Mumbai: There has been no dearth of scams in Maharashtra state -- the most recent being the Punjab & Maharashtra Co-operative Bank rip-off.
Yet, if the findings of a survey are to be taken at face value, Maharashtra does not figure anywhere among the top eight corrupt states in the country.
This survey, which covered rampant corruption in government offices, found that the most corrupt states in the country are Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Punjab, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
This is good news but it also means that the Uddhav Thackeray-led coalition government will have a major challenge before it to maintain this benchmark of a relatively less corrupt state.
In the survey, nearly 1.90 lakh people participated, who were questioned whe-ther they had ever accepted bribe or had offered one?
51 per cent of the respondents admitted that they have accepted bribes.
Furthermore, the survey revealed that the highest percentage of corruption was in government offices, namely, the revenue collection department, the police and the municipal offices.
Interestingly, India has improved its ranking on the list of corrupt countries. According to the survey, there has been a decrease in corruption in India due to the digitalisation of government facilities such as passport and railway ticketing. However, the survey shows that corruption in government offices is still high.
