Date:12/07/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/07/12/stories/2007071259780400.htm

Andhra Pradesh

81 p.c. of NRIs paid bribes in India: survey

Bribes paid for getting International Drivers Permit and passports

75 p.c. of NRIs have not heard of the RTI Act
’Recognise 805 tribal villages as schedules ones’

HYDERABAD: A survey conducted by the Association for India’s Development (AID) among the Non Resident Indian delegates who attended the just concluded Telugu Association of North America (TANA) conference revealed that 81 per cent of them had paid bribes at various stages in India.

A booth set up by the AID at TANA conference as part of its anti-corruption campaign highlighted the results of a survey conducted on July 7. The NRIs said they had bribed the authorities for getting International Drivers Permit and passports while leaving India.

At the time of re-entering India, they had to pay bribes at the Customs and during their stay in India for getting land records.

A shocking feature of the survey was that 75 per cent of the NRIs at the TANA conference have not heard of the Right to Information (RTI) Act that increased transparency and accountability of governance in India.

An NRI delegate highlighted how one of his family members suffered delay in payment of pension as he refused to pay bribe.

But they were pleasantly surprised when the AID volunteers informed them that the RTI Act has been successfully used by common people in India to get pensions, ration cards etc without paying bribes.

They informed the gathering that the Indian embassy in Washington DC has begun to accept RTI applications.

The TANA conference also appealed to Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy to recognise the pending 805 tribal villages as scheduled ones under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution.

In a letter sent to the Chief Minister, the delegates said recognition of these villages was kept pending though the process has begun in 1980. Andhra Pradesh lagged behind other States like Maharashtra, Rajastan and Bihar which have completed the process of recognising all such villages, Ravi Kuchimanchi and Kirankumar Vissa of Telugu Association of North America (TANA) said in a statement.