Sadaf Khursheed
Srinagar, Jan 11 (KNB): The Jammu and Kashmir is among the worst hit states in India when it comes to corruption, says a survey conducted by Centre for Media studies (CMS) in its India corruption study 2017.
According to its annual corruption study, Jammu and Kashmir is placed with Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andra Pradesh as most corrupt states. Karnataka (77%), followed by Andra Pradesh (74%), Tamil Nadu (68%) Maharashtra (57%), Jammu and Kashmir (44%) and Punjab (42%) are the states where people experience corruption in public services.
“Every department in Kashmir is equally corrupt, even for transacting our own salaries the clerics ask for bribes and if we complain, the clerics will create so many problems for us, the department which was once termed as the most pious is being ruined by this practice”, said Shameem Ahmad a teacher by profession.
On the otherhand, the reasons that mostly encourage corruption is that while government departments take lot of time moving files across for even small signatures or so, a bribe of 500-1000 rupees does it in days.
A government official wishing anonymity said that “most of the higher officials in every department are aware that corruption is practiced in their departments, but do little to end this practice because they also get lion’s share from the bribe taken”.
After dropping a bombshell in the year 2005 by ranking Jammu and Kashmir as country’s second most corrupt state, Transparency International (TI) (a Berlin-based international corruption watchdog and a non-profit, non-governmental organization committed to curbing corruption in various countries), had at time dubbed the state as ‘alarmingly corrupt’ and concluded that levels of corruption have increased despite state’s disappointing ranking. Even today J&K is considered much corrupt state.
The current survey further revealed that the bribe taken by the officials or clerics range from 500 -1000 rupees and even sometimes 10 or 50 rupees. The data collection was done in October and November 2016. (KNB)