Coruption in India
COMMENTARY
Corruption in India
A Quantitative Analysis
Vani K Borooah
This article represents one of the first attempts at quantifying the level of corruption in India. This has been made possible by the unique website ipaidabribe.com which invites people who paid a bribe to record their experience. By choosing a specific issue – identity verification by a police officer prior to issuing a passport – it was able to focus on a “harassment” bribe, that is a bribe paid for something a person was legally entitled to.
1 Introduction
T
I am grateful to Tiziana O’Hara for research assistance. Vani K Borooah (VK.Borooah@ulster.ac.uk.) is at the School of Economics, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
Economic & Political Weekly EPW
he fact that the level of corruption in India has become a matter of grave concern needs little justification. Underlying cases of spectacular corruption like the Commonwealth Games and 2G scams are myriad instances where bribes of various sizes are paid to obtain a variety of favours. In analysing such bribes it is useful to draw a distinction between “harassment” bribes – where one pays a bribe to receive what one is legally entitled to – and “non-harassment bribes” – where one pays a bribe for a favour to which one is not entitled (Basu 2011, Dasgupta 2009, Bardhan 1997). So, for example, paying a tax inspector a bribe to receive an income tax refund to which one was entitled would constitute a harassment bribe, while paying a policeman to ignore a traffic offence would constitute a non-harassment bribe. A particularly egregious example of harassment bribes is one paid for establishing one’s identity in order to obtain a passport (hereafter, “passport verification” bribes). Egregious because the demand for such payment violates our most intimate possession – our identity – and over which we have, or should have, absolute control. The process of obtaining a passport in India can be long and, sometimes,
Corruption in India
A Quantitative Analysis
Vani K Borooah
This article represents one of the first attempts at quantifying the level of corruption in India. This has been made possible by the unique website ipaidabribe.com which invites people who paid a bribe to record their experience. By choosing a specific issue – identity verification by a police officer prior to issuing a passport – it was able to focus on a “harassment” bribe, that is a bribe paid for something a person was legally entitled to.
1 Introduction
T
I am grateful to Tiziana O’Hara for research assistance. Vani K Borooah (VK.Borooah@ulster.ac.uk.) is at the School of Economics, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.
Economic & Political Weekly EPW
he fact that the level of corruption in India has become a matter of grave concern needs little justification. Underlying cases of spectacular corruption like the Commonwealth Games and 2G scams are myriad instances where bribes of various sizes are paid to obtain a variety of favours. In analysing such bribes it is useful to draw a distinction between “harassment” bribes – where one pays a bribe to receive what one is legally entitled to – and “non-harassment bribes” – where one pays a bribe for a favour to which one is not entitled (Basu 2011, Dasgupta 2009, Bardhan 1997). So, for example, paying a tax inspector a bribe to receive an income tax refund to which one was entitled would constitute a harassment bribe, while paying a policeman to ignore a traffic offence would constitute a non-harassment bribe. A particularly egregious example of harassment bribes is one paid for establishing one’s identity in order to obtain a passport (hereafter, “passport verification” bribes). Egregious because the demand for such payment violates our most intimate possession – our identity – and over which we have, or should have, absolute control. The process of obtaining a passport in India can be long and, sometimes,
References: Bardhan, P (1997): “Corruption and Development: A Review of the Issues”, Journal of Economic Literature, Vol 112, pp 1320-46. Basu, K (2011): Why, for a Class of Bribes, the Act of Giving a Bribe Should be Treated as Legal, Ministry of Finance Government of India, Working Paper, http://finmin.nic.in/WorkingPaper/Act_Giving_Bribe_Legal.pdf. Dasgupta, A (2009): “Corruption” in K Basu (ed.), Oxford Companion to Economics in India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press). Sen, A K (1998): On Economic Inequality (Delhi: Oxford University Press). Style Sheet for Authors While preparing their articles for submission, contributors are requested to follow EPW’s style sheet. The style sheet is posted on EPW’s web site at http://www.epw.in/terms-policy/stylesheet.html It will help immensely for faster processing and error-free editing if writers follow the guidelines in style sheet, especially with regard to citation and preparation of references. vol xlvii no 28 EPW Economic & Political Weekly