64 51 50 54
27 21 14 21 18 27 34 15 36 13 39
Use of a contact: If they cannot pay bribe to avail a public service like PDS, NREGS and/or Housing, even though it is a targeted programmes aimed at BPL households, a contact would enable them to access the same. This contact could be a middle man or a functionary including an elected representative. This survey brings out that the percentage of BPL households, who avail service using a contact, vary from service to service - between 25 and 44 per cent in the case of housing and between 13 and 41 per cent in the case of Police. Even in the case of NREGS, the percentage of BPL households, who used a contact in the previous year, range from 12 to 20 per cent depending on the state. Such a reliance on a contact was observed in the case of both basic as well as need-based services. In fact, in some States (like Bihar and Assam) a contact was used by a higher percentage of BPL households to avail most of these public services. To avail Land and Housing related services, a higher percentage used a contact than in the case of other services. Even in the case of NREGS, seven per cent across various states relied on a contact may be a local representative. In fact, more than 10 per cent in some States like Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh used one or the other contact to avail NREGS. The percentage of those who availed the service using a contact was significantly lower than those who used the service by paying bribe. In other services, a much higher percentage of BPL households paid bribe to avail the service in the previous one year. Could Not Avail Services: This Study brings out that the percentage of BPL households who could not avail these services that a citizen is entitled to because they either could not pay bribe or had no contact to influence. The percentage of such households is more in the case of Housing, Police, Land Records & Registration and NREGS than in the other seven services. In the case of Housing, this percentage is as high as 12. But in States like Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh, the percentage of those who could not avail housing or house plots is 20 per cent or more. In States like Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, their percentage is 15 who could not avail housing services as they could not pay bribe.
National Report
Table 5: Experience of Corruption
15
(Figures are in Per cent) Experience Services BASIC Public Distribution System (PDS) Hospital School Education (up to class XII) Electricity Water Supply NEED-BASED NREGS Land Records & Registration Forest Housing Banking Police 7.5 32.1 10.8 19.5 4.5 48.3 7.5 9.7 4.0 11.6 3.7 16.1 4.4 4.0 2.0 12.5 2.5 4.5 5.9 9.3 3.4 9.7 8.7 4.1 5.8 4.4 4.6 5.9 1.8 1.8 2.3 1.8 3.8 Paid Bribe Used a Contact Did not take the service because asked for bribe
Paid Bribe: Overall, the percentage of those who paid bribe out of those who interacted with the service providers, was as high as 48 in the case of Police, 32 in the case of Land Registration and 22 in the case of Housing, all need-based services. Whereas, in the case of basic services like PDS (7), School Education (3.4), Hospital (10.2) and Electricity (9.7), the percentage of BPL households, who paid bribe in the previous year was anywhere between 3 and 10. In fact, bribes were paid in the last one-year by about half of the BPL respondents for land services in Andhra Pradesh, to get drinking water in Tamil Nadu, for housing in Karnataka and Hospital services in Assam. In Delhi, nine per cent of BPL households had to pay bribe to avail PDS. Who were the recipient of the bribe? In two-thirds of the instances, bribe was paid to an official/staff in the concerned service. In fact, in the case of Police, most often the bribe was paid directly to the concerned functionary. In 20 per cent of the instances, it was a middlemen to whom bribe was paid. Bribe is paid even to a local public represen-tative. In fact, in the case of NREGS, one-fourth of BPL households, who availed the service in the last one year, paid bribe to a local public representative. Not surprising, when asked who is more responsible for corruption in general, 44 per cent of BPL households mentioned official / functionary, against 29 per cent holding politician as being responsible. In this context, some allowance must, however, be made of the fact that an overwhelmingly large proportion of BPL respondents comprises of illiterate and lowly educated persons with limited exposure to the system. They might not be well aware of the intricacies and protective/supportive linkages/quid pro quo between the politicians and the local functionaries and the middlemen. Purpose for paying bribe: One-third or more of BPL households paid bribes in the case of basic services only to get into the very service like getting a new ration card, new connection, new installation or an admission in school. In fact, in the case of need-based services, half or more of BPL households paid bribe either for obtaining a certificate, a record, to get registered as eligible, to get an allotment, to get bank loan, or to file a complaint in Police Station.
Services BASIC Public Distribution System (PDS) Hospital School Education (up to class XII) Electricity Water Supply NEED-BASED NREGS Land Records & Registration Forest Housing Banking Police
Official/staff 74 90 86 81 81 55 82 91 64 73 92
Middlemen 19 11 12 18 18 20 17 10 23 22 8
Local representative 7 1 1 1 1 25 2 0 11 4 1
Only 25 per cent of BPL households in the study were from urban areas. Hence, no significant difference is found between urban and rural households in the pattern of their responses, even in the case of services like PDS, school education and water.
Table 7 : Major Purposes for Paying Bribe
Services BASIC Public Distribution System (PDS) Hospital School Education (up to class XII) Electricity Water Supply New ration card, for monthly quota, change address, change shop, addition/deletion of family members, For admission, diagnostic service, medicine, ANC/PNC, operation, medical certificate, blood transfusion New admission, certificates, attendance/promotion, scholarship, hostel admission New connection, meter installation, meter repair, bill related, agriculture connection, ensure regular supply Installation/maintenance of hand pump, regularization of unauthorized connection, meter installation, repair of pipe, irrigation water, supply of water tanker Registration / to get selected, issuance of job card, wage payment Income certificate, obtaining land record, sale/purchase deed, mutation, land survey, caste certificate, property tax To pick fuel wood, for cutting trees, for saplings, to collect forest produce, forest land for farming, for grazing For filing complaint and FIRs, as an accused, remove name as witness, passport verification, verification for job, character certificate, violation of traffic laws Allotment of plot/ house, release of house loan, toilet construction, ownership transfer To take loan, open A/c, pension, withdrawal, deferment of loan installment Purposes of paying
Housing Banking
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Repeat Visits: Corruption is more likely where and when a citizen the number of visit to get a particular service is more. In fact, the number of visits one has to make is an indirect indicator for seeking bribe in that service. Such a phenomena also adds to perceptions about the service as a corrupt one. For a BPL household, for example, repeat visits to get registered or to get a card meant for loss of wage or opportunity, apart from harassment. There is, additionally, the travel cost of visiting to the point, especially if it is distant from the place of residence. The number of repeat visits that a citizen has to make to avail a public service needs to be minimized, if it cannot be altogether avoided. This Survey identifies specific purposes for which BPL households visited the service providers three times or more.
Table 8: Specific Services Requiring Repeat Visits
Some examples for which three or more visits were reported As in-patient for getting bed Electricity bill related To obtain land records For filing a complaint with police Bill payment of water Plot / House allotment For getting selected / job card in NREGS To open new A/c in Bank/ Post Office For new ration card Rounded per cent of Users of the Service 29 37 23 46 45 69 56 51 62
For getting a new ration card, 62 per cent of BPL households, who had applied for it had to visit the Rationing Office three or more times. Even to open a new account in local bank or post office, half of them visited three or more times in the last one year*. Also, for getting selected to get the job card in NREGS, 56 per cent of BPL households had to visit three or more times. Causes of Corruption: In the delivery of basic services, it is procedures that were pointed out as the cause of corruption and for their need to be simplified. In the case of need-based services, it is more counseling and sensitizing of the staff and transparency in the processes that needs to be addressed seriously. Establishment of accountability with an internal system of concurrent monitoring is a sine qua non for improving efficiency and curtailing corruption. Such measures could eliminate the compulsions for paying bribe. Only then middlemen menace could be minimized or eliminated because they often work in league with internal functionaries. Citizens felt that absence and/or non-availability of staff reinforces the environment for bribe seeking. Similarly, the discretionary powers of the functionaries at the service delivery point, the more the scope for corruption as in Police, Forest and Housing services. On the other hand, in a service which is otherwise perceived as relatively efficient as in the case of Banking (also at post offices) 48 per cent of BPL households feel that procedures are cumbersome and are the cause of corruption. Estimation of Bribe: Based on the incidence of bribe paid by sample BPL households, an estimate is made for the total amount paid as bribe by these households during the last one year to avail the eleven services. This exercise had taken into account the estimate of BPL households by
*
Under NREGS, some fifty million workers are supposed to get their account opened locally to get wages
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the Planning Commission (Year 2004-05). However, a couple of states have had questioned the Planning Commissions estimate. For example, while Orissa Government puts the figure of BPL households at 4.2 million, the Planning Commission figure was 3.5 million. Since allocation of houses to poor under Indira Awas Yojana as well as most other targeted programmes is based on the estimates of Planning Commission, the estimate made in this study for the bribe paid by BPL households was done using Planning Commissions figures.
Table 9 : Factors Faced in Availing Public Services
(Percentage)
Services BASIC Public Distribution System (PDS) Hospital School Education (up to class XII) Electricity Water Supply NEED-BASED NREGS Land Records & Registration Forest Housing Banking Police
Procedural
No forms
Absence of staff
Corrupt staff
Middleman
37 38 35 40 36 33 27 28 24 48 17
3 4 7 3 5 7 4 2 3 6 2
18 26 21 18 23 10 11 11 9 13 4
38 31 33 35 31 37 51 53 50 28 73
4 2 3 4 5 13 6 5 14 4 4
The total bribe amount involved in a year in BPL households availing the eleven services covered in this study is estimated at Rs. 883 million. This could only be a conservative estimate and more an indicative one. The money involved in these estimates appear petty as in the case of NREGS, School Education and PDS, but most of it was paid directly to the functionaries. But the overall perception
Table 10: Estimate of Bribe
(Rs. in million) Services BASIC Public Distribution System (PDS) Hospital School Education (up to 12th class) Electricity Water Supply NEED-BASED NREGS Land Records & Registration Forest Housing Banking Police Total Bribe Estimated Total Bribe paid in the year
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and damage effect of this petty corruption is much greater and calls for serious consideration of the Government to come up with schemes which would bring down corruption to zero level. Ranking of Services: School Education (up to class XII), among eleven services studied stands last in the ranking that is the lowest in the level of corruption. But when one looks at this service individually, it is also entrenched with some corruption involving BPL households. That Police service stood number one corroborates the general perception. Land Records & Registration and House/Plot, stand at two and three, respectively, in the rank. There are some specially tailored services infected by wide corruption should be a matter of concern. While the level and extent of corruption in Police service was high in all states, as if it is universal but the ranks of other services shows variations across the states. Given the nature of need-based services, which are monopolistic or involve asset creation or volume, these ranked high on corruption as compared to basic services.
Table 11: Services Ranked According to Corruption Level
Services Police Land Records & Registration Housing Water Supply NREGS Forest Rank 1 2 3 4 5 6 Services Electricity Health Public Distribution System (PDS) Banking School Education (up to class XII) Rank 7 8 9 10 11
Levels of Corruption in States: This Study, as in the case of the one for 2005, brings out that corruption affecting the common citizens, including BPL households, is all pervasive across the states and public services. No state or service is anywhere near zero corruption level. Nevertheless, taking the degree of variation from state-to-state and service-to-service, the states are grouped into four levels to explain the extent / level of corruption based on a weightage scheme Moderate, Very High, High and Alarming. This grouping and positioning of states is limited to interaction of BPL households in availing the eleven services covered in this study.
Table 12: Levels of Overall Corruption in States ( involving BPL households)
(arranged in alphabetical order)
Levels of Corruption States by size Big Alarming Assam, Bihar Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh Small/ UTs Goa, Nagaland Meghalaya, Sikkim Very High Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, High Chhattisgarh, Delhi Gujarat, Jharkhand, Kerala Orissa Moderate Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttarakhand, West Bengal Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Mizoram, Manipur, Pondichery, Tripura
The service specific reports, covering the eleven services, present the relative position of states in the context of that service. Within each category, the states are arranged alphabetically. Considering
20
significant difference in the size of various States and Union Territories (UTs) particularly of North-East and others like Pondicherry, Chandigarh and Goa, the grouping is arranged separately for Big or Small ones. The above grouping reflects relative position of States in the context of all the eleven services. Very high and high level indicates that corruption level concerning BPL household is extensive both with respect to perception and experience in that year. Moderate level also indicates that the services are either not within the reach or access of the BPL households or that the extent of corruption level is relatively low. But the States under alarming group calls for serious introspection, restructuring and even repositioning of certain services meant for BPL households. Moderate level of corruption does not mean that corruption is tolerable. Nevertheless, for better understanding, the States are again grouped based on the level of corruption in the context of the particular service. It is not that high level of corruption exists in all the services of a state or the position of services in all the states was alarming. In fact, in no state corruption affecting BPL households in all the eleven services was very high or alarming. In some services, corruption was moderate but it was very high in the same state in other services. State would be better served if it focuses and seriously review services where corruption level was high, very high and alarming. By doing this, both extent of perception and experience of corruption could be brought down and the gap between the two could be narrowed. In eight states, including Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh, the level of corruption is moderate in all the 11 services studied whereas in the case of Bihar, J & K, Madhya Pradesh and Assam, corruption level is alarming. For example, in six States of Chhatisgarh, Gujarat, Orissa, Delhi and West Bengal, corruption level was moderate in most services surveyed. Among smaller States of North-East and UTs, most of the eleven services in Nagaland and Goa had High or Very High or Alarming level of corruption, whereas it was Moderate in Chandigarh and Tripura, Mizoram & Pondechery.
TO
MAKE
DIFFERENCE
This study looked into the extent RTI Act has come into play or has become a potential tool in the hands of economically vulnerable sections of the country. In fact, that would be a good measure of success of the RTI Act. This study brings out that in about half a dozen states more than 10 per cent of BPL households knew about RTI Act at the end of the second year since the Act was implemented. Considering the overall levels across the population, this finding is not a disappointing one. More than 10 per cent of BPL households knew about RTI Act in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Karnataka, Manipur, Kerala, Mizoram and Nagaland. Overall, awareness about RTI Act among BPL households is much more (6 per cent) despite the Act being only two years old as compared to Citizens Charter (2.5 per cent), which has been in vogue for more than a decade. Going by this, awareness level among other sections of society should be much higher. Both in terms of awareness about the RTI Act and the extent BPL households used the Act by seeking information
National Report
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under it is not disheartening considering that the Government or any of the eleven services studied hardly made any special effort locally to promote the Act as a potent weapon in the hands of poor or as a tool for improving the service delivery. In fact, this survey brings out that it is the news media and campaigns by civil society organizations that are mostly responsible for such a level of awareness. Since the study is based on a sample of 2 to 5 districts in each State whereas the civil society campaigns were more often confined to one or other locations within a state, the finding here may not be reflective of the state as a whole.
Table 13: Awareness about RTI Act among BPL households
(Figures are in percentages)
State Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Delhi Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu & Kashmir Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh
BPL household 13.0 4.5 10.3 1.4 4.1 5.0 1.2 4.4 2.7 2.9 4.5 5.0 12.8 10.7 4.9
State Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Orissa Pondicherry Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Tripura Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal
BPL household 6.9 13.0 0.6 12.0 14.1 3.8 8.0 2.7 5.7 2.7 6.7 0.5 1.4 8.4 1.4
In States like Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Kerala and Rajasthan, BPL household used RTI Act mostly for information on PDS, Hospital, School Education, NREGS and Banking services.
Table 14 : Percentage BPL Households Applied Under RTI Act
State Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chhattisgarh Delhi Gujarat Haryana Karnataka Kerala Maharashtra BPL household 1.0 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.8 0.1 1.5 0.3 0.4 0.6 0.1 State Mizoram Madhya Pradesh Nagaland Orissa Pondicherry Punjab Rajasthan Sikkim Tamil Nadu Uttarakhand West Bengal BPL household 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.6 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.8
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FORMULATION
CITIZENS CHARTERS
This study reminds the potential of Citizens Charters if they are formulated in consultation with all the stakeholders, having provisions for compensation (like RTI) made focused and displayed at delivery outlets of concerned public services. This is notwithstanding the measures taken towards e-Governance schemes being in the pipeline. This will further strengthen the scope of RTI Act.
SUGGESTED GUIDELINES
1.
FOR THE
CITIZENS CHARTERS
List all Offices according to type of services they provide to public - indicate their location, areas they cover, type of services being rendered to public, phone nos. There should be a separate Citizens Charter for each office covering the services they provide. For example, there should be a separate Charter of the Directorate, its subordinate offices, Hospitals, Schools, etc. according to specific services they provide. Mention Service Standards - Step-by-step road map based on Where to go; How to proceed, simple and easy to fill-in forms, specimen of duly-filled in forms, documents, fees, etc. required, specified time schedule, Dos & Donts, etc., names, addresses and Tele. Nos. of concerned Officials, alternate/applealete authority for each service, etc. Minimum documentation, self-attestation and self-declaration - Efforts should be made to minimize the number of Forms. Such Forms (e.g., Application for Ration Card) should be publicized through the Newspapers and the concerned website to enable the service seekers to get them copied and use it, according to convenience. No duplication - In case desired information and documents submitted earlier like proof of residence (if there is no change), birth certificate, etc., these should not be asked again and again. If promised services are not provided as per specified time schedule, an effective grievance redress mechanism (including the provision of compensation to the concerned citizen in order to introduce accountability) should be introduced Provision of TATKAL (Immediate) Services if somebody is in urgent need (as in the case of Passport, Railways, etc.) to avoid touts, bribery, etc. Simultaneous changes in the Proforma and other requirements to be effected along with the changes made in the Citizens Charter Database of frequently required infor-mation, like ownership of property, vehicle, etc., tax and dues paid or pending, etc.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10. Salient features of each service should be prominently displayed in simple and easy language at all places likely to be visited by the service seekers. 11. If possible, the services and their related information may be presented in a tabular form. An example of the Tabular Form is given on the next page:
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23
(As on date.........................................)
Place of Work
Working Hours
Time Limit
1 2 3
Compensation to Complainant
Remarks
AND
THE TYPES
Service providers perspective across States and services could be summed up into different types, as follows: Yes, we are ready to help, but we hardly get any complaints. These providers knew the problem of reach and reliability of the service, but keep waiting for an accountability. Yes, we promptly attend to the problems brought to our notice but there are too many problems / deficiencies. We are short of staff to do anything more, our work load has increased so much. We are ready to serve, but public do not cooperate. Not in our hand, procedures are from above. No differentiation between performer and non-performer, no motivation to do more / better and to take initiatives, locally. We are operating with outdated facilities, support and rules Pressure of work load, often driven by political pressures Staff hardly gets any training to cope with increasing demands and expectations We hardly get any guidance from above/ outside for correctives
24
India Corruption Study 2008 Our priority is not BPL households only. Catering BPL households is more complex, difficult and requires special efforts.
Broadly, service providers responses across basic and need-based services fall into three typologies: (1) defenders, of what they are doing; (2) passive executives who think things will take their own course, and (3) reactive executives who responds positively, but appealed individually only. The training or orientation should be to see that some pro-active outlook functionaries are provided the opportunity, particularly while interacting with BPL households.
SOME SUGGESTIONS
A FOUR-PRONGED DRIVE NEEDED
The findings of this study calls for four-pronged efforts to facilitate initiatives towards zerocorruption both in the case of basic and need-based services :
1. Simplification
Urgently required are simplification of procedures and even eliminating certain formalities for BPL households; more visible and interactive redressal practices; curbing discretionary options with individuals at service delivery points; and accountability by giving identities of functionaries.
RE-LOOK
Proof of claims of inclusive growth, good governance, social justice, etc., depend how well BPL households are being reached and served. The very concept of BPL households needs to be reviewed in the light of recent report on Social Security for Unorganized Workers and the State Governments race to change threshold level for BPL eligibility for subsidized services. The
National Report
25
more the widening of the criteria for BPL, the more likelihood of the poorest of the poor or hardcore BPL households being deprived. A task force can come up with State specific and service-specific changes and suggestions in this regard to make sure that poorest of the poor are not to be further deprived.
NEED
TO BE
The gap between perception about corruption in basic public services and experience of paying bribe or using a contact for availing those services, need to be taken more seriously. Actual corruption in the context of the basic services is lower than the extent of perception. Nevertheless, reposing public confidence and demonstrating improvement in the system by making it more responsive to needs, should be a priority concern. However, without addressing perception related phenomena, actual level of corruption cannot be brought down. The gap cannot be addressed without cooperation of mass media. Despite some decline in the experience of corruption involving citizens in availing some of the public services recently, perception levels have not come down, but somewhat increased as if it is in proportion to portrayal of corruption in general, and in the electronic media, more specifically. It is important to understand that while media itself has become a new source of redressal for citizens, it is also keeping corruption in public eye but to the extent that people becoming immune or treating corruption as a non-issue. This phenomenon is more to do with repetitive coverage and hyping. But this trend needs to be studied seriously, transparently and with voluntary cooperation from the broadcasters.
PROACTIVE USE
OF
LOCAL MEDIA
In the context of BPL households, FM radio in urban and local TV channels in the rural areas could be played a special role. Those responsible for the contents of news media in particular should be sensitized about the very character and structure of corruption and its implications to different sections of people and best ways and strategies in which the media could play a role in the war against corruption, particularly in areas involving citizens and in their use of public utilities.
CORRECTIVE POTENTIAL
OF
SOCIAL AUDIT
Social Audit of not only targeted programmes but of other services like Banking, Hospital and School Education should become an on-going exercise at least once a year. Social Audit with civil society groups in a collaborative spirit would help in ensuring that BPL households are not disadvantaged. Community Audit in the case of basic services and Social Audit in the case of need-based services once in 2 or 3 years is likely to help narrow the gap between perception and experience.
RTI CAMPAIGNS
AMONG
BPL COMMUNITIES
This Study brings out that once the potential of RTI Act is understood, BPL households will not lag behind. In fact, they are likely to make use of the service even more. That is the time when one could say that RTI Act has done what is expected of it, including reducing corruption. There is urgency for civil society groups, the news media and local academics to come together and organize campaigns on RTI Act among BPL communities.
26
BPL USERS
The visible effect of IT and E-governance will not be evident unless special efforts are made aiming at BPL communities. The so-called digital divide even in urban areas could be because BPL and such other communities are two or three years behind in getting the benefits. This study indicates that computerization of land records, as a priority programme of E-governance, had not helped BPL households much perhaps their unique requirements were not as much a focus. Computerization of information or service alone may not be effective unless it is given in the public domain.
OF
PUBLIC SERVICES
It is better that front end of most Government services /departments involved in serving citizens in large numbers and cutting across socio-economic backgrounds, are redesigned professionally in such a way that there is provision for display of pertinent information, helpdesk and equipped with modern communication facilities.
SPECIAL SCHEMES
TO
ENSURE SERVICE
TO
BPL
BPL households also require special service delivery facility to the senior citizens. Repeat visits need to be avoided as it obviously imply that BPL households are not getting the priority that is promised. The fact that functionaries themselves are the direct recipients of bribe from the poor in most of the cases, need to be viewed far more seriously.
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BE
LIMITED
TO
WRITTEN COMPLAINTS
Mechanism and practice of redressal of grievance requires much higher level of attention, sensitivity and follow-up particularly in the context of BPL households. Criteria of having to have written complaints and their number should not be viewed as good enough in the context of BPL households. Scope for discretionary decision making needs to be minimized at the delivery end - both in the case of basic and need-based services and made more responsible or accountable.
CONSTANT SUPERVISION
AND
ACTIVE FOLLOW-UP
Issues of staff attitudes and mindset cannot be moderated without constant feedback, guidance or supervision, training and accountability. Frequently changing procedures and formalities specific to various sections of people, as in the case of BPL households, need to be familiarized. In this regard, local schools management and such other independent academic bodies could play a role by organizing workshops, sensitivity and training programmes for the staff of basic public services at the grassroots level.
SOME
OF THE
COMPULSIONS
FOR
BRIBE
CAN BE
AVOIDED
BY
REROUTING RESPONSIBILITIES
This study has identified the core functions, which cause most corruption in the case of each of the 11 services. If the processes involved in these specific functions are attended by revamping and by way of computerization and keeping them in public domain, compulsions for paying bribe could be avoided or minimized. In fact, by sorting out the very procedures and formalities for availing the service, the very scope for paying bribe by citizens could be eliminated in one-third to half of the cases depending on the service and the State in context. Establishing identity / entitlement procedures and formalities need to be minimized and responsibilities could be shifted. For example, banks could directly obtain land records on-line or otherwise the references or particulars instead of making BPL households run around.
IF
This study brings out that performance achievements or target achievement claims of Governments, even in the case of individual services, does not mean much for BPL households unless special emphasis is given to them at the service delivery points. Some effort to validate such claims is needed periodically.
SPECIAL DRIVES/CAMPS
TO
REACH OUT
TO
BPL COMMUNITIES
While efforts are being made to expand the reach, there must be ways to see that no BPL household is deprived of the basic services, for whatever reasons. Special efforts should be made to reach BPL households by way of specific drives, camps or campaigns.
REDUCE COMPULSIONS
FOR
REPEAT VISITS
More specifically, the need for repeat visits should be curbed which is possible to some extent by re-looking into procedural complexities and improving grievance redressal mechanism and, at the same time, curtailing discretionary powers of individual functionaries.
28
National Report
29
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
Household Survey : Household survey was conducted using a structured interview schedule. Field investigators personally interviewed respondents at their residence. Exit Interview: For each of the selected services / departments, service delivery points were identified. Out of those selected delivery points, the field researchers conducted exit interview with the help or a semi-structured schedule when citizens (BPL category only) were leaving these points so as to explore the purpose, number and outcome of the visits. This helped in having views and opinion of those who had first hand experience of the service provided by the concerned department.
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Discussions with the Local Service Providers: In-depth discussions were held with the concerned Government Officials to understand the process leading to mal-administration and corruption in the service and know about recent initiatives to improve the services. Observations at Service Delivery Point : A checklist was given to researchers to observe various aspects related to interface with users like reception desk, information display, availability of forms, display of delivery standards, etc. Case Examples: An effort was made to know examples for local initiatives and the most corrupt practices pertinent to the services.
SAMPLING DESIGN
Selection of Districts It was ensured to have a representative number of districts from each state. Two criteria were considered in selecting these districts:
30
India Corruption Study 2008 At least one district from each geographic region of the state At least one district covered under Phase I of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).
However, it was noticed that in some states, the number of NREGS phase-1 districts were less than the number of districts to be covered from that state. In such case (e.g. Punjab), districts identified in Phase II of NREGS were included in the universe for the survey.
SAMPLE
SIZE
& COVERAGE
To arrive at statistically reliable estimates, states were stratified into three categories according to the number of BPL households: States with around 10 lakhs or more BPL households States having less than 9 lakh but more than 1 lakh BPL households States having less than 1 lakh BPL households
From random sampling point of view, a minimum sample of 400 BPL households was kept for smaller states to allow estimation at 95% confidence level at 5% margin of error. For larger states, pre-decided sample size was considered large enough for precise estimates.
Sample Distribution
States Unit Big States (10 lakh+) Middle States (1 9 lakh) Small States (< 1 lakh) Total Number of States State 15 7 9 31 Number of Districts District 64 21 18 103 Sample Size Proposed Households 13,500 4,200 3,600 21,300 Sample Size Achieved Households 13,866 4,515 4,347 22,728
POPULATION
The central focus of the Study is BPL households. To identify the BPL households, selection criteria was based on Planning Commissions estimation of poverty line1 For Rural area - Rs 356 per capita, per month For Urban area - Rs 539 per capita, per month
1 The poverty line (implicit) at all-India level is worked out from the expenditure class-wise distribution of persons (based on uniform reference period (URP)- consumption, that is, consumption data collected from 30 day recall period for all items) and the poverty ratio at all-India level. The poverty ratio at all-India is obtained as the weighted average of the state-wise poverty ratio.
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31
SELECTION
OF
ELIGIBLE HOUSEHOLDS
From each selected urban cluster, around 15 households were interviewed for the present study. In rural areas, 25 households per cluster were selected. A circular systematic random selection procedure was followed to select eligible households for interview. Since the focus was BPL households, a screener was used to assess the monthly household income beside enquiry on owning a BPL card.
METHODOLOGY
FOR
ESTIMATION
OF
BRIBE
The total monetary value of corruption paid by BPL households in the country, has been arrived at by adding up bribe involved in each department/service. Corruption for each department is estimated using a linear mathematical equation. Secondly, percentage of the households who availed the services of the department in the last one-year was estimated. In the third step, number of BPL households who had to pay bribe to avail the services were calculated. Fourthly, average amount * of bribe paid by a BPL household in the service in the past one year was computed. The mathematical model for the extrapolating the total bribe paid in a state or in any service/department in a year is as:
T.C Whereas T.C T.C.D Whereas T.C.D T.H P.H.I P.H.C A.C = = = = = = = = T.C.D1 + T.C.D2 ++ T.C.Dn Total corruption in the country in INR T.H x P.H.I x P.H.C x A.C Total corruption in the service in INR Total number of BPL household in the state Proportion of BPL household interacting with the department Proportion of BPL household paying bribe Average amount of bribe paid by a BPL household in a year
OF
SERVICES
AND
STATES
Based on previous experience and the consultations with experts, the weights for each of the following six indicators were assigned to compute a single index on corruption. Based on three each Perception and Experience related indicators, a Composite Score was arrived at.
*outliers have been excluded while calculating the average amount.
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Factors Experience of Paying Bribe Using contact to influence Could Not Avail Service Indicator Experience
Proportion of BPL households paying bribe (E1) Proportion of BPL households using influence (E2) Proportion of BPL households who could not avail service, because they could not pay the bribe or use influence (E3) Perception
Proportion of BPL households who perceive that the Department to be corrupt over proportion of those BPL households who perceive the Dept. was not corrupt (P1) Proportion of BPL households who perceived that corruption had increased or decreased over proportion of those BPL households who perceived that corruption had decreased (P2) Proportion of BPL households who acknowledged the grievance redressal mechanism has been improved over proportion of those BPL households who acknowledged the grievance redressal mechanism has deteriorated (P3)
The mathematical model used for computing the Composite Score of Corruption (CSC) is: CSC = E1 30 + E2 20 + E3 10 + P1 22 + P2 11 + P3 7
LIMITATIONS
IN
ESTIMATION
AND
SAMPLE SELECTION:
Identification of BPL households has been done as per pre-determined status i.e. possessing BPL card or not (as per the respective state government) or monthly per capita income. Due to lack of previous information, required minimum respondents interacting with specific department could not be estimated with precision. In some cases, minimum number of persons, who had interacted with specific service/department, could not be achieved. Therefore, those departments have not been included for estimating bribe in respective state report. Comparing states for a particular service has been done with caution because level of interaction is different in different states. In the case of Forest and NREGS, more specifically, the estimates are limited and the phenomena is not relevant for urban sample.
National Report
List of Selected Districts Visited in each State
State Andhra Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Assam Bihar Chandigarh Chhattisgarh Delhi Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jammu & Kashmir Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh District Vishakhapattnam, Chittoor, Srikakulam and Hyderabad Popun, Upper Subansiri and Lohit East Dhemaji, Marigoan, Kokrajhar and Dispur Patna, Muzzafarpur, Gaya, Araria and Samastipur Chandigarh Rajnandgaon, Dantewada, Raipur and Koriya North West Delhi, North East Delhi and South West Delhi Sangam, Madgaon, Panji and Phonda Palanpur, Gandhi Nagar, Godhra and Dang Ambala, Mahindergarh and Sirsa Shimla, Chamba and Kangra Doda, Anantnag and Srinagar Ranchi, Dumka, East Singbhum and Palamu Raichur, Banglore, Chitradurga and Bidar- North Palakkad, Kasargod, Wayanad and Trivendrum Shivpuri, Jhabua, Bhopal, Balaghat and Sidhi West Bengal Uttarakhand Sikkim Tamil Nadu Tripura Gangtok and Mangan Dindigul, Tirruvanamalai, Cuddalore and Chennai South Tripura, West Tripura and Dhalai Punjab Rajasthan Jalandhar, Nawansahar and Hoshiarpur Pondicherry Nagaland Orissa Mon and Kohima Mizoram Lawngtlai and Aiwzal State Maharashtra Manipur Meghalaya District
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Ahmadnagar, Yawatmal, Nandurbar, Nanded, Mumbai Imphala and Tamenglong West Garo Hills and Shillong
Uttar Pradesh Badaun, Chitrakoot Lucknow, Kausambi and Hardoi Dehradun, Haridwar, Tehri Garhwal and Champavat Kolkatta, Malda, Murshidabad and Purlia
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Public Distribution System (PDS) in India evolved as a major instrument of government economic policy for ensuring availability of food grains to the public at affordable price as well as for ensuring food security for the poor. PDS, with a network of about 5 million Fair Price Shops (FPS), is perhaps the largest distribution network of its kind in the world, and is operated under
38
the joint responsibility of the Central and State Governments.1 For 2006-07, the subsidy on food accounted for Rs.2, 42,000 million, a major part of which is accounted for by the PDS. Over the years PDS has come under scanner for inefficiency in its operation, existence of ghost cards, and the diversion and misappropriation of food grains at different levels under PDS2. To counter this, the government proposes to introduce, on experimental basis, Smart Cards to distribute food grains in Chandigarh and Haryana during the current Financial Year (2008-09). Different schemes under which government distributes food grains, mainly rice and wheat to economically poor households include Targeted PDS, Annatodya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Annapurna Yojana (See Box). In addition to this, State Governments have taken some measures from time to time. For example, distribution of wheat flour in Punjab and rice at cheaper rates to the poor households in Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
Schemes for BPL under PDS Targeted PDS Provides 25 kg of wheat and 10 kg rice per month. Antyodaya Anna Yojana-The poorest of poor, who are on the threshold of starvation, are provided 35 kg of food grains a month at highly subsidized rate. Some states give both rice and wheat while some distribute only rice or wheat depending upon the staple food of the state. Annapurna Yojana-Envisages 10 kg of free food grains per family per month to people who are more than 65 years of age and do not receive old age pension from the government. The applicants must be destitute in the sense of having little or no regular means of subsistence from his/her own source of income or through financial support from family members or other sources.
Food grains including kerosene oil under PDS are distributed to households with ration card through FPS. Number of households served by a FPS in a state varies considerably and can be an important indicator for better service delivery. The all India average puts 465 cards per FPS (as on Deember, 2006). However, some states have better ratio than the national average. These include Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Punjab, Orissa, Uttarakhand and the Northeast states except Tripura. At the same time, catering to a smaller number of households cannot be the only criterion for expecting better service delivery. It is equally important for the States to ensure that food grains are made available at FPS and that they are promptly and correctly disbursed. For this, the States are expected to procure their allotted quota from the Centre. However, none of the States except two have lifted the allotted food grains under the Targeted Public Distribution System. Availability of subsidized food grains through PDS plays a crucial role in meeting the food requirements of poor households. To a large extent, not procuring the allotted quantity of food grains leads to shortage and irregular supply of food grains under PDS to poor households. Government agencies like CAG as well as print and electronic media have reported siphoning off of food grains to the open market. Even States, which have taken a high per centage of the allotted food grains, were reported to be no different when it came to leakages and diversion of food grains.
1 2
Government of India: Annual Report, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, 2006-07 http://www.ncaer.org
39
To assess BPL households perception and experience with the PDS service during the last one year, India Corruption Study Team interacted with 22,728 BPL households across 31 states and UTs in the country.
Table 1: Categorisation of States by off take
State-wise Percentage off take of Allocation under Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) (2006- Dec 2007)3 Level of off take Low States/UTs Chandigarh Punjab Goa Bihar Pondicherry High Karnataka Tripura Arunachal Pradesh Andhra Pradesh Himachal Pradesh Assam Jammu & Kashmir Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland
1
% Off take 0.98 15.35 20.14 24.06 26.85 72.81 74.4 74.64 81.9 83.16 84.62 85.2 93.74 102.41 106.08
States/UTs Haryana Gujarat Sikkim Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh West Bengal Kerala Uttarakhand Chhattisgarh Maharashtra Orissa Tamil Nadu Jharkhand Delhi Madhya Pradesh Manipur
% Off take 35.56 36.7 39.03 41.58 42.15 43.84 44.27 45.89 47.65 48.17 51.03 57.2 60.37 61.94 63.33 67.54
1.2 INTERACTION
WITH
PDS SERVICE
The interaction of households with PDS could be broadly categorised in to two types- Recurring and non-recurring. Recurring visits to PDS are made to procure the monthly ration from the designated FPS while non-recurring visits include visits made for ration card related issues like getting a new ration card, changes in ration card, change of ration shop, among others. Among the surveyed BPL households across the country, 88 per cent reportedly interacted with the Public Distribution System during the last one year, highlighting the dependence of poor households on the PDS to meet their food grain requirement. However, in states like Manipur and Meghalaya, the per centage of BPL households, who had visited the Food Supply Office or Fair Price Shop, was less than one-fourth. This could largely be attributed to either not having a ration card or irregular supply of food grains at the ration shops (as reported in a recent CAG report) although these states have lifted more than two-third of the allotted food grains. Per centage of BPL households interacting for the service under PDS during the last one year was slightly higher in rural areas (89 per cent) compared to those living in urban areas (86 per cent). This could be because of higher dependence on PDS by BPL households in rural areas.
3
Government of India: Annual Report, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, 2006-07
40
1.3 PURPOSE
INTERACTION
Expectedly, the interaction of poor households with the Fair Price Shop was more as compared to their interaction with concerned staff of PDS. On an average, 80 per cent of the BPL households across the country interacted with PDS outlets to collect monthly ration. About 14 per cent visited to get a new ration card issued. A larger proportion of households in the northeastern states interacted to get a new ration card during the last one year. Among other states, in Delhi (35%), Haryana (31%) and Punjab (20%), the per centage of poor households interacting with the PDS service for a new ration card was comparatively high. This could be due to large influx of poor in search of livelihood from neighbouring states. Ideally households are expected to visit a FPS every month to collect their monthly ration. However, the study brought out that the BPL households had to make repeated visits to the concerned office or outlets for other purposes as well.
Table 2: Purpose of Interaction
(Figures in Percentage)
Purpose of Interaction To collect monthly ration Preparation of new ration card Change in ration card Change in ration shop Apply for license to sell kerosene oil Release of extra quantity during festivals
Of those visiting for purposes other than for monthly ration, as high as 93 per cent had to make three or more visits to the PDS office for the same work. A break up of purpose for which these households visited three times or more, shows that the majority of repeat visits is by new ration card applicants. The survey also indicates that it is also difficult to change the information in the ration card once it is issued, and repeat visits have been reported for nearly one-quarter of these cases. It is interesting to note that in the north-eastern states where off take of food grains is reported to be high, per centage of BPL households visiting the PDS office with the request to change the ration shop is high. This might be due to shops not opening regularly. This suggests that in spite of high procurement, food grains are not distributed by FPS as promptly.
Table 3: Visited Three Times or More for Same Purpose
(Figures in Percentage)
Purpose of Repeat Visit Preparation of new ration card Change in ration card Change in Ration Shop For license to sell kerosene oil For release of extra quantity during festivals
41
Difficulty Factors
40 43 19 4
49 36 15 3
1.5 PERCEPTION
ABOUT
PDS SERVICE
More than half (54 per cent) of the BPL households were of the opinion that corruption exists in the PDS service. Even though some states have taken measures to curb corruption and make service delivery efficient, this has not reached the lowest level as yet. As a result BPL households continue to face problems.
46 32 40 20 0 All India Incre ase d Same Came Down 22
60
Asked whether corruption has increased or decreased in the last one year, around one-third felt that it has increased while 46 per cent did not notice any change in the level of corruption during the last one year. In states like Jharkhand (73 per cent), West Bengal (55 per cent) and Kerala (53 per cent), relatively high per centage of BPL households felt that corruption in PDS service had increased
42
during the last year. Frequent media reports on diversion of food grains meant for distribution under PDS to the open market builds up such perception. Recently, West Bengal was in news for PDS scam and this could have contributed to the perception about PDS service in the state.
Measures Taken to
All India
Check against corruption Make information easily available Improve Grievance Redressal
13 24 21
22 30 30
Eight out of ten BPL households felt that grievance redressal had, in fact, deteriorated during the last one year. Only in states like Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Punjab and Pondicherry, per centage of BPL households, who acknowledged improvement in grievance redressal system in the PDS was more. In spite of the fact that some states have taken initiatives to check corruption or address grievances, not many BPL households experienced any such initiatives.
Online and roaming ration card system The Government of Gujarat recognized that many BPL and AAY citizens migrate in search of work. The concept of a Roaming Ration Card has facilitated the migratory workers to procure their provisions at the controlled price. This new scheme could become possible because of full computerization of the PDS work. The new blue Roaming Ration Card entitles the user to procure food and other supplies subsidized by the government from anywhere within the State.
43
At the national level, 6 per cent (2.8 million) BPL households paid bribe in the previous year to avail the services of PDS. To add to it, around 0.9 million BPL households in the country remained deprived of its services because they could not afford to pay bribe or had no contact.
Table 6: Gateway of Service - Bribe or Contact?
(Figures in Percentage)
Paid Bribe Used Contact Did not take the service because asked for Bribe
6 4 2
7 8 4
BPL Ration Cardat a price Atik Bhaan, a wage labour in a village in district Anantnag of J&K, is the only earning member in his family of five. Due to militancy disturbance, he was not able to get regular work. Sometimes the family had to miss meals or borrow from neighbours. Lack of food also led to children frequently falling ill. This cant go on for long, he felt. Though he had heard of subsidized food grains being distributed from PDS, he felt that if he too could avail the benefits, it could help him in saving some money for other essential needs like health and clothing. After consulting with his community people he filed an application for a ration card. However, it was not so easy to get it. Three months passed but despite completing all the formalities required to get a ration card, Atik Bhaans family could not get one. Whenever he visited to enquire about the status, the concerned official and staff gave one excuse or the other and never answered to his queries satisfactorily. Then during one of such visits, he came across a person, who assured him that if he could pay a bribe of Rs 500 he could get his ration card. Seeing no option he somehow managed this amount from his friends and paid it to the person. The ration card was delivered to Atiks place within 7 days.
44
T o take monthly ration Permission for release of extra quantity during festivals Application for license to sell kerosene oil Deletion & addition of family members in ration card Change of ration shop Surrender ration card/Change in address on ration card Preparation of new ration card
24 2 3 6 7 7 8 8 4 7 11
30
44 45 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
10
Urban
Figure 2: Reasons for Paying Bribe by Location (%)
Rural
Urban rural variation was noticeable for reasons like taking monthly ration, where more per centage of rural households paid bribe while among those paying bribe for license to sell kerosene oil was more in urban areas. Almost similar per centage of BPL households, both in urban and rural locations paid bribe for getting a new ration card. Slightly higher per centage of BPL households in urban locations paid bribe to get addition of a name in the ration card.
Food Grains at FPS- Over (charge) and Out (sold in open market) In one of the villages in Assam, Debashish belonging to a BPL family informed that the Fair Price Shop in their locality remains closed most of the times. On being enquired, the reason cited by the shop owner every time was that the supply of food grains from district Headquarters was not reaching. But Debashish as well as other community members strongly felt that this is just a lame excuse. They feel that a large quantity of the rice meant for distribution under PDS was siphoned off to local and nearby grocery shops. The retailer of FPS is considerate enough- once in 3-4 months he does distribute food grains meant for these poor households. But even then the food grains were not available without a service charge. The households are compelled to pay extra per kg. Had there been proper monitoring by PDS staff of shops getting open regularly, households would have been saved from the inconvenience.
1.9 ROUTE
OF
BRIBE PAYMENT
Three-fourth of those BPL households, who paid bribe to avail services in PDS, paid it directly to concerned official/staff or to the dealer of the FPS, while one fifth paid through a middleman. These BPL households due to their low socio-economic profile many a times hesitate to interact directly with the concerned staff and therefore get into the trap of middlemen or agents. In low off take category states, the per centage of households paying bribe through agents was higher. Interestingly, the present study found that apart from agents and middlemen, local representatives like panchayat or ward members also played the role of intermediary. However, agents/middlemen
45
were found to be more active in urban locations while in rural local representatives were more prominent for routing bribe.
Table 7: Route of Bribe Payment
(Figures in Percentage)
Route
74 20 7
66 29 6
Overall, 23 per cent of BPL households paid bribe through middlemen in urban areas against 16 per cent in rural areas. On the other, a higher per centage of rural BPL households (8 per cent) paid bribe to local representatives. Role of middlemen was more in Bihar, Delhi and Chhattisgarh among larger States and in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Goa among smaller States and UTs.
1.10 ESTIMATION
OF
BRIBE AMOUNT
Out of the total BPL households in the country, it is estimated that around 2.79 million households paid bribe to avail the service of PDS. Various reasons for which the bribe was paid show that it was as low as Rs. 10 and as high as Rs. 2000.The total amount of bribe paid by BPL households to the PDS department during the past year is estimated to be around Rs. 457.8 million. In other words, on an average a poor household had to shell out Rs. 164 as bribe from their hard-earnings to avail the services under PDS.
Table 8: Bribe Paid for Each Purpose
(Amount of Bribe Paid in Rs.)
Purpose of Bribe paid Preparation of new ration card Change in address on ration card, surrender ration card Change of Ration Shop Addition/Deletion of name from the ration card For license to sell kerosene oil For release of extra quantity during festivals For monthly ration
46
PDS wheat was less than 1-2% in major wheat consuming states like Punjab and Bihar-NSSO report on PDS 2004-05).
Table 9: Relative Position of States (in Alphabatical Order)
Categorization by off take of Food grains High Alarming Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Nagaland Moderate Delhi, Madhya Pradesh Jharkhand Kerala, Rajasthan Gujarat Tamil Nadu Uttarakhand Uttar Pradesh West Bengal Low Bihar, Chandigarh, Goa Punjab, Pondicherry Very High Meghalaya Levels of Corruption High Moderate Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Mizoram, Tripura Chhattisgarh, Haryana Orissa, Maharashtra Manipur, Sikkim
In a large number of states where off take is moderate the extent of corrupt practices is noticed to be high or above. However, in some states of NE region, the trend was different. High off take has led to high extent of corruption too.
47
laminated ration cards along with bar coded coupons adopting Iris Biometric Technology. The price of the computerized and laminated ration card along with bar coded coupons, valid for three years is Rs.40/- irrespective of APL/BPL card. Another innovative concept introduced by the Government of Gujarat is of a Fair Price Shop Model Center to help the shopkeepers, establish higher level of accountability and to attract customers in larger numbers. Through this Centre, the state aims at providing other facilities for consumers. Consumer products like cosmetics, domestic gas cylinders, and mobile phones recharge vouchers, SIM Cards, Postal supplies etc. are made available at these FPS model centres. To improve and check malpractices, the Gujarat state government has also issued new Ration Cards in exchange of old Ration Cards using the computerized data entry. To hasten the process of service delivery, some states have prescribed a time limit for each service. For example in Madhya Pradesh duplicate cards are expected to be delivered to households within a day under Samadhan Ek Din Mein (Solution in a day). On the other hand in Maharashtra, time limit fixed to issue a duplicate ration card in lieu of a lost ration card is 10 days and 3 days to issue a duplicate ration card in lieu of a torn or damaged ration card. Concerned officials in states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat informed about formation of vigilance committees at village level to monitor the functioning of Fair Price Shops. However, officials felt that more efforts are needed to help curb corruption. People should be sensitised by organising regular campaigns at village level. They felt that this could be done by involving local panchayats and Civil Society groups. The service providers felt that strict, timely and unbiased action against corrupt officials and staff of the department would help in checking corruption. Strengthening of departments vigilance cell was another suggestion made by service providers. Some officials opined that due to more workload, the staff should be increased for better service delivery.
48
India Corruption Study 2008 III. New Technologies a. Promoting usage of FM and community radio b. Updating of information on websites for frequent monitoring, verification of information regarding stock, distribution at retailers level.
Besides improving monitoring system and regular inspection of FPS, States could consider some measures for minimizing leakages, checking diversion and improving better compliance of rules and regulations. Right to Food- Government should pass an Act, similar to NREGA, making it mandatory for States to ensure that below poverty line (BPL) population get minimum supplies of food grains per month. Inadequacies in PDS could be included as a justiciable item, fixing accountability on the government functionaries and FPS. Issuance of a ration card which is valid across the state - Since large number of poor households migrates from their native place in search of work, relaxing area restriction would enable them to avail of PDS anywhere in the state. It will also save them from the inconvenience and hassle faced to revisit the Food and Civil Supplies Office every time a household moves out of the native place. Computerisation and use of Information Technology (IT) will increase the level of transparency and accountability in the PDS. Distribution of computerised Ration cards and pre coded coupons or vouchers will keep a check over bogus ration cards. FPS under Panchayat/SHG- Gram Panchayats and Self Help Groups should be encouraged to apply for license to manage Fair Price Shops in their localities. Social audit of Fair Price Shops/PDS dealers- Gram panchayats in association with Civil Society groups under the supervision of a senior district level government official should periodically conduct social audit of all registers maintained at the FPS level. Vigilance committee at Village/Block level -Formation and strengthening of such committee will ensure efficient and timely delivery of food grains to eligible households . States could also ensure that distribution of food grains is done in presence of a panchayat member or government staff. Prior intimation about distribution of Food grains - Announcement about date and time of distribution of food grains over Public Address System or having a fixed date for distribution should be looked into as another measure to improve service delivery. This will minimize the hassle households have to face by visiting the FPS to check whether food grains is distributed or not. Uniform Proportion of Households per FPS- It has been observed that most of the states where Household-FPS ratio is high, the level of corruption is also high. It is therefore expected that government should ensure that proportion of ration card and Fair Price Shop should be such that FPS do not get large quantity of food grains and there by get an opportunity to indulge in malpractices.
49
Eliminating Bogus Cards - Unless ration cards held by ineligible families and bogus cards are weeded out, curbing corruption affecting vulnerable section of BPL households is not going to be an easy task.
OF
FORMULATION
CITIZENS CHARTERS
This draft Citizens Charter for the Rationing Department should be finalized after having a detailed discussion with the concerned Service Providers, Service Seekers and the genuine NGOs representing the concerned Citizens and services. It has been divided into the following subCharters for the1. 2. 3. 4. 5. State Food & Civil Supplies Department/Corporation District Food & Civil Supplies Department Circle Office of Food & Civil Supplies Department Fair Price Shop Kerosene Oil Depot
FOR
CITIZENS CHARTER
1.
The entitlement of ration cardholders and the details of allotment of commodities to the District/Sub-divisions as on ............... (date) should be displayed prominently at the Entry and given due publicity (with the changes made therein). Efforts should be made to introduce single Form for issue of a Ration Card and other related services. Such Forms should be publicized through the Newspapers and the concerned website to enable the service seekers to get them copied and use it. The norms for opening Fair Price Shop and Kerosene Oil Depot are i) Requirments
2.
3.
ii) Forms iii) Documents iv) Special Provisions v) Fees vi) Authorities to be approached vii) Website ID 4. 5. 6. Applications for allotment of Shop/Depot shall be duly acknowledged and replies will be given within. ................. days. Specific mention should be made about penalty against Dealers for defaults in quality and weights & measurements of foodgrains. Complaints about quality and weights & measurements of foodgrains can be made to the following
50
Grievance Redressal Officers Name: Address: Tel. No.: (O) Fax No. Visiting Days & Hours Alternate Grievance Redressal Officers Name: Address: Tel. No.: (O) Fax No. Visiting Days & Hours (R) e-maile ID: Mobile: (R) e-maile ID: Mobile:
VIGILANCE
AND
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION
To review the functioning of the scheme periodically at Shop/ Panchayat level, District/Area level and State/UT level, the Department will constitute Vigilance Committees associating the members from Government, social organisations, consumer organisations, local body members, etc. On the pattern of the Right to Information Act 2005, a provision should be made about the compensation to the complainant if the promised standard of services has been deficient.
Citizens Charter For The District Food & Civil Supplies Department
(Please fill in the following Chart and display it out side the Department) Location of Rationing Offices in .............. (City/Distt.)
Address of Circle Offices Areas Working Days covered & Hours Officer I/c
Alternate person
Note: Specific mention be made about penalty on the pattern of the Right to Information Act-2005 against dealers for defaults in quality and weights & measurements of rationed items.
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Citizens Charter For The Circle Office of Food & Civil Supplies Department
1. After the expiry of specific period for the verification and other reports by the Area Inspector and any other authority, the processing of application should be initiated immediately to ensure timely delivery of promised services. In case the Ration Card is not ready for collection on the date as specified in the acknowledge-ment slip, the reasons for the delay and the likely date by which the card will be available will be invariably intimated. On the pattern of the Central Right to Information Act 2005, a provision should be made about the compensation to the complainant if the promised standard of services has been deficient. Staff should be citizen friendly, courteous and facilitate the visitors in getting various services, including the filling up of forms. Any difficulty faced by the card holders will be resolved within ............ days by deputing appropriate inspecting officials to the FPS under intimation to the card holder. All staff and officials comming in to contact with public in connection with the issue of Ration Cards will wear name badges and will attend to the needs of the public courteously and promptly. The names of officials, their designation, telephone numbers and addresses to whom grievances/ complaints relating to delay or rejection of application for ration cards could be addressed will be prominently displayed at the concerned office premises. Allocation of various commodities to the Districts, Taluks and FPS will be given wide publicity. The Panchayat and Municipality will be informed of the allocation made and quantities actually distributed every month, Information regarding allotment to and issue of commodities from any FPS can be obtained by any body for a period up to ................ months/year from the Distt. Supply Officer on payment of prescribed fee under the Right to Information Act.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Grievance Redress Mechanism for any Deficiency in the promised standard of Services
Phone Nos. Officer to be Approached Meeting Time Office Residence Name Telephone Off. Res. Public Information Officer Any other information
Remarks
Note 1) Salient features of each service should be prominently displayed in simple and easy language at all places likely to be visited by the service seekers. It could be easily visible to the customers.
52
Citizens Charter for the District Food & Civil Supplies Department
(Fill in the following Chart and display it out side the Department) (Standards of Service delivery (Separately for BPL and APL)
Service offered Eligibility Formalities Required Form Documents (Self Attested) Fees Service Payable delivery period Designated Officer Room No. Tel No. Working Conditions for Tatkal Days & Hours Services
Application for New Ration Card (RC) Application for R C Renewal Application for R C Surrender Application for Addition in RC Application for Deletion in RC Application for change of Address in RC Application for change of Ration Shop Application for change in family-head Any other Service like loss of R Card Any other Service like loss of R Card, change in age, etc.
53
Remarks
54
Remarks
Information as on the morning of ...................... ...............(Date/month/Year) Note 1) The Shop will remain closed on .............. (Day) and reopen on ............ (Day) 2) There should be a separate queue for the women, senior citizens and physically disabled card holders. The consumer attached to the FPS will be entitled to inspect the Stock, Sales and Ration Card Registers at the FPSs. Specific mention should be made about penalty on the pattern of the Right to Information Act-2005 against Dealers for defaults in quality and weights & measurements of foodgrains.
3)
4)
For Suggestions/Complaints, contact Name: Designation & Address: Location (with the prominent landmarks) Tel. No.: (O) Fax: (R) e-mail ID: Mobile:
55
Grievance Redress Mechanism for any deficiency in the promised standard of Services
Phone Nos. Officer to be approached Meeting Time Office Residence Name Telephone Off. Res. Information Officer Compensation to Complainant
Remarks
2)
There should be a separate queue for the women, senior citizens and physically disabled card holders. Specific mention should be made about penalty on the pattern of the Right to Information Act-2005 against Dealers for defaults in quality and weights & measurements of supplies.
3)
For Suggestions/Complaints, please contact Name: Designation: Address: Location (with the prominent landmarks) Tel. No.: (O) Fax: (R) e-mail ID: Mobile:
2. Hospital Services
HIGHLIGHTS
Around 80 per cent of the BPL households interacted with a public health service in past one year. Forty eight per cent of the BPL households think that corruption exists in the government health services. More than half of the total BPL households, who interacted, faced one or the other difficulty in getting the required hospital services. Nearly fifty per cent of the BPL households think that corruption had remained same, while another one-fourth think that it had increased during the past one year. Almost 15 per cent of the total BPL households interacted paid bribe or used a contact to get the service. Another two per cent were denied the health services because they could not pay bribe as demanded in the last one year. In most (90 per cent) of the cases bribe was paid to the officials directly. Only 14 per cent of the BPL households think that the department had taken initiatives to check corruption in service. A little more than one-fourth (28 per cent) of the BPL households think that the information is available at the service delivery point. Almost 23 per cent of the BPL households think that grievance redressal services had improved in the last one year.
2.1 INTRODUCTION
Since the independence, Government of India has put substantial effort to provide free basic health care service to people in rural and from vulnerable sections. States are also trying to improve health services with various schemes and many of them targeting the poor. However, going by recent data on the health status of the population, India is nearly at the same level as far as disease burden, anaemia, and child heath is concerned.1 The Government health care service is supposed to be free for BPL households. Per capita availability of beds in all the government hospitals is an indicator of the quality of government health services. Based on this indicator all the states have been categorized into two groups:
1
Hospital Services
57
Above Average and Below Average. Subsequent analyses of the survey findings have been done based on such categorization. Further, the scenario of corruption has also been analysed by location considering the most recent nationwide National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) implementation.
State Category Above Average States Arunachal Pradesh, Chnadigarh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Karnataka, Kerala, Manipur, Meghalya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Pondichery, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttaranchal and West Bengal Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Haryana, Jharkhand, M.P., Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh
Below Average
2.2 INTERACTION
WITH
HEALTH SERVICES
Usage of public health care facility is governed by factors like availability, accessibility, affordability and credibility.
Table 1: Interaction with Health Services
(Figures in Percentage)
State Category Above National Average Below National Average Total Respondents = 22,728
Around 80 per cent of the BPL households across the country interacted with the public health service delivery points during last one year. The extent of interaction of the BPL households with the health service varies from state to state.
2.3 PURPOSE
OF
INTERACTION
Purpose of visit to a health service delivery point has been categorized by type of service sought by BPL households. Overall, main purpose of visits (59 per cent) was as an outpatient for consultation and 32 per cent in-patient for treatment/care Other reasons cited were for diagnostic services, blood procurement pregnancy-related services and getting medical certificate. There is no significant variation for the purpose of visits of BPL households between rural and urban samples and two categories of tates.
Table 2: Purpose of Interaction
(Figures in Percentage)
Purpose of Interaction As In-patient/For getting beds As Out-patient consultation For Diagnostic services For Blood Pregnancy related services For Medical Certificate/Attestation Total (N) = 18143
Note: Total may not add up to 100 because some households visited more than once.
58
Above Average 20 56 24
Below Average 30 45 25
Hospital Services
Table 5: Measures Taken to Improve Service
59
(Figures in Percentage)
Measures Taken Check against corruption Information Easily Available Grievance Redressal Improved
Above Average 14 28 23
Below Average 15 28 23
Above Average 9 5 2
Below Average 9 6 2
Thrown out of UP Hospital, two Dalit Women Die Kanpur: If it was expected that atrocities against Dalits would become a thing of the past after their icon Mayawati came to power with a BSP majority in UP, it was misplaced. In a shocking incident, two Dalit women died after being thrown out of a government hospital here on Thursday. What will send the state government particularly into a tizzy is that the gruesome assault took place not in some remote district but right in the heart of UP, and that too for the inability of the two women to bribe government health officials with a paltry Rs. 1,000 each barely two hours after they gave birth to two babies. While the incident speaks volumes about corruption in the health department, it also underlines the continuing humiliation of Dalits. Devorati (25), who gave birth to a boy around 5 pm, was the first to die. Her husband Dilip had admitted her to the hospital after bribing an official with Rs. 500. As per government norms, admission to hospitals is free and women coming for delivery should get Rs. 1,400 as an allowance. But, on the contrary, Dilip was asked to pay an additional Rs. 1,000. Soon after childbirth, the medical staff demanded Rs.1,000. When I said I had no money, they threw out my wife despite the fact that she was bleeding and had not regained consciousness, said Dilip. Back in the village, Devoratis condition deteriorated rapidly and died. Within hours, Kamla, wife of Ramprakash of Ambarpur Village, too was thrown out of the hospital just after she gave birth to a girl child when her family members refused to pay a bribe of Rs. 500 and instead demanded Rs. 1,400 under the Janani-Suraksha Yojna meant for pregnant women under BPL category..
Source: Times of India; 11th November, 2007
60
Purpose of Visit As In-patient/For getting beds As Out-patient For Diagnostic services For Blood For Operation For Medicine Delivery (ANC/PNC) For Medical Certificate/Attestation
Above Average 37 19 9 4 10 6 8 7
Below Average 31 12 16 3 7 17 13 3
Note: Total may not add up to 100 because some households visited more than once.
2.9 ROUTE
OF
BRIBE PAYMENT
The bribe was paid directly to doctor/staff/attendants of the health service delivery point. Around 11 per cent of the BPL household used agent or middlemen for paying bribe.
Table 8: Route of Bribe Payment
(Figures in Percentage)
Above Average 90 11
Below Average 90 11 1
2.10 ESTIMATION
OF
BRIBE AMOUNT
Based on this survey, it is estimated that, at all India level, about 3.9 million BPL households paid bribe in the previous year to avail hospital services, which are supposed to be free for public. On an average they have paid Rs. 223 as bribe in a year. Total bribe involved for the year is estimated to be about Rs. 870 million. The amount paid by the BPL households for the health services ranged from as low as Rs. 2 (for getting medicine) and up to Rs. 5,000 (for getting medical certificate) depending upon the situation at service delivery point. In rural areas, on an average, a household paid around Rs. 200 per annum as bribe. It was Rs. 292 in urban areas.
Hospital Services
A Case Study: Tamil Nadu
61
Tamil Nadu: Imtiyaj (name changed) is a physically disabled person from a BPL rural household He has to travel 8 KM to reach a government hospital for getting a disability certificate. Imtiyaj wanted the certificate quickly so as to apply for a job. Knowing the vulnerability of the person, doctor demanded Rs. 9,000, and finally settled at Rs. 5,000. But before paying this amount as bribe, his family has to sell a few of their livestock. Lesson learned from the case study: (a) BPL families are not spared by the health service provider and (b) They had to sell their valuable assets that help them to maintain their livelihood.
Levels
Extent of Corruption ALARMING VERY HIGH Kerala Tamil Nadu HIGH J&K , Karnataka MODERATE
Above Average
Big States
Small States
Chnadigarh, Manipur
Meghalya, Nagaland
Below Average
Big States
Note: All smaller states stands above national average according to Infrastructure status
Among big states, Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa all of them Below Average have been categorized as Alarming. Among small states, Arunachal Pradesh and Goa fall in this category. Some of the better-known states in terms of health infrastructure like Kerala and Tamil Nadu are also not free from corruption involving BPL households. It may be due to the fact that more number of BPL households in these states were paying bribe due to their higher paying capacity Also, it may be possible that health services are easily available at a price in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
62
PROBLEMS
Mostly, systemic problems like lack of specialists, lack of diagnostic services, shortages of functional beds for in-patient care and non-availability of blood was cited by the health service providers. Some of the problems citied specifically in rural areas were unavailability of health service delivery point near habitations, problems in OPD and obtaining birth and death certificates.
Some Initiatives
Rogi Kalyan Samities/ Jeevan Deep Committee is formed in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh Free ambulatory services for poor in Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu Rajiv Arogya Shree Scheme exists in Andhara Pradesh for free medical care and free medicine Part of hospital development fund is used in Kerala for free treatment of BPL families Customer help desk/toll free number has been introduced in Gujarat and Haryana
Hospital Services
63
Help line numbers should be provided to lodge complaints. At the same time, RKS should take up those complaints regularly. Time-bound service delivery should be made compulsory. RKS should take care to replenishment of consumables including essential medicines to ensure un--interrupted service delivery. Procedure for getting benefits of scheme like Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) needs to be simplified so that people do not end up paying for delivery services. Benefit of tele-medicine needs to be extended to reduce direct interaction, if feasible. It will not only reduce corruption but also save transportation cost as well as opportunity cost of accompanying person. Out-sourcing of some of the support services like diagnostic, catering etc. on Private-Public Partnership (PPP) model may be effective in reducing corruption. Users charge may be introduced, and money so collected may be used locally for replenishment of consumables and/or maintenance/repair of minor items of hospitals. Logistics for medicines should be entrusted to a specialized public corporation following the Tamil Nadu example. Social audit system should be in place to maintain the transparent interface with the public and introduce accountability. This draft Citizens Charter for the Government Hospitals should be finalized after having a detailed discussion with the concerned Service Providers, Service Seekers and the genuine NGOs representing the concerned Citizens and services. It has been divided into the following sub-Charters General Information Casualty and Emergency Services Enquiry and Other Information Out Patient Department (OPD) Services Diagnostic Services Indoor Services (General/Private Wards) Mortuary
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
Citizen Charter
(Name of Hospital ......................................)
64
General Information
Website : http://www............................................
iii) Pr. Wards .............beds............ Occupied............... available iv) .................. Doctors (incl. Faculty members, Sr. and Jr. Residents) and v) .................. Nurses.
Casualty Ward for Exact LocationTel No.
Hospital Services
65
(Guide maps, Display boards/Indicators of various services be prominently installed at various strategic locations.) Places and conditions attached to f acilities like Wheel Chairs & patient statures. Mention the facilities available to senior citizens and physically disabled patients. FOR POOR & BPL PATIENTS Procedure and documents required to obtain free/concessional treatment, drugs or financial assistance should be prominently displayed.
66
Facilities, fees payable for various consultations, tests & medical services to beneficiaries of CGHS, ESI, medically insured and other similar category patients and documents required be prominently displayed.
If promised services are not provided as per specified standard and time schedule, an effective grievance redress mechanism (including the provision of compensation on the pattern of the Right to Information Act-2005 and recently issued orders by the Delhi Government in respect of Electricity to the concerned citizens should be mentioned For assistance (including financial help for poor and indigent patients) A. Social Guides Location Tel. No. (Off.) E-mail ID B. Medico Social Workers Location Tel. No. (Off.) E-mail ID (Res.) Mobile Timings (Res.) Mobile Timings
Hospital Services
67
(As on date.............................)
Consultation Time Fee, if any Name Consultant Tel. No. Off. Res.
Mention (i) Name, location, Tel. No. days/timings, fees, etc. for issue of Medical fitness and other certificates. (ii) Facilities available to senior citizens and physically disabled patients. (iii) Specify if OPDs have facilities like aiting hall with chairs, STD booth, TVs, lifts, ramp for Ortho, public utilities like drinking water & toilets etc. (iv) Visitors Meeting Hours, and Vehicle Parking facility (v) If there is a canteen and grocery shop, medical stores, book shops, general store and STD booths and their timings and location.
68
Note : Mention the facilities available to senior citizens and physically disabled patients.
Mention i) whether the hospital charges can be waived off in respect of poor and costly drugs/surgical items can also be provided to them by the hospital. If financial assistance is also available through Prime Ministers Relief Fund, NIAF and other such funds. All procedures, operations etc. and if the patient is required to contact the Medical Superintendent Office for admission in Private Wards, and other formalities, hospitalization and other charges (including doctors visit fee, investigation like USG, CT, MRI etc., diet etc.)
ii)
iii) Facilities available to senior citizens and physically disabled patients. iv) If promised services are not provided as per specified standards and time schedule, an effective grievance redress mechanism (including the provision of compensation on the pattern of the Right to Information Act-2005 to the concerned citizen in order to introduce accountability) should be mentioned
Hospital Services
69
MORTUARY SERVICES
(When there is a Medico-legal case, the body is released only after the post-mortem clearance from the Police. While in case of natural death in the Hospital Ward, it is shifted to the Mortuary. It can be claimed only after producing the proof of identity and the relationship with the deceased person.) (As on date ........................) Location:............................................... Tel. No.:..................................... Name of I/c Tel. No. Office:...................... Res.:....................... Mobile:......................... Name of Alternate Officer Tel. No. Office:....................... Res.:....................... Mobile:.......................... Working Hours Documents, etc required to Claim Body by the legitimate claimant 1 2 Availability of Van Charges of the Vans Use
3. School Education
HIGHLIGHTS
It is estimated that forty per cent (21.47 million) BPL households interacted with the School Education service in the last one year. The interaction of the BPL household is higher in above average EDI states. At national level, 3.1 per cent BPL households paid bribe in school education service in the last one-year. The amount paid as bribe by BPL households is estimated to be Rs. 120 million, i.e., Rs. 171 per household on an average. Majority paid bribe for new admission, issuance of certificate and promotion of their children from one class to another. At national level, 28 per cent of BPL households felt that there was corruption in the service. Comparatively, low per cent (20 per cent) of BPL households in the states of Above Average EDI think that there is corruption in School Education. While in Average and Below Average EDI states, 31 per cent BPL households think so. At national level, about 47 per cent of BPL households think that level of corruption in the School Education service has remained about the same in the last one year while 37 per cent think that it has come down. About 18 per cent think that level of corruption has increased. More than 80 per cent of those who paid bribe did so directly to the officials/staff of the school. Nearly one-fourth of BPL households at national level felt that the education service has taken initiatives to check corruption in the last one year. 36 per cent felt that information was easily available in the department and 33 per cent opined that the grievance redressal service of the department has improved now. Over all, corruption level in school education involving BPL households is relatively less than in the case of other ten services covered in this study. The four indicators of access, infrastructure, teacher-related and outcomes used by NUEPA for grading schools do not seem to be directly related to the level of corruption involving BPL households.
3.1 INTRODUCTION
The 93rd Constitutional Amendment1 lays down that State shall provide compulsory and free education to children in the age group of six and fourteen years. To universalize education at
1
School Education
71
primary and upper primary levels, the Central Government launched a number of schemes, which include Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), District Primary Education Programme (DPEP), National Programme for Education of Girls at Elementary Level (NPEGEL), Education Guarantee Scheme and Alternative and Innovative Education (EGS & AIE) and Mid-day Meal Scheme. The National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA) has developed an Educational Development Index (EDI)2 to track the progress of Universal Elementary Education for primary and upper primary levels as well as for a composite look at elementary education. Accordingly, on the basis of EDI (2005-06), the States/UTs have been grouped into three broad categories i.e. Above Average EDI, Average EDI and Below Average EDI for the purpose of a comparative study of corruption in school education up to higher secondary level (class I-XII) in different states.
EDI Group Above Average Average Below Average States/Uts Kerala, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Chandigarh, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Mizoram, Sikkim Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Goa, Rajasthan, Manipur, Chattisgarh, Haryana Tripura, Meghalya, Nagaland, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar
The present study covered BPL households who interacted with the Education service for the purposes of school education up to higher secondary level (class I-XII).
3.2 INTERACTION
WITH
At national level, about 40 per cent of the BPL households in the last one year interacted with the department and/or schools where their wards were going or propose to go. The per cent of such interaction was comparatively low. It can be attributed to several reasons now eligibility of children or not sending their children to school because of poverty or children are dropped to earn for their family livelihood. According to this survey, around three-fourths of the respondents were either illiterate or literate up to primary level only. It could be presumed that such parents generally do not interact with school-teachers very often. Barring Nagaland, where 38 per cent of the BPL households interacted with the service, in all the other North-Eastern states (including Assam), the per cent of interaction with the school or education department was quite low and varied between 22 and 11 per cent in the past one year. The interaction of the BPL households with these services in West Bengal was also one-sixth (17 per cent). All these states, except Mizoram and Sikkim, fall in Below Average or Average EDI states. Other school education indicators are also not encouraging in these states. As per the (2006-07) Annual Report of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, the drop out rates of class I-X in these states, except Manipur where the dropout rate is 43.02, are higher than that of national drop out rate (61.92 per cent).
2
72
The other states, where the interaction of the BPL households with the school education or Department was less than 20 per cent, was Chattisgarh. Its drop out rate of classes up to X was also higher than that of national drop out rate. The interaction of BPL households with the school education was higher in the Above Average EDI states and Average EDI states than that of Below Average EDI states. However, there was no difference in the level of interaction of urban and rural households with the school.
3.3 PURPOSE
OF
INTERACTION
One-third of the interaction with Education in the last one year was for admission of children. One-fifth of BPL households interacted with school education to review the performance of their children in the class. Though all the States provide free education up to upper primary level and majority of the States provide free education up to X level, 16 per cent of the BPL households visited schools for payment of fees of one or the other kind. The fees may include monthly charges, examination fee and other charges.
Table 1: Purpose of Interaction
(Figures in Percentage)
Grouping on the basis of EDI Purpose of Interaction New Admission Review the performance of ward Application for scholarship Seek promotion from one class to another Payment of Fees Teacher-parents meeting Issuance of certificate Check the quality of mid-day-meal Others Households Reporting (N = 8861) 34 21 9 3 16 13 4 3 0.4 Above Average states 37 19 8 3 8 19 3 3 0.2 Average states 28 21 9 2 27 12 3 1 0.2 Below Average states 37 26 9 4 13 7 4 6
Thirteen per cent of the BPL households visited schools to attend parent-teachers meeting. In Above Average EDI states, the per cent of the BPL households who visited schools for parentteachers meeting was higher than that of Average and Below Average EDI states. Nine per cent of the BPL households interacted with the school education or the concerned department only to apply for scholarship for their children.
School Education
Table 2: Visiting Three Times or More for Same Purpose
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(Figures in Percentage)
Grouping on the basis of EDI Purpose of Visit Application for scholarship Seek promotion from one class to another Not allowed to appear in exam Issuance of certificate Allotment of hostel Households Reporting (n = 1232) 22 9 3 8 0.5 Above Average states 17 8 1.5 9 1 Average states 25 7 5 8 0.6 Below Average states 24 12 3 6
Those BPL households who made three or more visits to school for the same purpose (excluding fee payment, parent-teachers meeting, to check Mid-day Meal, etc.), 58 per cent visited for the purpose of new admission, nearly one-forth (22 per cent) visited in connection with application for scholarship, nine per cent and eight per cent visited school three and more times to find about promotion of their children from one class to another and for taking a certificate, respectively.
Grouping on the basis of EDI Difficulty Factors Procedural Absence of staff Corrupt Staff All India (N = 2829) 46 21 33 Above Average states 57 14 29 Average states 43 26 30 Below Average states 35 23 41
It is important to note that in Above Average EDI states, higher proportion of the BPL households faced procedural problems. However, problems due to absence of teacher or their corrupt practices like not forwarding/selecting eligible candidate for scholarship, issuance of SLC or not accepting forms to appear in examination at junior high school and above levels were faced by less households in this category of states. In the last one-year, both rural and urban BPL households faced similar kind of difficulty with school education service.
3.5 PERCEPTION
ABOUT
More than one-forth (28 per cent) of BPL households opined that there was corruption in school education, while 41 per cent felt that there was no corruption in school education. Both in urban
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and rural areas, the views on presence of corruption in the school education were on similar lines. In the perception of nearly half of the households, the level of corruption remained the same in the last one year. More than one-third (37 per cent) felt that the level of corruption in education had come down while 18 per cent felt that the corruption had increased in the last one year. Perception about level of corruption in school education had not changed much on the basis of EDI.
Table 4: Perception About Level of Corruption in School Education
(Figures in Per centage)
Grouping on the basis of EDI Level of corruption Come down Remained same Increased Increased Households Reporting (n = 8861) 37 46 18 18 Above Average states 37 50 13 13 Average states 39 41 20 20 Below Aaverage states 33 47 20 20
Grouping on the basis of EDI Measures Taken to Check against corruption Make information easily available Improve Grievance Redressal All India (N = 8861) 22 36 33 AboveAverage states 17 30 31 Average states 30 40 36 Below Average states 19 37 32
Transparency and accountability in the process are prerequisites for improvement in the service delivery. Regarding this, 36 per cent of BPL households felt that the information in the education service pertaining to scholarship, admission process and examinations were easily available now. On being enquired about the use of RTI to get information from the school education or concerned department, only 15 BPL households reported that they had sought information under the RTI in the last one year.
School Education
Table 6: Gateway of Services - Bribe or Contact?
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(Figures in Percentage)
Grouping on the basis of EDI Gateway of Services Paid Bribe Used Contact Did not take the service because asked for Bribe All India (N = 288) 3 4 2 AboveAverage states 4 2 1 Average states 1 3 1 Below Average states 4 8 5
Extrapolating the above phenomena, it can be estimated that about seven lakh BPL households paid bribe in the last one year to avail the educational services. Another nine lakh households used a contact; while over five lakh households could not avail these services because they could not pay bribe nor they had a contact to influence.
In comparison to rural areas, a higher per centage of urban BPL households paid bribe for new admission and issuance of certificate. A higher per cent of rural BPL households paid bribe for promotion of their children from one class to another and for obtaining scholarship.
Table 7: Reasons for Paying Bribe By Location
(Figures in Percentage)
BPL Households Paid Bribe Reasons New Admission Low attendance of child/promotion Application for scholarship Issue of certificate Others Urban 40 28 3 27 2 Rural 33 32 12 21 2
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3.9 ROUTE
BRIBE PAYMENT
Table 8: Route for Bribe Payment
(Figures in Percentage)
Grouping on the basis of EDI Route All India (n = 300) Official/staff Agent/Middlemen Local Representative 86 12 2 Above Average states 82 16 2 Average states 76 20 4 Below Average states 95 5
A higher per centage of respondents paid bribe directly to concerned officials/staffs of the school or concerned department. Twelve per cent of them paid it through middlemen or agent.
The Poor Pay to get their Children Educated I have worked as a mere daily wage labourer all my life. Regular income had been a constant challenge. Despite of my limited income, I have always wished to educate my children. This was the dream of Manohar Naik from Khurana village in Koraput district of Orissa. A dream, which was put to test as soon as his son passed Class VII standard examination. Since the school was only up to VII standard, Manohar had to look for his sons admission into a new school. When he approached the new school for admission, he discovered it was a lot more expensive proposition than he imagined. Manohar requested the principal to give him some extra time to arrange for the money but when he reached the school with the money he was informed that the admissions were closed. Manohar was up set with the response of the school authority. In the meantime, he came to know that if he pay bribe his son would get admission. Manohar paid Rs. 500 as bribe and his son could get admission in the same school. However, the amount he paid as bribe was not small amount for Manohar Naik. He arranged the amount by borrowing it on a higher interest rate from a local moneylender. It took six months to return the borrowed money. According to Manohar, he had to pay around Rs. 300 as interest. Hence, he paid a total of Rs. 800 to the moneylender.
3.10 ESTIMATION
OF
BRIBE AMOUNT
In the last one year, it is estimated that about 0.7 million BPL households paid bribe in school or concerned department across the country. The total amount paid as bribes in the last one-year by the BPL households is estimated at Rs. 120 million. On an average, a BPL household had to pay Rs. 171 as bribe in the last one year for one or the other purpose related to school education. Compared to other categories, the average amount paid as bribe was maximum for allotment of hostel.
Table 9: Bribe Paid for each Purpose
(Amount of Bribe Paid in Rs.)
Bribe paid for each purpose New Admission Low attendance of child/promotion Application for scholarship Issue of certificate Allotment of Hostel
School Education
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ALARMING
VERY HIGH
MODERATE Andhra Pradesh Himachal Pradesh Karnataka Mizoram, Sikkim Gujarat, Haryana Maharashtra Punjab Uttarakhand
Average
Goa
Chattisgarh, Rajasthan
Below average
Jharkhand Nagaland
It suggests that where the school education related service was functioning better, the level of corruption in the service was moderate. The moderate level could be due to active citizenry or social pressure. Because of sizeable SC/ ST population in states like Arunanchal Pradesh, Orissa, Tripura and West Bengal, the NGOs working for the community welfare are more active in education sector.
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black boards, sports materials are not adequately available. According to them, though the deciding authority for these matters is higher officials of the department but teachers are blamed for all this. However, officials felt that despite all odds, the concerned department and school staff was working with sincerity and making all efforts to improve education at school level. They opined that there was no corruption in schools or the concerned department. Officials felt that further improvement was possible only with improvement in the school infrastructure and building a conducive environment for teaching-learning.
3.13 SUGGESTIONS
TO
Based on the findings of the study, following measures could help to check the corruption in the school education. Procedure of new admission / issuance of certificate should be made more transparent and publicised by involving Village Education Committee in the process. Area-wise designated schools to ensure that no child of the concerned area is left without education. Head of each school should be made accountable. Improved infrastructure like provision of upper primary and secondary level schools, conducive teaching learning environment particularly in the locality/proximity of BPL population will not only provide better educational opportunities to poor households but it will also check corruption in school education. Selection of students for scholarship based on merit and should be done in consultation with gram panchayat, so that deserving students get benefited. Discretionary nature of beneficiary selection needs to be minimised. The Village Education Committee (VEC) should be sensitised for better monitoring of schools functioning as well as keeping community informed about their Right to Education and raising voice against corruption in school education. Social Audit of school education by civil society groups should be initiated periodically, i.e., once in two or three years. Representation of BPL households in Parents-Teachers Association and VEC should be encouraged. Private schools making inroads with school education in many states, public-private participatory model so that children of BPL households stand benefited. The need for repeat visits to schools for admission and other documents should be reduced by simplifying the procedures. Citizens charter specifying the standards of education related services should be prepared after having a detailed discussion with the concerned Service Providers, Service Seekers and the genuine NGOs representing the concerned Citizens and services. It has been divided into the following sub-Charters for the
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CITIZENS CHARTER
EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
(It should be prominently displayed out side the Education Department/Directorate) 1. The norms for opening a Primary School and its responsibilities are as follows i) ii) iii) iv) v) vi) vii) 2. 3. Requirments Forms Documents Special Provisions Fees Authorities to be approached Website ID
Applications for registration of a School shall be duly acknowledged and replies will be given within ...................... days. Efforts should be made to simplify Application Form for opening a School. Such Forms should be made available on the concerned website to enable the Applicants to get them copied and use it. On the pattern of the Central Right to Information Act 2005, a provision should be made about the compensation to the complainant if the promised standard of services has been deficient. Any complaints can be made to the following
4.
5.
Officers Name: Address: Tel. No.: (O) Fax: Visiting Days & Hours Alternate Officers Name: Address: Tel. No.: (O) Fax: Visiting Days & Hours (R) E-maile ID: Mobile: (R) E-maile ID: Mobile:
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B. Location of Municipal/Local Bodies Primary Schools in ....................... (City/ Distt.) (with prominent Land Marks) (As on date .........................................)
Name Address of (where School to go) Up to which class Medium of instructions Boys/ Girls/ Both Name of Any Person I/c Speciality with Tel. e.g., No Off./ Disabled Res. Children Details of Reservation Boarding Facilities Whether Working Mid-day Days Meal & Hours
C. Location of Government-Aided Primary Schools in ........................... (City/ Distt.) (with prominent Land Marks) (As on date .........................................)
Name Address of (where School to go) Up to which class Medium of instructions Boys/ Girls/ Both Name of Any Person I/c Speciality with Tel. e.g., No Off./ Disabled Res Children Details of Reservation Boarding Facilities Whether Working Mid-day Days Meal & Hours
School Education D. Location of Private Primary Schools in ........................... (with prominent Land Marks)
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(City/Distt.)
CITIZENS CHARTER
OF
PRIMARY SCHOOL
(Please fill in the following Chart and mention the website ID. This may be displayed prominently out side the School) Session Starts from __________________________
Classes Criteria for Admission incl. Age Formalities Required
(As on date.........................................)
ExtraLast Date of Designated curricular Application Officer facilities Form Documents Appli- Adm- Details of Other Room Tel. No. (Self No. cation ission Periodical Attested) Charges Fees Payable
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Infrastructural Details Eligibility Formalities Required Form Documents (Self Attested) Fees Payable
School Leaving Certificate Transportation Medical Check up & First Aid Library Computer & Lab Facilities 1) Scholarships 2) Fee Concession S. Worker & Counselor Canteen Drinking Water Separate Toilets, etc. Welfare Activities
Note: 1. These should be prominently displayed in simple and easy language at all places likely to be visited by the admission seekers. It could be easily visible and understood to them. 2. 3. Staff should be citizen friendly & courteous and facilitate the visitors in getting various services, including the filling up of Forms. The names of officials, their designation, telephone numbers and addresses to whom the visitors are expected to contact for various services and their grievances/ complaints will be prominently displayed at the concerned office premises.
School Education 4.
83
On the pattern of the Central Right to Information Act 2005, a provision should be made about the compensation to the complainant if the promised standard of services has been deficient.
For Suggestions/Complaints, contact Name : Designation : Address : Location (with prominent landmarks) Tel. No. (O) Fax: (Res) E-mail ID: Mobile:
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School Education
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of its students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Their fees will supposedly be paid by the government, a promise its unlikely to keep. Providing free education for all should be unambiguously the governments responsibility. Countries havent made rapid strides towards universal literacy by palming off the responsibility on the private sector. That will stunt the growth of the private sector rather than lead to universal literacy. The private sector, however, can act as a force multiplier and take some of the governments burden off if the right incentives are given to it. For that to happen, it must be allowed to run on private sector principles. Corporates should be encouraged to set up their own chains of branded schools, which would both serve their human resource needs and disseminate quality education across the country. To draw in the best professionals its necessary to legitimise profits in education and provide autonomy to the private sector. The government should also envisage private-public collaborations where it throws in some combination of money, land, scholarships and tax breaks, but leaves the management of schools in professional hands. Out-of-the-box thinking is called for to provide education the big bang it sorely needs.
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(Based on Times of India Reports dated October 13, 2008) Kerala is ranked No. 1 among the 21 major states (large in geographical area) In the latest composite Education Development Index (EDI) prepared for the primary and upper primary levels of schooling for 2006-07. Delhi comes second, followed by Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka. The report on the EDI, released by Union human resources development ministry in New Delhi on Oct. 10, was prepared by the National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA) based on the District Information System for Education (DISE), a comprehensive database on elementary education in India, which is had created in recent years. The indicators used in computing the EDI included access, infrastructure, teachers and outcome. In the broader sense, we had used 23 indices like number of schools per 1000 child population, average student-classroom ratio, pupil-teacher ratio, gross enrolment ratio and gender parity index, a source in NUEPA said. Interestingly, Delhi is the only Top 5 state, which has improved its overall position in terms of infrastructure in primary and upper primary schools. None of the other first five ranked states could improve their respective positions in the infrastructure index. Higher infrastructure index indicates that most of the schools in Delhi have got drinking water, common toilets and girls toilet facility, which is not true for other four states Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh, which were in the Top 5 last year, the report said. Bihar and Jharkhand are ranked 35 and 34 in case of composite primary and upper primary levels of education with an EDI as low as 0.321 and 0.381, respectively, which is much lower than the same compared to the top ranked states. In most of the 21 major states, the teachers index was found to be higher in upper primary level compared to primary level. However, the same is not true for outcome index, consisting of GER, examination results, GPI, dropout and repetition rates, etc. In this set of indices, Tamil Nadu replaced Kerala and Delhi both at Primary (EDI, 0.735) and Upper Primary (EDI, 0.763) levels. Next to Tamil Nadu are Himachal Pradesh at Primary (EDI, 0.683) and Kerala (EDI, 0.693) at Upper Primary levels, the report said. The NUEPA has suggested that all the States including the top ranking states should analyse all the indicators used in EDI computation district-wise, and within a district, block-wise and follow it up by adopting appropriate strategies without which neither their overall ranking nor status of universal elementary education in the state are expected to improve.
4. Electricity Service
HIGHLIGHTS
It is estimated that at national level around 53 per cent (around 28.4 million) BPL households interacted with the electricity service during the last one year. The proportion of interaction of the BPL households with the department varied in three categories of States. The highest proportion (67 per cent) of the BPL households interacted with the service in the last one year in Better-Rated states followed 52 per cent by Average Rated states and 35 per cent in Below Average rated states. At national level, nearly 10 per cent (2.7 million) of the BPL households, who interacted with the electricity service, paid bribe. A total estimated amount paid as bribe by the BPL households in the year was Rs. 1,040 million. Around one-third of the BPL households paid bribe for getting new connection (in rural areas 36 per cent and in urban areas 28 per cent). The second highest per centage (nearly 23 per cent) paid bribe to get their faulty meter corrected (in urban areas 26 per cent and in rural areas 21 per cent. At national level, 44 per cent of the BPL households felt that corruption existed in the department. Nearly half of the BPL households in Below Average Rated States and 46 per cent in Average Rated States and; lowest per cent (38) in Better-Rated States felt that corruption existed in the electricity services. Further, nearly half of the BPL households felt that the level of corruption remained same in the last one-year. Only 22 per cent opined that the level of corruption in the last one year had come down. In Better-Rated states, 30 per cent were of the view that corruption in the electricity had decreased in the last one year. Those BPL households who paid bribe, more than eighty per cent paid it directly to the official/staff of the service. Very less per centage of the BPL households at national level think that the electricity department had taken initiatives to check corruption and improving grievance redressal service. However, 23 per cent of the BPL households think that the information was easily available in the department.
4.1 INTRODUCTION
Electricity service is one where reforms have been initiated in most of the States. Supply of electricity is still largely in the domain of the public sector, although there has been privatization of generation and distribution in some selected areas. The BPL families consume electricity at a basic level-mostly to operate lights, fans and television. Several States have initiated special targeted schemes for poor like no bill or slab, free installation and mafi (waiver) of old dues.
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States Grouping** Better rated states Andhra Pradesh Gujarat Delhi Karnataka West Bengal Goa Himachal Pradesh Maharashtra Below Average Rated States Sikkim Mizoram Jharkhand Arunachal Nagaland Bihar Manipur Jammu and Kashmir 14.03 7.13 4.00 3.41 3.19 -3.06 -6.67 -6.69 55.81 54.46 50.87 46.92 46.24 44.96 43.09 35.41 Final Scores* States Grouping*
Average rated states Kerala Tamil Nadu Pondicherry Assam Rajasthan Punjab Chandigarh Chattisgarh Uttaranchal Tripura Meghalaya Uttar Pradesh Haryana Madhya Pradesh Orissa 31.63 29.72 29.72 28.46 27.80 27.69 27.69 27.45 27.06 26.51 24.91 24.38 23.75 21.97 21.25
*CRISIL-ICRA State Power Sector Performance Ratings, Report (June 2006) ** CMS grouping of states (Better rated, Average Rated and Below Average Rated states)
Apart from State Governments initiatives, the Central Government has launched schemes for the rural electrification and to benefit BPL households in the country from time to time. Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojna (RGGVY) is one such scheme, launched in April 2005 and implemented in 139 districts by the Central Government. Under the Scheme, free electricity connection is given to BPL households. So far, 235 projects under the Scheme were taken up for implementation in the Tenth Five Year Plan. Under the Kutir Jyoti Programme, launched in 1989 to provide single point light connection to BPL households in rural areas, 8,51,760 connections were released. . This Scheme has now merged with RGGVY. Overall, until 25th January 2008, nearly 22.87 million BPL connections were released across the country.
The Rural Electricity Infrastructure and Household Electrification under (RGGVY) was introduced in April 2005 for achieving the National Common Minimum Programme objective of providing access to electricity to all rural households over a period of four years. As per the Ministry of Power records, about 0.115 million villages and 23.4 million BPL houses (nearly 44 per cent of the total BPL households in the country) are yet to be electrified.
According to 2006 CRISIL and ICRA performance ratings of the State power sector operations for Ministry of Power, the states have been classified accordance to their performance in power sector in three categories, i.e., better rated states, average rated states and below average rated states to analyse the data on electricity services.
4.2 INTERACTION
WITH
ELECTRICITY SERVICE
More than half of the total BPL households interviewed across the country interacted with the electricity service during the last one year. This interaction is lower in comparison to other basic
Electricity Service
89
services like PDS and hospital. A comparatively high proportion (67 per cent) of BPL households interacted with the service in the States that rated better on power performance. In Andhra Pradesh, for example, as high as 91 per cent of BPL households interacted with the service. In the states like Goa and Himachal Pradesh, it was more than 80 per cent. The per centage of BPL households interacted with the service decreases with the lower ranking of the States. However in some average-rated states like Orissa, Meghalaya and Uttar Pradesh, less than twenty per cent of the BPL households interacted with the electricity service. Per centage of BPL households interacting with the service in the last one year was comparatively higher in urban areas (58 per cent) than in rural areas (50 per cent).
Table 1: Interaction with the Service
(Figures In Percentage)
By rating of states
Households Reporting (n = 22,728) Usage of Service 53 Better rated 67 Average rated 52 Below average rated 35
4.3 PURPOSE
OF
INTERACTION
In the last one-year, the BPL households interacted with the electricity service for different purposes. An overwhelming majority (more than 80 per cent) interacted with the service for bill related issues, i.e., to deposit the bill, to get the excess/erroneous bill corrected, etc. The other reasons for interaction were new electricity connection/ restoration of connection and meter related issues (8 per cent each). In comparison to average rated and below average rated states, a lesser proportion of the BPL households interacted with the service for new connection/ restoration of connection in better-rated states in electricity sector. The reason for this may be due to higher per centage of electrification in this category of states may be low interaction of the BPL households with the service for new connection because many of the villages (about 19 per cent) are yet to be electrified.
Table 2: Purpose of Interaction
(Figures In Percentage)
By rating of states Purpose of Interaction Bill Related Issues Meter Related New/Restoration of Connection Regular/ better supply Households Reporting (N = 11980) 86 8 8 1 Better rated 92 5 4 0 Average rated 82 9 11 2 Below average rated 86 8 10 2
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By rating of states Purpose of Repeat Visits Bill Related Faulty Meter Meter Installation New Connection Restoration of Connection Regular Supply Households Reporting (n = 2415) 37 24 6 28 37 24 Better rated 43 24 10 22 43 24 Average rated 33 25 4 36 33 25 Below average rated 43 19 5 28 43 19
The study reveals that even in the States rated better and average, the BPL households had to make repeat visits mostly to get their bill related work and restoration of connection attended to.
By rating of states Difficulty Factors Procedural Corrupt Staff Absence of Staff Interference of Middlemen All India (N = 6211) 46 37 19 4 Better rated 47 31 20 7 Average rated 50 38 14 3 Below average rated 33 43 30 3
4.5 PERCEPTION
ABOUT
ELECTRICITY SERVICE
At national level, nearly half of the BPL households felt that the level of corruption in the electricity service continued to be the same. The same trend was observed among all the three categories of states. The highest share (85 per cent) of BPL households in the Below Average rated states felt that there was corruption in the electricity service. Comparatively less proportion of the BPL households in the Better and Average-rated states felt that there corruption in the service is coming down.
Electricity Service
Table 5: Perception about Level of Corruption in Electricity Service
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(Figures In Percentage)
By rating of states Level of corruption Come down Remained same Increased Households Reporting (n = 11980) 22 49 29 Better rated 30 47 23 Average rated 19 50 32 Below average rated 15 52 33
Interestingly, the proportion of BPL households who thought that corruption remained the same as in the previous year was nearly equal for all categories. Further, Better Rated states were able to check corruption to some extent, at least as far as the perception of the BPL families is concerned.
By rating of states Measures Taken to Check against corruption Make information easily available Improve Grievance Redressal All India 15 23 21 Better rated 18 32 27 Average rated 12 17 18 Below average rated 14 19 15
Easy access to information about procedures and the processes to avail the services is a prerequisite to improve service delivery and make it user friendly. Regarding this, at national level 23 per cent of the BPL households acknowledged that the information in the electricity service was now easily available. Comparatively, higher proportion of BPL households in Better-Rated states acknowledged improvement in providing information and grievance redressal in Electricity service in the last one year than in other category of states. Very few BPL households had used RTI to obtain information about electricity service in the last one year. Only one-fifth of the BPL households at national level felt that the grievance redressal service in the electricity department had improved in the last one year. However, majority (58 per cent) of BPL households at national level did not see any change in grievance redressal in the last one year. More than one-fifth (21 per cent) of the BPL households felt that the grievance redressal in the electricity department had deteriorated. However, in the Better-Rated states, 27 per cent of the BPL households felt that the grievance redressal had improved in the last one year.
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By rating of states Gateway To Avail Service Paid Bribe Used Contact Did not take the service because asked for Bribe All India (N = 11980) 9.7 4.6 1.8 Better rated 5.6 2.3 1.4 Average rated 11.9 5.8 2.1 Below average rated 12.0 6.2 1.6
In the category of better-rated States, a lower proportion of the BPL households paid bribe or used a contact to avail the services.
Bribe for Getting Erroneous Bill Corrected Tilak, a small vendor of a village of north Tripura, received electricity bill of around Rs. 3500. This was a quite big amount for this poor man. He made repeated visits to the electricity office to get it corrected but to no avail. One day a lineman visited his house to disconnect his line. On intervention of some local people, the lineman gave him few days to deposit the amount. The lineman also indirectly told him that it was a matter of erroneous calculation and it would be solved if he pays bribe to concerned official, otherwise his line will be disconnected. Tilak had no other way but to follow the advice of the lineman. He paid Rs. 400 to the concerned official to get the bill corrected.
Electricity Service
93
bribe in the process of getting the new connection. On the other hand, a higher proportion of urban BPL households paid bribe for a new connection. Overall, more than one-fifth of those who paid bribe did so to get their faulty meter corrected/ repaired/fixed. In comparison to rural areas, BPL households paying bribe in connection with bill payment or to fix a faulty meter was higher in the urban areas.
4.9 ROUTE
OF
BRIBE PAYMENT
More than four-fifths of those who paid bribe to avail of Electricity service paid it directly to concerned official/ staff. Nearly one-fifth did so through a middleman. The same trend was observed in respect of all categories of States.
Table 9: Route of Bribe Payment
(Figures In Percentage)
By rating of states Route of Payment Electricity official/staff Agent/Middlemen Local Representative All India (n = 1151) 81 18 1 Better rated 79 21 1 Average rated 81 18 1 Belowaverage rated 84 16 -
4.10 ESTIMATION
OF
BRIBE AMOUNT
On the basis of the trend of paying bribe in the Electricity service, it is estimated that around 5.1 per cent (2.7 million) out of the total BPL population in the country paid bribe for electricity service in the last one year. The total amount paid in the last one year by the BPL households is estimated as Rs. 1,040 million. On an average, a BPL household paid Rs. 381 as bribe in the last one year. However, a wide variation in the range of amount of bribe paid was observed for different reasons. The average amount paid as bribe was highest for a new connection. The bribe paid was more in the urban areas than in the rural areas.
Table 10: Bribe Paying for Each Purpose
(Amount of Bribe Paid Rs.)
Reason Bill Payment To reduce/Adjust excess Bill To remove/correct faulty meter Meter installation New connection Restoration of connection Regular supply
Extremes 4 -1000 4 -2200 20- 3000 20- 2000 20-5000 50-800 20-1500
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Extent of Corruption Grading of the states* Better rated states ALARMING Goa VERY HIGH HIGH Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Average rated states Assam, Meghalaya Kerala, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh Chattisgarh, Tripura MODERATE Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal Chandigarh, Haryana, Orissa, Punjab, Pondicherry, Uttara Khand Below average rated states Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir Manipur, Nagaland Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Mizoram, Sikkim
*On the basis of CRISIL and ICRA performance rating of states in power sectorm
The level of corruption is on alarming proportion in Assam and Meghalaya among the Average Rated states and in Bihar and Jammu & Kashmir among the Below Average Rated states. On the other hand, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and West Bengal among the better-rated states had moderate level of corruption.
Electricity Service
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Many of the States have computerized the electricity service to a large extent. According to the officials, the computerization of the department has improved service delivery system. However, according to them, the benefit of the computerization of the service is limited mostly to urban consumers. The officials were of the view that both staff and the public/consumers are responsible for the corruption. They suggested that the general public should be made aware on the issue and they were also of the view that stern action should be taken against the staff involved in negligence and corruption.
Statewide Attention on Public Grievance by Application of Technology SWAGAT is an innovative concept that enables direct communication between the citizens and the chief minister of Gujarat. In Gandhinagar, the fourth Thursday of every month is a SWAGAT day wherein the highest office in administration attends to the grievances of the man on the street. Grievances are logged in, transmitted and made available online to the officers concerned who have to reply within 3 to 4 hours. The departments concerned then have to be ready with the replies, before 3 p.m., when the Chief Minister holds videoconferences with all the districts concerned. Applicants are called one by one and the chief minister examines each complaint in detail. The information sent by the department is also reviewed online in the presence of the complainant and the Collector/District Development Officer/Superintendent of Police and other officials concerned. Attempts are made to offer a fair and acceptable solution on the same day and no applicant has ever left without any firm reply to his grievance. The record is then preserved in the SWAGAT database and a separate log is maintained for each case
Several Information Technology applications in the electricity service like online billing, viewing of bills, payments and complaint handling etc. have improved the ease of the consumers in some of the states like Delhi, Andhra Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. Some of the states like Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab have implemented or made steady progress towards setting up of Consumer Grievance Forum. Even the bill payment has been made trouble free in Delhi by involving private sector Easy Bill outlet.
4.13 SUGGESTIONS
TO
To improve the service delivery, the department may improve its monitoring system to keep regular watch on the functioning of the officials/staffs. The following initiatives may be taken to improve the service delivery system and thereby to check the corruption. Computerisation of the service delivery points at all level- Such an action will not only fasten the service delivery system but will also improve the services, like online billing, online complaint, monitoring the complaint status etc. Setting up of Village Electricity Management Boards - On the model of Nagaland, the State governments should consider transfer this responsibility to Village Councils. This will bring transparency and accountability in the system and the villagers will not have to make repeated visits to avail most of the services. But delegating this responsibility to local bodies requires funds, skilled manpower and regular monitoring of the functioning of Village Councils. Process of new connection should be made easier- The study reveals that majority of the BPL households visited the electricity department three times or more for the purpose of new connection. Also, the majority paid bribe to get new connection. The department may
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India Corruption Study 2008 make the process of new connection easier and transparent through the effective implementation of the concerned Citizens Charters..
Installation of electronic meter- the electricity department should ensure that only good quality meters are installed. Faulty meters lead to problems like over billing. Nearly oneforth of the BPL households made repeated visits and paid bribe to electricity service to get their faulty meter corrected and other problem caused by such meters. Awareness grievance redressal system - All the consumer-related information on grievance redressal system, service standards, compensation clauses, etc. should be printed in the Electricity Bills for the awareness of the consumers
(i) (ii)
Power-failure due to bloom fuse Broken Service Lines and bigger problems like faults in distribution line, high tension mains failure or transformer burn out
(iii) Maintenance of meters (including Tempering) outside the residential premises is the responsibility of Discom (iv) Help Line 24 7
Discom foots the bill for deficiency in service Times of India dated Oct 18, 2008
The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC), the power regulator, after taking heed to the number of rising complaints against discoms, directed all Delhi based discoms to automatically start issuing suo motu compensation to consumers, if their complaints were not addressed within the time-limit stipulated in the performance standard regulations notified by the Delhi government. Delhiites are now officially taking discoms to task for deficiency in services. Over 120 consumers serviced by discom BSES Yamuna and BSES Rajdhani have claimed compensation for poor services and have been given the amount in their bills as suo motu compensation. The compensation amount ranges from Rs 150 to Rs 2,400 and complaints are mostly meter related. Some of the areas where BSES has defaulted in services include meter testing, burnt meter, load reduction etc. Compensations pertaining to consumers of East Delhi amount to more than those of other areas.
Electricity Service
97
A senior BSES official admitted, We have issued compensations to about 100 consumers, which has been reflected in their latest electricity bills. NDPL, the other discom which caters to consumers in north Delhi, is yet to submit a report to Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) on how many consumers have been paid compensation in their bills. The power regulator, after taking heed to the number of rising complaints against discoms, directed all Delhi based discoms to automatically start issuing suo motu compensation to consumers, if their complaints were not addressed within the time-limit stipulated in the performance standard regulations notified by the Delhi government. Said a senior official: Most of the consumers lodged complaints against discoms on their help line numbers and keeping this in mind, we asked discoms to compensate them automatically in their power bills. Regulations have been notified by the government to improve discom services. Discoms, meanwhile, are not happy with this compensation scheme. Pointing out anomalies in the scheme, a senior discom official said that not all time was it the fault of the discom if a complaint could not be addressed within the fixed time frame. Discoms also claimed that it was not feasible to automatically compensate every consumer for default in services and said that only those consumers should be compensated where they had personally represented the case and sought damages. DERC was, however, firm that the system had to be consumer friendly. Experts added that no consumer would take the trouble of writing a complaint and taking it up with Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum (CGRF) or Public Grievance Cell (PGC) for tiny compensation amount.
richi.verma@timesgroup.com
5.1 INTRODUCTION
Water is a basic and essential need of all households. For poor households, availability of subsidized and regular water supply through different government schemes plays a crucial role to meet their daily requirements for drinking, sanitation and irrigation. National Water Policy (2002), among many initiatives, aims at subsidized water supply to the disadvantaged and poorer section of the country.1
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The Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP) was introduced in 1972-73 by the Union Government to assist the States and Union Territories (UTs) to accelerate the pace of coverage of drinking water supply. The scheme aims at ensuring 40 litres per capita per day of drinking water, one hand pump or stand post for every 250 persons and availability of water source within 1.6 km in plains and 100 metres elevation in hilly areas.
2.17 Lakh Villages Lack Potable Water According to an affidavit filed in Supreme Court recently, the Central Government admitted that a majority of people living in 2.17 lakh villages were facing serious problem as their drinking water sources were polluted by chemicals. Under rural drinking water supply, the survey done indicated that there are 216,968 rural habitation affected by poor water quality fluoride affected 31,306 villages, salinity affected 23,495, iron affected 118,088, arsenic affected 5,029, nitrate affected 13,958 and multiple factors affected 25,092, said the affidavit filed by health ministry. Take for example the 31,306 villages affected by excess amount of fluoride in drinking water. This causes a dreaded and incurable disease fluorosis in human beings and animals which leads to mottled teeth, dental carries, stiffened brittle bones and joints, metabolic disorders and even paralysis in advanced stage. Majority of these villages fall in Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh. The Centre assured the Supreme Court in just one line: The government is giving emphasis for tackling water quality problem. Up to 20% funds of the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARSWP) are specifically earmarked for tackling water quality problems, the ministry said. It informed the court that under Bharat Nirman scheme, a plan was afoot to build rural infrastructure in four years time. Rural drinking water is one of the components of the said plan and under this, it is envisaged to address the problem of quality of water, it added. The dreaded arsenic poisoning of drinking water sources is acute in West Bengal and also prevalent in UP, Madhya Pradesh and Assam, where surveys have identified people suffering from arsenic lesions.
Source: (Times of India, dated November 19, 2008)
The National Drinking Water Mission (NDWM) introduced in 1986 was renamed as Rajiv Gandhi National Drinking Water Mission (RGNDWM) in 1991. A number of habitations, which were covered under ARWSP, have however slipped back to be not covered or partially covered due to failure of water source. Bharat Nirman, conceived as a plan to build rural infrastructure within a four-year period (2005-06 to 2008-09), has drinking water supply as one of the components. Uncovered as well as the partially covered habitations will be fully covered by 2009. As drinking water supply is a State subject, implementation responsibility rests with them irrespective of central assistance. In terms of coverage of habitations for water supply under Bharat Nirman Programme, better performing States have been categorized as Above the National Average as the better ones, while States low on target performing as Below the National Average. However, better targeted does not necessarily mean that all habitations of these States have been covered with water connectivity.
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States/UTs
States/UTs
Above National Average Manipur Pondichery Uttar Pradesh Mizoram Chattisgarh Madhya Pradesh Assam Orissa Sikkim Haryana Gujarat Himachal Pradesh Karnataka 373 172 117 99 92 82 80 76 70 67 64 58 58
Below National Average Bihar Kerala Tamil Nadu Rajasthan Uttarakhand Goa Meghalaya Maharashtra Tripura Andhra Pradesh Punjab Arunachal Pradesh Nagaland Jharkhand Jammu & Kashmir West Bengal 57 54 52 52 50 50 49 45 43 43 43 41 40 32 22 17
Source: http://ddws.nic.in/
5.2 INTERACTION
WITH
WATER SERVICE
Of the BPL households surveyed, 14 per cent interacted with water service for one or the other purposes during the last one year. The purpose could be broadly divided into two categories recurring and non-recurring. Recurring visit is for bill payment at the designated outlet, while non-recurring would include interactions made for connection and service related issues like getting a new connection, repairing of meters, water pipe and hand pumps etc. The percentage of BPL households visiting water supply service was more in Above Average states (17 per cent) compared to Below Average states (12 per cent). One of the possible reasons of more interaction could be more coverage of habitations in the former states for operation and maintenance of water supply. There is a marked difference between rural and urban in the extent of interaction of BPL households. In urban area, 22 per cent BPL households interacted with water service while it was only 11 per cent in rural areas. Rural households are more likely to rely on community sources like wells, tube-wells and natural sources of water (e.g., spring, river, etc), whereas in urban slum households largely depend on piped water supply. More urban households have individual connections and are required to pay water bills. So interaction of urban BPL households is more compared to their rural counterparts.
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5.3 PURPOSE
OF INTERACTION
Of those who interacted with water supply service in the last one year, nearly 40 per cent visited for bill payment. About 36 per cent visited for installation/ maintenance of hand pumps in the last one year. About 7 per cent households visited for supply of water tankers, while 6 per cent visited for repair of water pipe
Table 2: Purpose of Interaction
(Figures In Percentage)
Purpose of Interaction Bill payment Installation/maintenance of hand-pumps Supply of water tankers Irrigation water Repair of water pipe Regularization of unauthorised water connection Water meter installation
.Interaction for the purposes of supply of water tankers and regularisation of unauthorised water connection were reported in the urban slums, while visit for the purpose of irrigation water was reported in the rural area.
Purpose for repeat visits Installation/maintenance of hand-pumps Supply of water tankers Irrigation water Repair of water pipe Regularization of unauthorised water connection Water meter installation
One out of ten BPL household visited the water supply service three times or more for water tankers. It is pertinent to mention here that water tankers are required when the households do not get the regular water supply. The repeat visits for water tankers in urban slums indicates that
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the service providers do not give priority in arranging tankers. About 8 per cent households interacted three times or more for repair of water pipe to maintain piped water supply.
All India 41 31 23 5
5.5 PERCEPTION
ABOUT
About 42 per cent of the BPL households interacting with the system thought that there is corruption in water supply service. The proportion of BPL households who believed that corruption exists in the service was more in Below Average States than in States which showed better fulfilment of targets for water supply.
53 31 21 29 17
60 50 40 30 20 10 0
48
Respondents (%)
Low
Increased
Same
Came Down
Figure 1: Perception about Level of Corruption in Water Department by Category of States (%)
On being enquired whether corruption had increased or decreased in water supply service in the last one year, about one-fourth felt that it had increased while half of the respondents believed that the level of corruption had remained unchanged in the last one year. In low target fulfilled States, higher proportion (29 per cent) of BPL households felt that corruption in water service had increased compared to 21 per cent in States with better target achieved ones.
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Measures Taken to Check corruption Make information easily available Improve Grievance Redressal
All India 16 24 22
Easy access to information about procedures and processes to avail the services is a pre-requisite to make the services user friendly. About 76 per cent BPL households felt that information on documents required for installation of meter and detail information on the procedures to be followed for regularisation of unauthorised water connection or change of faulty meter was not easily available. Easy access to information was reported to be slightly more in rural area (26 per cent) than in urban (22 per cent). Only about one-fourth BPL households acknowledged that the concerned staff attended to their grievances in the last one year.
12 Respondents (%) 10 8 6 4 2 0
11 9 6 4 6 6 4 7 4
All India
Better
Category of St ates
Low
Paid Bribe
Used contact
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Relatively, a high percentage of BPL households in urban area paid bribe for regularization of unauthorised connections, for issues related to water bill and for supply of water tankers. In rural areas, paying bribe was more for installation/maintenance of hand pumps and for irrigation water.
7 10 9 4 7 9 8 45 53 0 10 Rural Urban 20 30 40 50 60 8 13 1
Irrigation Water Repair of water pipe Supply of water tankers Water meter installation Regularization of unauthorized water connection Bill payment Installation/Maintenance of hand pumps
14 11
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5.9 ROUTE
OF
BRIBE PAYMENT
More than four-fifths of those who paid bribe to get their work done in the last one year, directly to the department official/ staff. Nearly one-fifth of them paid the money to the agent/middlemen. Agents/middlemen were found to be more active in urban locations, while bribe paid directly to department official/staff was more in rural areas.
Table 6: Route of Bribe Payment
(Figures In Percentage)
All India 81 18 1
Rural 83 16 1
Urban 78 20 1
5.10 ESTIMATION
OF
BRIBE AMOUNT
Out of the total BPL households in the country, it is estimated that around 0.67 million households paid bribe to avail water service in the last one year. The total amount of bribe paid by these households to the water supply service during the past year is estimated to be around Rs. 239.4 million. In other words, on an average a BPL household had shelled out Rs. 357 as bribe to avail water service. The range of bribe amount paid varied significantly from as low as Rs. 10 to as high as Rs. 3,700. For the purpose of installation/ maintenance of hand pumps the range of bribe amount was high as compared to small repair of hand pumps. As such, the average amount of bribe paid varied depending upon the nature of services availed. The average amount of bribe paid for bill payment, repair of water pipe, supply of irrigation water and water tankers was in the range of Rs. 101 to Rs. 194, while the average bribe paid for installation of water meter and installation/maintenance of hand pumps was higher. The reasons for paying bribe were:
Table 7: Purpose-wise Ranges of Bribe Paid
(Amount of Bribe Paid in Rs.)
Bribe Paid for Each Purpose Installation/Maintenance of hand pumps Bill payment Regularization of unauthorized water connection Water meter installation Supply of water tankers Repair of water pipe Irrigation Water
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ALARMING
VERY HIGH
HIGH
MODERATE
Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Chandigarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Mizoram, Sikkim
Above Average
Assam
Among Above Average states, the level of corruption is found to be Alarming in Assam, while among Below Average states it is alarming in Jammu & Kashmir, Tamil Nadu and Nagaland. Despite better achievement in terms of physical coverage, the extent of corruption is very high in the States of Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Orissa.
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Regarding Pro-poor Initiatives: In order to provide easy and better water supply services for BPL population, most States have taken some pro-poor initiatives which include supply of water tankers free of cost, free or subsidized connections, involvement of Panchayati Raj Representatives for better service, opening of new counters & complaint booths, accelerated & additional water supply and extension of water lines. To provide potable drinking water, new water treatment plants have been set up in Jharkhand. Special squad of engineers has been formed to look after the technicalities of water supply system in Rajasthan. Frequent field visits and lab testing of water are undertaken to maintain the quality of water in Bihar. In Orissa, local Self Employed Mechanics have been selected at the Panchayat level and have been trained to look after the day-to-day maintenance of tube wells in the rural areas and inform major breakdowns to Junior Engineer. In Jammu & Kashmir, under the Million Wells Scheme (MWS), financial subsidy up to Rs.30,000/ - is provided to the poor, small and marginal farmers living below the poverty line, especially persons belonging to SC/ST and freed bonded labourers for digging of irrigation wells.
5.13 SUGGESTIONS
TO IMPROVE
Access to water being a basic requirement, concrete measures should be taken to address problems related to Operation and Maintenance (O&M) for ensuring smooth supply of water on the one hand, and to reduce corruption in water supply services for the BPL households on the other hand. Based on the findings of this study, a multi-pronged strategy is suggested. The first and the important strategy should be decentralisation of water supply services, followed by recruitment of more staff and involvement of local mechanics to address the operation and maintenance problems. The third strategy should be to organise special campaigns and awareness programmes to help the BPL population for articulation of their problems.
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Involvement of panchayats: The responsibility of operation and maintenance of hand pumps should be decentralised and handed over either to the village panchayats or to civil society groups. Regularization: For dealing with illegal connections special campaigns for regularization should be held where such instances are reported more frequently, with offer of some concessions and waiver of dues. Supply of water tankers: Supply of months should be decentralised and needs. To facilitate the water supply, Tanker Scheme may be launched to hour call centre. water tankers in low availability areas or in the summer civil society groups should be roped in to attend to local on the lines of Hyderabad and Secundrabad (A.P.), Dial a provide the same within the stipulated time through a 24-
Staffs Accountability: Absence of staff makes the situation much worse in the rural areas where repair of hand pumps remain unattended. Hence, the staff should be made accountable, besides to fill the vacant positions, to provide better and prompt services. Involvement of Local Mechanics: Self Employed Youths at the Panchayat level should be selected and trained to look after the day-to-day maintenance of tube wells in the rural areas and inform major breakdowns to higher authorities. Articulation of problem: BPL users need to be aware about Where, When and How to Contact so that they should communicate their problems properly and promptly to the concerned authorities, followed by regular monitoring of grievance redressal. Till this culture comes into practice, particularly among BPL households, improvement in redressal cannot be much different. Getting involved: There should be special incentives for the BPL households for the formation of Water Users Association (WUA) for their involvement in the operation, maintenance and management of water infrastructures/facilities at the village level. Campaigns: Special campaigns in areas selected on the basis of low community pump density should be organized for sanctioning /installation of hand pumps. During such campaigns, special assistance should be offered to BPL communities for filling up of forms and completing other procedures. Citizens Charter: Appropriate Citizens Charter, mentioning the standards of various service deliveries with deterrent punishment for any deficiency in the promises, be formulated and implemented.
6.1 INTRODUCTION
Espoused by the Indian government as a notable pro-poor initiative, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) was initiated in select 200 districts during its first year in 2005-06, and was extended to another 130 districts in the second year of its implementation. The scheme launched under The NREG Act, which came into existence in 2005, has been extended to all 604 districts of the country from 2008-09. The scheme aims at enhancing livelihood security of rural households by providing 100 days of unskilled manual work every year to households in the country. Two years of implementation of NREGS vindicates the self-targeting, demand-based nature of the programme. Although the programme is not confined to BPL families, experience shows that it is mainly the poor households willing to do manual labour who seek work under NREGA.
110
Though NREGS has provided employment to 34.2 million households till May 2008, it has also been fraught with charges of corruption and irregularities in implementing the scheme. BPL households, which could benefit greatly from the scheme, have often complained of instances of fudged job cards, incomplete and fake muster rolls, delayed payment of wages, missing names or signatures and funds siphoned off. However, the present India Corruption Study focuses only on corruption faced directly by BPL households and not systemic irregularities in the operations of NREGS and it pertains to the districts included in the first round. To understand BPL households perception and experience with the NREGS service, the study interacted with 13,487 BPL households from rural areas of 27 States where NREGS scheme was under implementation
6.2 INTERACTION
WITH
NREGS
During the previous one year, 40 per cent of the rural BPL households surveyed interacted with the panchayat representatives and the concerned government staff, who are responsible for execution of activities under the NREG Scheme. States where less than one-third of the BPL households interacted with NREGS including the North-eastern states, J&K, Kerala, Orissa, Punjab and West Bengal. Low interaction could also be attributed to fewer activities being carried out under NREGS in the villages visited during the previous one year.
6.3 PURPOSE
OF INTERACTION
61 per cent of these rural BPL households who interacted with the NREGS did so to get registered to work under the NREG Scheme. In States where the percentage of BPL households interacting for this purpose was more than two-third, were Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, J&K, Orissa, Kerala and Rajasthan. After getting registered, households next level of interaction is to get the job card. 23 per cent of rural BPL households interacted to get the job card. Besides interacting to get registered or to get a job card, rural BPL households, who worked under the NREGS, interacted with the concerned officials to collect their wages.
Demand for unemployment Wage payment Issuance of job card Gett ing select ed as beneficiary/registrat ion
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
111
As the NREG Act stipulates grant of unemployment allowance to those who have not been called to work within 14 days of demand for work, 5 per cent of the households on an average interacted with the department asking for payment of unemployment allowance. This demand for unemployment allowance was relatively high in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Northeastern states of Meghalaya and Nagaland, as compared to the rest of the States. For purposes like working as wage labour under NREGS or to collect their wages, beneficiaries could be expected to interact frequently with the concerned government functionary or panchayat representative. However, the study found that BPL households made repeated visits to get registered under the NREG Scheme. Even after registration and grant of application BPL households made repeated visits to get the job card issued, which is a prerequisite to work under NREGS.
Table 1: Visited Three Times or More for Same Purpose
(Figures in Percentage)
Purpose of Repeat Visit For getting selected as beneficiary Issuance of job card Wage payment Demand for unemployment allowance
AllIndia (n = 3039) 56 24 17 6
States where more than two-thirds of the BPL households had to interact three times or more with the concerned government staff were Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, J&K, Rajasthan, Orissa and Kerala.
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Almost half of the BPL households felt that either the staffs are corrupt or the functionaries remain unavailable to issue job card, make wage payment or give information about when and where next work would be carried out. States where more than half of the BPL households interacting under the NREGS found the staff to be either corrupt or unavailable were Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Rajasthan. Most of these fall into the category of poor states, where the impact of the program should indeed be more. 13 per cent of households also felt that the interference of middlemen was a hurdle in availing services of the department. Middlemen are intermediaries, who bring citizens cases to the attention of department officials and charge a price for doing the same. Citizen pay bribes very often for benefits for which they already qualify, and the middleman passes on a portion of the bribe amount to officials. Thus middlemen have become conduit for bribe thus institutionalising the same.
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(Figures in Percentage)
Measures Taken to Check against corruption Make Information Easily Available Improve Grievance Redressal
The department however, has taken steps to bring in transparency in its functioning and minimize corruption. For example, the Ministry of Rural Development, GoI, which is the nodal Ministry for the NREGS, has decided that maintenance of muster rolls at worksites by implementing agency would be periodically verified. Detailed guidelines for the same had also been issued to State Governments in October 2006. However, despite the special importance attached to the muster roll verification campaign, appreciable progress has not been made. Wherever muster roll verification has been undertaken and discrepancies have been noticed, there are very few instances where action against erring officials has been taken. Such laxity not only allows continuation of irregularities in the maintenance of muster rolls but also fails to have any deterrent impact on the defaulters.
A unique system has been introduced in a village in Jalaun, Uttar Pradesh, to weed out corruption from the NREGS. The Jalaun District Magistrate has issued NREGS chequebooks to labourers. The chequebook is called Shramik coupon book with 50 cheques. Each cheque has a denomination of Rs. 100 printed on it, as well as on the counterfoil. Now, a labourer hands over a cheque to his Pradhan after receiving Rs. 100 at the end of a days work in the village. So, if a Pradhan claims that he has paid Rs. 2,000 to a labourer, he must submit 20 cheques from the labourers chequebook to the district administration. This step will help end the fake entries usually made by Pradhans in muster rolls and enable workers to get their rightful wages.
To curb corruption and change peoples perception about NREGS, strictly punishing corrupt officials, increasing transparency in service delivery and prompt disbursal of information, is important. However, during the last one year, close to half the rural BPL households felt that information was not easily available about NREG Scheme. In states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, more than 80 per cent of BPL households felt that information was not easily available about the when, where, what of works that were to be undertaken and when and how wages would be paid. Though the NREG Act has imposed an obligation on the State Government to make rules to determine appropriate grievance redressal mechanism and lay down procedure for disposal of complaints, 8 out of 10 rural BPL households said that grievance redressal situation under the NREG Scheme had either not improved in the last one year or had deteriorated. In order to empower the applicants to work, the Act had prescribed a definite methodology for disposal of complaints and said that the Program Officer would deal promptly with complaints that may arise in connection with the implementation of the scheme within the respective block. However, in states like Jharkhand, 62 per cent of households opined that grievance redressal had deteriorated in the past year.
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4 7 7
115
When you have a family of six members and no source of steady income life can be quite miserablerecalls Kishore and further adds, My wife and I have been working as daily wage earners in a small village of Assam. Work as a daily wage labourer is uncertain and many times one can remain jobless for months together. So when I heard of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), I was hopeful of having a regular income to support my family.... Kishore approached the Sarpanch of the village to get registered under the scheme. As required he submitted his application and waited for some response. But days turned into weeks and he did not receive his job card. He discussed his problem with the village people and discovered that only people who were close to the Sarpanch were able to secure jobs under the scheme. Hearing this, Kishore knew that his application had not been considered at all and so expecting a job offer was useless. He was completely disheartened and he shared his disappointment with his wife. Although she was also taken aback, she still encouraged him to continue to try to convince the Sarpanch. So Kishore once again went and met the Sarpanch. He described his problems and pleaded the Sarpanch to consider his application favourably. Finally, the Sarpanch agreed but not without presenting a few conditions that Kishore had to fulfil. Kishore recalls regretfully, I had to first serve the Sarpanch liquor and chicken. And as if that was not enough he instructed me to work at his residence construction site without paying a single penny!
60 50 40 30 20 10 0 For ge tting se le cte d Issuance of job card as a bene ficiary Wage payme nt Figure 5: Reasons for Paying Bribe (%) 50 27 23
Every three out of four rural BPL households, who paid bribe, paid it either to the concerned government employee or to the Panchayat representative. In states like Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Orissa, Punjab, and in Northeastern states like Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland, BPL households who paid bribe, paid it directly to concerned government staff.
Table 3: Route of Bribe Payment
(Figures in Percentage)
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Local representatives were paid bribe by 24 per cent of the BPL households who availed NREGS. In states like Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, the panchayat representatives were relatively more active as far as taking bribe is concerned.
6.10 ESTIMATION
OF
BRIBE AMOUNT
Out of the total BPL households in the country it is estimated that around one million BPL households paid bribe to avail NREGS in the last one year. The total amount of bribe paid by BPL households to avail NREGS during the past year is estimated to be around Rs. 71.5 million. Various reasons for which bribe was paid show that some people paid as low as Rs. 5 for getting selected as a beneficiary and issuance of a job card, whereas some others paid as high as Rs. 300 for the same reasons.
Table 4: Bribe Paid for Each Purpose
Extent of Bribe Paid (Rs.)
Bribe Paid for Each Purpose Getting selected as beneficiary Issuance of job card Wage payment
Average 76 72 62
In states like Bihar and Karnataka, many a time people from BPL households ended up paying bribes unwittingly, because when they came to collect wages, officials deducted a certain amount from the wage to be paid as bribe, and only then made the payment.
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NREGA in 2006-07, more than Rs. 5000 million had been siphoned off and misappropriated by government officials. Orissa is another state where BPL households reported the level of corruption to be Alarming.
Table 5: Level of Corruption Relative Position of States
(In Alphabetical Order)
MODERATE Andhra Pradesh Chhattisgarh Haryana, Himachal Pradesh Jammu & Kashmir Punjab Tamil Nadu Uttarakhand West Bengal Mizoram Tripura
NE States/UTs
Nagaland
Sikkim
However, various anti-corruption measures have been taken up by those states where households reported level of corruption was Moderate. Social audit has been conducted in Tamil Nadu and the state government has also initiated a system of muster roll maintenance, whereby each labourer has to enter his/her signature or thumbprint in the roll every day by way of marking attendance. In Andhra Pradesh, another State in Moderate category, wage payments under NREGS are made through post offices. A system of institutionalised social audits, involving routine verification of NREGA records through participatory processes, has also been put in place extensively in Andhra Pradesh. Himachal Pradesh, yet another state where households reported moderate level of corruption, has taken steps to maintain transparency and curb corruption in NREGS. The State has made muster rolls and other NREGA records available for public scrutiny at the gram panchayat office, often in computerised form.
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Non-receipt of job cards is another problem, for which households interact with the service providers of NREGS. Many a time, job cards are not provided to beneficiaries and are kept either with the Sarpanch (like in some places in Tripura and West Bengal) or with the programme officer for NREGS. This in-effect also means that Sarpanch and officials are free to make whatever entries in the job cards, since these cards are always at their disposal and released at their behest. Although there have been complaints from households regarding implementation of NREGS, the officials of the department said that measures have been taken to address these complaints and check corruption in NREGS. For example, an official in Maharashtra said that in order to address grievances more efficiently, a grievance redressal within 15 days rule has been made. Officials in the state also said that phone numbers were displayed on notice boards to help people register complaints easily and promptly. To combat corruption in the NREG Scheme concerned officials have been instructed to maintain proper entries in registers to ensure payments to households under NREGS, information on activities to be carried out is given and spot investigations are carried out to help take immediate action against corruption. Service providers also informed that measures are being taken to open savings accounts of NREGS beneficiary households in local banks or post offices so that payment of wages is made, with effect from April 2008. The department is also looking at ensuring planned and coordinated investments in rural areas, to help generate sustainable income as well as employment of rural households. It has recently been decided that a Task Force will be constituted to examine modalities of convergence of various social sector programs with the NREG Act. Most of the states reported having a monitoring mechanism in place, which enables periodical qualitative monitoring. Visits of National Level Monitors to districts, was also reported by service providers. Very recently, the department has also operationalized a web-based MIS (www.nrega.nic.in) in order to place all data in public domain, pertaining to workers entitlements: Registration, Job Cards, Muster Rolls, employment demanded and provided. The website also provides data on sanctioned shelf of works, work estimates, works in progress, funds available/spent, amount paid as wages, materials and administrative expenses. But, it will be some time before the benefits of this can be realized by BPL households.
NREGA Muster Rolls on Website (www.nrega.nic.in). NREGA MIS (Management Information System) is an MIS with a difference. Carrying forward the commitment to transparency and accountability, the NREGA MIS permits citizens to access the Muster Rolls (documents that exhibit the attendance of workers and payment of wages made to them) on the NREGA website with a simple click. More than 12 lakhs projects are in progress in various States providing 8551 lakhs person-days of employment. On the website one needs to navigate through State, District, Block, Gram Panchayat hyperlinks to get down to the last worker who has attended a worksite and received wages for work done. Muster Rolls are available on the website for many States and under process for others. (Source: NREGS 2 Years Report, Ministry of Rural Development, GoI)
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Despite these various efforts, local project managers admitted that there is room for further improvement. Such initiatives need to be intensified and proper monitoring and management by higher authorities is necessitated. Social audit needs to be intensified as well as conducted at all work sites/concerned villages, regularly. Service providers opined that there is an urgent need for the public and beneficiaries to be informed about the entitlements under NREG Scheme like life insurance, health insurance, etc. There is also a need to take immediate action against corrupt officers and punish them.
7.1 INTRODUCTION
Land records form the basis for assignment and settlement of land titles. As a part of administration, land records are maintained at the village, tehsil and district levels. Record of Rights (ROR) serves
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as the legal title to the land for the cultivator. Certified records are needed to obtain credit and to transact (sale/purchase/mortgage) in land more quickly, safely and cheaply. At the State level, the work relating to Land Administration is handled by the Revenue Department. The Department of Registration looks after the registration of the sale/purchase land. At the taluk or tehsil level the officer in charge of maintenance of land record is called the Tehsildar in most of the States. At the circle level the functionary in charge is called Revenue Inspector, Circle Inspector or Kanungo, who usually supervises the work of Village Accountants (VA). Village Accountant, who is in charge of a single village or a group of villages, forms the base of the land administration. The villagers usually approach the Village Accountant/ Revenue Inspector for obtaining a copy of land record and to undertake a field visit to speed up the process of mutation. The public approaches the circle/tehsil level office for obtaining land records (ROR), file petitions for partition of land and file mutation requests. Owners visit office of revenue department for the purpose of paying land revenue. Certificates such as Caste Certificate, Income Certificate, Residential Certificate, Birth and Death Certificate and Legal Heir certificate are issued by the Revenue Officials on request by citizens. For the registration of land, people approach the Sub-registrar office. People from all sections, including BPL households, visit the revenue and registration department to avail the land related services.
THE
Of the BPL households surveyed, 18 per cent visited the department for Land related services during the last one-year. A high proportion of households in States like Kerala (61 per cent) and Karnataka (51 per cent) reported visiting the revenue and registration department.
7.3 PURPOSE
OF INTERACTION
The BPL households visited the revenue and registration department for one or other purpose. For registration of land, sub-registrar office was visited while for other land related services revenue department was visited.
Table 1: Purpose of Interaction
(Figures in Percentage)
Purpose of Interaction Obtaining land records To pay land revenue To obtain income certificate Sale/purchase of land To obtain caste certificate Mutation Agricultural land on lease from Panchayat Purchase stamp paper Land survey
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Highest proportion (22 per cent) of BPL households visited the revenue department for obtaining land record, which is used for obtaining bank loans. A copy of ROR is issued for this purpose. To obtain farm loans, BPL households having land need to furnish the land records to the bank or cooperative as the case may be. About 9 per cent households visited the department for mutation. It may be noted here that if a piece of land goes through a change in ownership through sale or inheritance then one has to file for mutation for conferring the right of ownership. About 12 per cent households visited the registration department for sale or purchase of land in the last oneyear. A sizeable proportion of BPL households visited the tehsil/ taluk office for some other purposes. While 14 per cent of them made a visit to obtain income certificate, one-tenth visited the office to get caste certificate. These are essential documents for getting benefits under various targeted schemes aimed at BPL households.
Table 2: Visiting Three Times or More for Same Purpose
(Figures in Percentage)
Purpose of repeat visits Obtaining land records To pay land revenue To obtain income certificate Sale/purchase of land To obtain caste certificate Mutation Agricultural land on lease from Panchayat Purchasing stamp paper Land survey
Regarding the frequency of visit, it was found that more than half of the BPL households visited three times or more in the last one year. About 23 per cent of them visited the revenue department three times or more to get a certified copy of land record. Across the states 17 per cent visited three times or more for paying taxes and 12 per cent visited as many times for obtaining income certificate. The instances of repeat visits even for simple reasons could be taken as indicative of corruption.
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About 12 per cent BPL household reported staff absenteeism as a problem. Due to staff absence they had to visit the department several times to get their work done. Staff absenteeism was more in North Eastern states of Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland.
Table 3: Difficulty Factors
(Figures in Percentage)
Difficulty Factors Corrupt Staff Procedural Absence of staff Interference of middlemen Non availability of forms
Figure 1: Perception about Level of Corruption in revenue and registration department (%)
About 69 per cent of the BPL households who visited the revenue or registration department opined that corruption existed. In States, such as, Chhattisgarh, Maharastra, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, more than four-fifths of BPL household expressed this view. With respect to the trend of corruption, 88 per cent of the respondents also felt that the level of corruption has either increased or remained unchanged since the past one year. No significant difference was found on the upward trend of corruption in the past one year between states that have taken initiatives to computerise land records such as Karnataka (55 per cent) and Maharashtra (60 per cent) and states that are lagging in this aspect, like Kerala (57 per cent).
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Measures Taken to Check Corruption Make Information Easily Available Improve Grievance Redressal
Easy access to information about procedures to avail the services is a prerequisite to make the services user friendly. About 12 per cent BPL households felt that information about procedures to obtain land record is easily available. Only four BPL households have used RTI to get information in the land records and registration services. It is pertinent to mention here that under the centrally sponsored Computerisation of Land Records (CLR) scheme, a number of states have opened computer centres at the taluk/tehsil level to give computerised copy of ROR. In states like Karnataka and Gujarat, kiosks have been opened in the village, where computerised land records can be obtained by the villagers through simple procedures. Listening or attending to the problems of BPL household by the concerned staff in the department is still a matter of concern. Only 12 per cent households acknowledged that the departmental staff attended to their grievances in the last year.
Gateway To Avail Service Paid Bribe Used Contact Did not take the service because could not pay Bribe
Four per cent of the BPL households could not avail the services since they could not afford to pay bribe in the last one year.
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T o purchase stamp paper For paying tax For land lease from panchayat For land survey For caste certificate For mutation Sale/purchase of land property For income certificate T o obtain land records
Bribe paid for delaying Land Partition In one BPL family in Panasaput village of Koraput District Shibu Murmu and Debu Murmu are two brothers. After the death of their father the ownership of the family land was in the name of elder brother. The elder one occupied most of the land forcefully and started cultivating though the other one enjoys equal rights to that land. The younger brother wanted the partition of land and for that matter, he filed a petition in the tehsil office. After five months of the petition, however, nothing happened because the elder brother managed to bribe some one in the tehsil office to cause a long delay to the partition of land. As a consequence, the case of partition of land is still pending and the younger brother is suffering a lot because of the delay.
While 15 per cent BPL households paid bribe for sale/purchase of land, about 12 per cent paid for mutation. The mutation request goes to the VA who checks for authenticity of the title on the basis of a field visit. VAs and revenue inspector demand bribe for undertaking the field visit. In some cases there was collusion between the revenue inspector and the tehsildar and the bribe money for mutation was distributed between them. Bribe giving is not limited to obtaining land records and mutation, etc. only but for some other services such as obtaining income certificate and caste certificate also. While 16 per cent of the households paid bribe to get income certificate, about 14 per cent paid for obtaining caste
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certificate. For a BPL household, paying bribe to obtain the income certificate is a distressing situation. Sometimes there is collusion between a lower level staff and tehsildar in the revenue office for the delivery of these certificates since the poor people approach the lower level staff more and the staff demands bribe from them for quick delivery of service.
7.9 ROUTE
OF
BRIBE PAYMENT
Of those who paid bribe to get their work done in the last one year, as high as 82 per cent of them paid money directly to the department official/staff. Sometimes for mutation, land registration and for the delivery of income certificate and caste certificate etc. a nexus between the higher officials and lower level staff was found. There are instances where the BPL households paid the bribe to the latter category on behalf of the former. A sizeable proportion (17 per cent) of the BPL households paid bribe to the agent/middlemen. The incidence of paying bribe to agent/ middlemen was less in high-computerised states of Karnataka (2 per cent) and Chattisgarh (6 per cent) in comparison to states such as Uttarakhand (28 per cent) and Nagaland (28 per cent) who have not yet undertaken land record computerisation.
82
100 80 60 40 20 0
17 2
7.10 ESTIMATION
OF
BRIBE AMOUNT
Of the total BPL households in the country, it is estimated that approximately 3.5 million households paid bribe to avail the land related services in the year 2007. The total amount of bribe paid by BPL households to avail land related services during the past year is estimated to be around Rs 1,233.8 million. In other words, on an average, a poor household had to pay Rs. 405 as bribe. The range of bribe amount varied significantly from as low as Rs 10 to as high as Rs 5,000. For sale/purchase of land and to take agricultural land on lease from Panchayat, the amount of bribe paid varied depending on the value of the land that to be sold and the quality of land on lease. This means the amount of bribe is positively correlated to the value of the sale/purchase transaction. The average amount of bribe paid also varied depending upon the nature of services. While for availing services such as obtaining income certificate and caste certificate, the average bribe amount ranged from Rs.110 to Rs.126, for availing services that involve complex procedure such as sale/purchase of land property and mutation, the average bribe amount was higher. Sometimes
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for land registration, mutation and taking agricultural land on lease from Panchayat, the households paid bribe to more than one person for a particular service.
Table 6: Bribe Paid for Each Purpose
(Aomunt of Bribe Paid in Rs.)
Bribe Paid for Each Purpose Agricultural land on lease from Panchayat Obtaining land records Purchasing stamp paper Sale/purchase of land property Mutation Paying tax Land survey Income Certificate Caste Certificate
Range 20-5000 10-5000 15-2000 10-5000 15-4000 10-1500 30-3000 10-1000 10-1000
Average 505 404 310 847 500 260 471 126 110
MODERATE Delhi, Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jharkhand Kerala Orissa Punjab, West Bengal Arunachal Pradesh Mizoram Pondicherry, Tripura
Goa, Nagaland
Sikkim
Among the smaller states the extent of corruption is alarming in Goa and Nagaland. The high level of corruption in Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka can be related to the spiralling land values.
128
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Uttar Pradesh computerized copy of ROR is available in more than four-fifths of the tehsils/taluks. (Source-CLR status report, Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Dev) These initiatives are focussed on computerisation of land records and the subsequent delivery of computerised copy of Record of Rights (ROR). However, the entry of textual data and its generation as a printout is a limited exercise being undertaken at the moment. Other administrative routines can also be computerised to make the service delivery hassle free for the poor household. The frequency of visits for availing various land related services, as revealed in this study, would be drastically reduced by streamlining the procedures through computerisation.
1. Simplification of Procedures
Doing away with multiple agencies : Existence of multiple agencies, such as revenue department for maintenance and updating of Land Records & Registration department to register transactions relating to land compromises on the efficiency of updation of land records. There should be a single integrated agency for the preparation and updation of land records. This will reduce the waiting time of the citizen for obtaining updated land records and will make their work hassle free. Online grievance redressal: For quick grievance redressal the filing of complaints should be made online and should directly reach the superior authority. Monitoring of complaints by superior officials: Superior officials such as District Magistrate and Divisional Commissioners should periodically check the complaint register at the taluk/tehsil level and should take adequate measures to speed up the process for redressal of public grievances.
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India Corruption Study 2008 Such problems can be addressed by integrating data on land record into the web, which can be accessed by the farmer easily from anywhere. The credit providing institutions can also verify the data directly to speed up the processing of loans.
Online application for income certificate and caste certificate: A web-enabled system should be introduced, by which a common citizen can apply for these certificates and can confirm the status of application. The need to go and get this certificate should be avoided by one time certification in the case of caste certificate. Introduction of E-stamping for registration of land: The introduction of e-stamping would go a long way in ensuring transparency and would provide a reliable system of documentation. The system will eliminate the problem of stamp paper shortage as well as other malpractices in buying stamp paper.
8. Forest Service
HIGHLIGHTS
Around 20 per cent of the BPL households interacted for availing forest services in the last one year The total amount of bribe paid by these BPL households during the last one year is estimated at about Rs 240 million. Around 13 per cent of the BPL households, who interacted with forest related service, either paid bribe or used contact to avail the services during the last one year. Among reasons cited for paying bribes, majority reported permission for picking fuel wood and for getting saplings. Around 36 per cent of these BPL households were of the opinion that corruption exists in forest service. A little more than half (54 per cent) of them believed that the level of corruption has remained same. Majority (91 per cent) of the BPL households, which had paid bribe during the last one year, had paid directly to the concerned official/staff. Only 17 per cent of the BPL households acknowledged measures taken by government to check corruption in the forest service. About grievance redressal measures, only one-fifth of the BPL households had acknowledged one or the other measures that have been taken within the forest service in the last one-year.
8.1 INTRODUCTION
Forests are a valuable natural resource for our country. Many poor households in India, especially the original inhabitants of forests (the tribals) depend on it for their sustenance and livelihood. Forests cover around 20.6 per cent of the total countrys geographical area and 29per cent villages are dependent on the forests.1 Many a times, local people pay bribes to forest officials for the right to continue with their customary livelihood activities such as collecting and selling forest produce like timber, herbs, mahua flowers and tendu leaves. The forest administration also end up joining hands with the so called Forest Mafia comprising of timber merchants and contractors, resulting in the degradation of forests. Forest officials and staff are meant to protect the forests and prevent illegal acts like felling of trees, poaching, encroachment of forestland, grazing, illegal possession and transport of most
1
State of Forest Report -2005, Forest Survey of India, Ministry of Forest and Environment
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types of forest produce, but these responsibilities are being compromised by a nexus of officials, contractors and politicians. However, efforts have been made by the forest officials to arrest the corruption menace. Forest Protection Committees have been formed under Joint Forest Management (JFM) schemes started in year 1988, which include representation of both the administration and the people residing in or near the demarcated forest areas. In Orissa, a scheme to reward villagers as well as departmental personnel for confiscating stolen forest products and preventing theft has been devised under JFM. The neighboring state of Chhattisgarh has become the first state to give the tribals and forest dwellers the land rights which will enable the poor households to legally use the land for farming and other purposes. Other states have adopted JFM policy to give the poor households the right to procure fuel wood and non timber forest produce (NTFP), forest land for farming and to help in forest protection.
Classification of States
Nearly all states of the country have some areas, which are classified as being under forest cover. However, the proportion varies significantly across the States. The central Indian region covering western Orissa, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and eastern Maharashtra constitute the largest contiguous area under forest cover. The nature of forests and consequently the type of products obtained from them also differs between agro-climatic regions such as the Himalayan range, rainforest areas of the northeastern states and semi-arid tropics covering the Deccan plateau. For the present study, the states of the country have been categorized on the basis of the per centage of the forest cover (FC) out of the total geographical area of the respective state. (State of Forest Report, Indian Forest Survey 2005).
Table 1: Categorization of the States
States by the percentage of forest cover out of the geographical area High Forest Cover (More than 75 per cent) Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Manipur, Meghalaya Moderate Forest Cover (Between 75 and 25 per cent) Goa, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Assam Orissa, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Low Forest Cover (Less than 25 per cent) Karnataka, Tamil Nadu Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Chandigarh Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir Pondicherry, Gujarat, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab
Source: State of Forest Report 2005 Total forest cover of the country is 20.60 per cent of the total geographical area of the country.
8.2 INTERACTION
WITH
FOREST SERVICE
A substantial number of Indias tribal people, many of whom are indigenous forest inhabitants, depend on forests for part of their livelihood and sustenance. However, unlike other public
Forest Service
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services such as PDS, Hospital services and Electricity, the services provided by the Forest department are need-based and interaction of BPL households with the forest service is not as frequent as in the case of basic services. Of the total BPL households covered in the study across the country, only 20 per cent reported of interacting with the forest department within the last one-year. This per centage obviously depends on the extent of dependence on forest for livelihood and sustenance. In the case of states like Punjab and Haryana for example which are not under heavy forest cover, not many people are dependent on the forest resources for their sustenance. This implies limited interaction by BPL households for availing forest services. The States with high forest cover comprise mostly of the northeastern states. Although in these States the forest cover is extensive, the interaction by BPL households for availing forest services is not commensurately high. This could be due to the fact that one-third of the area in most of these States comes under reserve forests, which is excluded from any type of legal exploitation. In the northeastern states the number of forest protection committees (FPC) or village forest committees (VPC) formed under Joint Forest Management (JFM) is comparatively less and could be a reason for low interaction of BPL households with forest services. In case of states with low or moderate forest cover such as Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal, however, the percentage of FPCs formed is high2. Under JFM, the Forest Department and the village community enter into an agreement to jointly protect and manage forestland-adjoining villages and to share responsibilities and benefits.
8.3 PURPOSE
OF INTERACTION
Fuel wood is one such item for which both men and women visit the forests regularly. This increases their chances of interaction with the forest service. The study revealed that 75 per cent of the BPL households had interacted with the forest personnel during the last one year for seeking permission to collect fuel wood. The BPL households also frequently visited the forest department when they needed to seek permission for picking up NTFP such as tendu leaves, mahua flowers, saal seeds, lac or honey.
Table 2: Purpose of Interaction
(Figures in Percentage)
Purpose of visit Picking fuel Wood Collecting NTFP Getting forest land for farming Using forest land for grazing animals For getting saplings Permission for cutting trees Constructing houses
Total (n = 3303) 75 8 4 5 5 3 3
Source: India Stat-State-wise Status of Joint Forest Management (JFM) (As on March 1, 2002)
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Besides fuel wood and NTFP, the BPL households also availed the forest services such as using forest land for constructing houses, for farming on the forest land, for grazing animals and cutting or selling the trees. However the frequency of visit for availing such services was comparatively less across the country.
Difficulty Factor Total Corrupt Staff Procedural Absence of Staff Interference of Middlemen 53 28 11 5
8.5 PERCEPTION
ABOUT
FOREST DEPARTMENT
A little more than one-third (36 per cent) of the BPL households were of the opinion that corruption exists in the forest department. This per centage was high in case of Nagaland, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, and Assam.
18
24
When asked whether the level of corruption had increased or had remained about the same during the last one year, more than half of them opined that it had remained same while 18 per cent of them observed that the level had increased.
Forest Service
135
Measures Taken to Total (N = 3300) Check against corruption Make information easily available Improve Grievance Redressal 17 22 20
Regarding grievance redressal as well, only one out of five BPL households believed that the situation had improved in the last one year. In case of Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry none of them acknowledged any improvement in grievance redressal practice.
Gateway to Avail Service Total (n = 306) Paid bribe Used contact Did not take the service as bribe was asked 9.3 3.8 1.9
State Category by Forest Cover High 10.2 4.8 2.3 Moderate 7.4 3.3 1.7 Low 10.8 4.1 2.0
About 36 per cent of BPL households amongst those interacting with the forest services perceive the department as corrupt against about 9 per cent who had actual experience of corruption in the last one year. Nearly 13 per cent BPL households reported that they had either paid bribe or had used a contact to avail the forest dependent services during the last one year.
Price Paid for Free Service Pawar Josef from one of the BPL households in Dang district of Gujarat informed that in order to sell the tree grown on his own land he had to spend money. He visited the local forest range office numerous times to get the form to be filled for the purpose. In the end he paid Rs.500 to get the form which is officially available free of cost. Thereafter the officials visited his house several times to investigate and sanction the sale of the tree. He had to again spend Rs. 3000 to 4000 to entertain the officials who visited his house. Finally after repeated visits and spending lot of money he could manage to get the final sanction to sell the tree.
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Reasons For picking fuel wood Pick Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) Getting permission to construct house on forest land For using the forest land for farming For getting permission to allow animals to graze on the forest land Cutting trees For getting saplings
Total (n = 306) 54 7 7 4 8 7 14
Of the BPL households who paid bribe or used contact, 54 per cent did so to get permission for picking fuel wood from the forests. Around 14 per cent households end up paying some bribe or using some contact for procuring saplings for plantation that are available either free of cost or at subsidized rates. Seven per cent of the BPL households who interacted with forest department paid bribe to seek permission for collecting NTFP, for constructing their house or for cutting a tree.
8.9 ROUTE
OF
BRIBE PAYMENT
The study revealed that most (91 per cent) of the BPL households who had paid bribe to avail services of the forest department had directly paid to the forest officials. Nearly one-tenth of them had paid it to the middlemen. In case of States with low forest cover almost all the BPL households had paid the amount directly to the forest officials.
Table 7: Route of Bribe Payment
(Figures in Percentage)
8.10 ESTIMATION
OF
BRIBE AMOUNT
To avail the services of forest department or use the forest resources, the BPL households had to pay bribe to the forest officials and staff. Of the total BPL households it is estimated that during the last one year, 9 per cent (0.73 million) of the BPL households, who interacted had paid bribe to avail the forest service. The amount paid as bribe was estimated to be around Rs. 240.8 million. On an average, the BPL household had spent around Rs. 164 from their earnings. The amount paid for availing these services varied form Rs. 20 to Rs. 10,000.
Forest Service
Table 8: Bribe Paid for Each Purpose
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Purpose For picking fuel wood Pick Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP) Getting permission to construct house on forest land For using the forest land for farming For getting permission to allow animals to graze on the forest land Cutting trees For getting saplings
8.11 WHERE DO
THE
STATES STAND?
The table below tries to compare the States on the level of corruption against per centage of forest area (as per the Indian Forest Survey 2005), taking into account both the perception as well as actual payment of bribe investigated in the survey.
Table 9: Level of Corruption Relative Position of States
(In Alphabetical Order)
Grouping by Forest Cover Low ALARMING Tamil Nadu VERY HIGH Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Pondicherry, HIGH Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh MODERATE Chandigarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, West Bengal Moderate Madhya Pradesh, Orissa Assam, Goa Kerala Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Sikkim, Uttarakhand High Nagaland Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Tripura
In the States like Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Nagaland, the dependence of people on forest is very high. With high dependence, the interaction with service providers will also be high which could be the reason for high extent of corruption. In states with moderate to low forest cover, the area under reserve forest is lower than in the northeastern states. The discretionary powers of forest officials are therefore higher in allowing or dis-allowing BPL families to enter the forest for fuel wood and NTFP. In states particularly from the northeastern region, the Forest Protection Committees (FPC) under JFM has been constituted only in 10 per cent of the forest dependent villages. Absence of FPC could be reason for BPL households suffering more in the hands of forest staff at village level In case of the states like Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, though the dependence on the forest services is comparatively high, the level of corruption is relatively low. This could be due to better citizenry and social activism traditions locally.
138
Forest Service
139
The existing JFM committees in the villages should be empowered and strengthened to carry out sustainable forestry activities such collection of NTFP, cutting of trees and plantation on their own. This will enable the committees to take independent decisions and will reduce the direct interface with the forest personnel. Consequently the scope of corruption will reduce. The forest department along with the JFM committees should provide identity cards to villagers. This will help the forest department officials to identify and differentiate between villagers and illegal trespassers. The forest staff, especially the forest guards, beat guards and range officers, should be sensitized and trained to deal and interact with villagers especially with women as they mainly visit the forests for fuel wood and NTFP collection. The grievance redressal cells across the states should be strengthened and should be made accessible to the BPL families.
9. Housing Service
HIGHLIGHTS
Of the BPL households surveyed about 14 per cent interacted with the housing service in the last one-year. Around 70 per cent of those who interacted made repeated visits for allotment of a house/ housing site. About 78 per cent reported facing some difficulty. One out of two felt that the corrupt staff in the department and their corrupt practices are the main causes for difficulties. Seventy per cent of the BPL households who interacted with the department in the last oneyear perceived that corruption exists in the service and about 45 per cent were of the opinion that in the last one year corruption had increased. Only 10 per cent of the BPL household interacting with the Housing service felt that the department had taken initiatives towards reducing corruption. As high as two out of five BPL households interacting with the housing service either paid bribe or used a contact to avail its services. Sixty per cent of the BPL household paid bribe for allotment of a plot or constructed house and rural BPL households paid bribe more than the urban. About 63 per cent of the BPL households, who reported of paying bribe to avail the service, paid it to the staff of the housing service. Incidence of paying to the staff for a service was more in the rural areas. It is estimated that around 1.5 million BPL households paid bribe. The total amount of bribe paid by BPL households during the past one year is estimated to be around Rs. 1.56 billion, or just above Rs.1000 per BPL household.
9.1 INTRODUCTION
House as a shelter is one of the basic human needs. For a normal citizen owning a house provides significant economic security. Investments in shelter not only improve and expand the available stock of housing units, but also generate employment. The Housing requirements for the below poverty line population for the year 2007-08 was estimated to be 2.1 million in the rural areas and 0.13 million in the urban areas by the Ministry of Rural Development1 (MoRD), GOI. For the first 25 years after independence, the problem of rural housing did not receive any serious attention from the Government. A Village Housing Scheme was also launched as part of the Community Development Movement in 1957, in which loans to individuals and cooperatives
1
Twenty Point Programme-2006, Progress report for April-December 2007), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, GOI.
Housing Service
141
were provided up to a maximum of Rs. 5000/- per house. However, since the 1980s, there has been a plethora of schemes announced by the Central and State governments, the intended beneficiaries being the BPL population, both rural and urban.
Table 1: Housing Schemes for Poor by State
States Andhra Pradesh Rural GRIHINI and the Special schemes like Beedi Workers, Weavers, Fishermen Housing, Dukan-O-Makan etc. Under Normal Housing Scheme INDIRAMMA -Semi Permanent Rural housing (SPR), Rural Permanent Housing (RPH) Arunachal Pradesh Assam, Bihar, Goa Gujarat, Haryana Chhattisgarh Credit cum subsidy scheme for rural housing Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme (IHSDP) and the Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP) scheme. Himachal Pradesh Jammu & Kashmir Jharkhand Karnataka Rajiv Gandhi Awas Yojna Credit cum subsidy scheme for rural housing Credit cum subsidy scheme for rural housing Ashraya, Ambedkar, Neralina Bhagya, Navagrama Yojna housing schemes under Rajiv Gandhi Rural Housing Corporation Ltd. Kerala Ashraya housing scheme of Kudumbashree for the destitute, Suraksha Housing Scheme: for EWS with at least 2 cents of land and without a habitable house, Credit cum subsidy scheme for rural housing Madhya Pradesh Maharastra Orissa Pondicherry Rajasthan Tamil Nadu Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand Integrated Rural Housing Scheme Credit cum subsidy scheme for rural housing Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Niwara Prakalp (BPL) JNURM, IHSDP, MP Urban Services for the Poor in Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur , Gwalior VAMBAY VAMBAY, IHSDP, National Slum Development Programme (NSDP) Perumthalaivar Kamaraj Centenary Housing Scheme Gharonda, Raj Aangan Yojna, Dwarikapuri, IHDSP JNURM JNURM IHSDP, JNURM JNURM, IHSDP VAMBAY, JNURMIHSDP, BSUP Ashiana a housing scheme for the Urban poor of Shimla town under JNURM, IHSDP IHSDP Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana, Gramin Awaas, Credit-cum-Subsidy Scheme for Rural Housing, Samagra Awaas Yojana, Innovative Steam for Rural Housing and Habitat Development Credit cum subsidy scheme for rural housing Urban INDIRAMMA Urban Permanent Housing Programme (UPH) under Normal Housing, EWS Housing, VAMBAY, Rajiv Gruha Kalpa, Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM)
Table contd...
142
Table contd...
West Bengal Delhi, Manipur, Meghalaya Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura
Source: State Governments and Ministry of Rural Development Websites
JNURM, BSUP Credit cum subsidy scheme for rural housing Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojna VAMBAY)
The stages of service delivery under rural housing for the BPL are as follows: i) Identification of BPL families in the village, ii) Getting allocation or sanction for built houses or plots, and iii) release of sanctioned amount from the scheme. An analysis of the state-wise data from 2006-07 December on the target achieved under IAY brings out that almost half of the States have achieved more than the National Average (i.e., >79 per cent). On the basis of this data, the States have been categorized as Below Average and Above Average in terms of performance to the targets. (see Table below). An effort was made to analyze whether Target achieved has had any bearing on the findings of the study.
Table 2: IAY: State wise Physical Achievement (2006-07 Dec.)
States Nagaland Uttaranchal Sikkim Tamil Nadu Jharkhand Andhra Pradesh Madhya Pradesh Assam Mizoram Jammu & Kashmir West Bengal Haryana Uttar Pradesh Goa Himachal Pradesh Gujarat % Achieved to total target 153 130 119 117 110 102 97 96 95 86 86 85 84 84 83 79 Above Average States Kerala Maharashtra Punjab Rajasthan Karnataka Orissa Bihar Chhattisgarh Tripura Manipur Arunachal Pradesh Meghalaya Pondicherry Delhi ** Chandigarh** All India Average % Achieved to total target 75 74 74 71 70 68 60 60 60 53 46 39 23 25 0 79 Below Average
Source: IAY, State wise physical achievement 2006- 07 Dec, Ministry of Rural Development, ** EWS/LIG houses in Urban Areas Houses Constructed; (Unit: Number), Twenty Point Programme-2006, progress report for AprilDecember 2007), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
9.2 INTERACTION
WITH
HOUSING SERVICE
Of the BPL households surveyed about 14 percent are reported to have interacted with the housing service in the last one year. The study did not find any urban-rural variation in this
Housing Service
143
regard. Despite the fact that the subsidy is sanctioned in the name of the women, or both husband and wife jointly, most of the interaction was with the male household members.
Government Initiatives in the Area of Rural Housing for the Poor Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) launched in 1980 is cash based subsidy provided to rural BPL families for constructing dwelling units. The subsidy is sanctioned either in the name of the female member of the household or jointly in the names of both spouses . The present per unit assistance is Rs. 25,000 generally and Rs. 27,500 in hilly and difficult areas. The services provided to the BPL families under this scheme are distribution of built houses, distribution of plots to BPL families who have no land and financial assistance for building house. District Rural Development Agencies (DRDAs) / Zilla Parishads decide the number of houses to be constructed Panchayat wise under IAY during a particular financial year on the basis of allocations made and targets fixed. The same is intimated to the Gram Panchayat. Thereafter, the Gram Sabha selects the beneficiaries from the list of eligible households according to IAY guidelines. Sanitary Latrine and Smokeless Chula are an integral part of the IAY houses, which are normally built on individual plots in the main habitation of the village. The IAY scheme has focused on households who already own sites but it has no module for tackling the problem of the poorest families who may not have a house site to construct a house. So far, the States are providing house sites by distributing surplus land or any other available government land. For urban poor households, Central Government has launched the Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana (VAMBAY) to address the twin problem of shelter delivery for urban poor and upgradation of urban slums. Several state sponsored schemes have been taken up both for urban and rural housing. In order to construct 60 lakh houses for the rural poor by 2009 housing was also taken under the Bharat Nirman programme announced in August 15, 2005.
Around 30 per cent and more of the respondents, from Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh had interacted with the department, while it was as less as five percent in Goa and West Bengal.
9.3 PURPOSE
OF INTERACTION
Among the households who reported interacting with the housing service, about 70 per cent went with an application for allotment of a house/housing site. Around 18 percent of the respondents from below average performing states reported to have visited the service for construction of toilets.
Table 3: Purpose of Interaction
(Figures in Percentage)
Purpose of Interaction
State Category by Achievement All India (n = 3255) Above Average 77 10 9 4 Below Average 63 15 18 5
70 12 13 5
Visited more than three times: On an average about 69 per cent reported to have visited the department more than three times for allotment of house/land across all the states. This may be because of the lack of any module under the IAY scheme for tackling the problem of the poorest families who did not have a site to construct a house.
144
More than 80 per cent of the BPL households from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana among the above average states reported visiting more than three times for allotment of plot/house. Similarly among the below average states Chhattisgarh and Gujarat reported visiting the department for more than three times for the same purpose.
Table 4: Visited Three Times or More for Same Purpose
(Figures in Percentage)
Purpose of repeat visits Allotment of plot/house Sanction/release of housing loan Construction of Toilets Transfer of ownership
A related issue of a great importance is the problem of legal ownership of house sites in rural areas. In many States, there is no formal survey and registration of house sites and the issue of ownership do become significant when collateral has to be given for taking loans for rural households. However, this survey highlights that about 5 percent of the BPL households had to visit three times or more for transfer of ownership.
Difficulty Factors Procedural Non availability of forms Absence of staff Interference of middlemen Corrupt Staff
Procedural delays was reported by one-fourth of the respondents, is one of the means used to pressurize citizens. Further, around 9 per cent households reported absence of staff. The factors responsible for making it difficult to access housing service were more or less same both in rural and urban areas.
9.5 PERCEPTION
ABOUT
HOUSING SERVICE
About 70 per cent of the BPL households who interacted with the department in the last one-year perceived that corruption exists in the service. More than three-fourths of the households from Andhra, Haryana, J&K, Jharkhand, Nagaland, UP and Uttarakhand reported that corruption exists in the housing service.
Housing Service
100 80 60 40 20 0
Figure 1: Perception about level of Coruption in Housing (%)
145
41 14
45
Further, about 45 per cent of BPL households who interacted with the Housing department were of the opinion that in the last one year corruption had increased. While almost equal proportion of BPL households felt that the level of corruption is same only 14 per cent felt that it has come down.
State Category by Achievement All India (n = 3255) Check against corruption Make information easily available Improved Grievance Redressal 10 15 13 Better 5 12 10 Poor 14 18 17
Only 15 per cent of the BPL households felt that the information was being made available easily from the Housing Department while another 57 per cent felt that information on any related service delivery issue was not easily available. 90 per cent of BPL households in Uttar Pradesh 86 per cent in Jharkhand and 77 per cent in MP reported this. Only 13 per cent reported that the grievance redressal service had improved over the last one year.
Gateway
State Category by Achievement All India (n = 3255) Above Average 17.4 6.6 12.1 Below Average 21.8 17.0 12.9
Paid Bribe Used Contacts Did not take the service because asked for Bribe
Around 30 per cent BPL households interacting with the housing service either paid bribe or used a contact to avail its services. The contacts can be either within the service or local political functionaries. This is due to the fact that in housing service, the local government plays an
146
important role in selecting beneficiaries under various programs aimed at the BPL population in the first stage. The beneficiaries then have to interact with the Ministrys bureaucracy to avail of the benefits. About 17 per cent of the below average states reported using contacts for getting their work done which is almost three times than the above average states. The study did not find any urban-rural difference in this issue.
If you dont vote for me; I take back the Benefit you got through me A case was reported from the Upper Subansiri district, of Arunachal Pradesh where a BPL family secured a shelter under IAY through the influence of a local MLA. The MLA who lost the state elections later came to know through sources that the person whom he had helped in availing the benefits under IAY had not voted for him. The ex- MLA employed goons and brought down the house of the beneficiary.
66 56 Allotment of plot/house Such on release of House loan 25 17 14 5 11 5 Transfer of ownership Construction of Toilets
Pay Bribe to get Enlisted in the Beneficiary List When I came to know that my name was listed in the beneficiaries list of IAY (Indira Awaz Yojana). I could not believe in my good fortune! recalls Shanti, an old widow from Taluka village of Nuapade district of Orissa. She had lost her husband seven years ago and since then she was some how managing her living working as an agricultural wage labor. On getting the good news of finally having a roof over her head, she immediately decided to apply for the benefit. Being illiterate, the process of acquiring was of course a big challenge for her and she decided to take help from the village Sarpanch. The Sarpanch certainly agreed to help her but only in exchange of Rs.5000. Shanti was taken aback by the huge amount demanded as service charge. When she expressed the same, the Sarpanch threatened her of removing her name from the list of identified beneficiaries She recalls ruefully, With my poor income I could not even dream of paying this huge amount as bribe. I watched helplessly as the house which I was eligible for got allotted to someone else who was willing to pay this amount.
Housing Service
147
9.9 ROUTE
OF
BRIBE PAYMENT
About three-fifths of the BPL households, who reported of paying bribe to avail the service, paid it to the staff of the housing service. Incidence of paying to the staff for a service was more in the rural areas.
Table 8: Route of Payment
(Figures in Percentage)
Urban 58 30 12
Rural 65 24 10
9.10 ESTIMATION
OF
BRIBE AMOUNT
Table 9: Bribe Paid for Each Purpose
Bribe Paid (Rs)
Bribe paid for each purpose Allotment of Plot or house Sanction/release of housing loan Construction of Toilets Transfer of ownership
To procure a house or a plot for building a house under the government housing schemes for the BPL households, it is estimated that around 22 per cent (1.5 million) of BPL households who interacted with the housing service paid bribe. The total amount of bribe paid by BPL households during the past year is estimated to be around Rs. 1.565 billion. In other words, on an average a BPL household had to pay Rs 1047, which is approximately 5 per cent of the total benefit amount (Rs. 25,000/-). The bribe amount varied widely between Rs. 25 to Rs. 10,000. For other reasons it was as low as Rs. 10 and as high as Rs. 5000.
MODERATE Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Sikkim, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal
Below Average
Karnataka
Housing Service
149
of BPL families. Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh reported appointing nodal officers in Panchayats who register complaints of villagers and thereafter contact concerned officers for grievance redressal. Gujarat has adopted computerization, daily scanning of applications in the civic centre , Naagrik Suvidha Kendra, Jan Seva Kendra, toll free number facility, and establishment of committees to look into charges of corruption. Chandigarh collects information of the beneficiaries with photographs and family details before allotting plots, which is aimed stopping malpractices in the selection of beneficiaries. None of the officials of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Sikkim, Mizoram, West Bengal, Pondicherry, Karnataka, Orissa and Goa could talk about any measures taken to curb corruption in the service. Maharashtra claimed that they made the public aware about the schemes and have phone numbers of anti-corruption cell displayed on department notice board. Meghalaya, Punjab, and Rajasthan reported of raising awareness about the process and benefits and use of mass media to create awareness against corruption.
Officials from Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Sikkim, Mizoram, WB, and Goa could not cite any new measures taken to reduce corruption in the last one year. The existing set of initiatives and efforts taken up in different states for curbing corrupt practices and improving service delivery should be adopted by all the States. A common list of all the feasible measures is given below for the concerned agencies to implement them in all the states. The funds sanction should be linked with such implementation.
150
India Corruption Study 2008 Periodical post allotment social audit by exception is another avenue available for checking in -eligible families from gaining the benefit. Public hearing for grievance redressal can be taken up. The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) has initiated studies on its IAY schemes. Such studies also should focus on perception of corruption and actual experience and should also capture satisfaction levels of clients with the procedures, the implementation process, with the quality of construction, with quality of material supplied in some cases. These studies should be proactive and should help in taking corrective actions in fixing targets. The MoRD studies should be more frequent to keep the corruption issues regularly in public discourse. Nothing on the practice of BPL households selling away the subsidized flats to others, especially in urban areas thus benefiting the non-BPL category or businessmen of the subsidy.
10.1 INTRODUCTION
Banking services have expanded greatly over the last two decades, with the entry of private banks and micro finance institutions, complementing the traditional public sector and cooperative banking system. Banking services covered in the context of the survey of BPL households undertaken as part of the India Corruption Study includes formal banking channels, network of post offices and cooperative credit societies. Of over 0.16 million post offices in the country, around 89 per cent cater to the rural population; of the 64000 plus branches of commercial banks excluding private sector and foreign banks in the country1, 46 per cent are in rural areas.1 Another 3,000 odd Cooperative Banks add to the network of banking institutions available in the country.
152
Primarily, interaction of BPL households with banking services is to open savings account, deposit money, withdraw savings and seek loan for various purposes. Being economically poor, the interaction of BPL households with banking services was not very frequent. With the focus of government policy shifting towards schemes for employment generation and social security such as NREGS, pensions, housing schemes for poor, scholarship for students etc., where payment goes into the savings account of the beneficiaries directly, the interaction of the poor households with banking services is bound to increase. The Rangarajan Committee that submitted its recommendations recently provides suggestions for greater inclusion of BPL households in the formal banking system. In this backdrop, it would be pertinent to understand the extent of satisfaction with the banking services and to identify the nature of corrupt practices adopted by service providers during their interaction with BPL households.
10.2 INTERACTION
WITH
BANKING SERVICE
Of the 22,728 BPL households contacted, 38 per cent interacted with the banking services during the last one year. The percentage of BPL households in rural locations (37 per cent) interacting with banking services was slightly less than in urban (41per cent) areas. States where more than half of the BPL households interacted with the banking services during the last one year include Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala and Sikkim.
10.3 PURPOSE
OF INTERACTION
Among various reasons cited for interaction with the banking service, one of the main purposes of BPL households was to open a new savings account. States, where more than two-thirds of the BPL households interacted with the service for this purpose, were Chandigarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura and Uttar Pradesh. The other main reason for interacting with the banking services by the BPL households was to deposit or withdraw money from their savings account. In States like Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, more than half of the BPL households interacted with the banking services for depositing or withdrawing money. To supplement their income or meet their financial needs, around 16 per cent of the BPL households sought loan during the previous year. Another six per cent, who were currently availing the loan facility, interacted with the banking services to defer the loan repayment. Three times or more visits for the same purpose: Two out of every three BPL households, both in rural and urban area had to visit three or more times for purposes other than withdrawing or depositing money. Among those visiting to open a new savings account, more than three-fourths had to make repeated visits. Similarly, among those visiting to get a loan sanctioned, 74 per cent visited three times or more. However, it must be said that the process of getting a loan is necessarily repetitive, and three visits may be the usual number from the efficiency point of view. The main consideration
1
Banking Services
153
is whether the BPL families find the procedures unduly difficult, or that they have to give bribes to secure a loan.
BPL Hhs Visitng 3 Times or more for same purpose
36 38 40 50 50
IN
DURING INTERACTION
Every third BPL household interacting with banking services faced one or the other difficulty. Of them, around half reported procedural reasons responsible for the delay. Though several initiatives like computerization or extension of working hours aims at more efficient service delivery in banking service have been taken, the survey indicates that the benefits have not yet reached the rural areas to any significant extent. The high level of displeasure of BPL households with banking service delivery could also be attributed to low educational status of family members, and thereby more dependence on the staff for assistance. Another 41 per cent of these BPL households felt that either staff working in banking service was corrupt or remained unavailable during visits. In states like Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Nagaland, half or nearly half of the BPL households felt so. Irrespective of the location, rural or urban, BPL households faced a similar kind of treatment/ inconvenience in availing the Banking services.
Non-availability of forms 6%
Procedural 49%
154
Bribing the bank officer had become my last resort to fight for the survival of my familyone more year of no crops was simply unimaginable recalls Rajbeer, a farmer living in a village named Ghutia in Dung district of Gujarat. He and his family of four children and elderly parents depend on agriculture. A small piece of land of low fertility and so year after year they have suffered poor harvests, making them a family of below the poverty line. They are also caught in the vicious cycle of debt trap from local moneylender. So Rajbeer decided to apply for loan from local cooperative bank. The family anticipated that this credit would help them to purchase fertilizers, pesticides etc. to make their land productive. The crop was expected to provide food to the family for the year. Rajbeer with his semiliterate skills painstakingly applied for the loan. The family waited eagerly for a response from the bank. After few days of wait, Rajbeer decided to visit the bank but his repeated visits to know the status of his application was not entertained by bank official. During one such hopeless visit a bank official hinted him, Your work can be done if only you are willing to pay Rs.200 for forwarding your application. Initially, Rajbeer was not willing to pay because of his poor financial condition. He recalls, Days turned into week of waiting and I began to feel completely helpless. The season for tilling the land was fast approaching so we decided to put together everything we had to give the bribe of Rs.200 to the officer for sanctioning our loan which we finally received
43 17
40
Incre ase d
Same
Decreased
Banking Services
155
On grievance redressal mechanism which banks have been claiming to have adopted, around twothird either did not notice any change or felt that redressal had further deteriorated in the previous year.
Gateway to Service Paid Bribe Used Contact Did not take service because asked for Bribe
All India 4 3 3
In states like Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Pondicherry, Rajasthan, Sikkim, and Uttar Pradesh, the per centage of BPL households, who paid bribe or used a contact, was higher as compared to other States. The pattern was similar among rural and urban BPL households.
156
family has no choice but to pay the bribe in order to obtain benefits under the schemes. Moreover, agricultural productivity depends critically on the availability of input credit for marginal farmers who constitute a large proportion of rural BPL families. Special attention needs to be given to eliminate corruption in these basic services provided by the banking system.
Pension Defer Loan Instalment Seek Loan Withdraw Savings Open New Account 0 10 7 7
12
57
18 20 30 40 50 60
All India 73 23 4
10.10 ESTIMATION
OF
BRIBE AMOUNT
It is estimated that around 0.92 million BPL households paid bribe in the previous year to avail banking services. The total amount paid as bribe by these BPL households is estimated to be Rs. 831.7 million. The bribe amount paid by these poor households ranged between Rs. 5 (for withdrawing savings from own account) to Rs. 10,000 (for sanction of loan). However, in some states, BPL households informed that there was a fixed cut on the sanctioned loan amount. This unofficial money or cut ranges between 5-10 per cent of the loan amount.
Banking Services
Table 3: Bribe Paid by for Each Purpose
157
Purpose Open a new Savings Account Sanction Loan Withdraw money from ones own account Defer Loan Instalment Take Pension
Loan (Bribe) for taking Loan In Khatoni village in Rajasthan, Ram Lodha, belonging to a BPL household approached a bank in his village to avail loan for purchasing buffalo and start dairy business. For two months or so, he had to make repeated visits for one reason or the other. Finally, after repeated pleas, his loan application for Rs. 25000 was sanctioned by the bank official but with a condition! An unofficial service charge of Rs. 5000 had to be paid. Ram Lodha had no option but to pay to fasten the process of loan. He arranged this money from one of his relatives. Fortunately, he is earning enough to pay back the loan instalment regularly as well as the one he took from his relative
MODERATE Andhra Pradesh Chhattisgarh Delhi, Haryana Himachal Pradesh Jharkhand Kerala, Orissa Uttarakhand West Bengal
Meghalaya, Sikkim
Goa, Pondicherry
In 18 out of 31 states/UTs, the extent of corruption was high and above. States with alarming or very high level of corruption, showed a similar pattern regarding the staff indulging in corrupt practices or their absenteeism. In these states, the proportion of BPL households making repeated visits for seeking loan was also high, The loan disbursement in the banking services is exclusively the domain of banks and cooperative societies. The study noticed that in states with alarming level of corruption, the branch-population
158
ratio is high. In other words, a bank-branch caters to a larger population and bank staffs on an average interacts with more number of households. There is also the chance that the branch handles more BPL beneficiaries under various schemes. It could be presumed that due to high bank-population ratio, the prevalence of corruption is also high.
To improve the service delivery, banking services have taken some initiatives. However, the availability of these services in rural areas and the extent of usage by BPL households, in particular is very less.
Banking Services
159
Simplify and bring more transparency in loan processing. Well-laid criteria for short listing of the loan applicants should be formulated to avoid any biasness on part of bank staff. Loan repayment plan should be made flexible for BPL households
Information Related
Staff to assist poor households in opening account, depositing and withdrawing money, completing documentation process for availing loans Information and application forms should be made available in local and simple language
Training programmes for all levels of staff in banking services to sensitise them on how to interact with BPL population or vulnerable section of society Staff should be encouraged to give feedback and such feedbacks should be looked into for implementation. Expansion in Network of banking services to reach unbanked areas, particularly in the Northeastern region, so that BPL households have easy access to banking services.
11. Police
HIGHLIGHTS
Across the country around 10 per cent (5.6 million) BPL households interacted with the Police service during the previous year. Of them, it is estimated that around 2.5 million BPL households paid bribe to Police in one connection or other during the year. The total amount of bribe paid by the BPL households to the Police during the previous year is estimated as Rs 2148.2 million. The main reason for interaction with Police service for 51 per cent of BPL households was to file a complaint. Among the BPL households interacting with Police during the year, 73 per cent opined that Police personnel are corrupt. About 78 per cent of these BPL households hold the opinion that corruption exists in the service. Over half of the BPL households felt that it had increased during the previous year. Two out of three BPL households who interacted with the Police Service during previous year either paid bribe or used a contact. Around half of the BPL households, who paid bribe, paid for ensuring that their complaint could be registered. Nine out of ten households, who paid bribe, paid directly to the police personnel. Only 7 per cent of the BPL households think that one or other initiatives was taken towards reducing corruption. As regards grievance redressal measures, 9 out of 10 households believed that the situation in Police service had not changed in the last one year or had deteriorated even further.
11.1 INTRODUCTION
Police is a State subject and is responsible for maintaining public peace, enforcing laws, investigating crime and maintaining internal security. The most affected often in circumstances involving police services are the poor. They are often victims and are deprived of getting the needed protection and attention. Perception about the police force is shaped by the way it is portrayed by the mass media and also by attitudes, behaviour and methods used by Police personnel in interacting with the public at the police stations and outside. Police service is viewed with certain hesitation or apprehension.
Police
161
WITH
11.2 INTERACTION
POLICE SERVICE
Ten per cent of BPL households sampled interacted with the Police service during the last one year. Police being a need-based service, interaction of BPL households with it is bound to be less frequent compared to other basic services like PDS, Health and Electricity. Besides, people tend to avoid the Police unless it becomes necessary. In states like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi and Chhattisgarh, BPL households interacted more often with the Police service during the last one-year. On the other hand BPL households interaction with police in the Northeastern region was less often.
Character Certificate Violation of traffic law Verification for job Passport verification Remove name from witness As an accused For filing a complaint 2 4 6
14 16 51
Figure 1: Purpose of Interaction
Some BPL households also interacted with Police service to get their names removed as witnesses. However, visits by BPL households to police station were not limited to only registering complaints pertaining to law & order situation and criminal cases, but also for obtaining certificate of verification from police for employment. Although BPL households interaction with the Police arises only at the time of need, the survey showed that some households ended up making repeated visits to Police station because earlier inquiries and requests were dismissed or ignored by the police staff. Even for the basic reason of lodging a complaint, majority of the BPL households had to make repeated visits to police station.
162
Especially in states like Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Orissa, which have significantly lesser number of policemen per lakh population as compared to other states 1, a higher number of households visited the service three or more times for filing a complaint in the last one year.
Table 1: Visited Three Times or More for Same Purpose
(Figures in Percentage)
Purpose of Repeat Visits For filing a complaint As an accused Remove name from witness Passport verification Verification for job Violation of traffic rules Character Certificate
Absence of Staff 4%
Interference of M iddlemen 4%
Procedural 19%
11.5 PERCEPTION
ABOUT
POLICE SERVICE
Around 78 per cent of BPL households who interacted with the Police service think that corruption is all pervasive in the service. Although the Police services in various states have undertaken initiatives to combat corruption and improve service delivery, benefits of these initiatives are yet to be felt by BPL households.
1
Source: National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, 2006
Police
163
However in Himachal Pradesh, a comparatively lesser percentage of households (30 per cent) felt that corruption existed in the service. The state is in the process of implementing the Police Reform directives of the Supreme Court and has also released a Five Year Strategic Policing Plan (2007-2011), which has been formulated after extensive consultation with a cross-section of people. At the national level, more than half of the BPL households not only believe that corruption exists in the Police service but also felt that level of corruption has increased during the past year. Only 7 per cent felt that corruption in Police had declined during in the last one year.
100
54
39 7
Interestingly, in North-Eastern States, which have implemented police reforms such as Sikkim and Assam, a higher percentage of households opined that corruption had risen in the service (86 and 83 per cent, respectively), as compared to States like Delhi (33 per cent) and Uttar Pradesh (34 per cent), which had not implemented police reforms. However, in the latter two states, percentage of households feeling that there was no change in the corruption level was high (48 per cent and 62 per cent, respectively).
Measures Taken to Check corruption in Police Make Information Easily Available to Visitors Improve Grievance Redressal
164
Increasing transparency in police service is an important step towards curbing corruption and building confidence among BPL households about Police service. However, during the last one year, a majority of BPL households (60 per cent) felt that information even about their own case and its progress was not easily available at police station. People often go to police station to know the status of the case registered with the Police. However, the BPL households are more often given a vague response like inquiry chal raha hai (enquiry is going on) and no specific information comes forth. On grievance redressal, 9 out of 10 households believed that the situation had either not changed in the last one year or had deteriorated further. This sentiment was echoed across most states. Even though states like Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh have taken steps to implement police reforms and even had set up independent Police Complaints Authorities to look into public complaints against police officers, a high percentage of households in these states said that the grievance redressal situation had deteriorated. This could mean that people still lack courage to come up with complaints about bribe taking or harassment by police personnel.
Did not take service because asked for Bribe Used Contact Paid Bribe 0 BPL Hhs (in % )
4 17 48
10
20
30
40
50
48 per cent of the BPL households paid the bribe whereas 17 per cent used a contact to avail Police services in the year. Four percent of the BPL households could not avail Police service during the last one year, as they could not pay bribe, implying that their necessity of the service remained unfulfilled. The percentage of BPL households who paid bribe was higher in Police service than other services covered in the study. This could be due to two reasons, first, due to Police service being monopolistic in nature households do not have an option but to depend on them. Second, due to low socioeconomic status, BPL households hesitate to complain for fear of further harassment and in that process end up being victims of corrupt practices.
Police
165
Violation of traffic law Verification for job Passport verification Character Certificate Remove name from witness As an accused For filing a complaint
2 6 7 8 7 22 49 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
A high percentage of households in Punjab (79 per cent), Delhi (78 per cent), Karnataka (78 per cent) and Chhattisgarh (76 per cent) paid bribe to the service, in order to get a complaint registered. Households also end up paying bribe to police personnel when they are falsely implicated in a crime as an alleged accused. Finding no way out, these poor households end up paying bribe to get out of the situation.
(Figures in Percentage)
More than 90 per cent of households paid bribe directly to the police personnel. Police reform measures are yet to show results in states like Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram and Meghalaya, where all BPL households paid bribe directly to the staff of the respective police station. However, role of middlemen was comparatively more in States like Chhattisgarh, Orissa and West Bengal, where about one-fourth of the BPL households paid bribe through an agent or middleman in the last one year.
Police (not) for You Always It was a nightmare for my poor family to see me in jail. I had pleaded innocence repeatedly but police was not willing to hear my story This was Rajeevs predicament, who works as a small bus agent in Tamenglong district of Manipur. He somehow manages to provide basic necessities for his three children and wife who live with him in this small town. At Rajeevs work place, fighting between agents was a very common phenomenon as opportunities for good work are very limited. On one particular day, an agent got into a heated argument with Rajeev and then attacked him. Rajeev had to fight back to defend himself. While the two were fighting someone reported the case to a local police office. When the police arrived Rajeev got arrested on the spot while the actual culprit ran away. The police lodged an FIR against him by slapping charges like breaking peace and arrested him and threatened him with dire consequences. Rajeev recalls, My family was petrified and we all begged the police officers to show mercy and set me free. For hours my family camped in front of the police station and then finally a police person secretly revealed that he could clear the charge against me if we could pay Rs 5,000/- as bribe Rajeev hardly had any savings so he was in no position to pay this huge amount as a bribe. His family begged the police officer once again to reconsider the amount. The officer then brought the amount down to Rs 2,000, which the family arranged with great difficulty by taking help of a very close friend. Only after receiving the bribe did the police officer dismiss the case.
11.10 ESTIMATION
OF
BRIBE AMOUNT
Out of the total BPL households in the country, it is estimated that around 2.5 million BPL households paid bribe to avail the service of Police during the previous year. The total amount of bribe paid by BPL households to the Police service during the past year is estimated to be around Rs 21,48.2 million. On an average a BPL household availing Police service had to pay around Rs 867 as bribe. Various reasons for which the bribe was paid show that it was as low as Rs 10 for reasons like getting character certificate or removing name as a witness to as high as Rs 60,000, for avoiding being framed as an accused.
Police
Table 4: Purpose-Wise Amount of Bribe Paid for
167
(in Rs.)
Extent of Bribe Paid Purpose For filing a complaint As an accused Remove name from witness list Character certificate Verification for Job Passport verification Violation of traffic rules Extremes 20-15000 10-60000 15-1500 20-1000 10-2000 50-1000 50-1500 Average 664 1468 454 280 392 283 424
A few BPL households in States like Sikkim, Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh also paid bribe amounts in the range of Rs 25000-50000 for getting a job in the Police force. Since BPL households reported too few such cases, they were excluded while estimating the bribe amount paid to Police service at the national level.
HIGH Gujarat, Jammu &Kashmir, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa, West Bengal Chandigarh, Meghalaya
MODERATE Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab, Uttarakhand Manipur, Mizoram Pondicherry, Tripura
Small States/UTs
Goa, Sikkim
Police reform process is in a nascent stage despite it being debated for several years and yet to show its impact on the functioning of the police force.
168
Police
169
TO IMPROVE
11.13 SUGGESTIONS
POLICE SERVICE
Police is one of the services on which State governments image depends to a large extent. It therefore becomes important to bring improvement in the functioning of Police service. In order to do this, based on earlier studies on Police during the past few years, a three-pronged strategy is suggested. The first step pertains to adopting newer schemes as well as technologies to make the Police services more efficient. The second step is to do with making services of the department more transparent, improving grievance redressal and information system. The third step is to do with changing peoples negative perception of the Police service by taking news media support.
170
Police
Sl. Name & No Location Name & of Office Designwith land ation marks Designated Officer Tel. No. Off. Res. Fax EMail ID/ SMS Alternate Officer Tel No. Off Res Fax
171
Desig- Meeting Hours Name nated Area & Designation 8 9 10
11
12
13
14
IGP/Jt.CP 1 2 DIG/Addl.CP 1
Correspondence
Any person may submit his complaint by hand and obtain its receipt. The facility of specially earmarked Drop Boxes is also available at the following places (Mention them) : 1 2 3 Any person can also have access even to the senior most officer by addressing him in writing directly. Copy of such a letter/complaint can be put in the complaint/suggestion boxes placed at every Police Station and offices of other officers.
Helpline
Police Control Room Phone No. Helpline for Women in Distress Helpline for Senior Citizens Traffic Helpline Complaint Against Auto/Taxi 100 (mention your no. ...................................)
172
Name of Officer I/c : Tel. No. Office Fax No. SMS Name of Alternate Officer: Tel. No. Office Fax No. SMS Locations of Police Stations/Circle Offices
Sl. Location No of Office with land marks Designated Officer Name Off Tel No. Res E-Mail ID
Mobile:
Mobile:
(As on date________________________)
Designated Meeting Hours Area Alternate Officer Name Off Tel No. Res Fax EMail ID
1 2
Helpline
Police Control Room Phone No. Helpline for Women in Distress Helpline for Senior Citizens Traffic Helpline Complaint Against Auto/Taxi 100 (mention your no. ...................................)
Police Name of Alternate Officer: Tel. No. Office Fax No. SMS Res. E-mail ID: Meeting Hours: Mobile:
173
(Please fill the following Chart and mention the website ID. This may please be displayed prominently out side the Offices of Area SHO/Inspectors)
Services Offered
1 Registration of FIR Permission for functions, etc. Certification of Losses/theft Registration of Security Agencies Issue of Arms and Ammunition licenses Licenses of Cinema, Video Games, Parlour, etc Licenses of Eating Houses & Hotels Licenses of Poisons
174
Licenses of Fire Crackers Licenses of Sulpher Licenses of Swimming Pool Licenses of Amusement Activities Licenses for Newspapers & Journals Licenses for Declaration of Printing Press Grant of NOC for fresh Petroleum Stations and Storage Misc.
Rules for & Documents Required to meet Undertrials and Prisioners (As on date )
Visitors Frequency, Days & Meeting Immediate after arrest Normal Appointment through Documents Emer- Required Fax Tel No. Appligency cation (to whom) Entitled Items & Qty to be Taken
A. Detainees at Police Station 1. Family Members 2.Advocates 3. Relatives & Friends B. Undertrials & Imprisoned Persons 1. Family Members 2.Advocates
Police
175
3. Relatives & Friends 4. Meeting among prisoners C. Any Other Person 1. Family Members 2.Advocates 3. Relatives & Friends 4. Meeting among prisoners
DUTIES
OF THE
OFFICE
IN
CHARGE
OF THE
POLICE STATION
To prevent & detect crime and maintain law & order within his jurisdiction, Police Stations/ Police Posts are responsible for:1. 2. 3. 4. Registration of FIR/NCR and investigation of cases, arrest of the accused, recovery of stolen property, challaning of cases and prosecution. Depositing unclaimed property under Police Act. Recording of Report on missing persons (including) and tracing them. Undertake regular patrols in their designated areas, keeping track of all important activities having bearing on law & order. Maintenance of dossiers on persons with criminal past or those suspected of being involved in unlawful activities. Verification of servants/chowkidars/tenants and registration of Security agencies. Granting permission for loud speakers, rallies, political/religious functions. Checking of banks and institutions dealing with cash transactions. Providing help to Senior Citizens and other vulnerable groups. Providing documents for filing claim in Motor Accident Claim Tribunal.
5. 6. 7. 8. 9.
10. Providing Guards for the transportation of cash, if required, as per police rules. 11. Public hearing for redress of grievances. 12. Helping rape and other victims of heinous crime. 13. Implementation of Neighbourhood Watch Scheme. 14. Assisting and involving NGOs in community oriented policing.
176
15. Organising meetings with Residents Welfare Associations/Mercantile Traders Associations to sort out their safety related problems, security and maintenance of peace in the localities wherever necessary. Organize meetings at various levels. 16. Coordination with other units like Traffic, PCR etc.
Rights Extended to the Persons Arrested, Detained in Police Custody as per National Human Rights Commission ( NHRC ) Guidelines (NHRC NHRC)
a) The power to arrest without a warrant should be exercised only after a reasonable satisfaction and after some investigation, as to the genuineness and bonafides of a complaint and a reasonable belief as to both the persons complicity as well as the need to effect arrest. Arrest in cognizable cases may be considered justified in one or the other of the following circumstances: (i) In cases of grave offence like murder, dacoity, robbery, rape etc., to prevent him from escaping or evading the process of law, destroying evidence or interfering with witnesses or warning other suspects who have not yet been arrested, and to commit further offences. Except in heinous offences, an arrest must be avoided if a police officer issues notice to the person to attend the police station and not leave the station without permission. The power to arrest must be avoided where the offences are bailable unless there is a strong apprehension of the suspect absconding. Police officers carrying out an arrest or interrogation should bear clear identification and name tags with designation. The particulars of police personnel carrying out the arrest or interrogation should be recorded contemporaneously, in a register at the police station.
b)
ARREST
1. As a rule, use of force should be avoided while affecting arrest. However, in case of forcible resistance to arrest, minimum force to overcome such resistance may be used, and care must be taken to ensure that injuries to the person being arrested, visible or otherwise, is avoided. That the police officer carrying out the arrest shall prepare a memo of arrest against the arrestee. Such memo shall be attested by at least one witness, who may be either a member of the family of the arrestee or a respectable person of the locality from where the arrest is made. It shall also be counter signed by the arrestee and shall contain the time and date of arrest. The dignity of the person being arrested should be protected. Public display or parading of the person arrested should not be permitted at any cost. Searches of the person arrested must be done with the due respect to the dignity of the person, without force or aggression and with care for the persons right to privacy. Searches of women should only be made by other women officers with strict regard to decency. The use of handcuffs or leg chains should be avoided and if at all, it should be resorted to strictly in accordance with the law.
2.
3. 4.
5.
Police 6.
177
A person who has been arrested or detained and is being held in custody in a police station or interrogation center or other lock-up, shall be entitled to have one friend or relative or other person known to him or having interest in his welfare being informed, as soon as practicable, that he has been arrested and is being detained at the particular place, unless the attesting witness of the memo of arrest is himself such a friend or a relative of the arrestee. The time, place of arrest and venue of custody of an arrestee must be notified by the police where the next friend or relative of the arrestee lives outside the district or town through the Legal Aid Organization in the District and the police station of the area concerned telegraphically within a period of 8 to 12 hours after the arrest. The person arrested must be made aware of this right to have someone informed of his arrest or detention as soon as he is put under arrest or is detained. An entry must be made in the diary at the place of detention regarding the arrest of the person which shall also disclose the name of the next friend of the person who has been informed of the arrest and the names and particulars of the police officials in whose custody the arrestee is.
7.
8. 9.
10. As far as practicable, women police officers should be associated where the person or persons being arrested are women. The arrest of women between sunset and sunrise should be avoided. 11. The arrestee should, where he so requests, be also examined at the time of his arrest and major and minor injuries, if any present on his/her body, must be recorded at that time. The Inspection Memo must be signed both by the arrestee and the police officer effecting the arrest and its copy provided to the arrestee. 12. Where children or juveniles are to be arrested, no force or beatings should be administrated under any circumstances. For this purpose, Police officers may associate respectable citizens so that the children or juveniles are not terrorized and minimal coercion is used. 13. Where the arrest is without a warrant, the person arrested has to be immediately informed of the grounds of arrest in a language, which he or she understands. Again, for this purpose, the police, if necessary, may take the help of respectable citizens. These grounds must have already been recorded in writing in police records. The person arrested should be shown the written reasons as well and also given a copy on demand. 14 . Apart from informing the person arrested of the above rights, the police should also inform him of his right to consult and be defended by a lawyer of his choice. He should also be informed that he is entitled to free legal aid at state expense. 15. When the person arrested is brought to the police station, he should, if he makes a request in this regard, be given prompt medical assistance. He must be informed of his right. Where the police officer finds that the arrested person is in a condition where he is unable to make such request but is in need of medical help, he should promptly arrange for the same. This must also be recorded contemporaneously in a register. The female requesting for medical help should be examined only by a female registered medical practitioner. 16. Information regarding the arrest and the place of detention should be communicated by the police officer effecting the arrest without any delay to the police control room and District/ State Headquarters. There must be a monitoring mechanism working round the clock.
178
17. The information regarding the arrest and the place of custody of the arrestee shall be communicated by the officer causing the arrest to the District and Police Control Rooms within 12 hours of effecting the arrest. Further at District/Central Police Control Room it should be displayed on a day to day basis at a conspicuous place on a notice board. Every police station shall also display the details of arrestees at a conspicuous place for the knowledge of the public. 18. As soon as the person is arrested, police officer affecting the arrest shall make a mention of the existence or non-existence of any injury(s) on the person of the arrestee in the register of arrest. If injuries are found on arrestee, full description and other particulars as to the manner in which the injuries were caused should be mentioned in the register, which entry shall also be signed by the police officer and the arrestee. At the time of release of the arrestee, a certificate to the above affect under the signature of the police officer shall be issued to the arrestee. 19. If the arrestee has been remanded to police custody under the orders of the court, the arrestee should be subjected to the medical examination every 48 hours during his detention in custody by a trained Medical Officer on the panel of approved by Director, Health Services of the concerned State or Union Territory. At the time of his release from the police custody, the arrestee shall be got medically examined and a certificate shall be issued to him stating the factual position of the existence or non-existence of any injuries on his person. 20. Copies of all the documents including the memo of arrest, referred to above, should be sent to the area Magistrate for his record.
After Arrest
(i) The person under arrest must be produced before the appropriate court within 24 hours of the arrest. (ii) The person arrested should be permitted to meet his lawyer at any time during the interrogation. (iii) The interrogation should be conducted in a clearly identifiable place, which has been notified for this purpose by the Govt. The place must be accessible and the relatives or friend of the person arrested must be informed of the place of interrogation taking place. (iv) The methods of interrogation must be consistent with the recognized rights to life, dignity and liberty and right against torture and degrading treatment.
Citizens Obligations
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. To inform the local police about the persons living in the area without any regular means of livelihood and living a lavish life or persons involved in any type of nefarious activities. To inform the local police any suspicious activities, which may affect their safety and security. The particulars of the domestic help and the tenants may be sent to the local police for verification to prevent entry of criminals and anti-national elements in their houses. To observe Traffic rules, follow the lane system and cooperate with the traffic police for smooth mobility and avoiding inconvenience to others. May not touch or lift any suspicious object, but inform PCR.
Police 6. 7.
179
To adopt various home security and vehicle safety measures advised by the local police to prevent thefts and other crimes. To assist local police in all possible manner for prevention and detection of crime and to maintain law and order.
Crime Branch
The Crime Wing under the supervision of a Deputy Commissioner of Police in Metropolitan cities deals with specialised cases which comes under any of the following Cell/Unit:-
1. General Crime
a) Robbery Cell. b) Anti-Kidnapping Cell. c) Anti-Burglary Cell. d) Anti-Homicide Cell. e) Anti-Auto Theft Squad. f) Inter-State Cell g) Special Investigation Team h) Bomb Disposal Squad. i) Dog Squad j) Missing Person Squad.
180
India Corruption Study 2008 c) Anti-Fraud and Cheating Cell d) Land & Building Racket Cell
Important : In order to introduce accountability in Police, a mention should be made about an effective grievance redress mechanism (including the provision of compensation on the pattern of the Central Right to Information Act-2005 to the concerned citizen, if promised services are not provided as per specified time schedule and service standard).
Traffic Police
The function of traffic police basically pertains to traffic management, regulation, enforcement of traffic rules & regulations and road safety education to all road users. The Traffic Unit functions under the supervision of Joint/Dy. Commissioner of Police (Traffic), assisted by adequate number of subordinate staff. (Please fill in the following Chart and display it prominently out side the offices of Traffic Police) (As on date.........................................)
Services Offered Documents required (Self Attested) Form, if any No. of If promised services are not delivered in-time Days Place of contTelephone Required Officer to be act /Room No No. contacted Off. Res. Fax
Notification of Taxi Stand N.O.C for No Challan Due Permission to Commercial vehicles for entry in No Entry Zones N.O.C. for speed breakers Permission for road cutting/ digging
Important : In order to introduce accountability in Traffic Police, a mention should be made about an effective grievance redress mechanism (including the provision of compensation on the pattern of the Central Right to Information Act-2005 to the concerned citizen, if promised services are not provided as per specified time schedule and standard.
Police
181
A. Places to make payment (Since many of the banks are having the computerized services all over India, arrangements can be made either with them, Easy Bill or similar other agencies)
182
FACILITIES
AVAILABLE TO
GENERAL PUBLIC
Traffic Helpline Phone No. ........... (and its timings) E-mail ID and postal address for lodging any traffic related complaint/suggestion Traffic Website ......... providing traffic related information SMS No. for seeking and dissemination information regarding traffic diversions, traffic signal failures, congestion on any road, road accidents details, notice details etc. Mode-wise addresses/offices and timings where payment of compounding amount for traffic violations can be made The places where Pre-paid Taxi/TSR services are available Mention : Short Message Service (SMS) Number to know the online status of passport verifications conducted by Special Branch or Intelligence Branch with the following information : File Number, Status, Name, Dispatch Number, Dispatch date.
Police
183
Special Branch
(Please fill in the following Chart and display it prominently out side the office of the Special Br.) (As on date.........................................)
Area Services Offered Address Officer l/c Name & Designation Telephone No. Off. Res. Fax Time taken Remarks
Verification of (i) Character and antecedes (ii) Passport Registration of Pak Nationals F.R.R.O. and visa extension Any other service
1. Andhra Pradesh
1.1 ABOUT
THE
STATE
According to Planning Commissions estimates, 16 per cent of population or about 12.6 million people in Andhra Pradesh are Below Poverty Line (BPL) in 2004-05. The incidence of poverty is higher in urban areas (28 per cent of people are classified as BPL) as compared to rural areas (11 per cent). The monthly per capita income in rural areas is Rs 293 which is significantly below the national average of Rs 356, and is Rs 543 in urban areas, just above the national average of Rs.538. This study brings out that a little more than 3 per cent of eligible households do not have BPL cards where as a similar percentage of the ineligible households have it. But since the CMS study covered only BPL households, the percentage of ineligible households having BPL card would be much higher since most of them fall into the higher income groups.
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above
48 63 58 61 68 50 59 54 56 51
49 32 37 36 28 46 37 41 38 47
3 5 5 3 4 4 4 5 6 2
188
Despite extensive coverage by the news media about corruption in various public services, close to 60 per cent of BPL households covered in the survey think that corruption is only hear say. However, 37 per cent have accepted to have first hand knowledge of corruption. Relatively higher percentage of urban and educated BPL people has reported first hand knowledge or experience of corruption. This could be due to the fact that the reach of news media, especially print media, is higher among urban and educated section of the BPL population in the State. Nevertheless, three-fourths of BPL respondents think that corruption has either increased or remained same in the last one year. Little over one-fifth of BPL households think that corruption has declined. Relatively higher percentage of urban population, male and educated BPL respondents think that corruption has increased in the last one year. Interestingly, the perception of corruption among women is to the contrary. Nearly 40 per cent think that corruption has decreased, while only one-third believe that it has got worse in the last year.
Table 2: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above
Increased
Decreased
Same as before
52 39 46 34 41 50 45 40 42 49
30 36 32 41 35 36 44 37 31 23
17 24 21 23 20 14 11 22 27 28
Over one third of BPL people hold government functionaries responsible for corruption. One out of every five BPL households believes that politicians are responsible for corruption in the State. A quarter of BPL households hold politicians, government functionaries, and businessmen responsible for corruption. However, 12 per cent of the BPL households think that the citizens are also guilty of aiding and abetting corrupt practices in the State.
Table 3: Who is More Responsible for Corruption?
(Figures in per cent)
Urban 16 29 1 37 14
Rural 23 38 1 24 11
Overall 21 36 1 28 12
Andhra Pradesh
189
WITH
1.3 INTERACTION
PUBLIC SERVICES
This study has shown that BPL households are far more dependent on public services provided by Government institutions/ agencies. Moreover, the State Government has initiated many schemes specifically targeted at the poorer sections of the people. Some of the state Government schemes highlighted in the State Budget for 2007-08 are given below: Pucca houses for homeless poor under INDIRIMMA, the State Government claims 1.2 million houses have been built and 1.7 million houses planned in 2007-08. Issues of white ration cards to poor families. 4.37 lakh acres of land distributed to poor and underprivileged Pavala Vaddi loans at 3 per cent interest rate to women self help groups Employment to 1.6 million people under NREGS Free power to farmers
These schemes should have resulted in higher interaction with the 11 public services covered in the study.
Table 4: Interaction with Public Services
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Health Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police Land Records and Registration Housing Forest
Urban
Rural
Overall
99 82 94 30 37 75 7 14 35 0.4
99 82 90 29 4 73 31 7 14 39 6
99 82 91 29 13 73 31 7 14 38 5
In view of this, it would be interesting to capture the extent to which BPL households interact with various public services. This could be understood better by differentiating between basic services (which are required on daily basis) from need- based services (which are required only occasionally). Over 80 per cent of the BPL households covered in the study have claimed to have interacted with PDS, Health and Electricity services in the last one year. This also indicates that these services are accessible to BPL households. The high interaction could also be due to certain policies of the state government. Schemes such as free power to farmers and BPL families could have resulted in higher percentage of people seeking electricity connections. In comparison, only 13 per cent have interacted with water supply department.
190
Among need-based services, except Police and Forest, the interaction in last one year has been reasonably high when compared with other States in Banking, NREGS as well as Housing. There is no significant difference in the extent of interaction between urban and rural BPL households except in case of few services like Water Supply, NREGS and Forest. While the latter two are essentially rural-based services, the low level of interaction in Water Supply may indicate either a lack of organized system in the rural areas, or community involvement in management through the Panchayats.
Multiple Visits
Earlier studies on corruption have shown that citizen tend to pay bribe to avoid making repeated visits to a department to get a particular work done. In view of this, it would be interesting to study the extent and reason why BPL respondents have to make repeated visits to a service provider. The data shows that in case of basic services, between 7 and 28 per cent of BPL respondents had to make 3 or more visits. In the case of need based services, 40 and 80 per cent of the BPL respondents had to make 3 or more visits.
Table 5: Multiple Visits
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC School Education Electricity. Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Housing Land Records & Registration Police
BPL Households
28 11 7
New admission Billing, faulty meter, new connection Diagonostic service, blood, operation, medicine, delivery New ration card, addition of members, change of ration shop, change of address
23 70 56 47 43
Maintenance of hand pump, new connection New account, seek loan, deferment of laon Allotment of house / plot, housing loan, Land on lease from panchayat, obtaining records, purchasing stamp paper, sale / purchase For filing a complaint
Andhra Pradesh
191
is extremely poor. Close to three-fourths of those who access the services of these departments perceive them to be corrupt.
Table 6: Perception about Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police
There is Corruption
No Corruption
28 38 28 51 17 6 35 52 72 26 71
32 42 43 29 50 38 55 24 20 37 9
40 20 29 21 33 56 10 24 8 37 20
Various measures claimed to have been taken by the State government aimed at reducing corruption initiatives have yet to make an impact on the perception about corruption in the State. In case of basic services, less than a quarter of people (17-27 per cent) think corruption has declined in respective departments in last one year. In case of need base services, higher percentage (35-66 per cent) think that corruption has actually increased in last one year except in the case of Banking and NREGS services.
Table 7: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Decreased
Same
Increased
27 27 20 17 21 44 13 21 14 32 11
54 54 60 46 59 50 53 35 34 46 23
19 19 20 37 21 5 35 44 52 22 66
192
1.6 INCIDENCE
OF
CORRUPTION
Table 9: Experience of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Paid Bribe
Used Contact
0.7 8.7 6.9 6.4 7.4 0.5 27.1 55.9 6.0 55.0
1.5
3.1
Andhra Pradesh
193
Overall, in case of basic services, 6-8 per cent of households accepted to paying bribe or using influence or both. The percentage appears to be low because: (i) most of these basic services are available with out any significant user charge; and (ii) the per capita income is low, so is the ability to pay bribes. Incase of need-based services, there was significant difference in the extent of people paying bribe. The percentage of people paying bribe varied from 7-57 per cent. Highest percentage (5657 per cent) was recorded for Police and Land Records services.
Purpose of Bribe
Table 10: Purpose of Paying Bribe
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Review performance of child; Issue of hostel room Bill payment; Non receipt of bill; Excess Bill; Duplicate Bill; Meter not working or malfunction; Meter instillation; Replacement of meter; New Connection Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Housing Land Records & Registration Pension and Deposit Allotment of plot / house; Release of loan amount Obtain land records; Mutation; Purchasing stamp paper; Property transaction; Income certificate; Land survey; Paying tax; Agricultural land on lease from panchayat Police Make a complaint; As an accused As in-patient & out-patient; For diagnostic service; For blood; For operation; For delivery; For medical certificate Preparation of new card; Deletion & addition of family members; To take monthly ration; Change in address in ration card Maintenance of hand pump; Regularization of unauthorized connection; Water supply restoration Reason for Paying Bribe
In case of basic services, the reasons for paying bribe is more due to bribe seeking practices of the staff at the delivery points. This can be dealt by better monitoring of services rendered by cutting edge level staff, improving effectiveness of vigilance cell and revamping grievance redressal mechanism and by undertaking periodic social audit of some of the services. In case of need-based services, the reasons for paying bribe bring out the necessity for simplification in procedures and transparency in the system. For instance, if land records are available from the Citizen Service Centers (CSC), then scope for bribe will be less.
Route of Bribe
In Andhra Pradesh, the middlemen menace seems to be continuing. In certain services like PDS, Land Records, NREGS, Housing, etc., a majority of people pay bribe through middlemen. The extent of use of middlemen is relatively higher than in many other States.
Agent/ middlemen
Local representative
86 89 48 36 89 25 43 83
12 12 52 64 8 71 40 17
Land Record and registration Police National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Housing Forest
3 6 17
OF
SERVICES
Public Distribution System School Education Banking Police National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS)
In Andhra Pradesh, Health and Land Records & Registration are found to be at an alarming level of corruption and thereby it needs immediate intensive attention.
Andhra Pradesh
195
Acceptance of presence of middlemen Officials of certain departments like Land Records and Housing have accepted that the BPL households approach middlemen to get their work done. The service providers believe that the use of middlemen by the BPL households reflects the fact that they do not understand the procedures and documentations requirements in most of the cases. Need for greater awareness The service providers feel that there is a need for creating greater awareness about procedures / formalities required to be fulfilled for availing services from these 11 public services. Temporary assignments The last mile service delivery points are over loaded with temporary assignments not necessarily related with their capability or capacity or related to their primary responsibility.
Services
Banking Electricity Hospital Housing Land Records and Registration Public Distribution System Police Water supply
196
Since there is a need for enhancing wider awareness about Citizens Charters containing procedures /formalities required for availing the desired services; RTI and grievance redressal mechanism, the service providers have provided boards displaying relevant information and installed complaint boxes.
Table 14: Awareness about RTI & Citizens Charter
(Figures in per cent)
Variables Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Age-group 18 25 yrs 26 35 yrs 36 50 yrs Above 50 yrs
RTI 17 23 15 20 10 22 26 14 10
Citizens Charter 18 21 16 19 14 20 21 18 10
Sustained media campaign and ground level initiatives by civil society groups have resulted in higher awareness about the RTI Act among the BPL households. In Andhra Pradesh, close to onefifth (17 per cent) of BPL people are aware of RTI and Citizens Charters. This is relatively high when compared to many other states where the awareness is as low as 5 to 6 per cent. The awareness is relatively higher among the urban, male and younger BPL respondents.
Source of Awareness
Table 15: Source of Awareness
(Figures in per cent)
Urban 19 2 31 48
Rural 11 9 33 47
Overall 14 6 32 47
Formal media like newspapers and TV have played a key role in widening the awareness about the RTI Act. This was supported by informal sources or word of mouth from friends. Only 6 per cent could attribute their awareness to Government sources.
2. Assam
2.1 ABOUT
THE
STATE
Assam occupies a unique place in the map of India due to its strategic geographical location, natural beauty, rich bio-diversity and above all its very heterogeneous colorful population representing distinct culture. In spite of numerous problems faced by the State, it has registered considerable attainment in different facets of human development. The percentage of poor in Assam is the highest among the seven sister states of the North East. Around 36.09 per cent of the States population continues to live below the poverty line, a figure considerably above the national average of 26.10 per cent (1999-2000). There is a rural urban divide - four out of ten people in rural Assam are likely to be below the poverty line, while in urban areas, the incidence is less than one in ten. Assam has levels and rates of growth of income below the average for the country. In 1950-51, Assams per-capita income was 4.1 per cent higher than the average for the country. By 1980-81, Assams per-capita income was 27 per cent lower than the national average, and by 1998-99, the gap had widened to 45.5 per cent. The state specific poverty line for Assam was calculated at Rs. 387.64 for rural and 378.84 for urban in 2004-05. The inter district inequality of the per capita income is also high. Although the share in the Net State Domestic Product has declined, there is a continued and high dependence on the primary sector, which provides employment to 69 per cent of the total work force. The workforce participation rates for both men and women are lower than those for India. The incidence of unemployment, measured as a per centage of the labour force is increasing in Assam. The total number of households in Assam is 49,35,358 in which about one million are BPL households. A total of 19.7 per cent of the population lives below poverty line with a wide rural urban gap (Rural 22.3 per cent, Urban-3.3 per cent). Seven districts from all over the state were covered under the first phase of the NREGS scheme, and another six districts were included in the second phase.
The Study
For the state of Assam, a total sample of 914 BPL Households (652 rural; 262 urban) were collected from four districts of Dispur, Dhemaji, Kokrajhar and Karbi Anglong. For the purpose of this study, 8 towns and 27 villages were visited. Out of the sampled BPL households 11 per cent urban and about 10 per cent rural eligible households informed that they do not hold BPL card.
198
Initiatives in Assam
There are several initiatives in the area of e-governance in the state. The land records of 20 out of the 27 districts of Assam have been computerized under the Computerized Land Records (CLR) Scheme of the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. Arogya, is a web-enabled Management Information System (MIS) for the Hospital, which incorporates Patient Registration, Accounts and Stores Management. PRAGATI, an umbrella of 13 e-Governance applications for implementation in the districts of Assam has been implemented. Jana-Sewa, the Computerized Public Services Facilitation Counter System incorporates features for recording petitions received for various services and providing efficient, timely and quality services to the citizens. Assam has also introduced Griha-Lakshmi to facilitate efficient maintenance of information on various essential public distribution commodities such as food grains, sugar, petroleum products, and other notified items issued to the public through various agencies. It generates various reports such as Card details, Fair Price Shops details, Oil Depot details etc. for effective monitoring and implementation. Abhiyogs enables citizens to lodge their grievances from any Internet caf, CIC, etc. and also to see the status at any point of time. Gramunnayan application software monitors and generates the reports on the progress of various schemes running under SGSY/SGRY/IAY.
ABOUT
CORRUPTION
(Figures in per cent)
In Assam about 79 per cent BPL household said that corruption is real in public offices in their state and they have had first hand experience. Around 21 per cent felt it more hear say than real. More urban respondents had first hand experience of corruption while more rural BPL households think it is hear say.
Table 2: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Decreased 3.5
Around 60 per cent felt that the level of corruption in the public offices have remained the same as before, while about 37 per cent felt that it has increased.
Assam
Table 3: Who is Responsible for Corruption?
199
Source Government officer Citizen Politician Businessman All of them News Media
According to the BPL household respondents in Assam, government functionaries are primarily responsible for corruption in public services. Next according to them were the citizens and politicians. More urban respondents find government officers responsible for corruption than their rural counterparts. About 56 per cent of the BPL households reported to know someone who had taken money or other favour for casting vote in favour of a politician. Interestingly, a small per centage of respondents mentioned news media as responsible for corruption.
2.3 INTERACTION
WITH
PUBLIC SERVICES
Table 4: Interaction with Public Services
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Land Records & Registration Police Housing Forest
Urban 74.0 60.3 43.9 15.3 20.2 37.8 19.5 23.7 13.4 9.5 7.6
Rural 85.4 63.7 43.9 20.6 6.3 27.2 28.6 20.6 9.7 10.8 9.4
Overall 82.1 62.8 43.9 19.1 10.3 30.3 26.0 21.5 10.7 10.4 8.9
PDS and Health services have been visited by a majority of the BPL household respondents. Among the basic services, Water Supply was the least visited service in the state. Bank/postal service was the most visited followed by NREGS among the need-based services. There is a stark rural-urban difference in availing the services of PDS, Water Supply and Banking. Earlier corruption studies by CMS have shown that people tend to pay bribe to avoid making repeated visits to an outlet to get a particular work done. In view of this it would be interesting to study the extent and reason why BPL respondents have to make repeated visits to get their work done.
200
Services BASIC Water Supply Electricity School Education Public Distribution System Hospital NEED-BASED National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Banking Housing Land Records & Registration Police
BPL Households
65 59 52 37 30 68 66 63 58 47
Maintenance of hand pump Regularization of unauthorized water connection New connection; To reduce/adjust excess bill To check the quality of mid-day meal Application for scholarship New ration card As in-patients For medical certificate Registration for job card Issuance of job card New account; Seek loan; Deferment of loan Allotment of house / plot; Transfer of ownership Obtaining records; Caste certificate; Income certificate For filing a complaint; As an accused; Remove name from witness
2.5 PERCEPTION
ABOUT
SERVICES
Eight out of ten BPL households identified Water Supply, NREGS and Police services as corrupt whereas over 70 per cent of the respondents identified Health, Forest, Housing and Land Record services to be corrupt. Only 45 and 49 per cent of the respondents perceived corruption in Banking and Education services respectively.
Table 6: Perception about Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking
There is Corruption
No Corruption
Assam
Table Contd...
201
Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
While 62 per cent of the BPL households felt that corruption in Water Supply service has increased, around 44 per cent felt the same for Health and Electricity services. More than 50 per cent reported that there has been no noticeable change in the level of corruption in PDS.
Table 7: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Decreased
Same
Increased
31.6 11.0 9.4 8.8 0.0 27.5 11.1 6.3 3.1 5.9 1.0
35.1 45.1 45.9 53.7 38.3 45.3 40.7 40.0 53.6 38.4 16.3
33.3 43.9 44.7 37.5 61.7 27.2 48.1 53.7 43.4 55.7 82.7
Among the need-based services, around half of the respondents felt that corruption has increased in Housing, Forest and NREGS and remained same in Land Records service. A little more than 80 per cent of the respondents felt that corruption in Police service has increased. More than one-third of the respondents think that the grievance redressal mechanism has improved in the last one year in the services of Education and Banking. Deterioration has been observed by 3150 per cent BPL households in Housing, Police, Land records, Forest and NREGS among the needbased services while in Water Supply the mechanism has been deteriorated the most among the basic services.
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Land Records & Registration Police National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Housing Forest
Improved
Same
Deteriorated
43.1 13.0 8.2 10.4 1.1 30.1 5.1 1.0 6.3 6.3 11.1
40.8 61.8 62.3 67.2 58.5 51.8 60.2 49.0 60.8 62.1 42.0
16.1 25.2 29.5 22.4 40.4 18.1 34.7 50.0 32.9 31.6 46.9
2.7 INCIDENCE
OF
CORRUPTION
Table 9: Experience of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Paid Bribe
Used Contact
8.0 30.9 48.0 14.5 17.0 16.7 30.9 38.9 36.2 26.2 76.5
17.2 0.5 0.2 0.7 2.1 0.7 1.2 5.3 2.6 0.8 1.0
0.6 2.0 0.7 0.1 1.1 1.8 1.2 2.1 0.5 0.8 1.0
About 48 per cent of the BPL households reported to have paid extra money for availing Health services. Water and electricity service were next where the households had paid extra money. Among the need-based category, about three-fourths of the BPL households reported to have paid bribe to Police service and around 35 per cent each in Housing, Land Records and Forest services for
Assam
203
getting a work done. Although using influence was not very common among the BPL households, as high as 17 per cent used contacts to avail of Education services.
Hospital
Water Supply
People reported to have paid bribe to Education service for payment of fees and issuance of certificates. In Electricity, extra money was paid for bill payments and new connections. In Health service, BPL households reported paying extra to get medicine and to be admitted as in- patient in public hospitals. The BPL households reported that in the PDS service they had to pay extra for getting new ration cards issued, for changing address on ration card/changing ration shop. Majority of the BPL respondents said that they had to pay extra for water meter testing. While extra money was paid in Housing service for getting plot allotment, constructing toilets and get loan released, in Land Registration service it was for obtaining land records and selling of land. In Forests service, entry into the forest for picking up fuel wood is a common reason for paying bribe to the forest guards. The BPL households reported to have bribed the NREGS officials to get selected
204
as beneficiary, for registration and issuance of card issued. In Police service, one had to pay bribe even for making/registering a complaint.
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water NEED-BASED Banking Housing Forest Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Govt. Officials
Agent/ Middlemen
Local Representative
92.9 66.7 79.3 95.4 87.5 93.5 59.5 76.0 66.2 66.1 97.3
7.1 34.1 20.7 1.8 12.5 6.5 40.5 24.0 33.8 33.9 2.7
2.8
BPL households reported of paying extra money or bribe to Health, PDS, Water Supply and Electricity among basic services and to Police, Banking and NREGS among need-based services. Among them, a majority reported to have paid the money directly to the government officials/functionaries. For Housing, NREGS, Land, and Electricity, involvement of middlemen or agent was also reported by a large section of the surveyed households.
Electricity Public Distribution System (PDS) Water Supply Police National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS)
Assam
205
206
Variables Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Age-Group 18 25 yrs 26 35 yrs 36 50 yrs Above 50 yrs
RTI 10.3 15.6 8.1 11.0 7.4 21.8 12.1 6.8 4.0
In Assam, around 10 per cent of BPL households have heard about Right to Information and knew that it had something to do with getting information from the government services. Awareness about RTI Act is relatively higher when compared to many other states where the awareness is as low as 5-6 per cent. The awareness is relatively higher among the urban, male and younger BPL respondents. Urban, female and older BPL population is unaware even about Citizens Charter. As evident from the table below, a very negligible proportion of rural BPL households have heard of Citizens Charter it while in urban areas nearly nobody knows about it.
Source of Awareness
Table 14: Sources of Awareness about RTI
(Figures in per cent)
Formal media like newspapers, radio and TV have played a key role in creating awareness about the RTI Act. This was supported by informal sources or word of mouth from friends. Around 5 per cent could attribute their awareness to Government sources. Newspaper and friends act as major sources for many BPL households in rural areas while TV is more influential in urban Assam.
Assam
207
board and PIO boards were found in quite a few office premises visited. Complaint boxes were also available in most of the offices visited.
Table 15: Services Initiative to Keep Citizens Informed
Departments / Services Bank Electricity Hospital Housing Land Records PDS Police Water supply No. of Display of Citizens Offices Charter 5 8 8 9 7 7 7 3 4 3 2 2 0 5 1 1 Display board on RTI Act 3 4 5 5 4 4 3 2 Board Displaying name of PIO 4 5 6 5 5 4 3 3 Availability of Complaint box 2 7 7 7 7 6 5 3
Bihar
Table 1: Corruption: Hear Say or Real?
209
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above
54 43 46 47 46 43 49 52 42 52
46 57 53 52 54 56 48 48 58 48
1 1 1 1
On the question of whether the level of corruption in the services has increased or decreased, around one-fourth of households in Bihar felt that the level of corruption in the services in the last one-year had increased. More than one-fourth (29 per cent) of these households were of the opinion that, in the last one year, the level of corruption in the services remained same. However, a higher per centage (45 per cent) of the respondents felt that the level of corruption in the services has decreased in the last one year.
Table 2: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above
Increased
Same as before
Decreased
22 27 26 26 25 23 22 28 33 10
25 30 29 27 30 34 28 22 24 48
52 42 45 46 44 42 51 50 43 43
In the districts of Gaya and Araria, comparatively high per centage (27 to 32) of households perceived that the level of corruption had increased in the last one year. In the remaining three districts, the per centage of such households varied between 21 and 24 felt that the level of corruption in the services had increased.
210
Nearly half of the BPL households in Bihar held government officials and functionaries responsible for the corruption in public services. Around one-fifth of them held politicians responsible. A considerable per centage (18) felt that corruption in public services is because of passiveness or helplessness of citizens. This reflects the extent of awareness of the general public that corruption can be reduced through individual or collective action.
Table 3: Who is Responsible for Corruption?
(Figures in per cent)
Urban 19 47 17 16
Rural 21 47 18 13
Overall 21 47 18 14
About 23 per cent of the BPL households knew someone in the local community who had taken money in one election or other to caste his/her vote in favour of a particular party/candidate.
3.3 INTERACTION
WITH
PUBLIC SERVICES
Among basic services, as high as 90 per cent of BPL households interacted with PDS and health services in Bihar in the past one year. It reflects that the BPL households are largely dependent on these public services. These are followed by education and electricity, 38 per cent and 26 per cent respectively. Only four per cent of BPL households had interacted with Water Supply service because of its unreliability or unavailability.
Table 4: Interaction with Public Services
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Public Distribution System (PDS) Hospital School Education Electricity Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Urban
Rural
Overall
89 92 34 35 9 37 17 15 9
90 87 40 21 1 33 20 25 18 30 7
90 88 38 26 4 34 20 22 17 30 8
Among need-based services around one-third interacted with banking service/post office in the last one year.
Bihar
211
The interaction of the BPL households in the four districts (Gaya. Muzaffarpur. Samastipur and Araiya) of Bihar with NREGS in the last one year was only 20 per cent. Similarly, only 22 per cent of BPL households in Bihar interacted with housing services despite the fact that the schemes like Indira Awas Yojana was in operation in all the districts.
Multiple Visits
As a part of good governance, the services available in the government service delivery points should be hassle free in such a way that citizens need not make repeat visits for the same work. Earlier corruption studies have shown that usually the visitors to the service delivery points pay bribe to avoid repeat visits and hassles in the process of getting a particular work attended to. In view of this, the present study tried to identify the proportion of the BPL households who had to make repeat visits in the last one-year and the specific purposes.
Table 5: Multiple Visits
(Figures in per cent)
BPL Households Reasons for three visits or more for same purpose 22 24 Non-receipt of bill; To reduce /adjust excess bill; Faulty meter Meter installation; New connection; Restoration of connection As in patient / for getting bed Issue of new ration card; Surrender ration card/change of address on ration card; Deletion & addition of family members in ration card; Permission for release of extra quantity during festivals/months. Admission; Application for scholarship; Seek promotion from one class to another Issues of certificate Installation/maintenance of hand pumps Regularization of unauthorized water connection; Water meter installation; Supply of water tankers; Repair of water pipe; Irrigation water Open new account; Seek loan; Defer loan instalment Allotment of plot/house; Sanction/release of housing loan; Construction of toilets; Transfer of ownership Agricultural land on lease from panchayat; Obtaining land records; Purchasing stamp paper; Sale/purchase of land property; Mutation Land survey; Income certificate; Caste certificate For getting selected as beneficiary / registration for job contract; Issuance of job contract card; Payment of unemployment allowances For filing a complaint As an accused Remove name from witness
28 56
36
24
The data shows that 56 per cent of the BPL households in Bihar had to make repeat visit (three or more times) for water related services, Among other basic services their per centage varied between 22 and 28. In the need-based services, the worst performer (60 per cent) was Housing, which can explain why so few people from the BPL category interact with this services in the first place. Among the rest of services, between 24 and 43 per cent of BPL households made repeat visits to get their work attended to.
212
Services BASIC Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police
There is Corruption
No Corruption
58 54 52 43 39 49 12 68 49 54 72
6 2 4 2 3 3 9 6 6 7 3
33 43 44 55 56 47 3 25 44 39 25
Among basic services more than half of the BPL households in Bihar felt that corruption did exist in Electricity, Health and PDS. For other basic services like School Education and Water Supply, the perception about corruption was marginally lower at around 40 per cent. Unlike Bihar in most of the other states, School Education has the least perception of corruption. Among need-based services, highest per centage (72 per cent) of the BPL households felt that corruption existed in the Police service. For the rest of the need-based services, except Forest, the proportion of BPL households who felt that corruption existed in these services was between 49 and 68 per cent. The perception about increase/decrease in corruption also varies widely. Leaving aside the Forest service, per centage of BPL households reporting an increase in corruption varies between 19 for School Education to 50 for Housing. On the positive side, however, the per centage of respondents stating that corruption has decreased in their perception is quite high for nearly all the services except Electricity, Housing and Police.
Table 7: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System (PDS) Water Supply
Decreased
Same
Increased
55 34 53 45 56
25 26 27 29 28
19 40 20 27 17
Table Contd...
Bihar
Table Contd...
213
NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police
48 9 26 48 41 25
30 87 25 30 28 36
23 4 50 22 31 40
3.6 INCIDENCE
OF
CORRUPTION
Table 8: Grievance Redressal Mechanism
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Improved
Same
Deteriorated
34 53 44 55 56 48 9 26 48 40 25
27 27 30 26 30 31 84 28 30 29 50
39 20 25 19 14 21 7 46 22 31 25
In basic services, 4 to 17 per cent of the BPL households paid bribe to get their work attended to. In comparison to them, proportion of those who used a contact to get their work done was higher. In need-based services, higher proportion of BPL households in Bihar paid bribe for getting Police and Land Records & Registration services in the last one year. The major difference is in School Education, where nearly 20 per cent of households could avail services as they either paid or used a contact. In housing services, 16 per cent of the households paid bribe and 33 per cent used a contact in the last one year. It is followed by Police where respective per centages are 36.1 and 12.5.
214
It may be mentioned that in Bihar around eight per cent of the BPL households complained individually against the corruption in the public services.
Table 9: Experience of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police
Paid Bribe
Used Contact
8.1 4.0 7.5 4.7 16.7 9.7 6.3 16.0 27.3 10.0 36.1
32.2 17.2 15.8 14.4 13.9 20.1 1.6 33.0 7.9 19.4 12.5
1.6 0.5 2.0 11.4 5.6 9.4 0.8 13.7 2.4 6.3 13.9
School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police
Bihar
215
Services BASIC Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System School Education Water supply NEED-BASED Banking Land Records & Registration Police NREGS Housing Forest
Agent/ Middlemen
Local Representative
100 88 66 94 83 72 91 85 63 44 100
12 25 6 17 22 11 15 26 32
8 6 11 24
216
Variables Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Age-Group 18 25 yrs 26 35 yrs 36 50 yrs Above 50 yrs
Citizens Charter 1.5 2.3 1.1 1.8 0.7 1.4 1.7 1.9
Bihar
217
Unfortunately, in Bihar the awareness among BPL households about these two is very low. Only one per cent of the BPL households in Bihar were aware about these two. None of the BPL female in Bihar was aware of RTI and Citizens Charter. It seems that not much has been done to sensitize BPL households about RTI and Citizens Charter.
Table 14: Service Providers Perspective
Services No. of Offices 10 10 9 10 10 9 9 9 10 Display of Citizens Charter 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 Display Board on RTI Act 2 4 2 0 2 2 2 1 4 Board Displaying Name of PIO 2 4 2 0 2 4 2 2 5 Availability of Complaint box 8 8 8 8 7 9 6 5 7
Bank Electricity Hospital Housing Land Records & Registration Public Distribution System Police Water Supply Target Scheme
The above Table reveals that display of Citizens Charter is almost negligible. However, there were Complaint Boxes. About RTI and PIO display boards have also been provided to some extent. Research team visited to the service delivery points and assessed whether the things like availability of Citizens Charter, complaint register/box and board displaying name of PIO that are supposed to be there in the premises were available or not. The table below explains the availability of the Citizens Charter, Display Board on RTI, Board displaying Name of PIO and availability of Complaint Box/Register in the premises at the service delivery points.
Urban 10 40 50
Rural 6 65 17 12
Overall 4 4 55 30 7
Most of those who were aware of this two-year-old RTI Act, heard about it from news media (news paper and television). Campaign by civil society groups also helped in this regard.
4. Chhattisgarh
4.1 ABOUT
THE
STATE
In Chhattisgarh, 41 per cent of the population or about 9.1 million people are living Below Poverty Line (BPL) according to 2004-05 estimates of the Planning Commission. The incidence of poverty is almost same in urban and rural areas, as about 41 per cent of people each are classified as BPL in both these areas. The monthly per capita poverty line cut off for rural areas is Rs 322.41 and in urban areas it has been fixed as Rs 560.00. The present study, which focuses on corruption as perceived and experienced by people living below poverty line, covered a sample of 929 BPL Households, of which more than 70 per cent were from rural areas. These households were covered from eight towns and twenty villages of four districts of Chhattisgarh, including state capital, Raipur. The other three districts visited for the study were Rajnandgaon, Dantewara and Koriya. In these districts, NREG scheme is also being implemented. The survey revealed that around 22 per cent of the eligible BPL households in the state do not possess a BPL card.
20 25 23 25 25 31 22 26 15 14
77 72 75 71 73 65 77 71 84 86
3 2 2 4 2 5 1 3 1
Literate but did not go to school Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above
In Chhattisgarh, 74 per cent of surveyed BPL households said that the perception about corruption in public utility services was real, and not mere hear say, as they had had first hand experience of the same.
Chhattisgarh
219
A relatively higher percentage of Secondary pass students and graduates have reported first hand knowledge or experience of corruption. This could be due to exposure to media (print media), higher level of awareness amongst this group, and a greater interaction with public services.
Table 2: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate informally Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above
Increased
same as before
Decreased
63 56 56 63 55 55 60 61 60 75
27 32 32 26 32 32 33 28 29 11
9 11 11 11 12 12 7 10 11 14
Furthermore, close to 60 per cent of BPL households feel that corruption has increased in the last one year. Only 11 per cent of BPL households felt that the level of corruption had declined. A relatively higher percentage of urban, female, and graduate BPL respondents in Chhattisgarh opined that corruption had increased significantly in the last one year. Also, a greater per centage of households in Rajnandgaon and Koriya (62 per cent each) agreed with the same as compared to households in Raipur and Dantewada (around 55 per cent each). Close to half the BPL households in Chhattisgarh hold government officials responsible for corruption. Government functioning therefore needs to be more transparent and responsive to peoples needs in order to change this perception. An environment where citizens can play a leading role in decision-making and developmental activities also needs to be nurtured. One-fourth of the respondents, on the other hand, felt that politicians encouraged the malpractice of corruption. However, 5 per cent of the surveyed BPL households also felt that citizens were responsible for perpetuating the practice of corruption.
Table 3: Who is Responsible for Corruption?
(Figures in per cent)
Urban 25 53 1 15 4
Rural 25 46 1 19 6
Overall 25 48 1 18 5
220
4.3 INTERACTION
PUBLIC SERVICES
In case of basic services, barring School Education and Water Supply, the majority of the surveyed BPL households said they had interacted with the respective public services during the past year. Only 16 per cent said they had interacted with the Water Supply service and 20 per cent with the School Education service in the last one year. Amongst basic as well as need-based services, the PDS service had the highest per centage of households (99 per cent) interacting with it in the past year. The Police service on the other hand had the least per centage of people interacting with it (5 per cent) during the last one year.
Table 4: Interaction with Public Services
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Urban
Rural
Overall
23 62 86 99 23 48 16 27 7
19 57 73 100 12 38 41 21 16 52 4
20 58 77 99 16 41 41 20 19 52 5
Like the Police service, since other need-based services are also not required on a regular basis, the frequency of interaction with these services was less often than with basic services. Given the geographical characteristic of the state, the interaction with Forest service is higher than that reported for other states in the survey. This also indicates the dependence of a large section of the population on forest produce, especially non-timber forest products (NTFP). However, a greater percentage of households interacted for NREGS as compared to other needbased services. Initiatives have been taken in the past two years to provide information on NREGS to the poor and register them under the scheme. Two organizations Jan Adhikar Sangathan (JAS) and Jan Shakti Sansthan (JSS) had embarked on a massive awareness campaign in May 2006 and a block-level demonstration had been organized, which aimed to highlight the irregularities in implementation of NREGS. The public rally had jolted the state government and within a week, registrations under the NREGS had begun. In the months of June and July 2006, 8,756 people in 172 villages in 52 panchayats were registered and in September and November, job cards were distributed.
Chhattisgarh
221
Multiple Visits
A large number of BPL households also ended up making more than three visits in the last one year to basic as well as need-based services. The data shows that in case of basic services between 10 and 22 per cent of BPL households had to make three or more visits in the last one year. On the other hand, although interaction with need-based services arises only occasionally, 26-46 per cent of BPL households ended up making repeated visits to these services.
Table 5: Multiple Visits
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
BPL Households
22 12 10 10 15
New admission-Issue of certificate New connection; To reduce/adjust excess bill For getting bed/as In patient Preparation of new ration card; Deletion & addition of Family members in ration card Installation/maintenance of hand pumps; Repair of water pipe Open new account Allotment of plot/house Obtaining land records; Caste Certificate For getting selected as a beneficiary; Registration for job card For filing a complaint
44 31 26 46 29
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
There is corruption
Not sure
No corruption
20 61 59 55 34 13 26 62 86 41 81
3 3 3 2 4 1 1 1 1 6 2
74 32 37 43 59 84 71 33 10 52 5
Service BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Decreased
Same
Increased
69 24 32 33 53 78 59 33 10 45 9
23 33 31 26 25 13 25 11 18 23 24
8 43 37 41 22 9 16 56 72 32 67
In case of need-based services, the majority of households opined that corruption was prevalent in the Land, Police and Housing services, while almost 84 per cent, 71 per cent and 52 per cent said it did not exist in the Banking, Forest, and NREGS respectively. The various anti corruption initiatives have yet to make an impact on level of corruption in Chhattisgarh as in the case of most of the basic as well as need-based services, a sizable majority believes that corruption has either remained the same or increased. Among basic services, 43 per cent of the people felt that the level of corruption had increased significantly in the Electricity service and 41 per cent said that the same happened in the PDS service. On the other hand, the majority of BPL households believed that in the last one year, the level of corruption had dipped in the Water Supply and Education services.
Chhattisgarh
223
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Improved
Same
Deteriorated
61 19 26 29 38 76 49 23 9 38
28 43 45 33 42 17 41 27 24 34 62
11 38 30 38 19 7 10 50 67 28 38
Among need-based services, 72 per cent and 67 per cent of the BPL households said corruption had gone up in the Land Records and Police services respectively. However, the majority felt that the level of corruption had declined in the Forest and Banking services. On grievance redressal, the majority of BPL respondents said that the situation had either remained the same or deteriorated even further in the last one year, in almost all public services. In fact, in case of Police service, none of the respondents felt that grievance redressal situation had improved. Only in case of School Education and Banking services, the majority of households felt that the grievance redressal situation had actually improved in the last one year.
4.6 INCIDENCE
OF
CORRUPTION
The survey showed that in case of basic services, 11 to 21 per cent of BPL households paid bribe or used contact in the last one year, in order to get their work done. In case of need-based services, the per centage of BPL households paying bribes and using contact varied greatly, from 5 per cent in the case of Banking service to 60 per cent in the case of Land Records and Police. These were the two services in which the highest per centage of BPL households (41 per cent and 40 per cent, respectively) paid bribe in the last one year. On the other hand, some BPL households could not avail services, since they were unable to pay bribe. This per centage was relatively high in the case of Hospital and Water Supply service, where around 5 per cent of BPL households were deprived of services because they could not pay bribe.
Service BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Record & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Paid Bribe
Used Contact
3 4 4 3 1 1 8 12 40 1 41
11 11 12 8 20 4 2 44 20 18 17
2 3 6 5
2 3 2 3 2
In the PDS service, bribes are paid for preparing a new ration card, whereas in the Hospital service, people paid extra money as in-patients in a hospital and during child delivery. In the School Education service, bribes are paid for securing admission of children in schools. Among the need-based services, bribe is paid to the Police service for registering a complaint and in the Land Record service for obtaining caste certificates and land records. Bribe in the Banking service is paid at the time of seeking a loan and in the NREGS for issuance of job cards.
Chhattisgarh
225
Service BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Agent/ middlemen
Local Representative
100 70 96 52 50 75 100 38 93 33 77 48 6 67 23 14 1 26 4 17 50 25 31 4
The survey showed that in School Education and Forest services, all the bribes were paid only to service officials. However, some BPL households paid bribe to agents and middlemen active in these services. For example, 67 per cent, 50 per cent and 48 per cent of BPL households paid bribe to middlemen, to avail services of the NREGS, Water Supply and Housing services, respectively. On the other hand, to avail services of PDS, Housing, Electricity and Land Record, BPL households in Chhattisgarh paid bribe to local representatives.
226
SERVICES
Service wise position by level of corruption in the state shows that in Water Supply and Police the level of corruption is very high whereas the extent of corruption in Electricity, Health, Schools Education and Land Record & Registration is high.
Table 12: Level of Corruption: Relative Position
ALARMING VERY HIGH Water supply Police HIGH Electricity Health School Education Land Records & Registration MODERATE Public Distribution System (PDS) Banking National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Housing Forest
Chhattisgarh
227
Few other initiatives that were highlighted by officials were the provision of free water tankers at the time of a girls marriage ceremony, a decision to put 100 additional beds in the ward of a hospital and the provision of more facilities and machines to carry out various tests in the pathology service. Need for more pro-poor schemes - Service providers feel that in order to curb corruption, more pro-poor schemes have to be devised and poor peoples special needs have to be kept in mind while doing the same. Some also said that people themselves have to be made aware of their responsibilities to help tackle the problem. Though many service providers claimed that corruption was not rampant in their particular service, some felt that increasing the number of workers and spreading awareness would help improve service delivery.
Variables Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Age-Group 18-25 yrs 26-35 yrs 36-50 yrs Above 50 yrs
RTI 4 5 3 5 2 8 5 3 2
Citizens Charter 2 3 2 3 1 2 3 2 1
However, the awareness levels about RTI and Citizens Charter were found to be relatively high amongst urban and younger BPL respondents. Also, a relatively higher percentage of BPL households in the three districts of Rajnandgaon, Dantewara and Koriya were aware RTI as compared to households in Chhattisgrahs state capital, Raipur.
Source of Awareness
Although many a time the media is credited with creating and spreading awareness amongst citizens, the survey revealed that majority of the BPL households in Chhattisgarh felt that it was the interaction with friends and public campaigns, which made them aware of the RTI Act.
Urban 39 35 4 9 9
Rural 28 22 9 3 22 6
Overall 33 27 7 2 16 7
Services
Banking Electricity Hospital Housing Land Records & Registration Public Distribution System Water supply
5. Delhi
5.1 ABOUT
THE
STATE
The state of Delhi has close to 15 per cent of its population (about 23 lakh people) living Below Poverty Line. The incidence of poverty is higher in urban areas, with 15 per cent of people classified as BPL, as compared to rural areas, where about 7 per cent of people are living below poverty line. However, rural areas in the countrys capital are only nominally farmland, with the populations material means of support and lifestyles being vastly different from rural areas of other states. Since Delhi is also one of the few metro cities in India, rural areas here seem to be more developed than most others in the country. The present study conducted in Delhi focused on corruption as perceived by the BPL population of the capital. The study collected a sample of 600 BPL Households (371 rural; 229 urban), which were selected from six urban localities and 18 villages of three surveyed districts. The survey revealed that more than half of the eligible BPL households in the state did not have BPL cards whereas about 7 per cent of the ineligible BPL households possessed these cards. But since the study covered only BPL households, the total percentage of ineligible households having BPL cards may be much higher.
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above
46 33 40 32 34 38 40 40 36 44
48 67 56 66 66 62 58 56 55 56
3 2
2 4 9
Again, a greater percentage of rural, female and illiterate BPL respondents said that corruption had increased in the last one year. Also, a relatively higher per centage of BPL households (42 per cent) in North eastern part of Delhi agreed with the same as compared to households in North west or South west Delhi.
Table 2: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above
Increased
Same as before
Decreased
24 42 30 45 44 38 31 30 31 33
51 34 43 35 33 41 44 42 45 44
23 24 25 21 22 21 26 26 23 22
A majority of the BPL households (48 per cent) hold government officers responsible for corruption. Close to one fourth of the respondents on the other hand, feel that politicians encourage corrupt practices. Almost 8 per cent of BPL households also feel that citizenss themselves are responsible for this malpractice.
Delhi
Table 3: Who is Responsible for Corruption?
231
Urban 24 52 1 14 9
Rural 24 46 1 21 7
Overall 24 48 1 18 8
5.3 INTERACTION
WITH
PUBLIC SERVICES
BPL households are far more dependent than others on public services provided by the Government and such initiatives facilitate their interaction with public services.
Table 4: Interacting with Public Services
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Police Land Records & Registration Housing
Urban
Rural
Overall
79 95 59 44 22 45 9 14 8
81 98 63 52 30 52 11 14 4
80 97 61 49 27 49 10 14 5
The survey revealed that majority of the BPL households had interacted with almost all basic services during the past one year, except Water Supply and School Education, where only 27 per cent and 49 per cent of the surveyed households respectively admitted to having had any sort of interaction with the services in the last one year. Since water was supplied through a community tap instead of a personal water connection in many of the surveyed rural localities of Delhi, there was a lesser need for people to frequent or interact with the Water Supply service. As most of the BPL households need to visit government hospitals due to lack of alternative free medical care facilities and have to visit PDS shops regularly to procure ration, the frequency of interaction with these basic services was more than others (97 per cent and 80 per cent, respectively). On the other hand, as need-based services are not required as frequently as basic services, interaction of households with need-based services was comparatively less. However, a greater per centage of households interacted with the Banking service (49 per cent) in the last one year as
232
compared to other need-based services. Need-based services like Forest service and NREGS are not offered in Delhi.
Multiple Visits
Table 5: Multiple Visits
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC
BPL Households
Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Police Land Records & Registration Housing
32 9 13 17 31
Preparation of new ration card; Deletion/addition of family members in ration card For getting beds/as In-patient To reduce/adjust excess bill; Faulty meter Promotion from one class to another; New admission Supply of water tankers; Installation/maintenance of hand pumps Open new account For filing a complaint Income certificate Allotment of plot/house; Construction of toilets
37 27 37 41
Our survey showed that some BPL households had to make more than three visits in the last one year to basic as well as need-based services. The data shows that in case of basic services 9-32 per cent of BPL respondents had to make 3 or more visits in the last one year. On the other hand, 27 to 41 per cent of BPL households ended up making repeated visits to these services. This is a trend seen in other states covered in this survey as well. It may be because the procedures for accessing these services are cumbersome and not transparent enough. With a view to arrest the corruption menace, the Delhi Government has taken various steps to bring transparency in providing citizen-friendly services and facilitate peoples interaction with public services. The concept of e-governance has been introduced by setting up websites for the various departments, which has in-turn helped reduce citizens visit to offices and provided them information electronically rather than over the counter. Another concept Bhagidari was launched in January 2000, with a view to utilize processes and principles of multi-stakeholder (citizen groups, NGOs and the Government) collaboration and has helped facilitate peoples participation in governance.
Delhi
233
However, the majority of households view Water Supply and Education services as non-corrupt. It should be noted, however, that amongst all basic services, BPL households had the least interaction with the Education and Water Supply departments in the past year. In case of three out of the four need-based services in Delhi, more than half the respondents felt that corruption was rampant. The Police department was viewed as most corrupt (70 per cent agreed that corruption exists in the service), while the Banking service was considered least corrupt (20 per cent said that corruption is present in the service). Many banks in Delhi have indeed taken steps to curb corruption by ushering in transparency in operations and enhancing service delivery. They have installed computers at cash counters, put up many ATMs in the capital and also provided online transaction facilities for customers. The benefit of these technological inputs seems to have filtered down to the BPL households as well.
Table 6: Perception about Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Police Land Records & Registration Housing
There is Corruption
Not sure
No Corruption
66 44 53 25 19 20 70 60 62
6 8 10 7 15 9 3 10 16
28 44 36 66 63 69 25 24 12
Barring Education, Water Supply and Banking services, a sizable majority believes that corruption has either remained the same or increased in basic as well as need-based services. There is a need to learn from the services that have managed to reduce the perception of corruption. More initiatives need to be taken in other public services, and the on-going anticorruption initiatives need to be vigorously implemented in Delhi, Among basic services, 79 per cent of the people felt that in the last one year corruption had either increased or remained the same in the PDS department. Although, from among all basic services, the least number of people had interacted with the Water Supply and Education services, the majority of respondents believed that the level of corruption in the two services had reduced significantly. In case of need-based services, the highest per centage of households (85 per cent) saying that corruption had either scaled up or remained the same, was seen in the Housing service, followed by the Police service (80 per cent).
234
On the other hand, Banking saw the highest per centage of households (67 per cent) saying that level of corruption had actually come down in the service in the last one year.
Table 7: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Police Land Records & Registration Housing
Decreased
Same
Increased
21 36 29 53 61 67 18 20 15
36 48 47 35 33 25 48 40 66
43 16 24 12 6 8 34 40 19
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Police Land Records & Registration Housing
Improved
Same
Deteriorated
18 32 25 52 53 16 18 12 58
46 55 59 40 43 66 53 51 36
36 13 17 8 4 19 28 37 6
As far as grievance redressal is concerned, the majority of BPL respondents felt the situation had either remained the same or deteriorated even further in the last one year, in all public services, barring School Education, Water Supply and Housing.
5.6 INCIDENCE
OF
CORRUPTION
The survey showed that in case of basic services, 7 to 18 per cent of BPL households paid bribe or used contact in the last one year in order to get their work done.
Delhi
Table 9: Experience of Corruption
235
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Police Land Records & Registration Housing
Paid Bribe
Use Contact
2 8 1 9 4 1 32 15 13
8 9 11 9 3 6 13 10 19 4 1 1 2 1 13 2
In case of need-based services, the per centage of BPL households paying bribes and using contact varied greatly, from 7 per cent in the case of Banking to 45 per cent in the case of Police. The highest per centage of people who did not avail of the service on being asked for a bribe was recorded in the case of Housing. This may be due to the fact that the quantum of bribe asked for is too high for BPL families to afford.
In the PDS service, bribes are paid for preparing a new ration card, whereas in the Hospital service, people pay extra money to get a hospital bed, for diagnostic services or for deliveries. In the School Education service, bribes are mainly given while seeking promotion of the child from one class to another. Among the need-based services, extra cash is paid to the Police department for registering a complaint and bribes in the Banking department are paid while seeking a loan.
236
There has been a drive in the capital to provide services more efficiently with the help of the Right to Information Act, the technology of active websites, and greater participation of citizens through Bhagidari Efforts have also been made by the Delhi government to make vigilance and anticorruption more than just post-mortem actions, and focus on bringing transparency and efficiency in functioning of public services. For example, a periodic review of work done by Vigilance Officers posted in different departments of the Delhi Government is undertaken by a Director (Vigilance). Suitable instructions are provided to the Vigilance Officers of all the departments, who are also called in smaller groups to have detailed discussions even about specific cases. The Chief Vigilance Officer, Government of NCT of Delhi, reviews work done by the Directorate of Vigilance on the last Thursday of every month. However, the extent to which such steps have been able to put a brake on corruption needs to be assessed. This is because many a times when people abstain from paying bribes to public services, they resort to using influence to get their work done and therefore corruption continues to perpetuate. This is particularly true in Delhi where access to political and bureaucratic channels is seen as a way to circumvent the due process of becoming beneficiaries in various schemes.
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Police Housing Land Records & Registration
Agent/ middlemen
Local representative
Any Other
83 76 33 65 71 100 100 50 92
17 21 67 33 29 2 3
50 8
In case of all basic as well as need-based services, barring Hospital and Housing services, a large majority of BPL households paid bribe primarily to government functionaries. The survey revealed that in the Banking and Police services in Delhi, the entire bribe amount was being paid to these officials. However, some households also paid bribe to middlemen and agents to help get their work done. For example, 67 per cent and 50 per cent of BPL households paid bribe to middlemen to avail Hospital and Housing services respectively. On the other hand, almost none of the BPL households paid bribe to local representatives except in case of the PDS service. Only 2 per cent of people reportedly bribed local representatives in case of PDS service.
Delhi
237
Service-wise Positioning
Table 12: Level of Corruption: Relative Position
ALARMING Health Public Distribution System (PDS) VERY HIGH HIGH Electricity School Education Housing Police MODERATE Water Supply Banking Land Records & Registration
238
Services
No. of Offices 8 6 6 8 6 10 8
Bank Electricity Hospital Housing Land Records & Registration Public Distribution System Water supply
There is an urgent need to take a re-look at initiatives being undertaken in Delhi for educating the public about RTI and Citizens Charter.
Table 14: Extent of Awareness about RTI & Citizens Charters
(Figures in per cent)
RTI Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Age-Group 18-25 yrs 26-35 yrs 36-50 yrs Above 50 yrs 8 5 4 5 7 1 9 3 5
Citizens Charter 3
4 2 4 8 1 4 1
In Delhi, 5 per cent of BPL respondents were aware of the RTI Act, whereas a lesser percentage of BPL households in the state (3 per cent) were aware of the Citizens Charter. However, the awareness levels about RTI and Citizens Charter were found to be relatively higher amongst urban, male and young BPL respondents. Also, a greater percentage of BPL households in South west Delhi (10 per cent) was aware about RTI as compared to households living in North-west (2 per cent) and North-east Delhi (1 per cent).
Delhi
239
Source of Awareness
The media has often been looked upon as an effective source of information. The survey also echoed the same sentiment. Overall, 35 per cent of BPL households felt it was TV, which made them aware about RTI. However, a much lower per centage of rural BPL households (19 per cent) got information from television, as compared to urban households (48 per cent).
Table 15: Source of Awareness
(Figures in per cent)
Urban 16 3 48 10 23
Rural 46 15 19 19
Overall 30 9 35 5 21
Only 9 per cent of households attributed their awareness about RTI to government sources. Since rural BPL households have significantly lesser exposure to television and can not read newspapers (as many are illiterate or poorly educated), majority of them said they obtained information through interaction with friends.
6. Goa
6.1 ABOUT
THE
STATE
The State of Goa is located on the western coast of India in the coastal belt known as Konkan. The State of Maharashtra borders Goa on the north, the State of Karnataka on the south and east. As per the Planning Commission data of 2004-05, 13.8 per cent of the population in Goa is below the poverty line. The poverty line cutoff for per capita income of the urban population is Rs. 665, which is significantly higher than the national average of Rs. 356, while that of its rural counterpart is slightly lower at Rs. 322. Known more as a popular holiday destination, not many would associate Goa with being a strong votary of e-governance. However, Goa has several e-governance initiatives both in the planning and implementation phase, covering a wide range of services. The land records computerization software called DHARANI is being used to issue the ROR (Record of Rights: Form I & XIV and Form D) instantly across the counter to the public from all the offices and Mahiti Ghars (Information Kiosks). All the offices are inter-connected through a Statewide Network called GOANET which makes it possible to issue the ROR of any Taluka from any other Taluka or Mahiti Ghars. Touch screen-based kiosks have also been installed at strategic locations to provide land records information in multilingual form to the people. The present study focuses on corruption as perceived and experienced by people living below the poverty line. The study collected a sample of 516 BPL households of which 76 were from urban areas, and 440 from rural areas. These households were covered from four towns and 12 villages across four districts including Sangam, Madagaon, Panaji and Phonda.
Goa
Table 1: Corruption: Hear Say or Real?
241
Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & above
1.3 22.0 18.9 19.7 13.0 21.5 27.2 19.1 17.2 15.4
97.4 74.5 78.6 73.7 80.6 75.9 72.8 77.9 79.8 84.6
Significant difference was observed between the rural and urban households reporting an increase in corruption over the last year. While over 84 per cent of urban BPL respondents perceived the level of corruption to have increased, slightly more than half of rural respondents conferred with this view. This links well with the earlier table where 22 per cent of rural BPL respondents considered corruption in public services in Goa to be hear say.
Table 2: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & above
Increased
Same as before
Decreased
84.2 50.7 57.7 43.4 63.0 59.5 45.7 54.4 52.5 69.2
13.2 47.7 40.5 55.3 33.3 39.0 53.1 44.1 47.5 30.8
The difference in perception of a change in the level of corruption was large between male and female BPL respondents. Close to 58 per cent males reported an increase in the malpractice, while the per centage of females reporting an increase in corruption was slightly more than 43 per cent. Hardly anyone irrespective of gender and educational qualifications - thought that corruption has actually declined.
242
Overall, nearly half of the respondents held politicians responsible for corrupt practices and onethird put the blame on corrupt officials. Significantly, just over one in seven thought that the politician-bureaucrat-businessman nexus was responsible. In the urban areas, the proportion is one in three. Unlike other States, BPL families in Goa did not think citizens are complicit in the corruption.
6.3 INTERACTION
WITH
PUBLIC SERVICES
Table 4: Interaction with Public Services
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Police Land Records & Registration Housing Forest
Urban
Rural
Overall
96.1 93.4 80.3 71.1 5.3 39.5 13.2 14.5 7.9 2.6
85.7 86.6 85.0 58.0 26.1 27.7 10.2 8.4 2.3 9.8
87.2 87.6 84.3 59.9 23.1 29.5 10.7 9.3 3.1 8.7
Among the basic services, the rate of interaction was high (60 per cent and above), except for Water Supply (23.1 per cent). The urban-rural difference was also noticeable in the Water Supply service, with the rural interaction being a little more than 26 per cent, as compared to the urban families, who interacted a little more than 5 per cent. The level of interaction of BPL households with need-based services was comparatively less that in other States of the country . Even the banking services, which had the highest per centage of interaction both at the urban and rural areas, the maximum was only 39.5 and 27.7 per cent, respectively.
Multiple Visits
The data below revealed that in the basic services category, between 4.6 and 13.1 per cent of BPL families had to make repeated visits, while in the need-based services category, the per
Goa
243
centage of BPL families who made more than 3 visits to get their work done was significantly higher. The Housing department had the dubious distinction on this count, where more than 87 per cent of BPL families had to make repeat visits three times or more. The reason Stated for repeated visits were mostly the ones for which the departments have been primarily set-up in the first place, such as Admission in Schools, correcting faulty meters, addition and deletion of names and change in the ration shops, etc.
Table 5: Multiple Visits
(Figures in per cent)
BPL Households
6.4
Admission Application for scholarship Seek promotion from one class to another Not allowed to appear in exams Issues of certificate Non receipt of bill To reduce/adjust excess bill Faulty meter; New connection Restoration of connection New supply As in patient/ for getting bed Issue of new ration card Surrender ration card Change in address on ration card and ration shop Deletion & addition of family members in ration card Permission for release of extra quantity during festivals/marriage
Electricity
13.1
4.6 9.5
Water Supply
7.5
Installation/maintenance of hand pumps Regularization of unauthorized water connection Water meter installation Open new account Seek loan Defer loan repayment Allotment of plot/ house Sanction/release of housing loan Construction of toilets Transfer of ownership Agricultural land on lease from Panchayat Purchasing stamp paper Sale/purchase of land property Mutation Paying tax Income certificateCaste certificate Filing a complaint As an accused Passport verification Character certificate
NEED-BASED Banking Housing Land Records & Registration 42.1 87.5 41.6
Police
23.6
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration Police
There is Corruption 68.6 62.1 72.6 69.1 23.5 69.7 86.7 93.8 87.5 89.1
Not sure / Dont know 8.4 12.6 10.4 9.8 10.1 3.9 8.8 6.3 10.4 10.9
A wide gap could also be observed in the perception of the BPL families as in the need-based services. Almost in all the services, close to 70 per cent and more agreed to an increase in the level of corruption, with the maximum being in the Housing department (93.8 per cent). Barring the Water Supply service in Goa, the BPL families reported corruption to have increased in all the other basic services by more than 50 per cent. While as many as 81.5 per cent of BPL families saw no change in the level of corruption in the last one year in the department of Water Supply, those who reported a decrease within the time frame in any of the services were very less with the maximum being a little less than only two per cent in the Education and PDS departments.
Table 7: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Health Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration Police
Decreased
Same
Increased
42.7 46.7 46.5 42.4 81.5 34.2 53.3 6.3 29.2 34.5
55.3 52.2 52.4 55.8 18.5 59.2 46.7 93.8 68.8 65.5
Goa
245
Services BASIC Public Distribution System (PDS) Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Land Records & Registration Housing Police
Improved
Same
Deteriorated
56.7 57.7 64.8 55.0 92.4 51.3 75.6 52.1 31.3 58.2
41.3 40.9 34.5 43.0 7.6 41.4 24.4 45.8 68.8 41.8
Mostof the households stated that the grievance redressal mechanism to have either remained the same or deteriorated during the last one year. The highest per centage, which suggested an improvement in the grievance redressal measures was only a little, more than 7 per cent in the Banking services with Water Supply, Forest, Housing and Police having no improvement at all.
6.6 INCIDENCE
OF
CORRUPTION
Table 9: Experience of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Housing Land Records & Registration Forest Police
Paid Bribe
Use Contact
0.3 4.6 2.0 4.2 5.1 0.7 6.3 25.0 35.6 38.6
1.9 8.5 8.6 6.2 13.7 2.0 25.0 12.5 17.8 7.0
2.3 1.1 2.0 1.3 0.9 0.7 12.5 6.3 2.2 1.8
Overall in the basic services in Goa, it was observed that a higher per centage of BPL families resorted to the use of contacts, as compared to directly paying bribes. Though the gap was not very wide, it was nevertheless, noticeable. Close to 5 per cent of BPL households had paid extra money to the water supply service providers, as compared to a little more than 13 per cent, who
246
used contacts to get their work done. Similar trend could also be seen in the Hospital, PDS, Electricity and School Education services. Among the need-based services, Housing and Banking displayed the same trend as basic services mentioned above, where BPL respondents used contacts to influence service delivery. In case of Land Records & Registration, Forest and Police services, direct bribe was paid by a higher proportion of BPL respondents than those who used contacts.
Even though the State is progressing well in the use of IT for administration sector, corruption was found to be rampant in almost all the services, suggesting the need for better and stricter governance initiatives in the State. In the basic services category, bribe was actually being paid in the Electricity, Health and PDS services for reasons that are very elementary, such as new connection, admission as in-patient hospital or issuance of a new ration card. Similarly, in the need-based services, bribes are being paid for providing the very services for which the departments have been set-up in the first place. Paying a bribe in the forest department for illegal cutting of trees suggests the need for stricter administrative control and introduction of accountability.
Goa
Table 11: Route of Bribe Payment
247
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Health Public Distribution System Water supply NEED-BASED Banking Police Land Records & Registration Housing Forest
Agent/ Middlemen
Local Representative
In brief, corruption in Electricity, School Education, Land Records & Registration, Police and Housing services has become Alarming while in PDS and Banking is Very High.
248
The officials in the PDS services admitted that no effective measures were taken to improve service delivery in terms of having a single window system or toll free number or a call centre. A positive aspect pointed out by the officials across the departments was that each one of them had complaint box/register, which from time to time was checked by the higher-level authorities. The officials of the Housing service revealed that the cash benefits that were being provided to the BPL families under Indira Awaas Yojna (IAY) were not enough. Additional assistance up to Rs.2,500 was provided under this scheme.
Departments /Services Bank Electricity Hospital Housing Land Records PDS Police Water supply
No. of Offices 4 4 4 3 3 4 4 4
The above Table reveals that services have taken lot of initiatives to put display boards for widening awareness about Citizens Charters, RTI and the name of PIO and the availability of complaint box.
Table 14: RTI and Citizens Charter
(Figures in per cent)
Variables Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Age-Group 18 25 yrs 26 35 yrs 36 50 yrs Above 50 yrs
The overall awareness about RTI & Citizens Charter was very low at 1.2 and 0.4 per cent, respectively. Not much difference was observed in location, age and gender wise demarcation. The awareness about RTI among the urban BPL families was better at a little more than 5 per cent. The findings clearly indicate the need of better awareness raising vis--vis measures to improve transparency. Awareness of Citizens Charters among all is almost negligible.
Goa
249
Source of Awareness
Table 15: Source of RTI Awareness
(Figures in per cent)
In Goa, the overall awareness about RTI was mainly through TV and friends. While in the rural areas, friends were clearly the most important source of information (57 per cent). In the urban areas it was mainly through television that most of the BPL households came to know about RTI in the last one year.
7. Gujarat
7.1 ABOUT
THE
STATE
Gujarat has recorded impressive growth in Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) over the last decade, driven primarily by industry, trade and commerce. In spite of this achievement, 17 per cent of population or about 90.69 lakh people are Below Poverty Line (BPL) in 2004-05 according to estimates put out by the Planning Commission. The incidence of poverty is higher in rural areas (19 per cent of people) when compared to urban areas (1319 per cent of people are classified as BPL). According to Gujarat Human Development Report, the poorest are agricultural and rural labour particularly belonging to SC & ST community. Other poor groups in rural areas are marginal farmers and artisans, followed by small farmers in semi arid areas. The poor in urban areas are mainly casual unskilled workers and self-employed in informal sector. The monthly per capita income of BPL people or households in rural areas was Rs. 353 and in urban areas was Rs. 541 in 2004-05. The study brings out that 32 per cent of eligible households in Gujarat do not have BPL cards.
ABOUT
CORRUPTION
(Figures in per cent)
Close to threefourths of BPL households covered in the survey think that corruption in public office is for real and not hear say. Relatively higher percentage of urban, women and highly educated had informed that they had first hand knowledge / experience of corruption.
Gujarat
Table 2: Level of Corruption
251
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above
Increased
Remained Same
Decreased
23 23 25 15 18 21 27 21 28 37
47 46 44 56 47 62 48 43 39 60
26 29 29 23 30 17 23 32 31 3
Nearly half of BPL households think that the level of corruption has remained same as in the last oneyear. While a little over quarter of BPL households think that corruption has declined, 23 per cent believe that corruption has increased. Overall, both urban and rural BPL households think that corruption has either marginally declined or remained same in the last one-year. However the bettereducated BPL households think that corruption has either increased or remained same in the last oneyear.
Table 3: Who is Responsible for Corruption?
(Figures in per cent)
Urban 17 64 6 12
Rural 19 65 1 4 10
Overall 18 65 1 5 10
Unlike in others States, where both Government Official and Politicians are held responsible for corruption, three-fourths of BPL household in Gujarat think that government functionaries are responsible for corruption. Relatively, politicians image is much better - only one-fifth of people hold politicians responsible for corruption. However, 10 per cent of the BPL households think that citizenss themselves are responsible for corruption.
7.3 INTERACTION
WITH
PUBLIC SERVICES
Our research has shown that BPL households of Gujarat are far more dependent on public services provided by Government institutions/ agencies. Therefore, it would be interesting to capture the extent to which BPL household are interacting with various public services. However, there is a need
252
to differentiate between basic services (for which frequent interaction is required) and need based services, where the extent of interaction is less.
Table 4: Interaction with Public Services
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police Land Records & Registration Housing Forest
Urban
Rural
Overall
95 84 77 69 37
99 85 72 71 32
97 85 74 71 34
39
35 29
36 29 16 33 22 36
18 29 23 34
15 35 21 37
In most of the basic services (except water), the per centage of BPL household interacting with the departments is 71 per cent and above. Service-wise, an over-whelming 97 per cent of households had interacted with PDS in the last one year. Since BPL household tend to migrate in search of employment, Gujarat has introduced the concept of roaming ration card to ease the accessing of ration shop. This could also have resulted in high per centage of BPL household interacting with ration shops. Considering the fact that migration is both a statewide as well as a nation-wide phenomenon, this model could be used in other states as well. Health service is the next most important department in terms of interaction (8519 per cent) due to introduction. With high interaction with Jyotigram Yojana aimed at providing 24-hour supply of electricity to all its villages and the BPL families at concessional rates, interaction with the Electricity Department is 74 per cent. With such high interaction with basic services, it is not surprising that Gujarat ranks first in the country in the implementation of 20-point programme for poverty alleviation. Even in the case of need-based services, the per centage of BPL households interacting with services is much lower than the basic services but higher when compared to some of the other states in the country.
Multiple Visits
Earlier corruption studies have shown that citizens tend to pay bribe to avoid making repeated visits to a department to get a particular work done. In view of this, it would be interesting to study the extent and reason why BPL respondents have to make repeated visits.
Gujarat
Table 5: Multiple Visits
253
Service BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Bank Housing Land Records & Registration Police
BPL Households
37 12 52 15 59
Admission, application for scholarship, issue of certificate New connection, restoration of connection, billing, meter related issues Medicines, to get admitted as in-patient, for diagnostic services, blood transfusion etc. Issue of new ration card, addition of family members Installation & maintenance of hand pump, supply of water tanker Account opening, seeking loan, pension Allotment of plot, release of loan Obtaining land records, mutation, land survey, income certificate File complaint, to get the name removed as accused
58 71 50 55
The data shows that in case of basic services, 12-59 per cent of BPL respondents had to make three or more visits, whereas the proportion in need-based services was between 50 and 70 per cent. The highest rate (59 per cent) of repeat visits was recorded for Water Supply in case of basic service and Housing (71 per cent) in the case of need-based services. Being a water-deficient and drought-prone state, the importance of Water Supply service cannot be underestimated. Moreover, with rapid growth of urban population due to migration and in conjunction with rising income, the demand for housing service is likely to increase in the future.
7.4 PERCEPTION
ABOUT
SERVICES
There is a sharp difference in the corruption perception about basic and need-based services. A majority of the BPL households surveyed perceive that there is no corruption in basic services barring the PDS. Relatively less per centage of BPL household who have interacted with Education Department in the last one year viewed department to be corrupt. In case of need-based services, 49-74 per cent of BPL households think that there is corruption except in Banking. In case of Police department, and overwhelming 74 per cent of BPL household who had interacted with the service, perceived it to be corrupt. More than 40 per cent of the BPL households think that corruption has declined in most of the basic services. In case of need-based services, the level of corruption has either declined or remained same except in the case of Police department. This indicates a favourable perception regarding governance in the state, and better standard of service delivery as compared to other states.
Service BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Bank Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
There is Corruption
No Corruption
8 20 30 46 22 20 49 74 70 54 74
9 10 14 16 12 20 13 8 14 17 21
83 70 56 34 66 60 38 18 16 29 5
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Bank Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Decreased
Same
Increased
73 58 56 41 44 54 39 26 26 33 3
24 28 34 43 51 40 41 43 46 45 42
3 14 10 16 5 6 20 31 28 22 55
Gujarat
Table 8: Grievance Redressal Mechanism
255
Service BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Police Land Records & Registration Housing Forest National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme
Improved
Same
Deteriorated
37.8 45 47.6 61.6 36.4 45.9 1.4 23.7 23.4 30.5 29.5
45.6 45 48.2 35.4 56.5 47.3 56.8 46.4 41.3 45.5 45.9
16.6 9.9 4.2 3.0 7.0 6.8 41.8 29.9 35.3 24.0 24.6
7.6 INCIDENCE
OF
CORRUPTION
Overall, in case of basic service, up to 10 per cent of the households have accepted to have paid bribe, used influence or both to avail services. Interestingly, up to three per cent of BPL households have not used the service at all since bribe was sought from them. This works out to about thirty per cent of those who are paying bribe in case of most of the services.
Table 9: Experience of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services
Paid Bribe
Used contact
BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Bank Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police 5.3 10.8 19.3 30.3 7.3 60.3 3.0 1.8 9.0 10.2 4.7 13.1 5.6 0.3 30.2 7.6 12.0 2.7 1.7 6.7 5.3 8.8 4.2 1.2 1.6 3.4 3.8 2.9 0.5 2.0 2.3 3.3 2.2
256
Incase of need-based services, there was a significant variation (from 5-60 per cent) in the extent of people paying bribe. BPL households interacting with Police paid bribe to the extent of 60 per cent to get their work done. It was followed by Land Records & Registration (30.3 per cent). The per centage of BPL households who have reported that they could not avail the particular service because they could not afford to pay bribe is higher in certain services like Housing (30.4 per cent) and NREGS (12 per cent). One striking feature of the data is the voluntary rejection in taking a service on being asked for a bribe. For example, a slightly higher per centage of people rejected paying bribe in Housing than those who actually paid it or used a contact. A similar phenomenon is reported for NREGS as well.
Police
In case of Basic services, the reason for paying bribe is more due to bribe seeking behavior of the staff at the implementation level. However, it needs to be recognized that Gujarat has better standards of service delivery as compared to other states. Special attention needs to be paid to services such as Police, Land Records & Registration and Housing, whose service delivery is worst. These need-based services of all three require administrative direction, simplification of procedures transparency and accountability. This should be the focus of the state government in future.
Gujarat
Table 11: Route of Bribe Payment
257
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System NEED-BASED Bank Land Records & Registration Police
Agent/ middlemen
Local representative
91 89 93 75 78 72 86
0 8 5 24 22 26 13
9 2 2 1 2 1
OF
SERVICES
258
for inclusion of ineligible families. The research team did observe the presence of middlemen outside the offices for preparing ration card.
SWAGAT A Case Study of Grievance Redressal SWAGAT enables direct communication between the citizens and the Chief Minister. In Gandhinagar, the fourth Thursday of every month is a SWAGAT day to attend the grievance of people. Grievances are logged in, transmitted and made available online to the officers concerned who have to reply within 3-4 hours. The departments concerned then have to be ready with the replies, before 3 p.m., when the Chief Minister holds video-conferences with all the districts concerned. Complaints are called one by one and the Chief Minister examines each complaint in detail. The information sent by the department is also reviewed online in the presence of the complainant and the Collector/District Development Officer/Superintendent of Police and other concerned officials. Attempts are made to offer a solution on the same day. The record is then preserved in the SWAGAT database and a separate log is maintained for each case.
Banking Electricity Hospital Housing Land Records & Registration Public Distribution System Police Water supply
Variables Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Age Group 18 25 yrs 26 35 yrs 36 50 yrs Above 50 yrs
RTI 3.8 4.9 3.3 4.5 1.0 1.3 5.1 4.3 2.4
Citizens Charter 2.1 2.8 1.7 2.2 1.6 2.7 1.1 2.5 2.4
Gujarat
259
Despite sustained media campaign about the RTI Act, hardly 6 per cent of the BPL households are aware about RTI and 3.8 per cent about Citizens Charters. This clearly brings out a need for lot of field-base support to ensure that BPL households are aware and utilize these tools to avail hassle free public services.
Source of Awareness
Despite poor performance of the government sources, media - both electronic and print, and friends have played most important role in widening the awareness about RTI Act.
Table 15: Source of Awareness
(Figures in per cent)
Urban 23 9 23 27 14 5
Rural 32 13 19 3 19 6 3 3
Overall 28 11 21 13 17 4 4 2
8. Haryana
8.1 ABOUT
THE
STATE
Haryana, with a little more than 3.7 million households, has around 0.5 million households living below poverty line, two-thirds of them residing in rural areas. The Planning Commission estimates the poverty line in the State to be Rs. 414.76 per capita per month for rural areas and Rs. 504.49 for urban areas. The rural poverty line is well above that of the national figure, while it is lower in comparison with the national poverty line for the urban sector. The present study, which focuses on corruption as perceived and experienced by people living below poverty line, covered a sample of 625 (474 rural; 151 urban) BPL Households. These households were covered from six towns and eighteen villages of three districts namely Ambala, Mahendragarh and Sirsa of Haryana. The present study revealed that out of the total BPL households in Haryana, a little more than 21 per cent of the eligible households do not have BPL cards.
BPL Households Government officials Politician All of them Businessman Citizen 37.0 26.0 27.0 0.2 9.0
Haryana
261
Despite efforts to bring transparency and fair practices in electoral process, more than 40 per cent know someone locally who had paid money to influence vote in favour of a particular candidate or party.
8.3 INTERACTION
WITH
PUBLIC SERVICES
Table 3: Interaction with Public Services
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Public Distribution System (PDS) Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Banking Housing Police Land Records & Registration Forest
BPL Households
96 85 77 64 15 37 35 17 16 14 5
Note: Due to low forest area in Haryana, interaction with Forest Service is less and has not been considered for further analysis
Among the basic services, PDS, hospital and electricity services were the ones which were most accessed by BPL households in the state during the last one year. The high degree of interaction shows greater dependence of the BPL population on these services. Water Supply was reported to have the least interaction, which may be due to the fact that most towns and villages in Haryana are already covered by the service. Among need-based services, more than one-third of BPL households had interacted with NREGS and Bank/post office. Compared to other states, the interaction of BPL families in Haryana with services such as Housing, Police and Land Records is low.
Multiple Visits
A household could be expected to visit or interact with the service for more than once during a year to avail certain services like taking monthly ration from Fair Price Shop, for bill payment etc. Earlier studies too have shown that repeated visits to get the same work done leads to harassment and inconvenience and induce users to pay bribe. This is especially the case for need-based services such as Housing and Police. Compared to basic services, repeated visits were more reported by BPL households for all the need-based services in Haryana. In banking service, more than 80 per cent of the BPL households had to visit three times or more to open a new savings account or to get a loan sanctioned.
262
Similarly, in spite of computerization of land records, the BPL households who interacted for land record related services had to visit three times or more for the same purpose, thereby indicating that procedures are cumbersome and not transparent enough.
Table 4: Multiple Visits
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Housing
BPL Households
19 31 20 6 49
For Scholarship, Admission To reduce/adjust excess bill, non receipt of bill, faulty meter To get bed, for medical certificate, for medicine To get new ration card, To carry out changes in ration card Installation/Maintenance of hand pumps, repair of water pipeline To open a new savings account, Seek loan Allotment of plot/house, construction of toilets Obtaining land records, purchasing stamp paper, paying tax To get selected as beneficiary, To get a job card For filling a complaint, remove name as witness
81 76 78 72 56
Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police
There is Corruption
No corruption
44 47 55 64 60 74 72 56 56 72
38 39 3 21 23 11 20 30 29 15
18 14 43 15 17 15 8 14 15 13
Haryana
263
More than half of the BPL households, who interacted with the respective services in Haryana, think that corruption exists in all these services. Maximum households reported corruption in need-based services like Banking, Police and Housing. Irrespective of the nature of service (basic or need based), significant per centage of BPL households felt that corruption has increased during the last one year in these services. The highest perception of increase is for Police service. Among those BPL households, which had interacted with Police during the last one year, more than half felt that corruption has increased in the department. For other services, majority of the BPL households saw no change corruption in the respective services, despite claims of initiatives by the State government.
Table 5: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Decreased
Same
Increased
14 8 9 9 8 10 7 6 9 8
47 48 64 58 54 68 48 54 60 36
39 44 27 33 38 22 45 40 31 56
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System (PDS) Water Supply
Improved
Same
Deteriorated
14 8 9 10 12
51 52 62 65 60
34 40 29 25 28
Table Contd...
264
Table Contd...
NEED-BASED Banking Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police 9 8 5 8 3 69 52 45 58 44 22 40 51 34 53
8.6 INCIDENCE
OF
CORRUPTION
More than 40 per cent of the BPL households, who interacted with Police service during the last one year, paid bribe for one reason or the other. Comparatively, the percentage of BPL households who paid bribe to the other services was less. Water Supply and Land Records & Registration were the ones in which more than 10 per cent of the BPL households used a contact to get the work done.
Table 7: Experience of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services
Paid Bribe
Used Contact
BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System (PDS) Water Supply NEED BASED Banking Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police 43.6 1.0 2.0 2.7 4.8 3.4 0.9 2.0 1.0 10.3 2.2 1.4 1.9 3.4 1.3 0.2 1.7 1.0 1.0 2.1 0.2 1.5 0.4 1.0 13.7 0.2 1.3 0.4 0.8 9.5
In fact, as high as 9.5 per cent of BPL households needed water supply could not avail this service as they could not pay the bribe. Two to three per cent of BPL households also could not avail services of land registration, police and housing for the same reason.
Haryana
265
households visited three times or more is similar to reasons for which bribe was paid. This implies that simplifying the procedure and better transparency in services could bring down the need for repeated visits. Without this, corruption harassing the citizens cannot be reduced.
Table 8: Purpose of Paying Bribe
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System (PDS) Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police Seek loan Open new savings account Allotment of Plot/house Construction of toilets Agricultural land on lease from Panchayat Obtaining land records Purchasing land Getting job card Registering a complaint To remove name from the witness list For Admitting the ward Adjust Excess bill/Bill payment To replace faulty meter New connection For getting bed For treatment/operation For getting medicine For ration card For getting monthly ration Maintenance of hand pump Reason for Paying Bribe
Services BASIC Electricity Health Public Distribution System (PDS) School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking
266
Table Contd...
Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police
OF
SERVICES
HIGH Water Supply MODERATE Electricity Public Distribution System (PDS) School Education Banking Land Records & Registration Police National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Housing Forest
Health is perceived as the only service having corruption on an Alarming scale, followed by Water Supply categorized as High.
Haryana
267
Bribe to bypass routine procedure - According to the service providers, sometimes service seekers want to avail the services bypassing the procedures and thereby instigate staff to seek bribe. Interference of politicians is another reason, which deprives eligible BPL households to avail the benefits targeted at them. Lack of awareness among BPL households about the procedure and formalities required to avail a service is another reason for service providers getting involved in corrupt practices. Regular interaction with BPL households and organizing special camps to create awareness would sensitize them about their rights and benefits.
Services
No. of Offices 10 9 12 5 9 12 9 8
Banking Electricity Hospital Housing Land Records & Registration Public Distribution Systems Police Water supply
Boards displaying provisions of Right to Information (RTI) Act-2005 and names of PIOs are visible for more services than on Citizens Charters. Similarly, visibility of complaint box in all the services is better than Display Boards. A very small per centage of BPL household have even heard about these two. Only 3 per cent of the BPL households had heard about RTI and even lesser per centage (1 per cent) in Haryana knew about Citizens Charter. Such awareness is better in urban areas, male and those BPL respondents who are above 26 years of age.
Table 12: RTI and Citizens Charter
(Figures in per cent)
RTI 3 7 1
Citizens Charter 1 2 1
Table Contd...
268
Table Contd...
Along with government, individuals and community should take pro-active initiatives to fight against corruption. Encouragingly, around six per cent of the BPL households in Haryana lodged complaints with higher authorities against corruption in government services in the last one year.
Source of Awareness
Table 13: Source of Awareness
(Figures in per cent)
Urban 38 8 15 8 8 23
Rural 14 29 14 14 14 14
Overall 30 5 20 5 10 5 20 5
The present awareness about Right to Information Act can be attributed to media (35 per cent)both print and electronic, followed by friends (30 per cent) and campaign (20 per cent). The role of government sources is minimum (5 per cent). Again, awareness in urban areas is better than rural areas.
Haryana
269
9. Himachal Pradesh
9.1 ABOUT
THE
STATE
As per the Census 2001, the total number of households in Himachal Pradesh is 1.22 million. Out the total households in the state, it is estimated that nearly 10 per cent live below poverty line. The state is regarded as a model example of development for other hill states in India. Its per capita income is higher than the national average. The cut off point for poverty line (Rs. per capita per month) for rural population in Himachal Pradesh is Rs. 394 and for urban population the cut off point is Rs. 504. NREGS was implemented in two districts (Chamba and Sirmaur) in the first phase and has been extended to two more districts (Kangra and Mandi) in the second phase. The present study focuses on corruption as perceived and experienced by people living below poverty line. The study is based on a sample of 628 BPL households (465 rural; 163 urban). These households were covered from six towns and eighteen villages of three districts of the state, namely, the state capital (Shimla) and two NREGS district (Chamba and Kangra). In Himachal Pradesh, a number of schemes like SGSY, SGRY, IAY, Rajiv Gandhi Awaas Yojna are in operation for the upliftment of the economic condition of the BPL families. The present corruption study revealed that out of the total BPL households in the state, one-fifth have not got BPL cards. In rural areas 19 per cent of BPL households have not got BPL card while the corresponding figure in the urban areas is 26 per cent.
77 77 72 84
15 19 23 10
7 4 5 5
Table Contd...
Himachal Pradesh
Table Contd...
271
Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above 83 89 75 75 77 47 11 12 21 18 20 53 5 4 7 3 -
Among three districts, comparatively higher per cent (92 per cent) of BPL households in Kangra believed that corruption is more here say. The responses of the BPL households suggest that corruption in the state is not rampant, and can be linked to the economic achievement of the state in terms of reducing the incidence of poverty.
Table 2: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Increased Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above 10 19 27 15 19 33 19 13 15 17
Same as before
Decreased
56 55 55 56 65 46 52 54 53 47
15 20 19 20 12 23 11 24 20 13
A majority (55 per cent) of he BPL households believed that the level of corruption has remained same in the in last one-year. Nearly an equal proportion (one-fifth) of BPL families think that corruption has either increased or decreased. Overall, in the perception of the BPL respondents, the existing low level of corruption is being maintained.
Table 3: Who is Responsible for Corruption?
(Figures in per cent)
Urban 41 24 12 14
Rural 36 31 7 15
Overall 37 29 8 15
In the state more than one third of the BPL households held politicians responsible for the corruption, while 29 per cent put the blame on government officials.
272
Around four per cent of the respondents shared that they knew someone in the community who were paid money to cast vote in favour of a particular candidate or party.
9.3 INTERACTION
WITH
PUBLIC SERVICES
Among the basic services, the highest level of interaction of BPL households was found for Health, PDS and Electricity services. Given that the incidence of poverty is low in Himachal Pradesh, the data implies that public services are dependable and efficient, and is preferred by BPL families over private providers, especially in the case of Health services. The responses show that a high proportion of BPL households in the state had electricity connections. Water Supply was the only service that showed a low interaction rate.
Table 4: Interaction with Public Services
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Health Public Distribution System Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Urban
Rural
Overall
98 92 93 52 42 50 14 14 6
97 97 85 45 19 48 34 9 12 43 3
97 95 87 47 52 49 34 10 13 43 4
Among need based services, between 34 and 49 per cent of the BPL households interacted mostly with Banking/Post office, NREGS and Forest services. Nearly 50 per cent of BPL households interacted with Banking service /post office followed by NREGS.
Multiple Visits
As a part of good governance, services available in the government delivery points should be hassle free in such a way that citizens need not make repeat visits for the same purpose. Earlier corruption studies have shown that many a times the visitors paid bribe to avoid repeat visits. In view of this, the present study tried to identify the proportion of the BPL households who had to make repeat visits in the last one-year and the specific purposes. Among basic services comparatively higher per cent of the BPL households had to make three or more visits in Water Supply, Health and School Education. Among need-based services, except for Police, comparatively higher proportion of BPL households had to make three or more visits in almost all the services.
Himachal Pradesh
Table 5: Multiple Visits
273
BPL Households
Non receipt of bill To reduce /adjust excess bill Faulty meter Meter installationNew connection Restoration of connection Agricultural connection Regular supply As in-patient / for getting bed Preparation of ration card Surrender ration card/ change in address on ration card Change of ration shop Deletion & addition of family members in ration card Admission Application for scholarship Seek promotion from one class to another Low attendance of ward To check the quality of mid-day meal Issue of certificate Not allowed to appear in exams Installation/maintenance of hand pumps Regularization of unauthorized water connection Water meter installation Repair of water pipe Irrigation water Open new account Seek loan Defer loan instalment Allotment of plot/house Sanction/release of housing loan Construction of toilets Agricultural land on lease from panchayat Obtaining land records Purchasing stamp paper Sale/purchase of land property Mutation Land survey For getting selected as beneficiary/ registration for job contract Issuance of job contract card Payment of unemployment allowances
39 8
School Education
17
Water Supply
53
26
There is Corruption
No corruption
10 23
17 22
59 49
Table Contd...
274
Table Contd...
Public Distribution System School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration Police
13 7 8 4 10 11 23 30
18 16 22 15 23 33 33 23 48
64 66 60 69 60 35 35 57 22
Majority of the BPL households (nearly 70 per cent) for almost all the 11 services covered in the study felt that level of corruption in the services had remained same in the last one-year.
Table 7: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Health Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Decreased
Same
Increased
22 23 23 27 16 24 42 20 18 12 13
73 69 62 64 77 71 52 72 66 78 74
5 8 15 9 7 6 6 8 17 11 13
Improved
Same
Deteriorated
46 46.2 45.5
Himachal Pradesh
Table Contd...
275
School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Police Land Records & Registration Housing Forest National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme
9.6 INCIDENCE
OF
CORRUPTION
Table 9: Experience of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Service BASIC Electricity Health Public Distribution System School Education Water Supply NEED BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Paid Bribe
Used Contact
0.4 0.2 4.3 1.7 1.2 0.3 1.3 3.2 3.8 1.5 13.0
0.5 0.2 0.7 1.7 1.2 1.3 1.3 3.2 1.3 0.5 4.3
0.2 0.7 1.0 0.3 0.6 0.7 0.6 1.6 1.3 0.5 4.3
Out of the total BPL households who interacted with the service, only a small per cent of them paid bribe or used a contact in the last one year to get their work attended to. Among the services covered in the study highest per cent four per cent of the BPL households paid bribe in Police service (13 per cent). In the services like Housing, Land Record & registration and PDS, only 1 to 1.5 per cent of the BPL households had to pay bribe to get their work attended to. In rest of the services, less than one per cent of the BPL households had to pay bribe.
Bill payment New connection As in-patient/ For getting bed Preparation of new ration card To take monthly ration. New Admission Low attendance of child/promotion from one class to another Application for scholarship Installation/Maintenance of hand pumpRepair of water pipe
Obtain land records Mutation Paying tax For getting selected as beneficiary/ registration for job Issuance of job card For filing a complaint Remove name from witness Character certificate
Services BASIC Electricity Health Public Distribution System School Education Water supply NEED-BASED Banking Land Records & Registration Police National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Housing Forest
Agent/ Middlemen
Local Representative
16 33 100 50
15
Himachal Pradesh
277
year to get their work attended to. On an average a BPL household paid Rs. 217 to one or other service in the last one year as bribe. Overall, total bribe involved in availing eleven services in the year is estimated to be Rs. 1.89 million.
OF
SERVICES
In Himachal Pradesh corruption in all the services is at moderate level. In comparison to other states, corruption in Himachal Pradesh is of very low level.
Table 12: Level of Corruption: Relative Position
ALARMING Health VERY HIGH HIGH MODERATE Electricity Public Distribution System (PDS) School Education Water Supply Banking Land Police National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Housing Forest
278
Services
No. of Offices 7 5 6 5 3 7 6 5
Bank Electricity Hospital Housing Land Record Public Distribution System Police Water supply
Variables Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Age-Group 18 25 yrs 26 35 yrs 36 50 yrs Above 50 yrs
RTI 2.9 2.5 3.0 4.1 0.8 6.1 2.9 4.1 0.8
Citizens Charter 2.4 3.1 2.2 3.1 1.3 3.0 2.8 2.0 2.1
Awareness on RTI among BPL households in Himachal Pradesh was nearly 3 per cent and 2.4 per cent BPL households were aware of Citizens Charter. The awareness of these two was mostly among male BPL. Younger BPL respondents were more aware about RTI.
Source of Awareness
A majority (51 per cent) of those BPL households, who had heard about the RTI Act, got the information from news media (newspaper and television). 32 per cent heard about it from friends. 11 per cent of the BPL households heard about RTI from sensitization campaigns.
Himachal Pradesh
Table 15: Source of Awareness
279
Urban 38 13 25 13
Rural 31 3 41 14 10
Overall 32 3 35 16 11
STATE
According to the Census 2001, the total number of households in Jammu & Kashmir stands at 15,68,519. Out of them, only seven per cent households live below poverty line, one of the lowest incidence of poverty in any state of India. The cut off point for poverty line (Rs. per capita per month) for rural population in Jammu & Kashmir is Rs. 391 and for urban population is Rs. 553 (source: Planning Commission of India). During the first phase of implementation of NREGS in the country, three districts (Doda, Kupwara and Poonch) were included from Jammu & Kashmir. In the second phase, two more districts (Anantnag and Jammu) were added. The present study focuses on corruption as perceived and experienced by people living below poverty line in Jammu & Kashmir. The study collected a sample of 624 BPL Households (467 rural; 157 urban). These households were covered from six towns and eighteen villages of three districts of Jammu & Kashmir, i.e., the state capital (Srinagar) and two NREGS districts (Anantnag and Doda). The present corruption study revealed that in Jammu & Kashmir around 30 per cent of the households of BPL income group did not have BPL cards. There is no significant difference between urban and rural areas in this regard.
40 39
55 46
5 16
Table Contd...
281
Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above 44 45 37 30 37 24 48 38 54 60 41 71 8 17 9 10 22 5 38 44 50 37 12 19
Around 27 per cent of the BPL households in Jammu & Kashmir reported that in their opinion, the level of corruption in public services had increased in the last one year. The perception was higher for male and educated BPL respondents.
.Table 2: Level of corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above
Increased
Same as before
Decreased
31 26 29 19 24 23 28 28 30 52
61 62 62 62 68 66 49 53 65 33
8 10 8 18 6 11 22 19 5 5
A majority of the BPL households in Jammu & Kashmir held government officials and politicians equally responsible for the corruption in public services. In the urban areas, the perception was that all three, namely, politicians, government officers as well as citizens themselves were responsible for the existence of corrupt practices.
Table 3: Who is Responsible for Corruption?
(Figures in per cent)
Rural 33 48 12 6
Overall 32 45 11 10
282
Eight per cent of the BPL households in Jammu & Kashmir knew someone in the community who had taken money or other favour for casting his/her vote to a particular party or candidate.
10.3 INTERACTION
WITH
PUBLIC SERVICES
Compared to other states of the country where the survey was carried out, the interaction of BPL families in Jammu & Kashmir with public services is low. Among basic services, the highest interaction was found to be for PDS (77 per cent overall) but with little variation between rural and urban areas. This may be due to the recent history of the state, where political unrest affected the delivery of public services. In the case of need-based services, the interaction was even lower. Even for demand-driven services such as NREGS and Housing, the proportion of families reportedly accessing these services was lower than 30 per cent. For the remaining services, it was lower than 20 per cent. It has to be kept in mind, however, that the level of poverty in Jammu & Kashmir is also one of the lowest in the country, and this may have an effect on the demand for public services.
Table 4: Interaction with Public Services
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Health School Education Electricity Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Urban
Rural
Overall
76 48 23 29 22 19 27 24 16
78 52 26 22 15 16 14 21 12 28 13
77 51 26 24 17 17 14 22 15 28 14
Multiple Visits
As a part of good governance, the services available in the delivery points should be efficient so that way that citizens need not make repeat visits for the same purpose. Earlier corruption studies have shown that many a times the visitors to the service delivery points pay bribe to avoid repeat visits in the process of getting a particular work attended to. In view of this, the present study tried to identify the proportion of the BPL households who had to make repeat visits in the last one-year and their specific purposes.
283
The data shows that between 11 and 40 per cent of the BPL households in Jammu & Kashmir had to make repeat visit (three or more times) to basic service delivery points for the same purpose. The proportion was higher in the case of need-based services.
Table 5: Multiple Visits
(Figures in per cent)
BPL Households
30
Non receipt of bill To reduce /adjust excess bill Faulty meter Meter installation New connection Restoration of connection Regular supply As in-patient / for getting bed Preparation of ration card Surrender ration card/ Change in address Change of ration shop Deletion & addition of family members in ration card Permission for release of extra quantity during festivals/months. Admission Application for scholarship Seek promotion Issues of certificate Not allowed to appear in exams Installation/maintenance of hand pumps Regularization of unauthorized water connection Supply of water tankers Repair of water pipe Irrigation water Open new account Seek loan Defer loan instalment Allotment of plot/house Sanction/release of housing loan Construction of toilets Transfer of ownership Agricultural land on lease from panchayat Obtaining land records Purchasing stamp paper Sale/purchase of land property Mutation Land survey Income certificate For getting selected as beneficiary/ registration for job contract Issuance of job contract card Payment of unemployment allowances
11 21
26 40
42
63
For filing a complaint As an accused Remove name from witness Passport verification Verification for job Character certificate
Services BASIC Electricity Health Public Distribution System School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
There is Corruption
Not sure
No Corruption
60 34 54 44 70 52 78 81 74 45 77
11 41 17 30 16 22 14 9 10 37 16
14 16 19 21 12 17 8 9 13 11 5
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Health Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Decreased
Same
Increased
31 11 35 15 7 21 11 9 17 7 7
51 52 55 71 75 58 36 38 41 78 25
18 38 11 14 18 20 53 53 42 16 68
For the services like Police, Forest and Housing, more than fifty per cent of the BPL households felt that the level of corruption in these services had gone up in the last one year. Only in School Education and Health, there was a positive perception about a decrease in the level of corruption as compared to the previous year.
285
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Police Land Records & Registration Housing Forest National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme
Improved
Same
Deteriorated
17.6 37.2 6.7 32.1 8.7 27.2 6 3.2 18.8 9.4 8.4
73.4 56.2 67.1 56.6 65.0 54.4 41.7 75.8 43.8 78.1 82.2
8.9 6.6 26.2 11.3 26.2 18.4 52.4 21.1 37.5 12.5 9.3
10.6 INCIDENCE
OF
CORRUPTION
Table 9: Experience of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Service BASIC Electricity Health Public Distribution System (PDS) School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police
Paid Bribe
Used Contact
28.9 6.9 9.6 10.1 22.3 4.9 18.8 31.7 33.7 0.9 21.4
3.4 0.6 1.9 3.8 3.9 1.0 2.9 3.2 2.8 3.6
7.4 7.9 4.4 6.3 4.9 8.7 3.1 10.1 6.3 2.8 14.3
Among basic services in Jammu & Kashmir, nearly 30 per cent of the BPL households paid bribe for Electricity service. In the state the electrification of households is very low (only 63 per cent). Power Sector Reforms Rating (2006) by CRISIL-ICRA, Jammu & Kashmir had got lowest score (-9.58) among all the Indian states. The other basic service where a high proportion of the BPL households paid bribe was Water Supply service.
286
Among need-based services, highest proportion of BPL households in Jammu & Kashmir paid bribe in Land Records & Registration, Housing, Police and Forest service in the last one year. The difference between perception and actual payment of bribes is reflected in the case of NREGS, where less than 3 per cent either paid bribe or used a contact, compared to 45 per cent of BPL households. In Jammu & Kashmir nearly 12 per cent of the BPL households reported that they complained against corruption in the services. The proportin of BPL households complaining against corruption is comparatively higher in comparison to most of other states.
Health
287
Though 32 per cent of the BPL households held politicians responsible for corruption in the services (as mentioned earlier in the report), in none of the services bribe was paid to local representatives.
Table 11: Route of Bribe Payment
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Electricity Health Public Distribution System School Education Water supply NEED-BASED Banking Land Records & Registration Police National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Housing Forest
Agent/ middlemen 21 19 16 31 35 20 6 7
OF
SERVICES
In Jammu & Kashmir, among 11 services considered for this study, the extent of corruption in most of the services is very high or of alarming level in seven of them. Only in NREGS the corruption can be considered to be moderate.
288
Officials of all the services except Electricity service mentioned that there were complaint registers and Citizens Charter in their respective services. The officials of the services like Housing and NREGS mentioned that they organize meetings at village level to make the villagers aware of the schemes and benefits available to BPL families as well as the process and procedures for availing the benefit of the schemes. The officials of the services like Housing, NREGS and Electricity also mentioned that computerization of the services have been done at different levels to provide prompt service to the visitors.
Services
No. of Offices 8 7 9 6 3 8 9 3
Banking Electricity Hospital Housing Land Records & Registration Public Distribution System Police Water supply
Variables Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Age-Group 18 25 yrs 26 35 yrs 36 50 yrs Above 50 yrs
Citizens Charter 0.6 1.3 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.2 0.5 0.8
Though the RTI Act has not been enforced in J & K, the awareness about it among BPL households was 4.5 per cent. The awareness level on RTI among BPL households in Jammu & Kashmir was
289
higher than that of many states (like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Meghalaya, Haryana etc.) where the Act has been enforced. However, awareness about Citizens Charter among the BPL households was comparatively low. Only 0.6 per cent of the BPL households in Jammu & Kashmir were aware of Citizens Charter. Awareness of both RTI and Citizens Charter was higher in urban areas. Gender-wise, the awareness of the RTI was higher among male members of the BPL households. Age-wise, the awareness about both RTI and Citizens Charter was higher among younger BPL respondents.
Source of Awareness
Table 15: Source of Awareness
(Figures in per cent)
Urban 40 13 47
Rural 9 5 41 46
Overall 22 3 30 46
Most of those BPL households, who had heard about the two years-old RTI Act, heard about it from news media (newspaper and television). 22 per cent heard about it from friends. Location wise, comparatively high per cent of the BPL households in rural areas heard about it from news media. In urban areas of Jammu and Kashmir most of the BPL households heard about RTI Act from friends.
11. Jharkhand
11.1 ABOUT
THE
STATE
The state of Jharkhand has immense mineral resources with concentration of countrys highly industrialized cities. The state has also one of the highest ST population in the country, living in and around forest areas. Though came into being in year 2000, the States poverty rate has declined by 2 per cent per year during 1994-2002, however, 18.89 per cent households still live below the poverty line (BPL). The per capita income of the rural BPL families is Rs. 366.56 and that in case of urban families is Rs. 451.24 The present study focuses on corruption as perceived and experienced by people living below poverty line. The study collected a sample of 929 BPL Households of which 657 were from rural areas while 272 were residing in urban areas. These households were covered from towns and villages across four districts of the state including state capital Ranchi and three NREGS districts Dumka, Palamu and East Singhbhum. With the objective to provide good governance to the common citizens through the usage of ICT, the government of Jharkhand has set up e-Nagrik Seva Kendras. This service facilitates submission of application forms by the citizens for issue of certificates such as Caste, Birth, Death, Residential and Income. The State has also developed e-Nibandhan Software to automate the registration process in the District Sub-Registrar Office. The purpose of this software system is to provide a digital database relating to registration of documents and information for the district sub-registrar office and also make the information easily accessible to general public.
Jharkhand
Table 1: Corruption: Hear Say or Real?
291
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & above
15 14 14 16 16 8 12 16 14 18
83 83 84 79 83 79 85 80 86 82
2 3 2 4 1 12 3 3 0 0
Nearly three-fourth of the BPL households opined that the level of corruption had increased in the last one year. Among the districts, as high as 83 per cent of the BPL households from Palamu for example thought that corruption has got worse. While seven per cent of the BPL households were of the opinion that the level of corruption had declined within the last one year in Jharkhand.
Table 2: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & above
Increased
Decreased
75 76 76 73 77 69 79 73 78 77
19 16 16 18 20 14 14 18 14 14
6 8 7 8 3 15 8 9 8 9
Irrespective of the educational status more than two-thirds of the BPL respondents perceived that the level of corruption has increased during the last one year. A little less than two-thirds (64 per cent) BPL households held the government officials responsible for corruption in public offices in Jharkahnd.
Urban 31 61 5 3
Rural 26 65 6 3
Total 28 64 6 3
More than one-fourth (28 per cent) of the BPL households in Jharkhand identified politicians to be responsible for corruption. Compared to other districts, in Palamu nearly one-third of the BPL households held politicians responsible for corruption. The proportion of respondents blaming politicians for corruption is higher in Jharkhand, reflecting poor governance and low opinion about the elected representatives. Panchayat elections have not been held for the last three years, further diluting the accountability of the politicians at the state level.
11.3 INTERACTION
WITH
PUBLIC SERVICES
Table 4: Interaction with Public Services
(Figures in per cent)
Service BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Forest Land Records & Registration Housing Police
Note:
Urban
Rural
Total
96 81 55 60 11 57 15 20 3
98 75 30 51 1 50 47 20 9 39 2
97 77 37 53 4 52 47 20 11 33 2
the sample households visiting police departments being less than 30, so this department has been excluded from further analysis.
BPL households are perceived to be more dependent on public services by the government. So it becomes relevant to gauge the extent of their interaction with various public services. This could be better understood by differentiating between basic services (which are required frequently) and need-based services (which are required only occasionally). Higher per centage of BPL households in Jharkhand reported to have interacted with Public Distribution System and hospital service during the last one year. Among the need based services the interaction in the banking service (52 per cent) and NREGS (47 per cent) was high during the last one year, compared to other services. Compared to other
Jharkhand
293
states, the interaction with Land Record and Police service is relatively low. Societal factors such as dependence on common property resources and inaccessibility of habitations may be responsible for this low level of contact with need-based services.
Multiple Visits
Table 5: Multiple Visits
(Figures in per cent)
Service BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED
BPL Households
30 18 10 37 38 32 50 62 37
New ration card Getting bed, New connection, faulty bill, electric supply New admission, application for scholarship Installation of hand pump Registration for job card, issuance of job card Open new account, getting pension money Allotment of house Caste certificate, land record
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Banking Housing Land Record s & Registration
In order to avoid unnecessary delays and repeated visits in getting a work done in any of the government services, the citizens end up paying bribe. So this study investigated the reasons for repeated visits by BPL households to avail services. A relatively higher per centage of BPL households had to visit housing and banking services more than three times to get the work done. While in case of basic services 10 to 38 per cent BPL households made three or more visits, principally for Water Supply, School Education and PDS. More than two-thirds of BPL households interacting with basic services perceived that there is corruption in PDS, Water Supply and Hospital services. In case of need-based services, more than three-fourths of the BPL households interacting with the services agree that there is corruption in Housing service, Police service and Land Records & Registration services. These are the same three services for which interaction of BPL families in Jharkhand is significantly lower than other states, as noted earlier in this report.
Service BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED
There is Corruption
No corruption
80 69 47 39 71
3 4 9 7 6 7 10 3 3 6
16 26 41 53 15 16 64 7 18 54
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme 76 Banking 23 Housing Land Records & Registration Forest Service 88 75 37
Service BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Forest Land Records & Registration Housing Police Service
Decreased
Same
Increased
7 10 17 32 3 44 7 26 6 5 5
21 30 43 37 32 36 27 43 25 19 32
72 60 40 31 65 20 66 31 69 76 64
Jharkhand
Table 8: Grievance Redressal Mechanism
295
Service BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Forest Land Records & Registration Housing Police
Improved
Same
Deteriorated
6 9 15 33 6 47 8 21 6 5 5
23 32 49 36 32 33 30 52 26 22 32
71 59 36 31 62 19 62 27 66 73 63
11.6 INCIDENCE
OF
CORRUPTION
Among the basic services, more than 1.7 per cent of households paid bribe to avail the services during the last one year. In case of school education though the per centage of BPL households paying bribe was quite low (0.2 per cent) however more than 11 per cent households used contact to get their work done. In case of need-based services the extent of people paying bribe or using influence was comparatively high. More than 15 per cent households paid bribe to avail services from Land Records & Registration service and housing service. As high as 10 per cent of the respondents used contact to avail serves in NREGS.
Table 9: Experience of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Service BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Forest Land Records & Registration Housing
Paid Bribe
Used Contact
2.5 1.7 2.3 0.2 2.9 3.1 4.6 2.1 16.2 14.6
1.2 0.6 0.9 0.6 5.9 1.2 2.8 1.4 2.0 11.3
296
The initiatives such as e-nibandh and e-nagrik seva or nagrik sewa Kendra are in existence. Due to the lack of both physical and technological access, the BPL households are unable to avail these services. This underscores the point regarding putting in place adequate administrative machinery on the ground for better service delivery.
Service BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Housing Land Records & Registration Forest National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS)
Govt. Official
Agent/ Middlemen
Local Representative
43 12 11 13 33 20
17 13 13 25
Jharkhand
297
The study revealed that majority of the BPL households who had paid bribe paid it directly to the government officials. The figures reflect the impunity of government officials in services such as Hospital, School Education and Water Supply, where even middlemen are not involved. However, the latter is active in sectors such as PDS, Forest and NREGS. Recent reports of violence against NGO activists carrying out social audit for NREGS points to a strong nexus between government bureaucrats and middlemen. This needs to be dealt with immediately if the state is to achieve higher standards of service delivery.
OF
SERVICES
Based on respondents perception and experience, 11 services are categorized in to four levels of extent of corruption - alarming, very high, high and moderate. In Jharkhand, Health, PDS, Water Supply and Housing are found to be at very high level.
Table 12: Level of Corruption: Relative Position
ALARMING VERY HIGH Health Public Distribution System (PDS) Water Supply Police Housing HIGH School Education National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) MODERATE Electricity Banking Land Records & Registration Forest
298
redressal. The water department has given phone numbers to their staff members where calls can be made directly. The officials in hospital services added that they are providing free medicines to BPL families and are starting new Primary Health Centres and Health Sub Centres to provided accessibility of health services to BPL families.
Departments /Services Public Distribution System Electricity Hospital Water supply Housing Banking Land Records & Registration Police Targeted schemes
No. of offices 8 7 8 5 7 8 8 4 3
The study team visiting the state observed that except for banks, the Citizens Charter was not displayed in any of the services. However the RTI display board, the board displaying the name of the Public Information Officer (PIO) and the compliant boxes were available in some of the services.
Table 14: Awareness about RTI and Citizens Charter
(Figures in per cent)
Variables Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Age-Group 18-25 yrs 26-35 yrs 36-50 yrs
RTI 5 6 5 6 2 9 5 4
The awareness level regarding RTI was as low as 5 per cent among the BPL households. The awareness level among males and those in the age group 18 to 25 years was marginally higher. However the awareness level was slightly high among the BPL households from Dumka district (12
Jharkhand
299
per cent). None of the BPL households from urban location were aware about Citizens Charter although it has been in existence longer than RTI.
Source of Awareness
Newspaper played a major role in creating awareness about the RTI act in Jharkhand. Campaign and friends were the other two major sources of information about RTI.
Table 15: Source of Awareness
(Figures in per cent)
Urban 15 31 4 31 15
Rural 27 39 20 10 2
Overall 22 36 13 18 8
12. Karnataka
12.1 ABOUT
THE
SATE
In Karnataka, 25 per cent of population or about 13.88 million people are classified as Below Poverty Line (BPL) in 2004 -05 according to estimates as put forward by Planning Commission. The incidence of poverty is higher in urban areas (32.6 per cent) when compared to rural areas (20.8 per cent of people). The poverty line for monthly per capita per income in rural areas is Rs. 324.17 that is below the national average of Rs. 356.3 and in urban areas it is Rs. 599.66 which is significantly higher than the national average of Rs. 538.6. The per capita income (Rs. 21696) of this state is also higher than the all-India figure (Rs. 20,989).
Variables Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above
Hear say more 30 24.7 32 29.4 32.6 26.7 38.5 24.1 29.6 33.2 32.7
Had first hand experience 67.7 72.9 65.7 68.4 64.6 71.7 58.2 73.3 68.2 63.7 67.3
Dont know/ Not sure 2.3 2.4 2.3 2.2 2.9 1.6 3.3 2.6 2.2 3.1 -
Close to 30 per cent of BPL households covered in the survey thinks that corruption is only hear say. However, nearly two-thirds have accepted to having first hand knowledge of corruption. Urban BPL respondents reported having greater knowledge of corruption than their rural counterparts. It is also slightly higher for males, and for lower education categories.
Karnataka
Table 2: Level of Corruption
301
Variables Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate but did not go to school Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above
Increased 46.3 49.4 45.1 46.3 46.3 45.3 47.3 47.4 44.1 48 46.9
Same as before 40.2 37.5 41.2 39.4 41.7 40.3 39.6 43.1 41.3 37.2 42.9
Decreased 13.5 13.1 13.7 13.9 12 14.3 13.2 9.5 14.5 14.8 10.2
More than 80 per cent of BPL respondents think that corruption has either increased or remained same in the last one-year. Little over one-tenth of BPL households perceived that corruption has declined. Relatively higher percentage of urban BPL respondents think that corruption has increased in the last one year.
Table 3: Who is Responsible for Corruption?
(Figures in per cent)
Urban 33 24 8 28 6
Rural 31 21 6 33 7
Overall 32 22 7 32 7
Nearly one-third of all BPL respondents think that government officers are responsible for corruption, while a little less than a quarter held politicians responsible. However, nearly one-third of all BPL respondents think that a bureaucrat politician businessman nexus operated in the system, and held all three of them responsible for corrupt practices in public services.
12.3 INTERACTION
WITH
PUBLIC SERVICES
To capture the extent to which BPL households interact with various public services, they can be differentiated between basic services (which are required on daily basis) from need-based services (which are required only occasionally). Around 90 per cent of the BPL households covered in the study have claimed to interact with Health & PDS services in the last one year. Nearly 80 per cent also interacted with electricity service. This also indicates that these services are accessible to BPL households. The high interaction
302
could also be due to certain policies of the state government like free power to farmers and BPL families. On the other hand, just over half of BPL households have interacted with School Education and only 23 per cent have interacted with Water Supply service.
Table 4: Interaction with Public Services
(Figures in per cent)
Service BASIC Hospital Public Distribution System Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Housing Police Forest
Urban
Rural
Overall
89.6 88.8 88.4 55.8 45.8 48.2 45.0 31.1 16.7 4.0
90.8 89 71.7 54.0 14.4 55.9 53.4 60.6 35.8 19.7 17.3
90.5 89 76.3 54.5 23.0 53.8 51.1 60.6 34.5 18.9 13.6
Among need base services, except Police and Forest, the interaction in last one year has been reasonably high, ranging between 34 per cent for Housing to 64 per cent for NREGS. There is significant difference in the extent of interaction between urban and rural BPL households in few services like Electricity and Water Supply where urban households have interacted more than rural. This may point to a lack of provision of these basic services in the rural areas.
Multiple Visits
Our earlier corruption studies have shown that people tend to pay bribe to avoid making repeated visits to an outlet to get a particular work done. In view of this it would be interesting to study the extent and reason why BPL respondents have to make repeated visits to get their work done. The data shows that in case of basic services, between 6 and 26 per cent of BPL respondents had to make 3 or more visits. In case of need based services, 17 -46 per cent of the BPL respondents had to make 3 or more visits.
Table 5: Multiple Visits
(Figures in per cent)
BPL Households
26 15
Karnataka
Table Contd...
303
School Education Electricity Public Distribution System NEED-BASED Housing Banking Land Records & Registration Police National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
9 8 6 46 45 36 30 17
New admission, Application for scholarship Faulty meter, non-receipt of bills, new connection New ration card, addition of members Allotment of house / plot, release of housing loan, transfer of ownership New account, seek loan, defer loan instalments Obtaining records, land survey, paying tax, mutation For filing a complaint, remove name from witness Registration for job card, issuance of job card
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Water Supply Electricity Hospital School Education NEED-BASED Housing Police Land Records & Registration Forest Banking
There is Corruption
No corruption
48.2 45.5 39.3 38.7 12.8 87.3 86.7 85.9 44.8 18.3
31.4 29.9 41.6 14.4 44.1 4.7 5.2 6.6 23.4 36.8 50.9
Overall, like in other states, the perception about basic services is better than need based services. The range, however, is very large. In the case of basic services, 13 to 48 per cent of those interacting with think the service is corrupt. As far as perception about corruption is concerned, the best service is Education while the worst is PDS. Since the interaction with PDS is as high as 90 per cent in both urban and rural areas, corruption in PDS affects substantially larger numbers of BPL households. Accountability mechanisms should be put in place to check the adverse perception regarding PDS among BPL households. Among the need-based services, the perception about the Police, Housing and Land Records services is extremely poor. More than 85 per cent of those who are interacting with these services perceive them to be corrupt. Among the rest of the services, Banking is perceived to be least corrupt.
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Public Distribution System Water Supply Hospital NEED-BASED Banking Forest National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Land Records & Registration Police Housing
Decreased
Same
Increased
73.1 50.5 42.3 35.5 19.8 76.7 37.6 26.3 7.7 7.5 7.3
17.6 28.2 33.7 37.9 70.6 10.1 5.4 37.2 37.0 37.0 34.5
9.2 21.3 24.5 26.5 9.7 13.2 12.0 36.6 55.3 55.5 58.2
In case of basic services, only one-fifth of BPL respondents think corruption has declined in health service whereas almost three-fourths thinks that corruption in the education service has declined in the last one year. In case of need-based services, higher percentage (55-58) think that corruption has actually increased in last one year in the cases of Land Records, Police and Housing. More then threefourths of the respondents think that corruption has decreased in Bank services. The perception of an increase in corruption in Land Records and Registration service is surprising since Karnataka is one of the first states to have implemented computerization in land records. This may indicate that procedural factors may also play a role in abetting corrupt practices even in services where information technology has been introduced to improve efficiency in service delivery.
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply
Improved
Same
Deteriorated
Karnataka
Table Contd...
305
NEED-BASED Banking Land Records & Registration Police National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Housing Forest 26.9 2.8 3.5 9.1 2.2 12.8 61.5 85.3 82.1 79.1 80.4 80.8 8.9 12.0 14.5 11.9 17.4 6.4
12.6 INCIDENCE
OF
CORRUPTION
Table 9: Experience of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Hospital Water Supply Electricity Public Distribution System School Education NEED-BASED Police Land Records & Registration Housing National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Forest Service Banking
Paid Bribe
Use Contact
22 9 7 5 2 64 64 51 26 10 8
1.0 4.0 1.0 1.0 0.8 6.4 9.8 1.4 7.5 6.4 1.0
0.5 3.8 0.4 0.2 0.6 0.6 7.3 19.9 9.0 3.2 2.4
Overall, in case of basic service, upto 22 per cent of households accepted paying bribe or using influence or both to avail services. In the case of need-based services, however, there was a significant difference in the extent of people paying bribe. The per centage of people paying bribe ranges between 8 per cent for Banking, 64 per cent for Police and Land Records and just over half for Housing. The proportion of BPL respondents using contacts to get their work done is the highest for Land Records, NREGS, Police and Forest.
306
Table Contd...
Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Housing Land Records & Registration Forest National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Preparation of new card To take monthly ration Deletion & addition of family members Maintenance of hand pumpRegularization of unauthorized connectionBill payment Seek loan Allotment of plot / house Release of house loans Income & Caste certificate Obtain land records Mutation Land survey For saplings To pick fuel wood Wage payment Registration for job card Make a complaint Remove name from witness As an accused
Both in cases of basic and need-based services, the purposes are closely related to the fundamental areas of service delivery. Most often, bribes are paid at the first point of service delivery being selected as a beneficiary. Better information dissemination has to be undertaken on the part of both the government and civil society to address this issue.
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Land Records & Registration Police National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Housing Forest
Govt. Official 100.0 89.6 97.2 74.4 89.5 90.2 98.0 98.2 86.7 82.1 92.3
Agent/ Middlemen 6.3 2.2 9.3 10.5 4.9 2.4 1.8 7.2 7.2 7.7
In Karnataka, the middlemen menace seems to be continuing. In certain services like Water Supply, PDS, Forest, NREGS, Housing and Electricity, a majority of people pay bribe through middlemen. The extent of paying bribe through local representatives is comparatively less. In Education, there is no routing of bribe through any third party; it is directly paid to the government officials.
Karnataka
307
308
Variables Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Age-Group 18 25 yrs 26 35 yrs 36 50 yrs Above 50 yrs
RTI 12.8 18.7 10.5 13.8 8.6 13.4 13.0 14.3 7.6
Services
No. of Offices 9 7 7 6 6 7 6 8
Banking Electricity Hospital Housing Land Records & Registration Public Distribution System Police Water supply
Source of Awareness
Table 15: Source of Awareness About RTI
(Figures in per cent)
Urban 44 40 12 2
Karnataka
309
Formal media like newspapers and TV have played a key role in creating awareness about the RTI Act. This was supported by informal sources or word of mouth from friends. Less than 2 per cent could attribute their awareness to Government sources. Newspaper and friends act as major sources for many BPL households in urban areas while TV is more influential in rural areas.
13. Kerala
13.1 ABOUT
THE
STATE
Kerala is often held up as a model of development for other states. Although its per capita income is not the highest, it occupies the first position in India in terms of the Human Development Index; some of its health and educational indicators are at par with those of the developed countries. According to the Census 2001, the number of households in the state is 6.72 million, out of which 14 per cent live below poverty line (BPL). According to the Planning Commission, the cut off point for poverty line (Rs. per capita per month) for rural population of the state is Rs. 430 and for urban population is Rs.559. Some of the important schemes that are in operation in the state for economic upliftment of poor people are SGSY, NREGS, Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA), IAY, Haryali, Credit-cum-Subsidy Housing Scheme, SGRY, Integrated Watershed Development Programme etc. Two districts (Palakkad and Wayanad) were included from the state during the first phase of NREGS. In the second phase, two more districts (Idukki and Kasargod) were added. The present study focuses on corruption as perceived and experienced by BPL people. This study is based on a sample of 951 BPL Households (679 rural; 272 urban- from eight towns and 27 villages of four districts, namely state capital Thiruvananthapuram and three NREGS district (Palakkad, Wayanad and Kasargod). The present corruption study revealed that out of the total BPL households in the state, nearly 22 per cent has not got BPL card. Location-wise, nearly 27 per cent of the BPL income group households in urban areas of the state had not got BPL card while the corresponding figure in the rural area is 20 per cent.
Kerala
Table 1: Corruption: Hear Say or Real?
311
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate informally Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above
60 62 57 67 73 66 55 62 60 58
38 36 41 31 25 31 42 37 38 38
2 2 2 2 3 3 3 1 2 4
A majority (62 per cent) of the BPL household in the state felt that in the last one year the level of corruption in the government services had gone up, 29 per cent felt that the level of corruption remained same and only eight per cent opined that it had come down.
Table 2: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above
Increased
Same as before
Decreased
59 63 65 60 70 60 77 66 59 49
32 28 28 30 23 26 8 27 33 40
9 8 8 9 6 14 8 6 8 11
Of the districts covered in the study, 72 per cent of the BPL households in Kasargod district felt that corruption in the services had increased against . less than 60 per cent in the other districts felt that corruption had increased in the last one year.
312
Urban 26 44 0.4 13 15
Rural 20 47 1 16 14
Overall 22 46 1 15 15
Nearly half of the BPL households held government officers and functionaries responsible for the corruption in public services in the state. According to 22 per cent of the BPL households, politicians were responsible for corruption, while 15 per cent opined that citizens were responsible for the corruption.
13.3 INTERACTION
WITH
PUBLIC SERVICES
Table 4: Interaction with Public Services
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Health Electricity School Education Water NEED-BASED Banking National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police Land Records & Registration Housing Forest
Urban
Rural
Overall
97 92 88 38 17 74 5 21 60 15 3
98 94 85 40 9 75 16 14 62 10 10
97 93 86 39 12 75 13 16 61 12 8
The highest level of interaction among basic services was in PDS, Health and Electricity, shown their dependence on these public services. Only 39 per cent interacted with School education and 12 per cent with Water Supply services in the last one-year. Among need-based services, highest levels of interaction of the BPL households in the state were with Banking (75per cent) and Land Records & Registration (61 per cent). The rate of interaction of all other services is relatively low. There is very low level of interaction of BPL households with NREGS, Police, Housing and Forest.
Kerala
313
Multiple Visits
As a part of good governance, the government service delivery should be hassle free in such a way that citizens need not to visit again and again for the same work. Earlier corruption studies have shown that many a times the service seekers pay bribe to avoid repeat visits in the process of getting a particular work attended to. In view of this, the present study tried to identify the proportion of the BPL households who had to make repeat visits in the last one-year and the specific purposes The data shows that between 24 and 35 per cent of the BPL households in Kerala had to make repeat visit (three or more times) to avail basic services. In comparison, between 97 and 78 per cent of the respondents had to make three or more repeat visits when availing need-based services. Repeat visits may be one of the reasons for low rate of interaction of BPL families with need-based services such as NREGS, Police and Housing.
Table 5: Multiple Visits
(Figures in per cent)
BPL Households
30
Non receipt of bill; Faulty meter and installation of meter; To reduce/adjust excess bill; New Connection; and Regular supply As in patient/for getting bed Issue of new ration card /surrender/address change; Permission of release of extra quantity during festivals. Admission; Application for scholarship; Promotion from one class to another and Issuance/attestation of certificate Installation/Maintenance of hand pump; Water meter installation; Supply of water tankers and Repair of water pipeIrrigation water Open new account ; Withdrawal; and Seek loan Defer loan instalment Allotment of plot / house; Such on release of house loan; Construction of toilets and Transfer of ownership Agricultural land on lease from panchayat ; Obtain land records; Purchasing stamp paper; Sale / purchase of land property; Paying tax For getting selected as beneficiary/registration for job contractIssuance of job card and Payment of unemployment allowances.
19 33
School Education
24
Water Supply
35
97
84
88
For filing a complaintAs an accused; Remove name from witness; Verification (passport/job)
314
Services BASIC Electricity Health Public Distribution System School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
There is Corruption
No Corruption
59 50 56 13 54 39 56 61 69 53 77
25 38 29 62 36 37 32 30 21 36 16
9 8 7 19 8 16 6 5 7 5 2
For almost all the services (except School Education and Health) covered in the study, a majority of the BPL households felt that corruption had increased in the last one year. The proportion of the households, who felt that the corruption had come down in the last one year was very low, not exceeding one-fourth and that too only in two services i.e. School Education and Banking.
Table 7: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Electricity Health Public Distribution System School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police
Decreased
Same
Increased
14 14 13 25 15 26 11 7 9 5 4
38 67 34 63 38 43 37 38 34 52 27
48 19 53 13 48 31 52 55 57 43 69
Kerala
315
As high as 69 per cent of the BPL households felt that among the need-based services corruption in Police service had increased in the last one year. It is followed by Land Records & Registration (57 per cent), Housing (55 per cent), Forest (52 per cent). Among the basic services, corruption has increased maximum (53 per cent) in PDS, followed by Electricity and Water Supply (48 per cent each). In terms of perception, however, nearly 43 per cent of the respondents felt that corruption had increased in NREGS.
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Police Land Records & Registration Housing Forest National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme (NREGS)
Improved
Same
Deteriorated
17.8 21.1 15.5 29.2 14.7 29.8 6.5 16.3 11.0 11.0 7.3
44.8 53.3 47.4 64.9 48.6 48.3 42.2 41.3 39.4 43.8 55.3
37.4 25.7 37.1 5.9 36.7 21.9 51.3 42.5 49.5 45.2 37.4
In Kerala, the proportion of BPL households who felt that the deterioration in grievance redressal in the services (except education) was higher for almost all the services than those who felt that it has improved. Maximum deterioration in grievance redressal has been in Police Services. The BPL households who felt that there is no chance in grievance redressal in the services varied from service to service ranging from 39.4 per cent (in Housing) to 65 per cent (in School Eduation).
13.6 INCIDENCE
OF
CORRUPTION
Table 9: Experience of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Electricity Health Public Distribution System School Education Water Supply
Paid Bribe
Used Contact
316
Table Contd...
NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police 1.5 4.1 21.1 12.6 0.8 35.7 6.9 11.0 11.0 12.6 10.6 14.9 0.7 1.4 0.9 5.7 0.6
In both basic and need based services, the BPL households paid bribes or used contacts to get their works done. The proportion of BPL families who paid bribe in the last one year was maximum (35.7 per cent) in Police, followed by Housing (21.1 per cent) and Land Records & Registration (12.6 per cent). Among basic services, 11 per cent of the BPL households paid bribes in Electricity department, followed by 6 per cent in Health and 5.5 per cent in Water Supply services. Though very negligible proportion of the BPL households paid bribe to avail NREGS comparatively a higher per cent (10.6 per cent) of the BPL households used a contact so that their work could be attended. Nearly six per cent of the households did not use these service because they could not pay bribe.
Health
Kerala
Table Contd...
317
NEED-BASED Banking Housing Land Records & Registration Withdrawal savings; Seek loan; Defer loan instalment and Pension Allotment of plot / house; Release of house loan; Construction of toilets and Transfer of ownership Agricultural land on lease from panchayat; Obtain land records; Purchase of stamp paper; Sale /purchase of land property; Paying tax Land survey; Income certificate and Caste certificate For filing a complaint; As an accused; Removal as witness; Passport verification; Verification for job; Violation of traffic law and Character certificate
Police
Similarly, in need based services, the BPL households paid bribe even for purchasing stamp paper for land registration, and filing of complaint with the Police. In fact, these households are fundamentally entitled to avail these services hassle free.
Agent/ middlemen
Local Representative
10 4 24 17 9 9 8
5 6 17 27 39 12
Public Distribution System (PDS) School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS)
Mostly, bribes are paid directly to government officials or functionaries to get their work attended to. However, some paid bribe to through middlemen or a local representative.
318
SERVICES
The Table 12 shows service wise extent of corruption in Kerala state. None of the services covered in the study is in alarming level of corruption. However, services like electricity, Health, PDS, Police, School Education and NREGS fall in the range of very high corruption.
Table 12: Level of Corruption: Relative Position
ALARMING VERY HIGH HIGH MODERATE
Electricity Health Public Distribution System (PDS) School Education National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS)
Kerala
Table 13: Services Initiative to Keep Citizens Informed
319
Services
No. of Offices 7 5 8 3 7 7 6 4 2
Banking Electricity Hospital Housing Land Records & Registration Public Distribution System (PDS) Police Water supply Target Scheme
Variables Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Age-Group 18 25 yrs 26 35 yrs 36 50 yrs Above 50 yrs
RTI 11 15 9 13 8 11 10 10 14
Citizens Charter 2 3 2 2 2 1 3 2 2
Nearly 11 per cent of the BPL household reported that they had heard about RTI Act. The awareness about RTI was comparatively higher in urban areas than that of rural areas of the state. Gender-wise, awareness about the Act was higher among male in comparison to female. Only two per cent of the household respondents were aware about Citizens Charter.
Source of Awareness
Nearly 68 per cent of those BPL households who had heard about the RTI Act did so from news media (newspaper and radio/television). Another 13 per cent heard about it from friends.
Urban 10 20 20 39 12
Rural 15 4 31 44 2
Overall 13 10 26 42 5
STATE
According to the Census 2001, the total number households in Madhya Pradesh is 1.09 million, around 40 per cent of them live below the poverty line (BPL). The cut off point (Rs. per capita per month) for rural BPL population in Madhya Pradesh is Rs. 328 and for urban population is Rs. 570. In terms of per capita income and Human Development Index, Madhya Pradesh is lagging behind many of the Indian states. The rank of Madhya Pradesh was 12th among major states in the Human Development Index-combined (source HDR 2001). Eighteen districts were included from the state during the first phase of NREGS implementation in the country. Thirteen more districts were added in the second phase. Madhya Pradesh has a large number of schemes aimed at the BPL population. These include Rajiv Gandhi Watershed Management Mission, Self Employment Schemes, Wage Employment Schemes, Externally Aided Schemes, schemes for Rural Roads and under District Rural Development Agency. Madhya Pradesh was also the first state to implement the Education Guarantee Scheme in the mid1990s, which has served as a model for the nation-wide program of elementary education known as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). The present study focuses on corruption as perceived by people living below poverty line. To this end, the study collected a sample of 930 BPL households (622 rural; 308 urban) from ten towns and 27 villages of five districts of Madhya Pradesh i.e. state capital (Bhopal) and four NREGS districts (Sidhi, Balaghat, Jhabua and Shivpuri). The present corruption study revealed that out of the total BPL households in Madhya Pradesh, around 41 per cent did not possess BPL card. Location-wise, 33 per cent of these BPL households are urban areas and 44 per cent in rural areas.
ABOUT
CORRUPTION
More than two-thirds of the BPL households in Madhya Pradesh felt that corruption in the services was real. Comparatively, higher per cent of the male member of BPL households as well as those with higher level of education felt that the corruption in the services was real, District-wise, comparatively higher per centage (75 per cent) of BPL households in Shivpuri and Sidhi felt that corruption in the services was real. In rest of the districts, also it was around 65 per cent.
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above
32 26 26 36 34 26 27 32 14
64 71 72 60 62 71 71 63 85 100
5 2 3 4 4 3 3 4 1
On the question of whether there has been any change in the level of corruption, majority (53 per cent) of the BPL households in Madhya Pradesh perceived that it had gone up while 45 per cent perceived that it was the same as before. In all the districts of Madhya Pradesh, the responses of the BPL households on the issue was on similar lines.
Table 2: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above
Increased
Same as before
Decreased
43.5 56.9 54.7 45.1 49.6 52.0 59.8 46.1 57.0 68.2
53.9 40.8 42.8 53.0 48.1 44.4 38.1 52.9 40.7 22.7
2.6 1.8 2.2 1.4 1.9 2.3 2.1 1.0 2.3 9.1
In Madhya Pradesh, a majority of the BPL households held government officials responsible for corruption in public services. However, nearly one-fourth of the BPL households put the blame on politicians.
Madhya Pradesh
Table 3: Who is Responsible for Corruption?
323
Urban 22 54 8 16
Rural 25 51 4 20
Overall 24 52 5 19
14.3 INTERACTION
WITH
PUBLIC SERVICES
Among basic services highest level of interaction was found with the Health and PDS services in the last one year. Nearly all the BPL households surveyed had interacted with public health facilities. On the other hand, less than one in ten households surveyed had interacted with the Water Supply service. Since many parts of the state is semi-arid, it is necessary for the government tofocus on the area of Water Supply urgently. In Madhya Pradesh, around 96 per cent of the villages were electrified by end of year 2007. This may explain the comparatively higher level of interaction of BPL households with the Electricity service both in urban as well as in rural areas.
Table 4: Interaction with Public Services
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Health Public Distribution System Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Urban
Rural
Overall
94 88 58 47 14 25 6 24 11
87 93 49 38 3 27 21 5 33 37 16
90 92 52 41 7 27 21 6 30 37 14
Among need-based services, the highest (37 per cent) level of interaction of rural BPL households was with NREGS (37 per cent). Given that 31 out of 48 districts are covered under NREGS, the interaction of BPL families with this need-based program is very low. Land Records & Registration and Banking services were also availed by around one-third of the households. Being a poor state, one would expect Housing to be a major service of interaction, which is surprisingly not the case.
Multiple Visits
As a part of good governance, the services available at the delivery points should be smooth, and hassle free so that citizens need not to make repeated visits to avail the services they are entitled to. Earlier corruption studies have shown that many a times service seekers visit delivery points pay
324
bribes to avoid repeat visits for getting a particular work attended to. In view of this, the present study tried to identify the proportion of the BPL households who had to make repeat visits in the last one-year and their specific purposes. The data shows that as high as 48 per cent of BPL households made three or more visits in Health service to get admitted/get bed in hospital, followed by 30 per cent for Water Supply related problems. In other basic services like Electricity and PDS, 17 and 14 per cent of BPL households, respectively, had to visit three or more times in the last one year to get their work attended to. Between 15 and 32 per cent of the BPL households had to make repeat visit (three or more time) availaing the need based services. However, apart from Health service, for the instances of multiple visits is comparatively low in Madhya Pradesh.
Table 5: Multiple Visits
(Figures in per cent)
BPL Households
17
Non receipt of bill To reduce /adjust excess bill Faulty meter Meter installation New /Restoration of connection Agricultural connection Regular supply As in-patient / for getting bed Issue of new ration card Surrender ration card/change in address on ration card Change of ration shop Deletion & addition of family members in ration card Permission for release of extra quantity during festivals. Admission Application for scholarship Low attendance To check the quality of mid-day meal Installation/maintenance of hand pumps Regularization of unauthorized water connection; Repair of water pipe Irrigation water Open new accountSeek loan Defer loan instalment Allotment of plot/house Sanction/release of housing loan Construction of toilets Agricultural land on lease from panchayat Obtaining land records Sale/purchase of land property Mutation Land survey Caste certificate Income certificate For getting selected as beneficiary Registration for job contract Issuance of job contract card Payment of unemployment allowances For filing a complaint As an accused Remove name from witness
48 14
3 30
25
16
Madhya Pradesh
Table 6: Perception about Corruption
325
Services BASIC Electricity Health Public Distribution System School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police Service
There is Corruption
No Corruption
35 48 48 31 48 22 54 58 72 45 66
46 41 41 44 25 63 32 37 23 47 24
16 10 11 21 25 15 11 6 4 6 8
However, corruption is perceived to be higher in the need-based services like Land Records & Registration (72 per cent), Police (66 per cent), Housing (58 per cent) and Forest service (54 per cent). A considerable proportion of the BPL households were not sure on the issue whether corruption existed in the services or not. It may be mentioned here that, in many cases, investigators felt that the respondents were reluctant to tell the truth about the existence of corruption in the services. The respondents were apprehensive that disclosure of truth may lead to further investigation/probe and they may be dragged into the process. That may be one of the reasons that many of the respondents might have apparently showed ignorance about the existence of corruption in the services.
Table 7: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Health Public Distribution System (PDS) Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police
Decreased
Same
Increased
6 5 5 3 10 9 2 5 2
69 72 60 64 69 79 70 67 57 59 46
25 23 35 33 21 13 28 33 42 36 52
326
For Health and PDS, around one-third of the BPL households felt that the corruption had increased in the last one year. For the rest of the basic services, their proportion is around one-fourth. Among need based services, higher per cent of the BPL households felt that level of corruption had increased in the last one year for Police (52 per cent) and Land Records & Registration(42 per cent), NREGS (36 per cent) and Housing (33 per cent) services. For rest of the basic services, between 13 and 28 per cent BPL household felt that level of corruption in these services had gone up in the past one year. The data shows that a very high per cent of BPL households for all the services, both basic and need-based, mentioned that the level of corruption in the services remained same in the last oneyear. The responses of the BPL households suggest that no concrete steps or initiatives were taken by the state government to check corruption from the services.
Services BASIC Public Distribution System (PDS) Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Police Land Records & Registration Housing Forest National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme (NREGS)
Improved
Same
Deteriorated
5.5 5.5 4.3 8.4 9.8 8.5 1.5 1.1 1.9 3.1
65.4 64.7 75.3 68.9 75.4 77.6 51.9 62.5 71.2 75.4 63.6
29.1 29.8 20.4 22.7 14.8 13.8 46.6 36.5 26.9 24.6 33.3
14.6 INCIDENCE
OF
CORRUPTION
Among basic services, nearly 28 per cent of the BPL households had to pay bribe to avail Water Supply services, followed by Health service (17 per cent). It may be mentioned here that this is despite a number of health schemes like Deendayal Mobile Health Clinic, Deendayal Antodya Upchaar Yojna, Janani Suraksha Yojna, Janani Express Yojna and Dhanwantri Yojna that have been in operation for the benefit of poor families. In other basic services, bribes were paid by 6.6 per cent to 2.4 per cent BPL families.
Madhya Pradesh
327
Among need-based services, half of the BPL households had to pay bribe for police and around 40 per cent in Land Records & Registration service in the last one year.
Table 9: Experience of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Electricity Health Public Distribution System School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Police
Paid Bribe
Used Contact
6.6 17.0 6.0 2.4 27.9 8.5 30.8 9.6 40.1 7.9 51.2
9.5 5.6 5.7 5.0 16.4 5.3 19.2 32.7 25.3 12.3 26.0
6.2 6.1 5.2 1.8 3.3 6.5 3.8 15.4 5.4 10.1 3.1
In all services, contacts played an important role in accessing the benefits. In some of the services like Housing, Land Records & Registration and Police, 25-33 per cent of the BPL households had to use a contact to get their work attended to. Similarly, in all the services, 15 per cent and less of the BPL households did not use the service in the last one-year because they could not pay bribe. The proportion of such BPL households was highest in housing service (15.4 per cent), followed by NREGS (10.1per cent).
Health
School Education
Water Supply
328
Table Contd...
Open new account Seek loan Allotment of plot/house Construction of toilet Agricultural land on lease from panchayat; Obtain land records; Purchasing stamp paper; Sale/purchase of land property Mutation; Paying tax and Land survey For getting selected as beneficiary/ registration for job. For filing a complaint; As an accused; Remove name from witness; Verification for job; Violation of traffic law and Character certificate
The BPL households paid bribe to the services for various reasons. The responses suggest that the BPL households had to pay bribe in the services for even small nature of work or even for routine work. For example, the BPL households had pay bribe in Electricity service for payment of bill, in PDS service for change of beneficiary names and to take monthly ration. In NREGS service, they paid bribe to get selected as a beneficiary/to get job card.
Route of Bribe
Table 11: Route of Bribe Payment
(Figures in per cent)
Agent/ middlemen
Local representative
18 3 56 40
Public Distribution System (PDS) School Education Water supply NEED-BASED Banking Land Records & Registration Police National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Housing Forest
In most of the services, the bribe was paid mostly to officials/ functionaries directly. However, in Banking, the bribe was paid to agent/middlemen. In NREGS and Housing, 56 and 40 per cent BPL households respectively paid bribe to local representatives. It may be mentioned here that these two schemes are implemented through Panchayat and the recommendation of the Panchayat Representatives (Pradhan/sarpanch) to become beneficiary under the schemes is essential to some extent.
Madhya Pradesh
329
Forest Housing National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Land Records & Registration Public Distribution System (PDS) Banking
Health
330
The officials of the Land Administration mentioned that computers have been installed in the office to provide prompt service. The vigilance officer monitors the activities to check corruption in the department. Despite various measures have been taken to check the corruption in the services, however, the responses of the BPL households on the issue suggest that corruption in the services was common. The local dailies of the state also highlight the corruption and irregularities in various departments.
Banking 7 Electricity 9 Health 9 Housing 9 Land Records & Registration 10 Public Distribution System (PDS) 6 Police 5 Water supply 8
In Madhya Pradesh, awareness on RTI and Citizens Charter was moderate in comparison to other states. However, the awareness was mostly in urban BPL population. Similarly, awareness was comparatively less among female BPL, while it was higher among young people. The awareness about these was comparatively more among BPL youth.
Table 14: Extent of Awareness about RTI and Citizens Charter
(Figures in per cent)
Variables Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Age-Group 18 25 yrs 26 35 yrs 36 50 yrs Above 50 yrs
RTI 5 10 2 6 1 7 5 5 4
Citizens Charter 6 10 4 7 2 8 5 6 6
Madhya Pradesh
331
Source of Awareness
Table 15: Source of Awareness
(Figures in per cent)
Urban 33 8 24 18 12
Rural 19 14 33 10 24
Overall 26 11 29 14 18
A majority (43 per cent) of those BPL households who had heard about the two years old RTI Act, knew it from news media (newspaper and television). One-fourth heard about it from friends. Comparatively higher per centage of the BPL households in urban areas heard about RTI Act from friends.
15. Maharashtra
15.1 ABOUT
THE
STATE
According to the Census 2001, the total number households in Maharashtra is 19.5 million, around 32 per cent of them live below the poverty line. The cut off point for poverty line (Rs. per capita per month) for rural population in Maharashtra is Rs. 328 and for urban population is Rs. 570 In terms of Human Development Index, Maharashtra ranks 4th among major Indian states. During the first phase of implementation of NREGS, twelve districts were included from the state. In the second phase, six more districts were added. The present study focuses on corruption as perceived and experienced by people living below poverty line. The study is based on a sample of 904 BPL Households (630 rural; 274 urban). These households were covered from ten towns and 27 villages of five districts of the state, i.e., state capital (Mumbai) and four NREGS districts (Ahmad Nagar, Nanded, Bhandara and Nandurbar). The present corruption study revealed that out of the total BPL households in Maharashtra, around 38 per cent do not possess BPL card.
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above
11 23 19 22 26 11 19 14 21 11
81 73 77 71 66 80 76 83 76 85
8 4 4 7 8 9 5 3 3 4
Three-fourths of the BPL households in the state perceived that corruption in public services was real. Only twenty per cent of the BPL households in the state felt that corruption in public services was hear say more.
Maharashtra
333
Comparatively higher proportion (more than 80 per cent) of BPL household in Yawatmal and Nanded perceived that corruption in services was real. While in other districts (Ahmadnagar, Nandurbar and Mumbai) 65-70 per cent households felt that corruption in services was prevalent. Similarly higher percentage of urban BPL households felt that corruption in public services was real. Among different educational level of BPL respondents, highest percentage of illiterate BPL perceived that corruption was real.
Table 2: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above
Increased
Same as before
Decreased
30 35 37 26 26 24 32 35 39 53
61 47 49 58 52 57 57 56 47 34
8 15 13 13 18 7 10 8 14 13
Around one-third BPL households in the state felt that in the last one year the level of corruption in public offices had increased. A higher per centage (51 per cent) of BPL households in the state perceived that in the past one year the level of corruption in the services had remained same. Only 13 per cent BPL households felt that in the last one-year the level of corruption in the services decreased. Comparatively higher per cent of male BPL perceived that in the last one year the level of corruption in the services had increased. In comparison to Ahmad Nagar, Nanded and Mumbai higher per cent (40 per cent) of BPL households in Yawatmal and Nanded felt that corruption in the services in the last one year had increased.
Table 3: Who is Responsible for Corruption?
(Figures in per cent)
Urban 20 28 23 23
Rural 18 35 16 28
Overall 19 33 19 27
Around one-third of the BPL households held government officials or functionaries responsible for the corruption. Equal proportion of respondents felt that politicians and also citizens are to blame for corruption in public services.
334
15.3 INTERACTION
PUBLIC SERVICES
Table 4: Interaction with Public Services
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Health School Education Electricity Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Urban
Rural
Overall
84 83 61 54 22 36 8 14 15
91 74 34 39 15 35 32 9 14 48 7
89 77 42 44 17 35 32 9 14 48 9
Among basic services, the level of interaction of BPL households is high except for Water Supply. PDS and Health services were utilized by a high majority of BPL households in the state in the last one-year. More than 40 per cent BPL household interacted with Electricity (44 per cent) and Education (44 per cent) services. With the exception of PDS, the level of interaction with basic services was higher in the urban than in the rural areas. Among need-based services, comparatively a high proportion of BPL households interacted with Banking service including post office. In rural areas, 48 and 32 per cent BPL households interacted with NREGS and forest services, respectively, in the last one-year.
Multiple Visits
As a part of good governance, the services available in the delivery points should be smooth, such that citizens need not to make repeated visits to avail the service. Earlier corruption studies of CMS have shown that many a times the visitors to the service delivery points pay bribe to avoid repeat visits in the process of getting a particular work attended to. In view of this the present study tried to identify the proportion of the BPL households who had to make repeat visits in the last one year.
Table 5: Multiple Visits
(Figures in per cent)
BPL Households
22
Non-receipt of bill To reduce /adjust excess bill Faulty meter Meter installation New connection Temporary connection As in-patient / for getting bed
Table Contd...
Health Service
11
Maharashtra
Table Contd...
335
25
Preparation of new ration card Surrender ration card/ change in address on ration card Change of ration shop Deletion & addition of family members in ration card Permission for release of extra quantity during festivals/months. New admission Application for scholarship Seek promotion from one class to another Low attendance of ward Issue of certificate Not allowed to appear in exams Installation/maintenance of hand pumps Regularization of unauthorized water connection Water meter installation Supply of water tankers Irrigation water Open new account Seek loan Defer loan instalment Allotment of plot/house Sanction/release of housing loan Construction of toilets Agricultural land on lease from panchayat Obtaining land records Purchasing stamp paper Sale/purchase of land property Mutation Paying tax Land survey Income certificate Caste certificate For getting selected as beneficiary/ registration for job contract Issuance of job contract card Payment of unemployment allowances For filing a complaint As an accused Remove name from witness Passport verification Verification for job Character certificate
School Education
18
Water Supply
22
57
63
The table above shows that 11-25 per cent households had to make repeat visit for basic services. Among need-based services, between 43 and 70 per cent BPL households had to make repeat visit to get their work attended to.
There is Corruption
No Corruption
64 50
5 24
28 25
Table Contd...
336
Table Contd...
Public Distribution System (PDS) School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
72 49 70 80 53 73 82 55 89
4 23 5 2 4 4 4 7 4
23 26 22 17 41 23 9 37 4
A greater proportion of BPL respondents think that corruption has either increased over the past one year or has remained the same. Perceptible improvement can be seen only for Forest and NREGS. It may be mentioned that despite a majority of BPL households in Maharashtra perceived that corruption in the services did exist and level of corruption in the services had gone up in the past one year, only few in number (i.e. only five) in the last one year complained against the corruption in the services.
Table 7: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Health Public Distribution System (PDS) Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Decreased
Same
Increased
27 26 26 23 23 29 41 18 10 36 6
43 30 33 30 26 20 32 28 30 30 33
30 44 42 48 51 51 27 55 60 34 61
Maharashtra
Table 8: Grievance Redressal Mechanism
337
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Police Land Records & Registration Housing Forest National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme
Improved
Same
Deteriorated
21.0 24.6 20.5 25.1 23.4 24.7 4.8 11.7 18.8 38.2 27.8
60.6 61.9 65.1 63.3 66.2 58.5 68.7 46.1 43.8 54.9 59.6
18.4 13.5 14.4 11.6 10.4 16.8 26.5 42.2 37.5 6.9 12.6
15.6 INCIDENCE
OF
CORRUPTION
Table 9: Experience of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Electricity Health Public Distribution System School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Paid Bribe
Used Contact
4.6 5.3 3.0 0.3 1.3 0.6 1.0 2.5 39.8 14.6 35.8
0.5 3.7 2.4 1.1 8.3 2.5 2.9 1.3 2.3 3.0 2.4
3.0 0.1 0.1 0.5 6.4 0.9 2.0 2.5 7.0 7.9 4.9
Among basic services, only between around one amd five per cent paid bribe. The use of contacts in public services is also pretty low. In the services like Health and Water Supply, nearly 4 and 8 per cent respectively used a contact to get their work attended to. Between 3 per cent and 6 per cent of BPL households could not benefit from Electricity and Water Supply because they could not pay bribe. In some of the need-based services like Land Records & Registration and Police, nearly 40 per cent of the BPL households paid bribe to get the work attended to. In these services 5-7 per cent
338
did not take the service because they could not pay bribe. Also in NREGS a high per cent of BPL households paid bribe or did not take the service because they could not pay bribe.
NEED-BASED Banking Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme Police
The BPL households paid bribe to the services for various reasons. The responses suggest that the BPL households had to pay bribe for all the purposes they visited to the services. BPL households had pay bribe in electricity service for payment of bill, in PDS service for getting their ration shop changed or to take monthly ration. In NREGS service they paid bribe to become beneficiary of the scheme.
Route of Bribe
Table 11: Route of Bribe Payment
(Figures in per cent)
Service BASIC Electricity Health Public Distribution System School Education Water supply NEED-BASED
Agent/ middlemen
Local representative
61 62 71 100 50
33 22 29
6 16 50
Table Contd...
Maharashtra
Table Contd...
339
Banking Land Records & Registration Police National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Housing Forest
4 4 7
36
Bribe was paid mostly to officials/functionaries of the services. However, in some of the services like Electricity, Health, PDS, Water Supply, NREGS agent /middlemen or local representative were also channels of bribe. As high as 50 per cent of the BPL households in NREGS paid bribe to a local representatives to get their work done.
OF
SERVICES
Despite a high percentage of BPL households in the state perceived that corruption in the services was real. Level of corruption of almost half of the services covered in the study was moderate. Nearly half of the services were in the range of high level of corruption. Only in Land Records & Registration, corruption level was categorized as very high.
Table 12: Level of Corruption: Relative Position
ALARMING VERY HIGH HIGH MODERATE
Health
340
in their respective offices. According to almost all the officials, complaint register was available. The officials also mentioned that people register their complaint in the complaint book and the senior officials of the concerned department check the complaint book regularly. The officials also mentioned that telephone number of Anti-Corruption Bureau had been displayed in the offices. Some of officials mentioned that to check corruption in NREGS, applicants were encouraged to directly approach to higher officials like Tehsildar, if someone faced any problem. In PDS service, the officials mentioned that the dealers of the fair price shops were given instructions to write details of the stocks of the shop on board and open the shop regularly and on time. Violation of the same by the dealer would make it liable for cancellation of the license of the shop. Official of the Housing department mentioned that they adopted a method of selection of beneficiary by turn that it left no scope of corruption in selection of beneficiary. According to the officials, several services had been included in Suvidha Kendra (single window clearance service) to provide prompt service. Electricity service had toll free number for the convenience of the customer to complain for any fault or defect in power supply.
Services
Banking Electricity Health Housing Land Records & Registration Public Distribution System Police Water supply
Maharashtra
341
(Figures in per cent)
Variables Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Age-Group 18 25 yrs 26 35 yrs 36 50 yrs Above 50 yrs
RTI 6.9 8.0 6.3 8.6 2.9 9.1 5.9 6.9 5.5
Citizen Charter 5.5 1.1 7.5 6.5 3.2 8.6 4.2 3.6 8.7
In Maharashtra, nearly 7 and 6 per cent BPL households were aware RTI Act and Citizens Charter, respectively. Surprisingly, awareness about Citizens Charter was higher among rural BPL in comparison to urban BPL.
Source of Awareness
Table 15: Source of Awareness
(Figures in per cent)
Urban 61 12 18 9
Rural 25 6 41 16 12
Overall 41 9 30 9 10
Around 40 per cent of those BPL households who had heard about the two years old RTI Act, did so from friends. Comparatively, higher per cent of the BPL households in urban areas heard about RTI Act from friends. For 30 per cent BPL households in the state, the source of information about RTI was media (TV/Radio).
STATE
About 18 per cent of their population (about 2.31 million) the northeastern states is living Below Poverty Line. The incidence of poverty is significantly higher in urban areas (22.3 per cent of people are classified as BPL) when compared to rural areas (3.3 per cent of people). The per capita poverty line for a rural BPL household is Rs. 378.84 while it is Rs.387.64, for the urban areas. Both are little above the national average. The seven states in the North-east, namely Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim, are linguistically and culturally distinct from the other states of India. A large number of inhabitants speak Tibeto-Burmese languages and have cultural similarities with South-East Asia and Tibet. The states in the region is officially recognized as special category states. Due to the special constitutional provisions, historical background as well as geographical location, the central government has been trying to integrate the Northeast with the national economy, as the region has long remained isolated from the rest of the country. Since these seven North-eastern states have many common characteristics, they have been combined as one unit and then studied in this survey. According to the survey, around 40 per cent (26.5 per cent urban and 13.6 per cent rural) of the eligible BPL households did not have BPL cards in these states.
Hear say more Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above
44 51 50 45 39 32 47 56 50 52
48 41 44 42 47 53 47 37 44 42
7 8 6 13 15 15 6 8 6 6
North-East States
343
While 49 per cent of surveyed BPL households in the North-East said that corruption in public services was mere hear say, only a slightly lesser per centage of households (43 per cent) felt it was real, since they had had first hand experience or knowledge of the same.
Table 2: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate but did not go to school Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above
Increased
Same as before
Decreased
39 34 34 39 30 24 29 32 43 44
48 51 52 45 53 61 57 53 44 40
9 11 11 8 5 7 9 12 12 14
On the other hand, 85 per cent of BPL households in the region felt that the level of corruption had either increased or remained the same during the last one year. Only 11 per cent of BPL households felt that corruption had actually declined.
Table 3: Who is Responsible for Corruption?
(Figures in per cent)
Urban 39 34 4 11 11
Rural 36 34 6 10 14
Overall 36 34 5 10 13
Majority of the BPL households in the North-east either held politicians or government officers responsible for corruption. While 36 per cent respondents felt that politicians indulged in corrupt practices, 34 per cent believed it was government officers who were responsible for the malpractice. However, 13 per cent of households also felt that citizens themselves were responsible for corruption in public services.
16.3 INTERACTION
WITH
PUBLIC SERVICES
BPL households are greatly dependent on public services provided by Government institutions and agencies. Therefore, it would be interesting to capture the extent to which BPL households are interacting with various public services in the North-eastern states. It is surprising to see that as compared to BPL households in other states of India, a much lesser percentage of households in the North-east region of the country interact with public services, especially basic services.
344
55 per cent and 63 per cent of BPL households interacted with the Hospital and PDS service s, respectively, in the last one year. Even though BPL households need to visit government hospitals due to lack of alternative medical care facilities and have to visit PDS shops regularly to procure ration, the frequency of interaction with these basic services was much less amongst households in the North-east as compared to those in other states of India. This is despite the fact that in North-eastern states like Arunachal Pradesh, the state government has made efforts to increase efficiency and performance of public services.
Table 4: Interaction with Public Services
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Services Electricity School Education Water Supply Service NEED-BASED Banking Service National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police Land Records & Registration Service Housing Service Forest Service
Urban
Rural
Overall
61 58 45 25 28 33 9 6 12 10 11
64 54 31 22 14 23 17 9 8 7 14
63 55 35 23 18 26 15 8 9 8 13
The Government of Arunachal Pradesh had approved the PPP project, on a pilot basis, for primary healthcare services, which are delivered through Primary Health Centres (PHC) in the state. It was proposed that one PHC in each of the 16 districts of the state would be handed over to a reputed NGO/Voluntary Agency/Non-commercial Hospital for providing clinical and preventive health services, implementing the National Rural Health Mission and other National Health/Family Welfare Programs, related IEC activities, and for promoting community-based disaster preparedness measures. Since need-based services are not required as frequently as basic services, the survey showed that households interaction with them in the last one year has been low as well.
Multiple Visits
Our survey showed that some BPL households in the North-east had to end up making more than three visits in the last one year to basic as well as need-based services. It may be because of earlier inquiries regarding their work being delayed, dismissed or ignored by staff of respective services, that these households were compelled to make repeated visits to get their work done. The data shows that in case of basic services, 22 to 32 per cent of BPL respondents had to make 3 or more visits in the last one year. On the other hand, although interaction with need-based services is intermittent, 26-45 per cent of BPL households ended up making repeated visits to these services.
North-East States
Table 5: Multiple Visits
345
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Services Electricity School Education Water Supply Service NEED-BASED Banking Service National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police Land Records & Registration Housing Service
BPL Households
22 27 26 28 32
Preparation of new ration card ; Surrender ration card/change in address on ration card As In-patient/for getting bed Faulty meter; Non-receipt of bill New admission; Issue of certificate Installation/ maintenance of hand pumps; Irrigation water Open new account; Seek loan For getting selected as beneficiary; Issuance of jobcard For filing a complaint; Character certificate Sale/purchase of land property; Mutation Allotment of plot/house; Construction of toilets
45 26 32 39 36
Service BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Services Electricity School Education Water Supply Service NEED-BASED Banking Service National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
There is Corruption
No Corruption
43 36 45 28 52 33 39 77 63 59 48
27 31 31 30 28 32 36 09 27 24 28
22 15 13 30 10 25 09 08 05 09 13
346
However, it is evident that more anti-corruption initiatives need to be undertaken in the Northeast and on-going initiatives need to be intensified, since a sizable majority of respondents believes that corruption has either remained the same or increased in all public services (basic as well as need-based) in the last one year. Among basic services, 88 per cent of the households each felt that corruption had either increased or remained unchanged in the Water Supply and Electricity services in the last one year.
Table 7: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Services Electricity School Education Water Supply Service NEED-BASED Banking Service National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police Land Records & Registration Service Forest Service Housing Service
Decreased
Same
Increased
19 18 12 27 13 31 9 9 7 12 6
55 56 60 57 54 52 63 36 60 69 68
26 26 28 16 34 17 27 55 33 20 26
In case of need-based services, the highest per centage of households saying that corruption had either gone up or remained the same, was seen in the Housing service (94 per cent), followed by the Land Record service (93 per cent). Relatively fewer percentage of BPL households on the other hand opined that corruption had declined in the last one year. Banking and School Education saw the highest per centage of households (31 per cent and 27 per cent, respectively) saying that level of corruption had come down in the services in the last one year.
North-East States
Table 8: Grievance Redressal Mechanism
347
Service BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Services Electricity School Education Water Supply Service NEED-BASED Banking Service National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police Land Records & Registration Service Forest Service Housing Service
Improved
Same
Deteriorated
13 17 13 27 13 31 6 7 5 10 7
60 60 66 59 58 56 69 47 66 70 68
27 23 21 14 29 13 24 46 29 20 26
Incidentally, as mentioned before, these two services also saw the highest per centage of households saying that corruption had either, shot up or remained the same in the past year.
16.6 INCIDENCE
OF
CORRUPTION
The survey showed that in case of basic services, 10-20 per cent of BPL households paid bribe or used contact in the last one year in order to get their work done. However, Meghalaya was an exception to this case, as a significantly higher per centage of BPL households in the state, 44-61 per cent paid bribe or used contact to avail the various basic services. In case of need-based services, the per centage of BPL households paying bribes and using contact varied greatly from 8-44 per cent. It was the Police service in which the highest percentage of BPL households (44 per cent) paid bribe in the last one year. Even in case of basic services, Meghalaya was an exception, as a comparatively higher per centage of BPL households in the state, (50-81 per cent) paid bribe or used contact to avail most of the needbased services, barring Banking and NREGS.
Table 9: Experience of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Service BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Services Electricity School Education Water Supply Service
Paid Bribe
Used Contact
6 12 15 6 13
5 8 5 4 6
2 2 2 1 2
Table Contd...
348
Table Contd...
NEED-BASED Banking Service National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police Land Records & Registration Forest Service Housing Service 5 11 31 24 10 10 3 10 13 8 5 7 3 4 6 3 3 8
On the other hand, the survey revealed that some BPL households could not avail services, since they were unable to pay bribe. This percentage was seen to be highest in the Housing service, where around 8 per cent of BPL households were deprived of services because they could not pay bribe.
In case of all basic as well as need-based services, barring NREGS, a large majority of BPL households paid bribe primarily to government service functionaries. The survey revealed that in the Police and School Education service in the North-east, as high as 92 per cent and 88 per cent of the bribe was being paid to these officials.
North-East States
349
Although majority of households in most states paid bribe to government officials, households in Tripura were an exception. Only 17 per cent and 20 per cent of BPL households from the state paid bribe to government service functionaries in the PDS and Housing services, respectively.
Table 11: Route of Bribe Payment
(Figures in per cent)
Service BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Agent/ middlemen
Local representative
75 84 77 88 86 66 27 92 66 81 70
13 16 22 12 15 34 5 8 30 19 30
12 72 4
On the other hand, some households also paid bribe to middlemen and agents to help get their work done. For example, 34 per cent and 30 per cent of BPL households paid bribe to middlemen, to avail Banking and Housing services, respectivety. Almost none of the BPL households paid bribe to local representatives except in case of the NREGS, PDS and Land Record service. Only in the case of NREGS, the majority of respondents preferred to bribe local representatives, rather than government officials or middlemen.
OF
SERVICES
Hospital
Banking Electricity Land Record & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police Water Supply
350
Service providers said that in Meghalaya, possibility of implementing those e-governance applications, which directly benefit citizens, was being examined. Monitoring implementation of development programs in rural areas by using remote sensing technology, such as satellite imagery, and using GPS type of system to provide weather forecasts, up-to-date market value information to rural agricultural masses, was also being done. On the other hand, Arunachal Pradeshs National Informatics Centre (NIC) has developed monthly expenditure software for the General Hospital of one of the districts, in a bid to usher in transparency in procedures and check the malpractice of corruption. The software was developed to generate monthly reports on revenues earned from diagnostic tests as well as reports generated head-wise for expenditures like salary, stationery purchased, etc. In Mizoram, steps have been taken to increase efficiency of service providers and enable better service delivery. A plan to establish an e-governance training centre in the state has been developed and the project targets to train 18,000 governments employees within a span of 5 years. Additionally in Tripura, 29 Community Information Centres (CICs) have been established and are functional since August 2002. Each CIC is well equipped with computers, VSAT, TV, Web camera, printers, UPS etc. CICs have been imparting IT training programs for school students, staff of the Block Development offices, elected representatives of 3-tier Panchayat Raj Institutions and common people in rural areas. Services being offered by CICs include computer awareness training, e-mail/ Internet, access to government services (G2C) like status of different government services, exam results, farmers tips, tender notices, job advertisements, educational notifications and so on. The state has also developed web enabled software, which provides advance booking facility for different types of diagnostic tests and specialist consultation from a state level referral
North-East States
351
hospital located at Agartala. Booking is provided to rural patients through Block level Community Information Centres and private Kiosk in Tripura. The Application software is designed and developed by NIC-Tripura and hosted on state level web server. Steps to further improve service delivery However, service providers said that in order to further improve service delivery particularly to poor people, schemes had to be devised as per the need of these people and implemented efficiently. They also cited transportation facilities in an area, which needed improvement. The officials said that proper implementation and monitoring of procedures, transparency and accountability of officials, setting up of vigilance/inspection committees, spreading greater awareness and improving salary structure, incentives of officials were other measures that needed to be adopted in order to curb corruption further and improve service delivery in the North-east.
Services
Bank Electricity Hospital Housing Land Records & Registration Public Distribution System Police Water Supply
Variables Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Age-Group 18-25 yrs 26-35 yrs 36-50 yrs Above 50 yrs
RTI 11 11 11 10 13 12 12 9 7
Citizens Charter 3 2 3 3 2 2 3 3 4
352
In the North-east, while 11 per cent of surveyed BPL households were aware of the RTI Act, awareness about Citizens Charter was present amongst only 3 per cent of the households. A slightly higher percentage of females (13 per cent) showed awareness about the RTI as compared to males (10 per cent). Younger respondents, in the age group of 18-35 years, were relatively more aware of the RTI than their older counterparts.
Urban 10 8 34 7 35 6
Rural 8 7 25 11 44 5
Overall 9 7 27 10 41 5
Majority of the BPL households felt that newspapers helped in spreading awareness about the RTI Act. Many others cited another form of mediathe TVas the source of awareness. Only 7 per cent of respondents felt that the government helped in generating awareness about RTI, while only 9 per cent credited interactions with friends to be the reason for greater awareness.
17. Orissa
17.1 ABOUT
THE
STATE
According to the poverty estimates of the Expert Group of Planning Commission for 2004-05, 46.4 per cent of the population in Orissa lives below the poverty line. This is well above one and a half times of the all India average of 27.5 per cent and is one of the highest among states in India. The proportion of BPL population is higher in rural areas (46.8 per cent) compared to urban areas (44.3 per cent). The present study revealed that 20 per cent of eligible households did not have BPL cards. This Study covered a total 920 BPL households from the rural as well as urban areas across four districts in Orissa, i.e. Khurda, Gajapati, Koraput and Nuapada. The BPL population heavily depends on the government for the delivery of essential services. Under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), separate ration cards are issued to BPL as well as the Above Poverty Line (APL) families. Keeping in view the low purchasing power in some of the tribal areas, the Government of Orissa has further subsidized the price of food grains to provide 16 kg of rice per month at Rs 4.75 per kg. As per the criteria laid down by the state government to identify households for Antodaya Anna Yojana (AAY), all tribal households are included under this Scheme (Orissa Human Development Report, 2004).
ABOUT
CORRUPTION
(Figures in per cent)
Among the districts covered in this study, proportion of BPL household having first hand knowledge of corruption is much higher in Khurda compared to poorer districts of Gajapati, Koraput and
354
Nuapada. Relatively higher proportion (33 per cent) of male reported first hand knowledge or experience of corruption. A higher proportion of educated BPL people have reported experience of corruption compared to the less educated ones.
Table 2: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above
Increased
Remained same
Decreased
22 27 27 18 23 21 31 28 32 20
31 29 30 27 28 37 31 29 21 20
46 44 42 55 49 41 38 43 47 60
Nearly 55 per cent of BPL household think that corruption has either increased or remained same in the last one-year. A similar trend was found within urban and rural. Relatively higher proportion of households in Khurda district think that corruption has increased in the last one year as compared to other three districts. It is pertinent to mention here that in the Human Development Index (HDI)2004 ranking 30 districts of Orissa, Khurda is in the 1st position while Nuapada (14th), Gajapati (28th) and Koraput (27th) have much lower ranking. Relatively higher percentage among male and literate BPL respondents think that corruption has increased in the last one year. About 45 per cent BPL households think that corruption has decreased in the last one year. In all the categories, the per centage of people who think corruption has gone down is greater than those who believe it has either increased or has remained the same.
Table 3: Who is Responsible for Corruption?
(Figures in per cent)
Urban 54 35 1 1 5
Rural 53 38 1 3 3
Overall 53 38 1 2 4
In both urban and rural areas, more than half of the BPL households think that politicians are responsible for corruption. One-half of BPL households hold the bureaucracy responsible for corruption in the State. More than 90 per cent of the BPL households opined that either a politician or a bureaucrat is responsible for corruption. Very few (2 per cent) BPL households believe that everyone
Orissa
355
is responsible for corruption. About 4 per cent of the BPL households think that citizens themselves are responsible for corruption by not doing anything about it.
17.3 INTERACTION
WITH
PUBLIC SERVICES
Table 4: Interaction with Public Services
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Public Distribution System (PDS) Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police Land Records & Registration Housing Forest
Urban
Rural
Overall
83 97 18 35 8 21 4 16 11
88 94 11 43 2 13 13 5 14 9 33
87 95 13 41 3 16 13 5 15 9 33
BPL households in the state has interacted with various public services for one or other purposes. This could be understood better by differentiating between basic services (which are required more frequently) from need-based services (which are required only occasionally). Among the basic services, highest proportion (95 per cent) of BPL households reportedly interacted with health services in the last one year. In the state, BPL households mainly depend on the government hospitals (PHC, CHC, Distt. Hospital) because of the provision of free OPD service, diagnostic service and medicines. The district hospitals are over-crowded because of the increasing number of referral cases from the CHCs and PHCs. As high as 87 per cent of BPL households claimed to have interacted with the PDS in the last one year. This high interaction could be due to the availability of highly subsidized food grains under the PDS. As per the NSS consumer expenditure data for 19992000, 51.38 per cent of the rural households accessed PDS for purchase of rice as against the allIndia average of 32.38 per cent. Among the need-based services, higher proportion of BPL households interacted with forest department in the last one year. Higher interaction with forest department was reported in Gajapati and Koraput districts because of the higher proportion of tribal population. The villages situated in and around forest area interact with forest guards and rangers for collection of fuel wood and NTFP. While 16 per cent BPL households reportedly interacted with banking services, an equal proportion interacted with land Records & Registration services in the last one year. There was no significant difference in the extent of interaction between urban and rural BPL households except in case of few services like Water Supply, Electricity and Education. Interaction of BPL households
356
with Electricity and Water services is low in Orissa, reflecting the deficiency of provision of these basic services especially in the rural areas.
Multiple Visits
Relatively a higher proportion of BPL households visited three times or more to avail the need based services compared to the basic services in the last one year. Among the basic services, higher proportion (37 per cent) of BPL households visited three times or more to avail the health services. Shortage of health staff in the PHCs and CHCs, combined with lack of laboratory facilities, necessitated multiple visits by BPL families to access health service. Next is PDS which was mainly contacted for the new ration card, change of address and ration shop.
Table 5: Multiple Visits
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Housing National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Land Records & Registration Police
BPL Households
14 14 37 19 6 66 48 47 40 24
New admission Non receipt of bill, faulty meter For getting bed New ration card, change of address, ration shop Regularization of unauthorized connection Open new account, seek loan Allotment of house / plot Registration for job card Sale / purchase of land, land on lease For filing a complaint
Nearly two-thirds of BPL households interacted with banking services three times or more primarily for opening new account, obtaining loan and deferment of loan installments. Banking service has fared comparatively well in other states in the current survey. The reasons for such a trend, therefore, needs to be looked into further. These are followed by NREGS, Housing and Land Records & Registration, which were interacted three times or more in the last one year to get their work done.
Orissa
Table 6: Perception about Corruption
357
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police
There is Corruption
Not sure
No Corruption
26 47 43 62 36 21 60 66 45 48 43
42 22 36 7 32 49 17 11 39 33 29
28 20 20 31 10 27 12 20 15 15 14
Of the BPL households, who interacted with the need-based services, 66 per cent of them perceived Housing as the most corrupt. It is followed by forest department (60 per cent). Between 48 and 43 per cent of the BPL households perceive that corruption exist in NREGS, Land Records & Registration and Police. Among the districts covered in this study, relatively higher proportion (50 per cent) of BPL households in Khurda think that corruption exists in the Land Records & Registration department. This could be due to the spiraling land values in the district and the perceived nexus between politician, bureaucrats and developers.
Table 7: Level of Corruption in the Last One Year
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System (PDS) Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police
Decreased
Same
Increased
51 42 41 59 16 50 5 39 32 39 24
39 47 35 19 58 41 53 35 36 19 50
10 11 24 23 26 9 42 26 32 42 26
358
In case of basic services, between 10 and 26 per cent BPL households think that corruption has increased in respective departments in the last one-year. In case of need-based services, a higher proportion (26 to 42 per cent) of BPL households think that corruption has increased in the last one year except in the case of banking services (9 per cent). Of those BPL households, who interacted with the Forest department, as high as 95 per cent of them believe that corruption has either increased or remained same in the department. In case of Land Records & Registration service, relatively higher per centage of BPL households in Khurda and Gajapati districts think that corruption has increased in the last one year compared to Koraput and Nuapada districts. This could be due to comparatively higher land values in the former districts.
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System (PDS) Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police
Improved
Same
Deteriorated
55 50 41 60 32 63 6 43 47 39 26
37 42 35 18 48 30 90 35 24 35 62
8 8 24 22 19 6 4 22 29 26 12
More than half of the respondents had indicated that grievance redressal mechanism in Orissa has improved in PDS, followed by School Education and Electricity among the basic services. In case of need-based services, Banking services have become better in the last one year whereas there is no such progress in other services.
17.6 INCIDENCE
OF
CORRUPTION
Of those BPL households who interacted with basic service, up to 17 per cent reported to have paid bribe or using contact or both to avail these services. Highest proportion (16.8 per cent) of such households had to pay bribe to avail the health services. Since OPD service, pathology services and medicines in the public health facilities are free for BPL people, the demand for these services are very high. Due to the pressure of patients and inadequate infrastructure, patients face difficulties in admission into the hospital, and sometimes they have to pay bribes for getting a bed.
Orissa
359
Incase of need-based services, the extent of BPL households paying bribe or using contact or both ranged up to 30 per cent. The incidence of paying bribe or using contact is low in Banking (2.1 per cent) and Forest services (4.3 per cent). Higher proportion is for Land Records & Registration (21 per cent) and housing (15 per cent). In the districts of Nuapada, Gajapati and Koraput, major proportion of BPL households are tribal and possess forest land mostly through encroachment. To continue its possession, they pay bribes to the lower level staff of the revenue department. In Khurda, the market value of land is high and the BPL households pay bribe to the staff of subregister office for under valuation at the time of land registration.
Table 9: Experience of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System (PDS) Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police
Paid Bribe
Used Contact
1.3 5.0 16.0 1.1 1.4 3.8 15.2 21.1 1.2 9.5
0.3 0.8 0.8 5.0 10.0 0.7 0.5 14.0 12.0 7.2
0.3 1.7 4.6 0.4 16.7 1.4 0.5 3.5 0.8 16.9 4.8
About 12 per cent BPL households used contact for selection as beneficiary or for getting either a job card or the employment, while about 17 per cent of BPL households could not avail the benefits of NREGS because they could not afford the bribe amount asked for. Certain irregularities in NREGS such as giving receipt to the job card applicant, not giving job card in time, nor providing work to the applicants in stipulated period in NREGS, especially in tribal belts of Gajapati, Koraput and Nuapada, have been reported in the local newspapers.
New admission; Review performance of child Bill payment; Excess Bill; To change faulty meter and New connection For getting bed/admission as in-patient; Admission as out patient; For diagnostic services; For medicineFor blood; For operation and For medical certificate To take monthly ration; Change of ration shop and address and Issue of new card To obtain loan Allotment of plot / house; Transfer of ownership and Release of loan amount Sale/purchase of land and mutation; Obtain Caste & Income Certificate; Obtain land records; Agricultural land on lease from panchayat; Purchasing stamp paper and Paying tax Filing a complaint; Remove name from witness and Character certificate For saplings; For collection of NTFP (Tendu leaf); Collection of Fuel woods Foe selection as beneficiary/ getting job card
Public Distribution System NEED-BASED Banking Housing Land Records & Registration
Route of Bribe
Most of the BPL households, who paid bribe to get their work done in the last one year, paid bribe directly to the government official/staff to avail the basic as well as the need-based services. The influence of middlemen is relatively less, except for Housing services and Police services.
Table 11: Route of Bribe Payment
(Figures in per cent)
Agent/ middlemen
Local representative
2 11 14 25 31
Public Distribution System (PDS) School Education Electricity NEED-BASED Land Records & Registration Banking Police National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Housing Forest
Orissa
361
Estimation of Bribe
In Orissa, around one-fifth of the BPL households reportedly paid bribe in the last one year for availing these basic and need-based services. The amount of bribe paid in the last one year by these BPL households in availing these services is estimated to be Rs 109.1 million.
OF
SERVICES
Water Supply
Police
Electricity Health Public Distribution System (PDS) School Education Banking Land Records & Registration Housing
Service-wise, relative position for the level of corruption in the state shows that the level of corruption is alarming in Forest service and NREGS. The extent of corruption in water supply service is Very High and Police High.
362
Services
Public Distribution System Electricity Hospital Water supply Police Banking Forest Land Records & Registration
In Orissa, nearly four per cent of BPL households are aware about RTI. The awareness is slightly higher (4.9 per cent) among BPL households in urban areas compared to rural areas (3.3 per cent). Male respondents are more aware about RTI than female (1 per cent). Only 2 per cent of the BPL households are aware about citizen charters. There was no significant difference on the extent of awareness about citizen charter across locations and gender.
Table 14: RTI & Citizens Charters
(Figures in per cent)
Variables Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Age-Group 18 25 yrs 26 35 yrs 36 50 yrs Above 50 yrs
RTI 3.8 4.9 3.3 4.5 1.0 1.3 5.1 4.3 2.4
Citizens Charter 2.1 2.8 1.7 2.2 1.6 2.7 1.1 2.5 2.4
Source of Awareness
Awareness about RTI is high in the district of Khurda because civil society groups had taken initiatives to widen awareness about the Act in its adjoining areas of Bhubaneshwar. The awareness about RTI is negligible in the backward districts of Gajapati, Koraput and Nuapada.
Orissa
Table 15: Source of Awareness About RTI
363
Urban 29 6 29 12 18
Rural 43 26 13 17
Overall 37 3 27 12 18
In Orissa, given the low level of literacy, radio continues to be a dominant medium for dissemination of information among BPL households in the rural areas. To widen awareness further about RTI, television, radio and also newspapers should take on specific campaign. Equally important is to activate local networks effectively as a potential medium for this section of the society.
18. Punjab
18.1 ABOUT
THE
STATE
Punjab is popularly perceived as a rich, agrarian and entrepreneurial state but it is also a home to 2.2 million people living below the poverty line (BPL). This could be due to large migrant labor population from other states. According to Punjab Human Development Report, there are two million migrant labor population in Punjab. A significant per centage of them may be classified as BPL households. Their average monthly per capita income is Rs. 410 for rural and Rs 466 for urban residents. This study focuses on corruption as perceived and experienced by BPL households in Punjab. The study brings out that 32 per cent of eligible households do not have BPL cards, where as twoper cent of the ineligible households have BPL cards.
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary
44 51 46 52 53 43 39 55 47
51 46 50 44 43 52 56 43 50
5 3 4 4 4 5 5 2 3
Despite reports of cases of high-level corruption, only 47 per cent of BPL households think that the corruption in public services is real. The perception of corruption is relatively higher among urban, male and literate BPL respondents. This could be because the reach of the media is relatively higher among urban and literate population, especially that of print media.
Punjab
Table 2: Level of Corruption
365
Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary
Increased
Remained same
Decreased
35 30 34 28 33 33 39 25 31
40 42 39 44 39 37 39 48 42
24 27 26 26 26 28 21 27 27
Around one-fourth of the respondents perceived there had been a decrease in corruption during the last one year. About one-third thought that there is an increase in the level of corruption, while two-fifths opined that the level of corruption continues to be the same.
Table 3: Who is Responsible for Corruption?
(Figures in per cent)
Urban 29 47 1 8 10
Rural 31 50 0.5 6 9
Overall 30 50 1 7 10
Since BPL households are likely to interact more frequently with government functionaries, it is not surprising that half of the respondents think that Government officials are responsible for corruption, while 30 per cent of BPL households consider that politicians are responsible for corruption in the State. There is no significant difference in perception between urban and rural BPL households.
18.3 INTERACTION
WITH
PUBLIC SERVICES
Our research has shown that BPL households are far more dependent on public services provided by Government institutions/ agencies. Therefore, it would be interesting to capture the extent to which BPL household are interacting with various public services. However, there is a need to differentiate between basic services (which are required on daily basis) and need based services (which are required occasionally). Nearly nine-tenths of BPL households had interacted with PDS and Health services. Despite efforts on rural electrification, close to one third of the BPL households have not interacted with electricity department, this could be because the service may not be available in their locality. Only 12 per cent have interacted with water supply department.
Services BASIC Public Distribution System (PDS) Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police Land Records & Registration Housing Forest
Urban
Rural
Overall
86 87 62 51 13 33 13 8 9 4
88 88 64 56 12 39 7 11 5 8 7
87 88 63 55 12 33 7 12 6 8 6
Among need based services, except for banks / post office/ treasury, less than 10 per cent of the sampled BPL households have been interacted in last one year. This is a very low interaction rate compared to other states covered in this survey. It is surprising that although Punjab is known for its agriculture, only 5 per cent of rural BPL families have interacted with the Land Records & Registration service. This may indicate that the overwhelming majority of BPL households are migrant landless farm labour.
Multiple Visits
Table 5: Multiple Visits
(Figures in per cent)
Service BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Housing Land Records & Registration Police
BPL Households
47 23 74 29
Admission, application for scholarship New connection, restoration of connection, billing, meter related issues Medicines, to get admitted as in-patient, for diagnostic service, blood etc Issue of new ration card, addition of family members, change in ration shop Installation & maintenance of hand pump, supply of water tanker Opening an account, seeking loan, pension Allotment of plot/ release of loan/ construction of toilets Obtaining land records, mutation, land survey, income certificate File complaint, as accused, to get the name removed
90 95 50 73
Punjab
367
Our earlier corruption studies have shown that citizen tends to pay bribe to avoid making repeated visits to a department to get a particular work done. In view of this, it would be interesting to study the extent and find out the reason why BPL respondents have to make repeated visits to get their work done. The data shows that in case of basic services, health is the only service which is approached repeatedly by 74per cent of BPL respondents three or more times to get medicines. It is followed by School Education (47per cent), PDS (29per cent) and Electricity (23per cent). In need based services, between 90 and 95 per cent of the BPL respondents had to make 3 or more visits for Housing and Banking service even for simple task like opening an account in a bank. Nearly threefourths respondent had to visit Police more than 3 times and 50 per cent of the cases to avail land records and registration.
Service BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Service Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Department Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
There is Corruption
Not sure
No Corruption
27.5 42.0 49.5 41.7 50.0 43.3 18.8 63.4 50.0 32.5 88.5
23.4 15.9 18.9 18.2 26.7 14.9 25.1 17.1 11.4 23.4 8.2
59.3 46.1 50.5 49.4 33.3 49.0 56.3 19.5 38.6 46.8 6.6
Overall, most of the public services are viewed as corrupt by more than 40 per cent of the BPL household covered in the study. Over one-fourth of BPL households, who have interacted with Education service in the last one-year, viewed department to be corrupt. In the case of Police service, close to 90 per cent, who had interacted, perceived them to be corrupt. The perception regarding forest and NREGS may not be representative since very few BPL households in Punjab have interacted with respective services. The impression regarding the change in the level of corruption in public services throws up a mixed picture. Over forty per cent of the BPL households think that corruption has increased in the last one year in Police, Water Supply Housing. In case of other departments, less than one-fifth of BPL households think that corruption has increased.
Service BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Department Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Decreased
Same
Increased
48.5 34.8 44.6 45.8 13.3 36.7 43.8 9.8 25.0 23.4 16.4
49.8 51.6 52.8 49.8 56.7 50.5 43.8 46.3 56.8 63.6 37.7
11.9 17.7 21.1 13.4 40.0 20.0 18.8 43.9 18.2 15.6 49.2
Service BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Police Land Record & Registration Housing Forest National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme (NREGS)
Improved
Same
Deteriorated
34.3 33.5 40.5 45 48.1 47.1 7.8 25.8 29.1 35.7 27.3
43.8 45.2 42.7 39.1 28.1 41.2 41.1 45.2 43 45.7 53.2
21.8 21.3 16.8 15.9 23.7 11.7 51.2 29 27.9 18.6 19.5
Punjab
369
OF
18.6 INCIDENCE
CORRUPTION
Overall, in case of basic service, less than 5 per cent of the households have accepted to have paid bribe or used influence or both to avail their services. Some of the BPL households may not use the service at all if they have to pay bribe. This is seen mainly in Land Records & Registration, Water Supply and PDS services. In the case of need-based services, two-fifths of the BPL households have accepted to have paid bribe or used influence or both to avail Police services. Less than 10 per cent of BPL households interacted with other departments, have accepted to have paid bribe to get their work done.
Table 9: Experience of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Service BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Department Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police
Paid Bribe
Used Contact
1.4 2.1 3.1 3.2 3.0 3.2 2.9 3.5 8.1 15.6 3.1
3.5 3.3 5.3 8.0 9.6 3.4 2.9 8.1 11.3 6.5 7.8
Admission; Application of scholarship Bill payment; Excess Bill; Duplicate Bill; Meter instillation; Meter malfunction and New Connection As in-patient Issue of new card; Deletion & addition of family members; To take monthly ration Maintenance of hand pump
370
Table Contd...
Allotment of plot / house and Construction of houses Obtain land records and Purchasing stamp paper Selling property and Mutation Make a complaint; As an accused; Income certificate and Passport verification
In case of basic services, the reason for paying bribe is generally to register as a beneficiary, such as admission in School, meter installation for Electricity service, admission as in-patient of Hospital and issue of new PDS card. In case of need-based services, the reason for paying bribe brings out a need for more simplification and transparency in systems and procedures such as processing of loans or obtaining land records.
Agent/ middlemen
Local representative
Public Distribution System (PDS) NEED-BASED Banking Land Records & Registration Police
However, this study brings out that incidence of paying bribe directly to the department officials is on the rise. In case of Health, Electricity and Police departments, more than half of BPL households have accepted to directly have paid bribes to department officials. In the case of PDS and Land records, more than 40 per cent of households had paid bribe to the middlemen. A comparatively higher proportion of BPL families also paid bribes to local representatives. This in some way reflects the instances of corruption involving elected representatives that have been revealed in the media over the last few years in Punjab.
Punjab
371
OF
SERVICES
Corruption in Electricity and Health services is reported to be Alarming while banking it is considered Very High.
Table 12: Level of Corruption: Relative Position
ALARMING VERY HIGH HIGH MODERATE
Electricity Health
Banking
Public Distribution System (PDS) School Education Water Supply Land Records & Registration Police National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Housing Forest
372
Services
Banking Electricity Hospital Housing Land Record & Registration Public Distribution System Water supply
Despite sustained media campaign about the RTI Act, hardly 4 per cent of the BPL households are aware about RTI. Similarly, only 6 per cent are aware about the existence of Citizens Charters. This clearly brings out a need for a lot more field based support to ensure that BPL households are aware and utilize these tools to avail hassel-free public services.
Table 14: RTI & Citizens Charters
(Figures in per cent)
Variables Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Age-Group 18 25 yrs 26 35 yrs 36 50 yrs Above 50 yrs
RTI 11 15 9 13 8 11 10 10 14
Citizens Charter 2 3 2 2 2 1 3 2 2
Source of Awareness
Table 15: Source of Awareness
(Figures in per cent)
Urban 40 2 12 2 44
Rural 38 1 18 43
Overall 39 1 16 1 43
The source of their awareness are newspapers (43 per cent) and friends (39 per cent). The role of government departments is negligible.
19. Rajasthan
19.1 ABOUT
THE
STATE
According to Planning Commission estimates, 22.1 per cent of population or about 5.6 million people live Below Poverty Line (BPL) in Rajasthan. The incidence of poverty is higher (32.9 per cent of people are classified as BPL) in urban areas as compared to rural areas (18.7 per cent). The per capita poverty cut off for a rural BPL household is Rs. 374.57 and an urban BPL household is Rs. 559.63 in Rajasthan both of which are a little above the national average. But the per capita income inthe state is much lower than the national average. 1 The present corruption study revealed that around 34 per cent of the total BPL households in the state has not got BPL cards. This is very high considering that the state has a high proportion of both urban and rural poor.
ABOUT
CORRUPTION
(Figures in per cent)
Only one-fifth of BPL households think that corruption is only hear say. More than three-fourths of the BPL households had first hand experience of corruption. The perception about corruption in Rajasthan, therefore, is unambiguous. It encompasses, gender and education levels. Relatively higher percentage of urban, men and educated among BPL people had reported first hand knowledge or experience of corruption. Most of the rest claimed it to be hear say.
1 According to State-specific Poverty Lines, 2004-05; Planning Commission
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above
Increased
Remained same
Decreased
46.0 45.8 45.8 46.2 37.4 46.2 51.3 47.0 57.8 59.0
41.7 41.9 41.3 43.3 47.0 37.4 41.6 41.0 35.4 33.3
9.1 9.9 11.2 5.7 11.5 12.1 5.3 10.9 6.1 7.7
Around 46 per cent of BPL households think that corruption has increased while a little higher than 40 per cent think it has remained same as in the last one-year. Only one-tenth of the households think that corruption has declined. Relatively higher percentages of female and educated BPL respondents opined that corruption has increased in the last one year.
Table 3: Who is Responsible for Corruption?
(Figures in per cent)
Urban 51 31 12 5
Rural 55 25 10 8
Overall 54 28 11 7
According to the BPL households, government staff/officials and politicians are mainly responsible for corruption in public offices/services in the state. However, in comparison to politicians, the percentage of BPL households considering government functionaries responsible for corruption is almost double. However, more than 7 per cent of the BPL households think that citizens themselves are responsible for corruption.
19.3 INTERACTION
WITH
PUBLIC SERVICES
This could be understood better by categorizing the services in to basic services (which are required on daily basis) and need-based services (which are required only occasionally). Our research has shown that BPL households are far more dependent on basic public services as compared with the need-based provided by Government institutions/ agencies.
Rajasthan
Table 4: Interaction with Public Services
375
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Banking Forest Land Records & Registration Police Housing
Urban
Rural
Overall
97.4 77.8 51.2 24.2 17.1 43.0 29.3 15.0 11.5 8.3 8.5
95.5 79.4 53.4 24.5 21.1 43.0 30.8 15.0 13.0 9.9 9.2
Among the basic services, over 95 per cent of the BPL households interacted with PDS while nearly 80 per cent interacted with the Health service during the last one year. More than half of the BPL households interacted with Electricity service. The high interaction could also be due to certain policies of the state government like free power to farmers and BPL families. Only about one-fifth of the BPL households surveyed have interacted with Water Supply service. Area-wise, BPL households interacting with Electricity and Water Supply service was noticed to be more in the urban areas than rural areas. On the other hand, percentage of BPL households from rural areas interacted more with PDS. Among need-based services, interaction with the NREGS and Banking services during last one year has been reasonably high. There are varying level of differences in the extent of interaction between urban and rural BPL households in case of basic and need-based services. The greatest magnitude of the difference is observed for Water Supply. In most of the need-based services, the level of interaction of the rural BPL households is less than that of urban.
Multiple Visits
Our previous Studies have shown that citizen tend to pay bribe to avoid making repeated visits to a service to get a particular work done. In view of this, it would be interesting to study the extent and reason why BPL households had to make repeated visits to get their work done. The study shows that in case of basic services, between 15 and 36 per cent of BPL households had to make 3 or more visits. In case of need-based services on the other hand, 46 to 65 per cent of the BPL households had to make 3 or more visits. These households are harassed most by the Land Records & Registration services, followed by NREGS, Housing, Police and Banking services.
BPL Households
24 15 31 23 36
New admission, issue of certificate Faulty meter, to reduce/adjust excess bill, new connection As in-patients New ration card, addition of members Maintenance of hand pump, supply of water tankers, irrigation water New account, seek loan, deferment of loan Allotment of house / plot, housing loan, Construction of toilets Obtaining records, Sale / purchase of land property, mutation For filing a complaint. As an accused, remove name from witness Registration for job card, Issuance of job card
Public Distribution System (PDS) Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Housing Land Records & Registration Police National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
46 50 65 46 59
19.4 PERCEPTION
ABOUT
SERVICES
Overall, the perception about basic services is slightly better than in the case of need-based services. In-case of basic services, maximum corruption is reported to be in PDS, followed by Electricity Hospital and Water Supply. Their percentages are between 41 and 61 Relatively, lesser percentage of those interacting with Education service perceives it to be corrupt.
Table 6: Perception about Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police
There is Corruption
Not sure
No Corruption
21.3 50.2 49.3 61.1 40.9 25.3 56.4 72.1 77.0 46.2 91.4
18.3 19.2 19.5 17.5 22.7 18.3 23.6 8.1 8.2 28.8 3.2
55.7 24.2 29.8 19.1 29.3 54.0 17.9 15.1 10.7 24.3 3.2
Rajasthan
377
In case of need-based services, the BPL households who interacted with Banking perceived it to be least corrupt. It is followed by Land Records & Registration, Housing and Forest. Nine out of ten of those who are interacting with Police perceive them to be corrupt.
Table 7: Level of Corruption in the Last One Year
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System (PDS) Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police
Decreased
Same
Increased
51.7 24.0 26.3 18.7 21.7 51.6 14.3 16.3 7.4 28.0 4.3
38.7 47.8 50.9 52.1 59.1 34.9 68.6 36.0 48.4 36.7 36.6
9.6 28.2 22.7 29.3 19.2 13.5 17.1 47.7 44.3 35.2 59.1
Various anti-corruption initiatives claimed to be taken have yet to make an impact on bringing down the perception level about corruption in the State. In case of basic services, while around 30 per cent felt that corruption in PDS, followed by Electricity (28.2 per cent), Hospital (22.7 per cent) and Water Supply (19.2 per cent) has increased in last one year, around 10 percent felt so for the services like School Education. In case of need-based services, higher percentage (35-60) thinks that corruption has actually increased during the last one year. Taking all services together, the perception of a decline in corruption is favourable only in the case of School Education and Banking, where more than half of the respondents felt that the level of corruption has actually come down over the last one year.
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System (PDS) Water Supply
Improved
Same
Deteriorated
378
Table Contd...
NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police 54.7 13.6 11.6 4.9 28.3 3.2 34.3 67.9 39.5 54.9 37.5 50.5 11.1 18.6 48.8 40.2 34.2 46.2
Almost half of the respondents acknowledged that the grievance redressal mechanism in the case of Banking and Education had improved in the last one year. However, over 40 percent BPL households felt that redressal system had deteriorated in Housing, Police and Land Records & Registration and PDS in the last one-year.
19.6 INCIDENCE
OF
CORRUPTION
Out of the total BPL households in Rajasthan, who visited the services/service delivery points to get their work done, only a small percent of them used contacts.
Table 9: Experience of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Used Contact
3 15 6 8 9 6 15 12 31 11 56
12 8 13 12 6 8 5 20 14 10 13
Public Distribution System (PDS) Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police
The percentage of households who paid bribe to avail Police, Land Records & Registration, Forest and Electricity services is quite high. The share of BPL households paying bribe to Police is the highest (56 per cent). The responses of the BPL households suggest that a lot of BPL beneficiaries do not get their work done without paying any extra money or using contacts. This is reflected in the services of Housing, PDS and Health where respondents did not take the service as they were asked for bribe. According
Rajasthan
379
to a Times of India report (Sept. 25, 2008), patients having contacts did not have any trouble in Jodhpurs biggest government Umed Hospital. They claim, You just go through the Agents and they advise you. Such patients are provided with proper health care and expensive medicines. On the other hand, patients having no contacts are turned away.
The purposes for which the BPL households paid bribe in the state shows that though few households reportedly paid bribe in the concerned service to get their work done but, on the other hand, it highlights the fact that in most cases they had to pay bribe to avail the basic facilities meant for. BPL households including getting pension, paying loan installment, bill payment and even for registering a complaint with the police.
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking
Agent/ middlemen
Local representative
85.7 87.7 95.7 67.2 77.8 83.3 68.4 84.6 25.6 40.0 95.2
14.3 9.6 4.3 14.9 16.7 16.7 21.1 15.4 27.9 40.0 4.8
Land Records & Registration Police National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Housing Forest
OF
SERVICES
Police
Electricity Health Public Distribution System (PDS) Banking Land Records & Registration
School Education National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Housing Forest
Water Supply
Rajasthan
381
Lack of Trust: In Rajasthan, the officials reported to have received very few written complaints against corruption. Measures to curb corruption: There is hardly any kind of advanced equipments like computers to bring transparency in the procedures. Toll free number and facility of call center are provided only at block level. The contact number of PIO has been displayed to help common people. Regular meetings and proper investigation have been conducted. Suggestions: Persons involved in corruption should get strict punishment or dismissal order. Payment of bills should be on time. There should be more employment generation schemes for BPL population. Electricity should be more subsidized or free for BPL. Costly diagnostic services should be provided free of cost to the BPL population. Dependence on the middlemen should be eliminated. Powers within the system should be decentralized. They were of the view that till the time the literacy and awareness level of the common man towards his/her rights will not increase, citizens will be vulnerable to different corruptive ways of getting their work done, though in some of the cases staffs are very helpful to BPL. They want the involvement of the middlemen in the processes to be abolished. They also opined that the general people should not be ready to pay bribe to the agents for the services they are entitled to. Some officials have reported that the staff is very inefficient and irresponsible because of nonaccountability. The officials, in almost all the service, were of the opinion that staff strength is not adequate which leads to slow service delivery and many a times it indulges in corruption. Eligible and efficient staffs should be recruited and encouraged.
Services
Banking Electricity Hospital Housing Land Records & Registration Public Distribution System Water Supply
In Rajasthan, the awareness about RTI & Citizens Charters is as low as 5.5 and 4.5 per cent, respectively, in spite of the fact that the RTI movement had its roots in Rajasthan. However, interestingly the awareness of RTI is relatively high in rural, and among male and older BPL respondents while the awareness for Citizens Charter is relatively higher among the urban and
382
younger ones. The Reason for awareness levels not being high could be because neither the Govt. nor political party had taken it up. Awareness about RTI is maximum among persons of 50 years and above.
Table 14: RTI and Citizens Charters
(Figures in per cent)
Variables Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Age-Group 18 25 yrs 26 35 yrs 36 50 yrs Above 50 yrs
RTI 5.7 4.8 6.0 7.1 1.6 4.6 5.2 5.6 8.1
Citizens Charter 4.5 6.3 3.8 4.6 4.0 4.6 6.7 2.9 2.9
Source of Awareness
Formal media campaigns like newspapers, and TV have played a key role in creating awareness about the RTI Act in the rural Rajasthan. This was supported by informal sources or word of mouth from friends, which surprising was absent in urban environment. Overall, hardly five per cent in urban areas could attribute their awareness to Government sources.
Table 15: Source of Awareness about RTI
(Figures in per cent)
STATE
Tamil Nadu is one the most industrialized, as well as one of the most urbanized state. In spite of its achievements in socio-economic development, 3.27 million households are still in Below the Poverty Line (BPL) category. Pondicherry, a small Union Territory within Tamil Nadu, has nearly 56 thousand BPL households. The per capita income of the rural BPL population is Rs. 351.9, which is below the national average of Rs. 356. On the other hand, the per capita income of urban BPL population is Rs. 547.42 above the national average of Rs.538. For the present study a sample of 1301 BPL Households was collected, 1009 from rural areas and 292 in urban areas. These households were from Chennai, Pondicherry and three NREGS districts, i.e., Cuddalore, Dindigul and Thiruvanamalai. Considering the similar socio-economic profile of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, the findings of the state and the Union Territory have been discussed together in this report.
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & above
Hear say
30 34 31 36 38 33 27 38 30 29
65 63 66 60 58 64 71 60 66 70
5 3 3 4 4 3 3 2 5 1
384
Nearly 64 per cent of sample households opined that corruption in public offices was real and they had first hand experience. However, one-third of the respondents said that corruption was only hear say. There was hardly any significant difference in the opinion of households from urban and rural locations. The percentage of BPL households reporting knowledge of corruption was inversely proportional to the level of education. It was high in Cuddalore (72 per cent) as compared to other districts.
Table 2: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & above
Increased
Same as before
Decreased
28 31 31 29 26 26 24 31 33 44
52 50 49 52 54 61 61 47 47 35
19 19 19 19 20 13 15 20 20 20
Nearly half of the households opined that the level of corruption had remained same as before while 31 per cent felt that it has increased. In Chennai, more than 70 per cent households were of the opinion that the level of corruption has remained same. Overall, 19 per cent of the households were of the opinion that corruption has declined this year as compared to the last year. A relatively higher percentage of educated respondents think that the level of corruption has increased with in the last one year.
Table 3: Who is Responsible for Corruption?
(Figures in per cent)
Urban 16 47 33
Rural 14 42 39
Total 14 43 37
Around 43 per cent of the households held the government officials to be mainly responsible for corruption in public offices in Tamil Nadu. Also, more than one-third of the BPL households held citizens responsible for corruption in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, which is higher than that seen for other states in this survey. Surprisingly, BPL households seem to have a better assessment about politicians as far as corruption is concerned.
385
20.3 INTERACTION
WITH
PUBLIC SERVICES
BPL households are perceived to be more dependent on public services than others. So it becomes relevant to gauge the extent of their interaction with various public services. For this purpose, public services have been categorized into two groups, i.e., basic services (which are required frequently) and need based services (which are required only occasionally).
Table 4: Interaction with Public Services
(figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Forest Land Records & Registration Housing Police
Urban
Rural
Overall
99 89 84 44 18 37 11 3 19
99 94 82 55 5 37 34 4 15 4 15
99 93 83 52 7 37 34 4 14 4 16
Almost all the respondents reported that they had interacted with Public Distribution System (PDS) during the last one year. They are followed by 93 per cent which had interacted with Hospital and 83 per cent with Electricity services. Only Water Supply shows a low level of interaction, especially in the rural areas. Except Banking (37 per cent) and NREGS (34 per cent), other need-based services did not show high level of interaction on the part of the BPL families. The interaction rate is the lowest for Housing, which may reflect the fact that earlier Housing schemes have fulfilled most of their requirements.
Multiple Visits
Earlier corruption studies have shown that citizen tend to pay bribe to avoid making repeated visits to a department to get a particular work done. In view of this, it would be interesting to study the extent and reason why BPL respondents have to make repeated visits to avail one or the other eleven services. Around one-third or more of BPL households in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry had to visit Water Supply, School Education and Electricity services more than three times to get the work done. While in case of need-based services, 42 to 60 per cent of BPL households made three or more visits during the last one year.
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED
BPL Households
13 28 33 37 41 47 60 54 42 44
New ration card, Surrender of card, Application license, deletion or addition of family members name Getting bed, getting medical certificate & for delivery New connection, faulty bill, non-receipt of bill, meter installation Admission, issue of certificate, application for scholarship Installation of hand pump, supply of water tank Registration and issuance of job card, receipt of unemployment allowance Opening of new account, seeking loan, Allotment of house, Sale & Purchase of property, income certificate, paying tax Filing a complaint, getting character certificate,
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Banking Housing Land Records and Registration Police
Service BASIC Public Distribution System (PDS) Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Banking Housing Land Record and Registration Forest Police
Disagree, no corruption
37 35 38 23 67 16 23 48 60 24 74
33 31 33 41 16 33 24 15 13 7 7
21 23 16 23 12 20 32 7 6 6
387
Regarding need based services, 74 per cent of households interacted with these services with in the last one year perceived Police the most to be corrupt. It was followed by Land Records & Registration service (60 per cent), Housing (48 per cent), Forest (24 per cent), Banking (23 per cent) and NREGS (16 per cent).
Table 7: Changing in the Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Service BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Banking Forest Land Records & Registration Housing Police
Decreased
Same
Increased
19 22 16 20 24 28 33 4 15 2
60 65 60 66 42 61 52 79 47 65 46
21 13 24 14 34 11 15 21 49 20 52
Though the BPL households felt that there was corruption in all the basic services, the prevalence of corruption was more or less unchanged. In case of Water Supply, more than one-third felt that the level of corruption had increased during the last one year. In Police and Land Records & Registration services, however, nearly half of the households also felt that this level had increased within the last one year. One-third of the respondents felt that the level of corruption had come down in case of banking services, followed by NREGS (28 per cent).
Service BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital School Education Electricity Water Supply
Improved
Same
Deteriorated
19 18 19 14 21
66 64 73 68 57
15 18 8 18 22
Table Contd...
388
Table Contd...
NEED-BASED Banking National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Land Records & Registration Housing Police 23 13 6 22 15 73 68 63 59 52 4 19 31 19 33
There is a provision of online grievance redressal in case of problems related to Electricity services. In case of other services such as Banking, School Education and Water Supply, the problems are addressed in the offices only. In case of Police service, the households opined that the grievance redressal measures have deteriorated with in the last one year.
20.6 INCIDENCE
OF
CORRUPTION
The incidence of bribes on BPL families varied across services. Among the basic services, the per centage of respondents reporting actual payment of bribe ranged from 13 per cent in School Education to 45 per cent in Water Supply.
Table 9: Experience of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Forest Land Records and Registration Housing Police
Paid Bribe
Used Contact
16.0 22.2 24.2 12.8 44.8 13.4 4.8 9.5 44.3 38.9 66.8
1.3 1.4 0.7 0.4 5.2 1.5 1.7 4.8 4.8 11.2 1.5
0.9 1.0 0.4 0.6 2.1 0.4 0.6 1.5 1.1 3.7 2.0
About two-thirds of the households, who had interacted with police, had paid bribe to avail their services. Among the other need-based services, nearly two-fifths of the respondents had paid bribe to avail services in Housing and Land Records & Registration sector. Around 11 per cent BPL households also used contact in Housing service. The proportion of respondents reporting that they did not avail of a service due to corruption is comparatively low in Tamil Nadu, with the exception of Housing.
389
Govt.Official
Agent/ Middlemen
Local Representative
91 87 87
8 13 13
1
Table Contd...
390
Table Contd...
School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Housing Land Records & Registration Forest National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Police
76 70 58 65 100 71 93
22 30 43 33 24 10
2 2 6 1
The households also reported instances of paying bribe to the middlemen or agent. Among basic services, School Education and Water Supply were the ones where agents were used. The proportion is higher in the case of need-based services; being highest in Housing service.
Electricity National Rural Employment Public Distribution System Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) School Education Housing Banking
Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry Land Records e-Service where one can view and extract their copy in Tamil Nadu.
391
Under REGiNET programme: Certificates available at computerized offices can be applied through the web and delivered through the courier. Currently, there is one REGiNET Centre in Tamil Nadu. Computerization of Ration Cards- Details of the ration card are available in a computerized database.
Although there are complaints regarding facilities in the hospital, health service where Tamil Nadu or Pondicherry, officials across the state reported that people especially those from BPL families were availing timely services. They informed that BPL families were given treatment free of cost for all kinds of ailments, diseases and accidents. One of the officers informed that public service centers have been started for providing consultation. The names of doctors and their numbers have been displayed and 24-hour ambulance services have also been provided. Similarly, the bank officials stated that they have started 24-hour ATM facilities.
Services
No. of offices
BASIC Public Distribution System Electricity Hospital Water supply NEED-BASED Police Banking Housing 9 9 9 6 9 9 0 2 3 0 2 0 9 8 6 9 5 6 6 6 4 6 6 6 2 3 6 0 1 1 0 6 5 6 1
In Tamil Nadu, display boards have been installed to provide information on RTI Act. However, PIOs names have been poorly displayed. There is availability of complaint box. Police performance is the worst in this regard.
Variables Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Age-Group 18-25 yrs 26-35 yrs 36-50 yrs Above 50 yrs
RTI 7 12 6 10 2 5 9 8 3
Citizens Charter 4 5 4 4 4 4 4 5 3
Only 7 per cent among the BPL households were aware about the RTI Act. The awareness level among males of 26 to 50 years age group was relatively higher as well as among the BPL households from Chennai district (14 per cent). The awareness about Citizens Charter was lower. No variation on the basis of gender or location of the BPL households was noticed.
Source of Awareness
Table 15: Source of Awareness
(Figures in per cent)
Urban 40 37 13 10
Rural 31 27 27 5 7
Total 34 30 22 7 5
Friends played a major role in creating awareness about the RTI Act. Newspaper and TV were the other major sources of awareness about the RTI Act.
21. Uttarakhand
21.1 ABOUT
THE
STATE
The state of Uttarakhand is popularly known as Devbhumi or, the land of gods. Uttarakhand became the 27th state of the Republic of India on November 9, 2000 after the hill areas of Uttar Pradesh were separated. A total of 3.59 million people live below poverty line in Uttarakhand. According to the 2004-05 Planning Commission data, 39.6 per cent of its population is below poverty line, with 36.5 per cent in urban areas and 40.8 per cent in rural areas. The per capita income of the urban population is Rs. 637.67 per month as compared to Rs. 478.02 per month for their rural counterparts. The present study focuses on corruption as perceived and experienced by people living below poverty line. The study is based on a sample of 777 BPL households of which 218 were from urban areas, while 559 households were from rural areas. They were from six towns and 18 villages across four districts, namely, Dehradun, Haridwar, Champawat and Tehri Garhwal. State is developing standards for-governance applications and specialized e-governance projects. The government of Uttarakhand has identified Human Resources Management System (HRMS) as one of its core initiatives. This is the most common function across the government departments and public services.
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above
Hear say more 31.7 30.6 32.1 28.1 27.6 26.4 30.9 29.3 44.9 34.2
Had first hand Experience 67.4 66.9 65.8 69.8 69.7 71.7 68.2 69.0 52.0 65.8
Dont know / Not sure 0.9 2.5 2.1 2.1 2.6 1.9 0.9 1.7 3.1
394
There is a large difference between the proportion of BPL households who had real first hand experience of corruption as compared to those who considered the malpractice to be more of a hear say in the last one year. A little more than two-thirds of households in the urban areas had first hand experience as compared to a little less than one-third who claimed corruption to be more of hearsay. The proportion remains nearly the same across location, gender and education levels.
Table 2: Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Variables Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Education Illiterate Literate Less than primary Primary Secondary Graduate & Above
Increased
Remained same
Decreased
38.5 36.3 36.6 37.6 36.2 37.7 35.5 38.5 33.7 47.4
45.0 47.6 46.0 48.8 47.0 52.8 50.9 44.8 42.9 44.7
14.2 12.2 14.4 9.1 12.8 5.7 11.8 13.2 18.4 7.9
A greater proportion of BPL households think that corruption has increased over the last one year, compared to those who believed that it has declined. Nearly half of all the households surveyed saw no real change in the level of corruption.
Table 3: Who is Responsible for Corruption?
(Figures in per cent)
In general, nearly half of BPL households opined that government officers were responsible for corruption. The perception is not much different between rural and urban areas. Nearly one in ten BPL households held citizens responsible for corruption in the state.
Uttarakhand
395
WITH
21.3 INTERACTION
PUBLIC SERVICES
Table 4: Interaction with Public Services
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Police Land Records & Registration Housing Forest National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
Urban
Rural
Overall
91.7 82.6 56.0 46.8 31.2 50.0 6.4 11.0 9.6 14.7 11.0
92.3 81.6 60.8 47.2 14.8 41.9 3.6 10.6 9.8 23.1 26.3
92.1 81.9 59.5 47.1 19.4 44.1 4.4 10.7 9.8 20.7 22.0
In Uttarakhand, the interaction of the BPL households in the last one-year in basic services was the maximum with the PDS (over 90 per cent), followed by Hospital service (over 80 per cent). Interaction with the department of Water Supply was the lowest (i.e., 19.4 per cent), with the urban BPL households having greater interaction than those living in the rural areas. Among the need-based services, nearly half of all BPL households had interacted with the Banking service, while less than 10 per cent had done so for Police and Housing.
Multiple Visits
A relatively high percentage of BPL households had to pay multiple visits to Banking and Housing services. Electricity and PDS can be considered relatively efficient, with the proportion of multiple visits below 10 per cent.
Table 5: Multiple Visits
(Figures in per cent)
BPL Households
22.4
Admission; Application for scholarship; Seek promotion from one class to another; Low attendance of ward; Not allowed to appear in exams; Issue of certificate(s); To check the quality of mid-day meal Non-receipt of bill; To reduce/adjust excess bill; Faulty meter; New /Temporary/Restoration of connection; Regular supply As in patient/for getting bed; For medical certificate/attestation
Table Contd...
Electricity
9.9
Hospital
23.7
396
Table Contd...
8.7
Preparation of new ration card; Surrender ration card/ change in address; Change of ration shop; Deletion & addition of family members in ration card and Permission for extra quantity during festivals/ marriages Installation/maintenance of hand pumps; Regularization of unauthorized water connection; Water meter installation; Supply of water tankers and Repair of pipeIrrigation water Open new account; Seek loan and Defer loan instalment Allotment of plot/house; Section/release of housing loan; Construction of toilets; Transfer of ownership Agricultural land on lease from panchayat Obtaining land records; Purchasing stamp paper; Sale/ purchase of land/property; Mutation; Paying tax; Land survey and Income certificate
Water Supply
23.8
NEED-BASED Banking Housing Land Records & Registration 60.0 46.0 36.1
To pick non-forest timber produce (NTFP) like tendu leaves etc. Forest land for constructing house For filing a complaint; Remove name from witness; Passport verification and Violation of traffic law For getting selected as beneficiary/registration for job card; Issuance of job card and Payment of unemployment allowances
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System (PDS) Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing
There is Corruption
No corruption
Uttarakhand
Table Contd...
397
Land Records & Registration Police National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System (PDS) Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest Housing Land Records & Registration Police National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
Decreased
Same
Increased
30.1 14.3 25.5 14.4 19.2 33.5 18.0 2.6 4.8 8.8 5.8
62.6 67.5 60.7 62.4 69.5 62.4 77.6 67.1 55.4 55.9 74.9
7.4 18.2 13.8 23.2 11.3 4.1 4.3 30.3 39.8 35.3 19.3
As far as change in the level of corruption is concerned, between 55 and 77 per cent of respondents saw no change in the level of corruption over the last one year. However, more than 30 per cent of BPL households reported that in their opinion, corruption in Housing, Land Records and Police has increased. The most favourable opinion was for Banking and School Education services, and some improvement in perception was also noticeable for Health services.
398
Table Contd...
School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Forest Land Records & Registration Housing Police
21.6 INCIDENCE
OF
CORRUPTION
In Uttarakhand, only a small percentage of BPL families did not avail of public services due to demand for bribe. The highest reported incidences of bribe were for Police and Land Records & Registration services. The use of contact was also prevalent in Health, Housing and Land Records & Registration. Overall, contrary to the popular perception, the proportion of BPL households reporting paying bribes is less than five per cent in most services except Police and Land Records & Registration.
Table 9: Experience of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Health Public Distribution System Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Housing Land Records & Registration Forest Police National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
Paid Bribe
Used Contact
1.4 3.5 4.7 5.3 2.6 2.3 7.9 22.9 1.2 23.5 1.2
3.0 4.5 19.2 4.6 4.0 2.3 25.0 15.7 4.3 5.9 8.8
0.3 0.9 0.3 0.6 1.3 0.6 5.3 4.8 1.9 14.7 0.6
Uttarakhand
Table 10: Purpose of Paying Bribe
Services BASIC School Education Electricity Health Reason for Paying Bribe
399
Water Supply
Admission; Application for scholarship and Issuance of certificate Bill payment; To reduce/adjust excess bill and Faulty meter New connection As in-patient / for getting bed; As out-patient; For diagnostic services; For operation; For medicine; Delivery (ANC/PNC) and For medical certificate/ attestation Issue and surrender of ration card; Change in address on ration card; Change of ration shop; Deletion and addition of family members in the ration card Permission for release of extra quantity during festivals/marriage; To take monthly ration Installation/maintenance of hand pumps; Bill payment; Regularization of unauthorized water connection; Repair of water pipe Open new account; Withdraw savings; Seek loan; Defer loan instalment and Pension Allotment of plot/house; Release of house loan and Construction of toilets Agricultural land on lease; Obtaining land records; Mutation; Paying tax; Income certificate To pick fuel wood and To pick non-timber forest produce (NTFP) like tendu leaves etc. For filing a complaint; As an accused; Remove name from witness; Verification for job; Violation of traffic law For getting selected as beneficiary/ Registration for job card
NEED-BASED Banking Housing Land Records & Registration Forest Police National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS)
Route of Bribe
It was observed that in most of the services, the government officials and the agents/ middlemen still ruled the roost when it came to taking bribes from the BPL households in the last one year.
Table 11: Route of Payment of Bribe
(Figures in per cent)
Name of Departments /service BASIC School education Electricity Health Public Distribution System (PDS) Water supply
Agent/ middlemen
Local representative
3.7 2.7
Table Contd...
400
Table Contd...
NEED-BASED Banking Police Land Records & Registration Housing Forest National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) 62.5 77.8 77.8 50.0 100.0 50.0 25.0 11.1 27.8 50.0 50.0 12.5 11.1
The bribe was reported to have been paid by all to the government officials in Water Supply and Forest services, followed by 96.3 per cent in Health, 89.2 per cent in PDS, 77.8 per cent in Police and Land Records & Registration and more than fifty per cent in the rest. The BPL families also paid bribes to middlemen even in relatively less corrupt services such as Housing, Electricity, School Education and Banking. Nearly half of all bribe paid for being selected as a NREGS beneficiary was also to middlemen or agents.
OF
SERVICES
Health
Forest
Uttarakhand
Table 13: Services Initiative to Keep Citizens Informed
401
No. of offices 4 3 6 2 6 5 2
Display of Display board Board displaying Availability of citizens charter on RTI act name of PIO complaint box 2 1 6 1 2 0 1 1 3 6 2 4 1 1 2 3 5 2 3 1 1 2 2 4 1 3 2 2
Variables Overall Location Urban Rural Gender Male Female Age-Group 18 25 yrs 26 35 yrs 36 50 yrs Above 50 yrs
RTI 8.4 15.6 5.5 11.0 2.5 7.6 8.3 8.6 8.4
Citizens Charter 1.7 1.8 1.6 1.9 1.2 1.1 3.5 1.5
The awareness about RTI and Citizens Charter being only 8.4 and 1.7 per cent, respectively, was very low among the BPL households. Location wise, the awareness in urban areas about RTI was better than in the rural areas. Awareness level among males was found to be better than females.
Source of Awareness
Table 15: Source of Awareness
(Figures in per cent)
The main source of information about RTI was through newspapers in urban areas and television in rural.
402
STATE
West Bengal is being ruled continuously by a single government for more than two and a half decades. It has been motivated by a political and socio-economic vision that has been different from that most of the other states or central governments. The strategies of land reform, decentralisation and peoples participation through Panchayat institutions are unique in the state. Whatever West Bengal has achieved is in spite of the critical negative factor of having extremely high population density, which affects the per capita resource allocation. Among the States and Union territories, it occupies the 20th position in terms of Human Development Rank. About 72 per cent of its people live in rural areas. A significant part of the state is economically more backward and also tends to be less developed in terms of human development. West Bengal was a food-deficit state till 1980 after which it became food surplus. Later with crop diversification, it is now a major producer of vegetables along with jute and tea. Since 1990s the state has been characterised with low rates of employment growth - both in rural and urban sector, declining capital expenditure by the government with infrastructure bottlenecks, low and stagnant crop prices, declining access to food for ordinary people and worsening quality of public services. The total number of households in West Bengal is estimated nearly 16 million of which about 3.8 million, i.e., 24.7 per cent are in the BPL category (Rural - 28.6 per cent, Urban -14.8 per cent). Their per capita income is estimated at Rs. 382.82 in rural and Rs. 449.32 in urban areas. Ten districts of the state were covered under the first phase and another seven from this financial year onwards in the second phase of the NREG Scheme. For the Survey, a sample of 932 BPL Households (Rural 641; Urban 291) were selected from 7 towns and 21 villages of the state capital of Kolkata and three districts of Purulia, Maldah and Murshidabad (NREGS districts). Out of the sampled households, 16 per cent urban and 35 per cent rural informed that they do not hold BPL ration card despite their eligibility.
414
Variables Politician Government functionary Citizen Businessman All of them News Media None
According to the 91.2 per cent respondents, the politicians followed by the government functionaries are mainly responsible for corruption in public offices in the state. Only a handful (6.4 per cent), however, pointed out that the citizens are also responsible for corruption in the public services. Urban-rural variations in perception were also noticed, with more than half of BPL families in rural areas blaming politicians for corruption. Given the long history of panchayat elections and their involvement in service delivery, the contact of BPL families with local political administration is much higher in West Bengal compared to other states. Further, about 18 per cent of them informed that they know someone who had taken money or other favour for casting vote in favour of a politician.
23.3 INTERACTION
WITH
PUBLIC SERVICES
Majority of the households were found to have interacted with the Public Distribution System (PDS), Hospital and Electricity services in the last one year. Water Supply was the least visited service in the state. Banking and Forest services followed by NREGS were mostly visited among the need-based services.
Table 2: Interaction with Public Services
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Forest National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police Land Records & Registration Housing
BPL Households 94.6 87.0 30.2 16.9 3.4 29.7 21.0 15.7 10.1 5.7 4.9
West Bengal
415
While Electricity and Water Supply services were more frequented by the urban BPL households, Forest and NREGS were the most frequent interacted by rural BPL household.
Multiple Visits
Table 3: Multiple Visits
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Public Distribution System Hospital Electricity School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police Land Records & Registration Housing
BPL Households
23 2 12 11 19 31 12 31 28 24
To get new ration card, Changing address in ration card To get bed, To get medical certificate Non receipt of bill, To adjust bill, meter installation New Admission, Issue of certificate Installation /maintenance of hand pumps Open new account, seek loan, defer loan instalment To get selected as a beneficiary, payment of unemployment allowance Filing an complaint, as an accused, Remove name as witness Obtaining records, sale and purchase, caste certificate Allotment of house/plot, transfer of ownership, Sanction of loan
Repeat visits for services were noticed in all the services. Generally, people pay bribe in order to avoid repeat visits. Among the basic services, PDS was one of the services where nearly one-fourth of the BPL households had to interact more than three times either to get a new ration card or change of address. The study brought out that in West Bengal, a very low percentage of people had to make repeat visits for accessing Hospital services. Except NREGS, the repeat visits ranged from 24 to 31 per cent needed for all other need-based services. To sum up, repeat visits to services were reported more in need-based services compared to the basic services.
23.4 PERCEPTION
ABOUT
SERVICES
Table 4: Perception about Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System School Education Water Supply
There is Corruption
No Corruption
37 54 74 22 39
45 21 15 48 32
18 25 11 30 29
Table Contd...
416
Table Contd...
NEED-BASED Banking Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police 14 49 45 23 74 36 33 38 25 15 50 18 17 52 11
In order to measure the perception of BPL households on services, a set of three parameters whether corruption exists, the direction it is moving towards, and the situation of grievance redressal, were used Almost three-fourths of the respondents agreed that there is corruption in PDS, while a little more than half felt the same for the health services. Nearly two-fifths of the households felt that corruption exists in electricity and water supply services also.
Table 5: Change in the Level of Corruption
(Figures in per cent)
Services BASIC Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System School Education Water Supply NEED BASED Banking Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Decreased
Same
Increased
17 23 12 28 16 47 11 15 51 8
71 49 33 63 64 50 38 55 34 47
12 28 55 9 20 3 51 30 15 43
Among the need-based services, about three-fourths of the respondents felt that corruption prevails in Police. Nearly half reported that corruption exists in Housing and Land Records & Registration also. Corruption in Bank and Postal department was perceived by only 14 per cent of the respondents. About half of households feel that there is no corruption in Banking and NREGS. More than half of the households felt that corruption in PDS has increased in the last one year. That is why there are reports about PDS scam in the news media. More than three-fifths reported the same in Electricity, Education and Water Supply services.
West Bengal
417
Services BASIC Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Improved
Same
Deteriorated
18 20 6 27 10 49 16 4 48 7
68 59 47 61 71 41 42 60 34 61
14 21 47 12 19 10 42 36 18 32
Majority of the BPL households in West Bengal reported that the grievance redressal in the basic services remained the same as before in the last one year. A little less than half of the BPL households however reported deterioration in the PDS service. Among the need-based services, around half of the BPL households reported improvement in grievance redressal in Banking and NREGS services. Only 4.5 per cent respondents informed that they had lodged complaints about corruption. However, none could inform about any measures taken against any corruption in the last one or two years.
23.6 TYPE
OF
CORRUPTION
Among the need-based category, about 8 per cent of the households reportedly paid bribe to Police, followed by around 4 per cent each in Housing and Land Records & Registration services for getting a work done in the last one year. Compared to other states in the country, few families reported to have actually paid bribes or used contacts to access the basic public services. While nearly 7 per cent paid bribe for water supply services, nearly 10 per cent could not avail water supply services, as they did not afford to pay the bribe. About 3 per cent of the households reported to have paid bribe to the PDS shops for availing the services.
Services BASIC Electricity Hospital Public Distribution System School Education Water Supply NEED-BASED Banking Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Paid Bribe
Used Contact
0.4 0.2 3.0 0.6 6.5 0.4 4.4 3.8 1.4 7.6
About 11 per cent of the Households in housing services and 7.7 per cent in education reportedly used influence for availing services.
The purposes of paying bribe are somewhat similar to the reasons for repeat visit discussed above. In fact, it can be inferred that the households are paying bribe to speed-up their access to the particular service or to avoid repeat visits. The BPL households reported that in the PDS department they had to pay extra for getting new ration cards, for change of address on ration card and also to get their monthly ration.
West Bengal
419
While extra money was paid in housing department for getting plots allotment and get loan released, it was for obtaining land records and purchasing of land in to land department.
Service BASIC Electricity Health Public Distribution System School Education Need-Based Banking Housing Land Records & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Police
Agent/ middlemen
Local representative
0 0 11.5 0 0 0 0 0 0
Among the BPL households, who reported of paying bribe did so directly either to the service staff or government functionaries. In services like PDS, Land Records, NREGS and also Police, nearly half of BPL households paid bribe through middlemen.
OF
SERVICES
Health
Electricity School Education Banking Land Record & Registration National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Housing Forest
420
Services
No. of Office 8 7 7 7 7 7 6 7
Banking/Post Office Electricity Hospital Housing Land Records &Registration Public Distribution System (PDS) Police Water Supply
In spite of being a state with high level of literacy/education and one of the pioneers in decentralized administration through the panchayats, West Bengal still lags behind better performing states like Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh as far as display of information about Citizens Charter, RTI and availability of Complaint Box perception is concerned. It has to create higher level of awareness about peoples rights. The knowledge about RTI and Citizens Charter is lower than in most of the states included in this study.
West Bengal
421
Source of Awareness
For rural people, government representative is the major source of awareness about the RTI Act. One-third of the urban people reported getting information from other sources.
Table 12: Source of Awareness
(Figures in per cent)
Urban 15 62 8 15
Rural 100
Overall 13 67 7 13
23.10 INITIATIVES
IN
WEST BENGAL
West Bengal has taken several initiatives to provide efficient, convenient and transparent services to the citizens particularly through information technology. The focus being on rural development, the state is implementing browser based information system for all circulars, Government orders and notifications on Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRI). It has also put in place an integrated fund monitoring and accounting system software, GIS based information system, touch screen kiosks at departments etc. Nearly seven thousand Citizens Service Centre has been set up as a One-stopshop for integrated service delivery throughout the state. There is also a move to connect all police stations and courts, and computerization of land records using the Bhuchitra software.