The media is usually on steroids when it needs to cover India when it climbs up a few rungs on any world ranking.

But there seems to be a very selective, almost a half-hearted coverage of the most shameful news – India is the most corrupt country in Asia.

According to a survey by global civil society organization, Transparency International, India has emerged as the country with the highest bribery rate of 39% in the Asian region and also the highest at 46% when it comes to citizens using personal connections.

The survey was conducted across 17 Asian countries, sample size of 20,000 and six key public services were covered in the survey - police, courts, public hospitals, procurement of identity documents and utilities.

Findings of the survey? Have a look at the responses – it resonates within all of us;

42% of people who came into contact with the police paid bribes.

32% who used personal connections said they would not get the services without it.

39% said use of personal connections was also largely made in dealings with the police

42% paid bribes for procurement of ID documents

38% said bribes were paid when asked about work in courts

Nearly 50% of people who paid bribes said they were asked for it

63% of the participants said they feared retaliation

When we even just look at these six public services, we know that without paying money, the work will never get done – you have no alternative but to pay. This is a known truth but we still go around believing our politicians when they tell us that they have cleaned the country. Clearly, those are mere words, like the claim of having a clean India under Swachcha Bharat.

Right from getting a bed in a hospital to getting your child admitted to a school or college, connections and bribe – that’s the only thing what works even today.

Corruption remains embedded deeply in our country and be it any Govt at the center, this mindset of paying a bribe to get even the smallest of work in Govt offices is permanent. Corruption and paying a bribe is a part of our cultural behavior – we cannot deny that any more. How much ever the Govt tries to make things transparent, those used to taking bribes know who to circumvent the system and we the people also want to always skip the line – there is no way this evil can ever get uprooted.  

Corruption has ruined our country; it flourished under the UPA, growing unhindered like the multi-headed hydra. But doesn’t the BJP, for all its tall talks, now take responsibility for this? Yes, it will take years and they have been in power for just around 7-years now – they have to undo what was allowed to perpetrate for 70 years.

We know all this, but the sad truth is that nothing has changed. The only thing changed – there was a strong opposition against UPA to expose its corruption; we don’t even have an opposition today.