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A report conducted by the Global Corruption Barometer Asia found that nearly 50 per cent of those who paid bribes were asked to, while 32 per cent of those who used personal connections said they would not receive the service otherwise. With the highest bribery rate in the region, (39 per cent) India also has the highest rate of people using personal connections to access public services (46 per cent). 63 per cent of citizens think that if they report corruption, they will suffer retaliation. The daily practice of corruption and bribery remains extremely high, with almost one in five citizens paying a bribe to access key public services, such as health care or education.

The police arrested an education officer for allegedly receiving a bribe of Rs 50,000 from a school uniform supplier in Shamli. According to the anti-corruption unit, the supplier of school uniforms for government schools lodged a complaint after the official had asked him to pay up as part of the deal to deliver uniforms to a school.

Police arrested eight persons who duped teacher-aspirants on the pretext of helping them crack the assistant teachers’ recruitment examination that was held to recruit 69,000 teachers in 2019. The aspirants gave Rs1 lakh as an advance while the remaining amount was to be given after declaration of results. Cash worth Rs 7.56 lakh, mark sheets of many aspirants, and other documents along with a diary containing details of candidates were recovered from the accused.

The standard bribe demanded by officials for a teacher transfer in India is around Rs 1-2 lakh. Nevertheless, the government has developed a transparent online transfer policy for schoolteachers. A smartphone or computer, internet access and the teachers’ answers to around 10 queries will now decide the fate of teachers’ transfer requests. This new system is also designed to address the problem of job dissatisfaction and teacher absenteeism.

A Guwahati-based private company employee paid Rs 80,000 to a relative of his who works in the Directorate of Elementary Education to get his wife transferred to Guwahati. On the other hand, a female lower primary school teacher who holds a permanent job and works in a different school has been tired of applying for her transfer to Guwahati for the last five years through the legal process while her transfer remains pending. According to a secondary school teacher, any transfer request is processed in Guwahati only after paying bribes.

Corruption charges and the arrest of former vice-chancellor of Bharathiar University still fresh, another controversy erupted on Monday, this time in the form of a video. The clip that surfaced showed the head of the Tamil department receiving money from a person, allegedly for a posting in the university. The state higher education department has decided to send the video to the police department and probe its authenticity as well as the allegations.