Reducing Corruption in Service Delivery to Citizens

1. Reducing Corruption in Service Delivery to Citizens Subhash Bhatnagar Advisor eGovernment, ISGIA, World Bank, Washington DC sbhatnagar@worldbank.org (Adjunct Professor Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad) Subhash@iimahd.ernet.in

2. Presentation Structure • Service Delivery and Administrative corruption • Bhoomi: Issue of Record of Rights,Tenancy and Crops (RTC) in Karnataka India • Is there an impact on corruption? • Processes reengineered to tackle corruption • ICT use in Property Registration-Why did it not impact corruption? • How did ICT use help in Bhoomi? • Why did Bhoomi succeed as an ICT project • Do poor people benefit from Bhoomi?

3. Types of Corruption in Government to Citizen Contact • Administrative corruption • Service is denied unless bribe is paid • Service is delayed unless bribe is paid • Collusion (both parties gain at the expense of Government) • Favored allocation when mismatch between supply and demand • Lower valuation by Tax collection agencies • Waiving of penalties and fines • Tempering government records to provide unfair advantage • Extortion • Law enforcers, tax collectors make patently unreasonable demands to extort a bribe

4. Land Related Corruption • Copy of RTC required for farm loans of Rs 40 billion yearly by 2500 bank branches • Service is denied /delayed unless bribe is paid • Mutation of Land • Service is denied /delayed unless bribe is paid • Tempering government records to provide unfair advantage • Crop insurance:In 200-2001 only 0.38 million farmers insured their crop, paid Rs. 112 million as premium and collected Rs 40 million in damages. In 2002-2003 one million farmers insured their crops, paid Rs 420 million as premium and collected Rs2960 million in damages. Falsified Claims Collusion (both parties gain at the expense of Government) • More than 70% disputes in courts are land based-need to retrieve old documents from revenue department : Service is denied /delayed unless bribe is paid. • Encroachment on public land: Collusion (both parties gain at the expense of Government) in falsifying records • Registration of property deeds: Extortion by making patently unreasonable stamp duty demands to extort a bribe

5. Land Record Computerization Bhoomi, Karnataka, India • 20 million records of 6.7 million farmers spread over 9000 villages • Village Accountant responsible for issue of certificates and mutation • Certificate issue can take 3-30 days and a bribe of Rs 100-2000 • Mutation can take up to 2 years (30 days) • Encroachment of public land

6. Bhoomi: on-line Delivery of Certificates • 180 centers where operators issue certificates on-line in 15 minutes for a fee of Rs 15 (30cents) • Mutation request filed on line • Touch screen on pilot basis for easy access by citizens • Future plans to Web enable to provide access thru kiosks • Security thru bio-log in procedure • Incisive MIS reports for follow up on mutation

7. Report Card on Bhoomi is GOOD • Survey: 180 users from 12 kiosks and 60 non users 4 taluks • Ease of Use: 78% of users who had used both systems found Bhoomi simpler; 66% used Bhoomi without help vs. 28% in manual • Complexity of Procedures: 80% did not have to meet any one other than at kiosk: In manual 19% met one officer and 61% met 2-4 officials • Errors in documents: Bhoomi 8% vs manual 64% • Rectification of errors: sought correction 93 % vs 49%, timely response 50% vs 4% • Cost of service: 84% one visit to Bhoomi center at Taluk HQ • Staff behavior: Bhoomi Good (84%) vs manual Average (63%)

8. Other Indicators of Success • 18 million titles issued earning a fee of 270 million (51% loans; 14% verify mutation;16%courts) • Corruption: 66% paid bribes very often vs 3% in Bhoomi • Small sample study quoted reduction in corruption of Rs 700 million in bribes and Rs 66 million saving to farmers in wages. • 85% jump in the number of mutation requests- from an average of 0.55 million mutations per year to one million mutations in the previous two years of Bhoomi

9. Features of Bhoomi to Curb Corruption • Delay or deny service • Removal of gate keeping role • First in first out handling enforced • Transaction in a more public place • Awareness that no bribes need to be paid • System of reporting down time of equipment • Physical supervision • Complaint handling system?? • Improved accountability deters potential offenders • Tracking of all data base changes • Documentation of all objections • Ability of citizens to easily access data and verify records • Ability to back complaints with documentary evidence

10. How Does ICT Use Help? • Introduces transparency in data, decisions/actions, rules, procedures and performance of Govt. agencies • Automates processes-less discretion, less delay • Entry point for simplification of rules and reengineering • Makes decisions traceable- tracks actions • Builds accountability- greater access to information through web publishing-role of civil society • Provides documentation to citizens for follow up • Introduces competition amongst delivery channels • Standardized documentation of comments/ objections leads to effective supervision- through comparative indicators • Centralizes and integrates data for better audit and analysis. • Enables unbiased sampling for audit purposes

11. Report Card on CARD • Intermediaries continue to thrive and bribes are demanded and paid • Valuation model not transparent • Discretion on valuation not taken away • Citizen’s do not understand the level of discretion, registrar’s enjoy • Registrars continue to play a gate keeping role. • Weak complaint handling mechanism

12. ICT Projects: Critical Success Factors • Strong Political and Administrative Leadership • Willing to take on 9000 VAs , workshops, permitted user fees • Project scope that was not ambitious but delivered significant value to customers • Clearly identified goals and benefits • RTC in 15 minutes and Mutation in 30 days • Significant Process Reengineering Required • FIFO, multiple channels for a task, bio log in, data transparency • In-source Analysis ; Outsource design, software development, data preparation, training, etc. • Detailed Project Management • Training Expenses should not be minimized

13. Dealing With Resistance from VAs • Not every one is completely dishonest. • Were amenable to exploitation by powerful brokers-were forced into wrong doing such as altering records • Got an unambiguous signal from the political leadership that there is no way out • Were not strongly unionized and organized • Were by passed-were not critical to the success of the Bhoomi operation • Reforms were phased-RTC and then Mutation