ON THE OCCASION OF UN ANTI CORRUPTION DAY (9 DECEMBER)

Public Opinion Survey covering 34696 respondents from 11

different states of India on their perceptions about “change
in levels of corruption over the last 12 months”.
PRESS RELEASE

Online Survey asks the respondents whether corruption has

increased/decreased/remained the same in last one year.
37% believe there was an increase in corruption during the last one year,
45% believe that it remained the same.
14% believe corruption reduced in the same period,
Most of respondent felt that local level corruption issues are still not addressed.
51% of the citizens replied that their state government did not take any steps in the
last 1 year to reduce corruption
45% submitted that they paid a bribe at least once in the last 12 months, in order to
get their work done.

Out of 30 States (including Delhi) there are 9 States without a Lokayukta at present.

Transparency International India in collaboration with LocalCircles conducted an online

survey on perceived level of corruption which took place in the last year in states of India.
The survey, which was conducted over 15 days, drew responses from 34,696 persons in 11
states of the country. The survey’s findings point out that in all states, the number of persons
who believed that there was an increase in corruption in the last 1 year exceeded the number
of persons who believed that corruption reduced during the same period.

Nearly 12964 (about 37% of the persons) surveyed in the 11 states believed that there was an
increase in corruption during the afore-stated period, while 15622 (about 45%) believed that
it remained the same. About 4873 (about 14%) stated that they believed corruption reduced in
the same period, while 1235 (4%) of those polled replied that they can’t say about a probable
increase/decrease in corruption levels.

In the state of Uttar Pradesh, about 21% of the respondents said that corruption reduced in the
state. The number of those who believed that corruption reduced was strikingly low in the
state of West Bengal, where only 3% of the respondents believed that corruption came down
in the last year.

In the state of Punjab, about 20% of the respondents said that corruption increased in the last
one year. An equal percentage of respondents replied that they could not say whether
corruption increased in the same period. The remaining 60% believed that corruption levels
were the same as before.

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It is imperative to ascertain the sources, where corruption allegedly emanates from. The
related national poll showed that 84% of the bribery transactions relate to local level bodies
and wings of the local government, i.e. municipality, police, tax, power, property registration,
tenders etc. only 9% said most of the bribes were paid to the central government departments,
i.e. PF, income tax, service tax, railways etc. 2% said it was paid to the private sector and 5%
said it was paid to other parties like for school admissions, NGOs, courts etc.

In two separate parallel polls, 51% of the citizens replied that their state did not take any steps
in the last 1 year to reduce corruption while 45% submitted that they paid a bribe at least once
in the last 12 months, in order to get their work done.

"The persons surveyed also suggested different ways to address corruption at local and state
levels. Some of the their suggestions included handpicking dedicated and honest officers and
deputing them in known corrupt areas, Anti Corruption agencies to expand its activities and
conducts surprise checks at state levels, human intervention to be minimized in government
offices and CCTV cameras to be installed, state level helpline to be started to report cases of
corruption, and speedy investigation in corruption related cases with heavy financial
penalties".

Transparency International India (TII) is a leading non political, independent, non-

governmental anti-corruption organisation of India. TII has extensive expertise and understanding of
issues of corruption in India.

For more Information

Pankaj Kumar Akshay Gupta Brij Bhushan Singh
Transparency International India LocalCircles Transparency International India
pankaj@transparencyindia.org info@localcircles.com
brijbhushan@transparencyindia.org
Mob.:9718905780 Mob.:8585909866 Mob.:7827742035

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4, Lajpat Bhawan, Lajpat Nagar-IV, New Delhi – 110024

Ph.: 011- 26460826: 40634797 Email: info@transparencyindia.org www.transparencyindia.org
State wise polls on citizen perception on bribery and corruption reductin in
last 1 year
Delhi

38% Citizens feel that corruption levels are the same as before

Uttar Pradesh

53% Citizens feel that corruption levels are the same as before
Maharashtra

64% Citizens feel that corruption levels are the same as before

Punjab

20% Citizens feel that corruption has reduced in the last one year
Andhra Pradesh

62% Citizens feel that corruption levels are the same as before

Haryana

44% Citizens feel that corruption levels are the same as before
Telangana

37% Citizens feel that corruption levels are the same as before

Karnataka

38% Citizens feel that corruption levels are the same as before
Tamil Nadu

41% Citizens feel that corruption levels are the same as before

Madhya Pradesh

14% Citizens feel that corruption levels are the same as before
West Bengal

20% Citizens feel that corruption levels are the same as before
States It has increased Same as before It has reduced Can't Say No. of Votes Aggregate Increase Aggregate Same Aggregate Reduced Aggregate Can't Say
Uttar Pradesh 23 53 21 3 5045 1160.35 2673.85 1059.45 151.35
Maharashtra 18 64 14 4 6736 1212.48 4311.04 943.04 269.44
Delhi 33 38 28 1 6836 2255.88 2597.68 1914.08 68.36
Punjab 20 60 0 20 473 94.6 283.8 0 94.6
Andhra Pradesh 30 62 8 0 609 182.7 377.58 48.72 0
Haryana 40 44 8 8 2298 919.2 1011.12 183.84 183.84
Telangana 47 37 11 5 1801 846.47 666.37 198.11 90.05
Karnataka 54 38 5 3 5401 2916.54 2052.38 270.05 162.03
Tamil Nadu 53 41 2 4 2930 1552.9 1201.3 58.6 117.2
Madhya Pradesh 71 14 14 1 1099 780.29 153.86 153.86 10.99
West Bengal 71 20 3 6 1468 1042.28 293.6 44.04 88.08
Total Votes 34696 12963.69 15622.58 4873.79 1235.94
37.36 45.03 14.05 3.56
37 45 14 4