India has the highest bribery rate in Asia and the most people using personal connections to access public services, according to a new report by corruption watchdog Transparency International.
The Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) – Asia, found that nearly 50 percent of those who paid bribes were asked to do so, while 32 percent of those who used personal connections said they would not otherwise. they would receive the service.
The report is based on the survey that was conducted between June 17 and July 17 this year in India with a sample size of 2,000.
“With the highest bribery rate (39 percent) in the region, India also has the highest rate of people using personal connections to access public services (46 percent),” the report said.
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Bribery in public services continues to plague India. The slow and complicated bureaucratic process, unnecessary bureaucracy and unclear regulatory frameworks force citizens to seek alternative solutions to access basic services through networks of familiarity and petty corruption, according to the report.
“Both national and state governments need to streamline administrative processes for public services, implement preventive measures to combat bribery and nepotism, and invest in user-friendly online platforms to deliver essential public services quickly and effectively,” he said. The report.
While reporting corruption is critical to curbing the spread, the majority of India’s citizens (63 percent) think that if they report corruption they will face retaliation, he said.
In several countries, including India, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, rates of sexual extortion are also high and more must be done to prevent sextortion and address specific forms of gender corruption, according to the report.
Sextortion is extorting money or sexual favors from someone by threatening to reveal evidence of their sexual activity through means such as transformed images. In India, 89 percent think government corruption is a big problem, 18 percent offered bribes in exchange for votes, and 11 percent experienced sextortion or know someone who has.
About 63 percent of those surveyed think the government is doing well in fighting corruption, while 73 percent said their anti-corruption agency is doing well in fighting corruption, he said.
Based on fieldwork conducted in 17 countries, the GCB surveyed almost 20,000 citizens in total.
The report said the results showed that nearly three in four people think corruption is a big problem in their country and the survey also found that nearly one in five people who accessed public services, such as health care and education, paid a bribe in the country. last year.
This equates to approximately 836 million citizens in the 17 countries surveyed, he said. After India, Cambodia has the second highest bribery rate at 37%, followed by Indonesia (30%), while the Maldives and Japan maintain the lowest overall bribery rate (2%), followed by South Korea ( 10%) and Nepal (12 percent). “However, even in these countries, governments could do more to stop bribery for public services,” the report said. The report concluded by noting that the daily experience with corruption and bribery remains alarmingly high, with nearly one in five citizens paying a bribe to access key government services, such as health care or education, and one in seven being offered. a bribe to vote one way. or another in the elections.
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“In several countries, including India, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, rates of sexual extortion are also high and more must be done to prevent sextortion and address specific forms of gender corruption,” she said.
The report further said that to provide victims of corruption with redress channels, governments must ensure that bribery is criminalized and actively investigated and prosecuted.
“Citizens must have access to secure and confidential reporting mechanisms and governments must do more to alleviate citizens’ fear of retaliation when reporting corruption. Despite these challenges, citizens are largely optimistic about the future and believe that ordinary people can make a difference in the fight against corruption, ”the report says.
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