JOIN USThe India Corruption Study: 2010 report prepared by Centre for Media Studies (CMS), a survey of 9,960 households in 12 states, says on an average a rural household could have paid Rs 164 as bribe for availing these facilities in a year. The study said the total amount of Rs 471.8 crore is “equal or less” than the total expenditure made under MNREGA during 2010-11 in states like Assam, Gujarat, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra.
“The percentage of rural households that paid bribe during the last year was relatively higher in PDS (11.5 per cent), followed by hospitals (9), schools (5.8), water (4.3),” the study said.
It claimed that the socio-economically weaker sections were most affected by corrupt practices in public services.
More than 40 per cent of rural households belonging to OBC and SCs felt that the level of corruption has increased in public services in last one year while 28 per cent each opined that the level of corruption has remained the same, it said.
An analysis by income level indicated that three out of four rural households which had to pay bribe in any of the public services have monthly household income of Rs 5,000 or less, indicating the high dependence of the economically poor households on these public services.
“For proper water supply, the bribe paid by households for various services ranged between Rs 15 and Rs 950. The wide gap between minimum and maximum amount paid as bribe for the same purpose indicate that even submission of a request requires paying bribe apart from paying bribe to get water at the right time to irrigate the agricultural field,” it said.
Bihar and Chhattisgarh rank top in the list of states where people felt the most that there was an increase in corruption in public services. Sixty-six per cent each in these two states felt that there was increase in corruption.