According to a survey titled “Global Corruption Barometer for Asia,” 39% of Indians are forced to bribe in order to avail public services.
The survey was conducted among 20,000 people in 17 Asian countries where India grabbed the ‘Gold Medal’ trailing Cambodia with 37%, Indonesia at 30%, South Korea with 10% and Japan and the Maldives at 2% where bribery is rampant.
Six key public service sectors were covered in the survey: police, courts, public hospitals, procurement of identity documents and utilities.
Still, only 47% of people surveyed in India believe that corruption has increased over the past 12 months and 63% believe that the government is doing a good job in tackling corruption.
42% of people who came into contact with the police paid bribes. Use of personal connections was also largely made in dealings with the police (39%), procurement of ID documents (42%) and in relation to courts (38%), revealed the survey.
The report highlights 63% feared retaliation in reporting corruption.
In an earlier report issued by Transparency International which was issued in January 2020 at Davos World Economic Forum, India was ranked at 80th position among 180 countries in the Corruption Perception Index.
