Paid a bribe? Post it online!

You want to get into the famed club everyone had been raving about but there is a long queue, how long would you wait patiently? You slip a couple of notes in the security guard’s hands and get in. You are driving your bike over the speed limit, without a helmet and the traffic police catches you. No fret, slip in a hundred or two and you are free to go. It probably wouldn’t be wrong to say that corruption and bribery is ingrained within us.

They have become such an integral part of our lives that it has stopped bothering our moral conscience and values. Seriously, how many of us talk about it? You can find out now and even talk about it on www.ipaidabribe.com, a unique initiative which hopes to tackle corruption by talking about it. A person can report on the nature, number, pattern, types, location, frequency and values of actual corruption incidences on this website, anonymously. The website believes that more the number of people are open about it more it can be used to fight for tighter enforcement laws and governance rules. The website also allows you to narrate incidents when you refused to pay a bribe or met an honest officer.

India has always been proud about being a democracy but most of the times; we misuse and bend the same freedom our ancestors fought so hard to get. It is initiatives like these that can combat corruption to some level. We can use technology in our favor, creating websites and forums which encourage us to accept our follies and fight collectively against a broader, deeper issue like corruption and bribery.