National Survey on Social Acceptance of Corruption

One of the important reasons for the continuance of corruption in India is social acceptance of corruption and degeneration of values and ethics in our society. This was also concluded by a nationwide survey, which was conducted by Art of Living Foundation, World Alliance for Youth Empowerment (WAYE) and Center for Public Perception and Policy (CENPAP).

The results highlighted that corruption is indeed the top most issue that our country is facing today and that people blame the politicians and the governance system for the current situation. The respondents agreed that there are some situations where they themselves become helpless and consciously resort to corrupt acts. The respondents also suggested ways of combating this menace such as doing mass awareness campaigns, rewarding honest officials and whistle blowers, punishing the offenders in public etc.

The results re-iterated the truth that life skills and human values like non-greed, patience, courage, compassion, helpfulness, ability to discriminate between right and wrong, ability to not get swayed away into unethical practices by peer pressure etc. have deteriorated considerably over the years.

The respondents agreed that the practice of imparting ethics and values that was an integral part of bringing up of an individual has gradually come down in the home and school/college environment. Today, material success is given most importance. This establishes the fact that the growing trend of consumerism and materialism is the root cause of the issue.

Thus the conclusion drawn from the survey is that it is actually the gradual degeneration of the value system that has resulted in erosion of the 'character of the common man'. The only way to reverse the trend is to bring the old age practice of value education and spiritual practices back into our way of life and in our home and educational environment.

Methodology of the Study

Art of Living & WAYE conducted the data collection process for the survey. The tool used for data collection was a Questionnaire. The methods used for data collection were Online Surveys and Face-to-Face questionnaires. The communication tools used were Social Networking sites (Facebook, Twitter etc), mass mailing, posting of survey link on websites and blogs, SMS'es and telephone calls.

With 2406 people responding to the questionnaire and an average time of 22 minutes to fill it, it amounted to a little over 50000 minutes of engagement.

Impact

The first draft of NACS (National Ant-Corruption Strategy) referred to the survey by quoting that "The drafting of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy was also benefitted by the valuable feedback provided by the survey on Social Acceptance of Corruption conducted by Centre for Public Perception and Policy (CENPAP) and World Alliance for Youth Empowerment (WAYE)."

Download

Corruption and the Cirlcle of Life - Anti Corruption Survey Report 2010 (pdf format, 6.8 MB)