Multiple Visits

 

Relatively a higher proportion of BPL households visited three times or more to avail the need based services compared to the basic services in the last one year. Among the basic services, higher proportion  (37 per cent) of BPL households visited three times or more to avail the health services. Shortage of health staff in the PHCs and CHCs, combined with lack of laboratory facilities, necessitated multiple visits by BPL families to access health service.  Next is PDS which was mainly contacted for the new ration card, change of address and ration shop.

Nearly two-thirds of BPL households interacted with banking services three times or more primarily for opening new account, obtaining loan and deferment of loan installments. Banking service has fared comparatively well in other states in the current survey. The reasons for such a trend, therefore, needs to be looked into further.  These are followed by NREGS, Housing and Land Records & Registration, which were interacted three times or more in the last one year to get their work done.

 

                                        Table 5: Multiple Visits

Service	BPL Households (Figures in per cent)	Reasons for 3 visits or more for same purpose
BASIC
School Education	14	New admission
Electricity	14	Non receipt of bill, faulty meter
Hospital	37	For getting bed
Public Distribution System	19	New ration card, change of address, change of ration shop
Water Supply	6	Regularization of unauthorized connection
NEED BASED
Banking	66	Open new account, seek loan
Housing	48	Allotment of house / plot
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme	47	Registration for job card
Land Records & Registration	40	Sale / purchase of land, land on lease
Police	24	For filing a complaint

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Perception about Service

 

BPL families in Orissa seem to have an unfavorable opinion about most of the services vis-à-vis the level of corruption. With regard to basic services, 62 per cent of the BPL households, who interacted to avail the PDS services in the last one year, think the department is corrupt.  Among the other departments, the perception of BPL households about Electricity (47 per cent), followed by Hospitals (43 per cent), Water supply (36 per cent) and Education (26 per cent) is that corruption exists in these departments. The perception of education department, however, is relatively better.

                                     Table 6: Perception about Corruption

                                                                                                                                              (All Figures in per cent)

Service	There is corruption	Not sure	No corruption
OVERALL BASIC
School Education	26	42	28
Electricity	47	22	20
Hospital	43	36	20
Public Distribution System	62	7	31
Water Supply	36	32	10
OVERALL NEED BASED
Banking	21	49	27
Forest	60	17	12
Housing	66	11	20
Land Records & Registration	45	39	15
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS)	48	33	15
Police	43	29	14

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of the BPL households, who interacted with the need-based services, 66 per cent of them perceived Housing as the most corrupt. It is followed by forest department (60 per cent).  Between 48 and 43 per cent of the BPL households perceive that corruption exist in NREGS, Land Records & Registration and Police. Among the districts covered in this study, relatively higher proportion (50 per cent) of BPL households in Khurda think that corruption exists in the Land Records & Registration department. This could be due to the spiraling land values in the district and the perceived nexus between politician, bureaucrats and developers.

 

           In case of basic services, between 10 and 26 per cent BPL households think that corruption has increased in respective departments in the last one-year.  In case of need-based services, a higher proportion (26 to 42 per cent) of BPL households think that corruption has increased in the last one year except in the case of banking services (9 per cent). Of those BPL households, who interacted with the Forest department, as high as 95 per cent of them believe that corruption has either increased or remained same in the department. In case of Land Records & Registration service, relatively higher per centage of BPL households in Khurda and Gajapati districts think that corruption has increased in the last one year compared to Koraput and Nuapada districts. This could be due to comparatively higher land values in the former districts.

Table 7: Level of Corruption in the last one year

                                                                                                                            (All Figures in per cent)

Service	Decreased	Same	Increased
BASIC
School Education	51	39	10
Electricity	42	47	11
Hospital	41	35	24
Public Distribution System (PDS)	59	19	23
Water Supply	16	58	26
NEED-BASED
Banking	50	41	9
Forest	5	53	42
Housing	39	35	26
Land Records & Registration	32	36	32
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS)	39	19	42
Police	24	50	26

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grievance Redressal Mechanism

Table 8: Grievance Redressal

(All Figures in per cent)

Service	Improved	Same	Deteriorated
BASIC
School Education	55	37	8
Electricity	50	42	8
Hospital	41	35	24
Public Distribution System (PDS)	60	18	22
Water Supply	32	48	19
NEED-BASED
Banking	63	30	6
Forest	6	90	4
Housing	43	35	22
Land Records & Registration	47	24	29
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS)	39	35	26
Police	26	62	12

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More than half of the respondents had indicated that grievance redressal mechanism in Orissa has improved in PDS, followed by School Education and Electricity among the basic services.  In case of need-based services, Banking services have become better in the last one year whereas there is no such progress in other services.

 

Incidence of Corruption

 

Of those BPL households who interacted with basic service, up to 17 per cent reported to have paid bribe or using contact or both to avail these services. Highest proportion  (16.8 per cent) of such households had to pay bribe to avail the health services. Since OPD service, pathology services and medicines in the public health facilities are free for BPL people, the demand for these services are very high. Due to the pressure of patients and inadequate infrastructure, patients face difficulties in admission into the hospital, and sometimes they have to pay bribes for getting a bed.

 

Incase of need-based services, the extent of BPL households paying bribe or using contact or both ranged up to 30 per cent. The incidence of paying bribe or using contact is low in Banking (2.1 per cent) and Forest services (4.3 per cent). Higher proportion is for Land Records & Registration (21 per cent) and housing (15 per cent). In the districts of Nuapada, Gajapati and Koraput, major proportion of BPL households are tribal and possess forest land mostly through encroachment. To continue its possession, they pay bribes to the lower level staff of the revenue department. In Khurda, the market value of land is high and the BPL households pay bribe to the staff of sub-register office for under valuation at the time of land registration.

Table 9: Experience of Corruption

(All Figures in per cent)

Service	Paid bribe	Used contact	Did not take the service because asked for bribe
BASIC
School Education	1.3	0.3	0.3
Electricity	5	0.8	1.7
Hospital	16	0.8	4.6
Public Distribution System (PDS)	1.1	5	0.4
Water Supply	-	10	16.7
NEED-BASED
Banking	1.4	0.7	1.4
Forest	3.8	0.5	0.5
Housing	15.2	14	3.5
Land Records & Registration	21.1	-	0.8
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS)	1.2	12	16.9
Police	9.5	7.2	4.8

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About 12 per cent BPL households used contact for selection as beneficiary or for getting either a job card or the employment, while about 17 per cent of BPL households could not avail the benefits of NREGS because they could not afford the bribe amount asked for. Certain irregularities in NREGS such as giving receipt to the job card applicant, not giving job card in time, nor providing work to the applicants in stipulated period in NREGS, especially in tribal belts of Gajapati, Koraput and Nuapada, have been reported in the local newspapers.

 

Purpose of paying bribe

                                            Table 10: Purpose of paying bribe

Service	Reason for Paying Bribe
BASIC
School Education	New admission Review performance of child
Electricity	Bill payment Excess Bill To change faulty meter New connection
Hospital	For getting bed/admission as inpatient Admission as out patient For diagnostic services For medicine For blood For operation For medical certificate
Public Distribution System (PDS)	To take monthly ration Change of ration shop and address Issue of new card
NEED BASED
Banking	To obtain loan
Housing	Allotment of plot / house Transfer of ownership Release of loan amount
Land Records & Registration	Sale/purchase of land and mutation Obtain Caste & Income Certificate Obtain land records Agricultural land on lease from panchayat Purchasing stamp paper Paying tax
Police	Filing a complaint Remove name from witness Character certificate
Forest	For saplings For collection of NTFP (Tendu leaf) Collection of Fuel woods
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS)	Foe selection as beneficiary/ getting job card

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Analysis of the purpose of paying bribe indicates that BPL households paid bribe to meet their essential needs such as taking monthly ration, getting admission in the hospital and getting new electricity connection. The procedural complexity involved in reducing bill amount in case of excess bill, changing faulty meter and delay in health services (for operation, diagnostic services) compelled the BPL households to pay the bribe to avail the required services in time.

In case of need-based services, since the interactions are related to specific problems as compared to routine work, BPL households paid the bribe depending upon the urgency and importance of the specific tasks involved.

 

Route of Bribe Payment

Most of the BPL households, who paid bribe to get their work done in the last one year, paid bribe directly to the government official/staff to avail the basic as well as the need-based services.  The influence of middlemen is relatively less, except for Housing services and Police services.

Table 11: Route of Bribe Payment

(All Figures in per cent)

 

Estimation of bribe  

 

In Orissa, around one fifth of the BPL households reportedly paid bribe in the last one year for availing these basic and need-based services. The amount of bribe paid in the last one year by these BPL households in availing these services is estimated to be Rs 109.1 million.

 

Relative Positioning of Services

Table 12:  Relative position of Services within the State

Level of Corruption
ALARMING	VERY HIGH	HIGH	MODERATE
Ø       National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) Ø       Forest	Ø       Water Supply	Ø       Police	Ø       Electricity Ø       Health Ø       Public distribution System (PDS) Ø       School Education Ø       Banking Ø       Land Records & Registration Ø       Housing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Service-wise relative position for the level of corruption in the state shows that the level of corruption is ‘alarming’ in Forest service and NREGS. The extent of corruption in water supply service is 'Very High' and Police 'High'.

Service Providers’ Perspective

 

Simplification of procedure

Service providers providing basic as well as need-based services felt that simplification of procedures will help in a big way to curb corruption. Lengthy and complex procedures involved in the tasks such as excess billing, replacing the faulty meter, sale/purchase of land, mutation, allotment of plot/house not only causes inconveniencies for the BPL households but their repeat visits add more burden to the department staff. The officials were of the opinion that staff strength is inadequate which leads to slow delivery of services.

 

More accountability and responsibility

The officials suggested that the accountability and sense of responsibility among the staff is essential in bringing transparency in the department. They also stated that there should be strict guidelines for the officials, which should be on display in each department. Head offices should take the lead and take proper steps to curb corruption, as branch offices would follow them.

 

Need for greater awareness

There should be more camps and workshops to create/ enhance awareness about the procedure of work in the service delivery points especially in Land Records & Registration, Housing, Electricity and Banking services.

 

RTI and Citizens' Charter

Table 13: Service’s Initiative to Keep Citizens Informed

(All Figures in per cent)

 

Inspite of being a state with low level of literacy/ education, Orissa has installed display board about Citizens' Charters and RTI Act.  It has also provided complaint box for the convenience of service seekers.

 

Table 14: RTI & Citizens' Charters

(All Figures in per cent)

	RTI	Citizen Charter
Overall	3.8	2.1
Location
Urban	4.9	2.8
Rural	3.3	1.7
Gender
Male	4.5	2.2
Female	1	1.6
Age-group
18 – 25 yrs	1.3	2.7
26 – 35 yrs	5.1	1.1
36 – 50 yrs	4.3	2.5
Above 50 yrs	2.4	2.4

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Orissa, nearly four per cent of BPL households are aware about RTI. The awareness is slightly higher (4.9 per cent) among BPL households in urban areas compared to rural areas (3.3 per cent). Male respondents are more aware about RTI than female (1 per cent). Only 2 per cent of the BPL households are aware about citizen charters. There was no significant difference on the extent of awareness about citizen charter across locations and gender.

 

Awareness about RTI is high in the district of Khurda because civil society groups had taken initiatives to widen awareness about the Act in its adjoining areas of Bhubaneshwar. The awareness about RTI is negligible in the backward districts of Gajapati, Koraput and Nuapada.

 

Source of Awareness

Table 15: Source of Awareness About RTI

(All Figures in per cent)

Source	Urban	Rural	Overall
Friends	29	43	37
Government Source	6	-	3
TV	29	26	27
Radio	12	13	12
Newspaper	18	17	18

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Orissa, given the low level of literacy, radio continues to be a dominant medium for dissemination of information among BPL households in the rural areas. To widen awareness further about RTI, television, radio and also newspapers should take on specific campaign. Equally important is to activate local networks effectively as a potential medium for this section of the society.

 

[The above text has been extracted with permission from India Corruption Study 8 by Transparency International India.  For more details, visit website www.transparencyindia.org ]