User:Ipab Janaagraha/sandbox

IPaidABribe.com is Janaagraha's initiative to tackle corruption by harnessing the collective energy of citizens. Citizens can report on the nature, number, pattern, types, location, frequency and values of actual corrupt acts on this website. The reports, perhaps for the first time, provide a snapshot of bribes being paid (or taken), across Indian cities. IpaidABribe.com uses them to argue for improving governance systems and procedures, tightening law enforcement and regulation. Thereby reduce the scope for corruption while obtaining services from the government.

History
The idea behind IPaidABribe.com developed in 2008 during a discussion between the Co-founders of Janaagraha, Ramesh and Swati Ramanathan and a board member, Sridhar Iyengar, as a simple means of tracking the market price of corruption. A small experimental website was put up to test the idea. Over time,many more features were added mainly to channelise people’s views and provide advisory services such as FAQs. The new, redesigned website was officially launched on August 15, 2010.

Objectives and r&ocirc;le
The website encourages citizens to report their bribe related experiences on the website under three sections, namely, ‘I paid a bribe’ where they can report instances where they have had to pay bribes, ‘I didn’t pay a bribe’, where they have resisted paying bribes and ‘I didn’t have to pay a bribe’, where they have come across a streamlined procedure or an honest officer, resulting in their obtaining the service they wanted without having to pay a bribe.

The bribe reports submitted by users on IPaidaBribe.com are used to produce a detailed department-wise analysis of corruption. These simple, but insightful reports meant for the general public as well as the government –
 * Show the patterns of corruption
 * Give suggestions as to the process changes that must be brought about to reduce the opportunities for corruption
 * Give suggestions as to the process changes that must be brought about to reduce the opportunities for corruption

The reports also contain information on how citizens can avoid paying bribes by taking some precautions, for instance, having thorough documentation while registering property, being aware of rights and responsibilities of citizens, etc. IPaidABribe.com also plays an important role in educating the citizens on how services are to be sought and obtained in order to help the citizens to resist and avoid paying bribes. It deconstructs activities related to each corruption prone service and helps citizens to ask the right questions and seek recourse through empowering laws, such as the RTI. One of the main objectives of the website is to build a potentially powerful network of aggrieved citizens, converting their current cynicism and blind submission to constructive anger and demand for change.

The website provides a platform for citizens to share their stories and in the process discover citizen ingenuity in the face of adverse circumstances, which can inspire others to act similarly.

Impact
The website, within three months of its launch, recieved more than 100,00 hits from across 169 countries. Within the first 60 days of the launch of IPaidABribe.com, 1530 bribe reports were submitted by users from across the country. The data analytics available on the website has inspired several government officials to take action. BhaskarRao, Transport Commissioner of Bangalore RTO (reference)asked the team on October 3, 2010 to share data pertaining to his department and issued show cause notices to 20 senior officers in his department for cases related to bribes.

Authorities at Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd(KPTCL) (reference) agreed to collaborate with IPaidABribe.com to answer queries related to their department on Ask Raghu(reference), a feature on the website. KPTCL also agreed to engage 10-15 officers to prepare service workflows dedicated to particular transactions and to augment the FAQs on the website.

Website
IpaidABribe.com allows users to share their stories pertaining to corruption. A user can report under:


 * 1) I paid a bribe
 * 2) I didn’t pay a bribe
 * 3) I didn’t have to pay a bribe
 * 4) I don’t want to pay a bribe

The website does not display the individual names of the officials involved, as it aims to change the process and not target individuals. The privacy of the reporters is also well protected and access to personal data is limited to employees of iPaidABribe.com.

It also features a section called Ask Raghu, where users can post specific queries that they encounter while accessing a government service. Raghu, a former high ranking civil servant, provides with answers to the questions on how to avoid, resist, reduce and eliminate corruption.

Viewers can get a snapshot of bribe patterns of a particular city or a department at the ‘Bribe Patterns’ section. Videos related to IpaidABribe.com which have appeared in the media can be viewed in the ‘On Air’ section.

The FAQ section provides links to various citizen charters and aims at answering frequently asked questions relating to particular transactions. IpaidABribe.com also has links to its Facebook(reference) page and to twitter. The page on Facebook, registered more than 3000 ‘likes’ within the first three months of its launch.