Corruption rot infects health sector most

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`Corruption rot infects health sector most, Rlys least'

Transparency International says Rs 26,278 crore goes as bribes each

year—half defence budget

Kota Neelima

New Delhi, December 17: Rs 26,728 crore. That's roughly half the

nation's annual defence budget. And that's the amount that, according

to corruption tracker Transparency International, is paid in bribes

across 10 service sectors in India each year.

The NGO's newest survey, conducted by its Indian office and ORG-Marg

Research across 16 states and 5,127 urban and rural households, piles

on some more bad news: the health sector is where palms are greased

the most while, surprise surprise, the railways is the ``least''

corrupt.

The NGO had earlier ranked India as among the 30 most corrupt nations

in the world. This survey lists the decimal points of that statistic,

looking at the spread of corruption in ten sectors: health,

education, police, health, land administration, judiciary, power,

taxation, railways, telecom and ration (public distribution system).

The health network emerged as the villain of the survey, with 8% of

the population being affected by corruption in this sector. In hard

money terms, that's Rs 7,578 crore worth of bribes each year. The

survey lists doctors as the main culprits who demands 77% of the

bribes. Hospital staff are a close number two at 67%.

There's a regional variation too: hospitals in southern India demand

the most bribes for admitting patients. But east or west, the figures

are numbing enough: 11% patients paid bribes for proper medicines,

11% bribed doctors for proper health care while 6% bribed nurses.

Sectors perceived as being corrupt didn't necessarily top the Grease

List: though the police force is seen as being the most corrupt, only

4% of the sampled population interacted with men in khaki. The health

sector, on the other hand, entailed a far deeper interaction—32%

according to the survey—which translated into much more corruption.

The power sector followed health, with most bribes being paid for

either fudging excessive bills or simply ensuring that power was

supplied in the first place. Around 10% bribed for proper power

supply, 8% for excessive billing and 3% for getting a new electricity

line.

The notorious linesmen were at the head of the bribe-taking pack,

followed by officers (24%), meter readers (23%) and billing clerks

(22%).

In the education sector, which was third on the Grease List, 57% paid

bribes in the form of donations, both in government and private

institutions. Again, the southern states beat their northern

counterparts: 70% of students paid donations to gain admission in

southern India whereas in the north, 42% did.

In the east, 19% students found it ``impossible'' to get good results

if they didn't hire their own teachers as private tutors, while 7%

had to pay more money to get the forms filled.

Around Rs 1,803 crore is paid in bribes to the police every year, the

survey said. Around 14% had to pay up just to file an FIR, 7% to

avoid false arrests, 6% for police verification of passports, 6% for

arresting accused in a case, 5% for taking down complaints and 3% for

sending chargesheets to the court.

In the judiciary, which ranks fifth in the survey, the report

said, ``The key form of corruption is predominantly paying money to

the court official. Around Rs 2,510 crore is reportedly paid as

bribes, said the survey.

Thus, according to the survey, every 12th Indian pays about Rs 621

per year while dealing with the health sector, every 16th Indian pays

Rs 669 per year in bribes in the power sector, every 20th Indian pays

Rs 745 in the education sector.

The chairman of Transparency International India, Admiral (retd) R.H.

Tahiliani, suggested one way out of the gloom:

``At the level of the people's interface with the system, citizens'

charters should be adopted. A charter tells a person where to go in

case of delay.''

The Delhi Government has adopted a citizen's charter model as

suggested by his NGO, Tahiliani added. ``But they still haven't

decided on a penalty for those officials who don't abide by the

rules.''

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