Corruption level in UP 'alarming'; 'high' in Delhi: Survey

New Delhi, Jun 29 (UNI) The latest Transparency International Survey on effect of corruption on families living below poverty line (BPL) claims that seven states, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Assam have an ''alarming'' level of corruption, while in Delhi the level was ''high''.

The Transparency International India-Centre for Management Studies Corruption Study 2007, released by Vice-President M Hamid Ansari here, said the level of corruption in Assam, Bihar, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Nagaland was alarming.

The survey found the level of corruption ''very high'' in Karnataka, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Meghalaya and Sikkim.

The corruption level was found ''high'' in Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Kerala, Orissa, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur.

''Moderate'' level of corruption was found in Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Maharasthra, Punjab, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Chandigarh, Mizoram, Pudducherry and Tripura.

The TII-CMS India Corruption Study 2007 brought out that corruption involving citizens including BPL households, is all pervasive across the states and public services. No state or service was anywhere near ''zero corruption'' level. Nevertheless, taking the degree of variation from state-to-state and service-to-service, the states were grouped into four levels to explain the extent or level of corruption based on a weightage scheme-- Moderate, High, Very High and Alarming.

The survey covered 108 districts across all the 31 states of the country. For the purpose of survey, the study covered 11 services to reach at conclusions. These services included Police -- termed as most corrupt, followed by Land Records/ Registration; Housing; Water Supply Service; NREGS; Forest; Electricity; Health; PDS; Banking and School Education (up to class XII) respectively.

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