Zen Citizen

Zen Citizen (www.zencitizen.in) is a social experiment to find out if providing clear, comprehensive, and practical information on government procedures can help Indian citizens defy demands for bribes and access Government services conveniently. By walking through the application process with citizens, and refining our guides based on real experiences - similar to ‘what to expect when you’re expecting’ - we aim to make a dent in petty corruption and restore the stigma associated with it in India.

Zen Citizen targets petty corruption, defined as the abuse of power by officials in facilitating access to public services such as electricity, driving licenses, passports, and subsidies. This abuse may involve direct demands for bribes or indirect obstructions and apathy toward citizen requests. In India, corruption is often viewed as a norm rather than an exception, carrying little stigma. Public officials are often considered foolish if they do not exploit their positions for personal gain. Citizens who try to get work done honestly are ridiculed by their peers for not being pragmatic, often leading to bribery or the use of intermediaries who collude with officials.

While legislations like the Right to Information (RTI) and the Right to Public Services have been designed to improve transparency and accountability, their impact has been limited due to low awareness. Despite the growing availability of online services, accessibility issues persist as government clerks frequently create barriers, leading to the problem of "Apply Online, Bribe Offline." According to Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer - Asia 2020 report, 39% of Indians reported paying a bribe for public services in the previous 12 months, the highest rate of bribery among the surveyed countries in the Asian region.

Zen Citizen believes these barriers come from unclear and incomplete information about government services. Information is often spread across different websites, uses vague language or jargon, can be outdated, and leaves out important application details. This forces citizens to bribe officials or depend on middlemen. To counter this, Zen Citizen volunteers walk the path with a few citizens who are applying for Government services to ensure the documentation covers practical hurdles that citizens can avoid. Additionally, citizens are encouraged to share their experiences and refine the documentation.

Examples of practical tips we provide, for the Khata Transfer process, are below:

• At what points in the process citizen can expect demands for bribes and ways to side-step
  • “After submitting the Khata application online, ARO called and asked me to submit the hard copy in BBMP ward office, because their printer is not working” Zen Citizen’s advice: Avoid going to BBMP or contacting the Assistant Revenue Officer (ARO) directly, except to collect a hard copy of the Katha certificate at the end of the process. As far as possible, communicate through Sakala to reduce the likelihood of being asked for bribes.  
• Explaining the application requirements in detail - these nuances frequently lead to applications being rejected
  • What is accepted as “proof of residence”. In some cases, only the address in Aadhar is accepted.  
  • In the Legal Heir Certificate application, one of the requirements is “document evidence related to family members” - Only ration cards are accepted in this case.
  • “How is ‘total built up area’ defined in Khata application?”
  • “What to choose under ‘Property Type’ in Khata application for land that has been converted from agricultural to non-agricultural use”
• Undocumented information
  • Certain counters in Government offices are closed before the close of official working hours. This information is not available and the citizen becomes aware only after going to the office.
  • In the list of required documents on the Sakala website, one mandatory document is not mentioned: Scanned copy of the original Katha
• Unwritten “rules”
  • Applicants who go to the Road Transport Office (RTO) are not allowed to take a driving test if they are dressed in shorts
• Technical challenges when applying online
  • “I am not able to e-sign the documents using Aadhar OTP. I am getting a pop up ‘The information that you are about to submit is not secure’"
  • “I am not able to submit the Khata transfer application. When I click on submit, I get redirected to the Digital India portal and get an error message ‘Invalid transaction for e-sign process. Please try again!’"