Ram Singh sat down at his computer, opened his browser, and typed in the URL: www.bribeindia.gov.in. As soon as he hit Enter, a blue-and-white page loaded. Across the banner, in large bold letters, were the words: आपकी रिश्वत, आपकी किस्मत.
Singh was intrigued. He had visited the passport office the day before to submit his application. He was delighted as the process took less than an hour, but was told that police verification could take several days. His daughter was in the US, and he had never travelled abroad before. Now that she had secured a job there, he had been invited to visit. He was giddy with excitement. He wanted to begin the visa process as soon as possible, but for that, he needed a passport.
When the passport officer told him that police verification could take several days, Singh felt a twinge of disappointment. But noticing the look on his face, the officer scribbled something on a piece of paper and quietly handed it to him.
Singh did his research, and all of it had led him to the screen now glowing in front of him.
BribeIndia was a progressive initiative introduced by the government to eliminate rampant corruption. Bribery had now been legalized and streamlined as an official service. The government acted as the middleman, its Bribe Department employed multiple verifiers to ensure that the task for which the bribe was paid was actually completed. If not, the bribe was refunded to the citizen’s account from a government escrow.
Bribes could be paid through various methods: cryptocurrency, UPI, Visa, Mastercard - you could even opt for a “Bribe Now, Pay Later” service.
You could set the bribe amount yourself, or check the current prices and trends for how much was being paid across the country for a particular task. It was a strangely convenient service.
Singh selected a reason from the dropdown menu. You could also enter a custom reason, but that required providing the specific details of the person you intended to bribe. Since passport verification bribes were fairly common, Singh found the option easily. He selected the service, state, city, and pin code, then entered his Aadhaar details. The system verified them.
He was then prompted to enter an amount. According to the trends, bribes for passport address verification typically ranged from ₹2000 to ₹7000, so he entered ₹2500.
He paid via UPI—and just like that, it was done. The money was transferred to the government escrow. He received a receipt via email and an SMS with all the details.
Now, all he had to do was wait.
Two days later, the policeman arrived. Singh was happily surprised.
Singh was also curious, so he offered the policeman, Aziz Sheikh, some tea and biscuits. Aziz turned out to be quite chatty, and Singh took the opportunity to ask him more about the bribe service.
Aziz explained that all bribes received through the platform were treated as income and taxed at a flat 30% rate. Once the task was completed, a government verifier signed off, and the money was released from the government escrow to the bribee’s account. The briber then received a feedback form.
Singh asked Aziz how he felt about the whole system. Aziz said things had become much smoother, people could now use bribe money legally and live more comfortably. The fear and uncertainty that once surrounded such transactions were gone, now that everything had been turned into a formal service.
The briber got their work done without hassle, the bribee received the money, the government took its cut and everyone was happy.
Aziz also mentioned that many people weren’t entirely pleased with the service, as their vows during induction made things a bit complicated. However, the system was simple: if someone didn’t want to be involved in bribery, they simply didn’t have to register on the BribeIndia platform. That was it.
After completing all the formalities, Aziz left. Singh felt satisfied and received a message notifying him that his passport would arrive within the next 3-5 days.
Singh then logged onto the US Visa website and registered for an appointment. Then, he visited the BribeIndia website, found the person who could fast-track his Visa application, and sent him a bribe.
Things were changing, the world was changing and Singh couldn’t have been happier.
