- Bribe Hotline
- 14 years ago
- 1923 views
What are some of the ways we can use to reduce or stop corruption?
IPAB has come out with a 10 commandments poster on how to avoid paying bribes. It is available for download on our website http://www.ipaidabribe.com/ Apart from that, you can do the following:
Be confident and firm, while being polite.
• Be blunt. Do not have any discussions with middlemen outside the office. Go to the EPF office and discuss matters.
• Go as a group, never alone. People in corrupt offices get a little worried when you go as a group.
• Speak openly. If somebody hints at a bribe, cut him short and ask him, within the hearing of others, what is the BRIBE (Use the word clearly) and ask the amount. Ask him why he is afraid to discuss this in the open? If bribing is so common, let him ask you for a bribe clearly!
See, corrupt people work in a pattern. They expect you to be unsure and confused when you visit an office. By going there confidently, in a group and speaking bluntly as one, you are disrupting their pattern and making the conversation run according to your pattern. You control the conversation!
Do your homework and paperwork in advance:
• Most corrupt offices take us for a ride because we do not do any homework before going to seek something. So go to the website of the Provident Fund Commissioner. http://www.epfindia.com/
It is quite an informative website. Please read through and understand everything about this office. Take copies of the rules and regulations with you when you go to the local office.
• The EPF office also has launched an EPF grievance management system.
http://www.epfindia.com/grievance.htm
Under this, you can register a grievance, and also follow up on your application.
• Prepare a complaint in advance about your specific problem. And when you go to the office and if a bribe is demanded, then tell them clearly that you will submit a grievance to higher authorities, clearly mentioning the name and designation of the individual who demanded a bribe.
• Threaten to use the Right to Information Act, to demand information on how many applications have been received and when they were cleared.
• Also tell them that you are related to the PF Commissioner in Delhi. You are not lying. Haven’t you read that the human genome is almost 80% common? We are all related!
Try some Gandhigiri:
• Some corrupt people have consciences, honestly! So Gandhigiri might work. Agree to pay the bribe, and give it in zero rupee notes. For more see the website http://india.5thpillar.org/ZRN
• Another person I know agreed to pay double the bribe, by cheque, in the name of the officials who demanded the bribe to the Prime Minister’s relief fund. (This was for land registration). Promptly, the officials felt remorse and registered the same without a bribe!
Try this and lets see what happens! And don’t lose heart. We are in this together!