Just before August 12 this year, a particular message went viral on social media forums such as Facebook, Twitter, and on individual blogs. Called ‘Meter Jam’, it was a shout-out to people using auto rickshaws and meter taxis across the country to shun these modes of transport for a day to protest against auto and taxi drivers’ high-handed ways and unfair behaviour, including their blatant refusal to take commuters to a particular destination, use of faulty meters and overcharging customers.
Taking the idea a step forward, the founders of ‘Meter Jam’ sought a meeting with Maharashtra home minister RR Patil — and got it. Sitting across the table, Patil and the gathered group of traffic and police personnel and leaders of auto and taxi unions, talked about the issue at length and extracted promises of cooperation from the home minister, says Abhilash Krishnan, a design consultant and one of the founders of Meter Jam.
In Bangalore, too, social media initiatives fighting corruption and inefficient systems, such as non-responsive RTOs that are unable to clamp down on errant auto drivers, are coming forward to establish contact and cooperation with government officials. The message going out is clear: it’s not enough to whine and rant online; instead, use the people power generated by social media to bring about real, substantial change.
Janaagraha’s ‘I Paid a Bribe’ project aims to follow the same module. The website exhorts people to ‘tell their stories’ — essentially, relate incidents where they were forced to pay bribes or even highlight cases where honest government officials refused bribes or didn’t expect any.
“The project aims to build a snapshot of corruption, find loopholes in the system and identify processes that are corruption-prone,” says TR Raghunandan, co-ordinator of the initiative. The next step in the process is to present the departments concerned with this data to find solutions, he says.
The programme also wants to remove the fear of tackling the government that most of the middle class suffers from, which leads to an almost involuntary impulse to bribe one’s way through.
“Most government departments, for instance those dealing with vehicle and property registration, have no business seeking bribes because that is their job, and they need to be told that,” says Raghunandan. The website has a Q&A section in which readers post questions to Raghunandan, an ex-IAS officer, and he answers them with practical tips to avoid paying bribes.
By October, they plan to approach civic agencies and government departments such as the BBMP and Bescom to present case studies. Officials of some departments, such as Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd, have already expressed interest in working with the project.
There have also been expressions of interest from volunteers from within the government system who are keen to hand-hold citizens through official processes.
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