What are the costs of
getting a professor post in Hyderabad India? 380’000 rupees (~ $7’500). The
expenses of obtaining a driving license vary from 100 to 3’500 rupees. The
purchase of the international driving license costs even 5’000 rupees (~$95).
This is the price of so
called “retail corruption”, the sort of petty bribery that affects everyday
life in many parts of the world.
Swati Ramanathan and her
husband set out to change all this in August 2010.[1] They started the webpage ipaidabribe.com to uncover
the market price of corruption. On the site people can anonymously report
bribes they paid, bribes that were requested but not paid and requests that
were expected but not forthcoming. The webpage offers detailed analysis of the
bribes reported so far concerning the departments and the cities where
corruption occurs. In India for example as well as in Kenya the police
department is the organization that asks most often for extraordinary “fees”.
The webpage is booming: up
until now it received 400’000 reports of illicit payments for routine work. In the first three days of
April, already more than 20 bribe payments have been reported in India. The
webpage idea is spreading around the globe. Nongovernmental and governmental
organizations from at least 17 countries have contacted Janaagraha, the nonprofit
organization in Bangalore that operates ipaidabribe.com. The organizations were
asking about setting up a site of their own. In Kenya for example the site is operated under the same name and in
Pakistan it is called ipaidbribe.pk. The
Pakistani site estimates that over the last four years the country’s economy
has lost about $94 billion to corruption, tax evasion and weak governance!
All these websites, even if
no names are given and the reports therefore cannot be verified, have got an
impact. This impact is threatening enough that when similar sites popped up in
China last summer, the government stamped them out within a couple of weeks,
contending they had failed to register with the authorities. In Bangalore for example, ipaidabribe.com
helped to push through reforms in the motor vehicle department. Citizen apply
now online for licenses.
Thanks to social media the
average person obtained powerful tools to fight endemic corruption. By reading
the bribe payers reports you get an idea about the anger and shame people feel
by paying bribes to officials. The anonymity provided by the internet gives
people the chance to talk about their experiences concerning the contacts with
officials in everyday life. These exchanges over the internet serve as an
awareness raising instrument. People get aware of other concerned people who
are totally upset about this corruption. Social media gives them the
possibility to demand change. Corruption is therefore no more seen as a problem
that ordinary people cannot do anything about it. Based on this awareness
social movements against corruption can grow and corruption can be tackled by harnessing
the collective energy of citizens.
Sabrina Stucki
[1] The following information is based on the article „Web
Sites Shine Light on Petty Bribery Worldwide“, The New York Times, 06.03.2012 and on the webpage www.ipaidabribe.com
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