The website called “bribes.fyi”, a platform for anonymously reporting bribes users have been asked to pay, has announced it is going on an “indefinite break”, calling it a “voluntary decision”.
The website announced that it would keep the status page live for a while longer and then shut it down permanently, along with the permanent deletion of any recorded data. Bribes.fyi had emerged as a platform where users could anonymously report details of bribes they were asked to pay, including the role, amount and department involved.
The step to shut down the website is “precautionary” to avoid any “misuse” of the platform — which went viral recently even though its exact date of creation remains unknown, according to a message posted on the website. It was India’s first crowdsourced bribe registry, completely anonymous and permanently public, according to the website.
Government’s outreach to Gen Z
In an unrelated development, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has planned to engage more with students and young adults to reset the narrative in a bid to sway the sentiments of Gen Z and young people towards the government after the CJP student protests, HT reported earlier. The departments mentioned on the website include the Police, RTO, Revenue/Land Records, Passport Office, Municipal Corporation, GST Office, Electricity Board, Income Tax, and Food and Drug Administration. “Going forward, the Yuva Morcha will be more active, there will be more programmes and events to connect with the youth.
“The party has identified some gaps in our communication and outreach that could have exacerbated the students’ unrest and created a perception that the concerns of the youth were not addressed… There will be more engagement with students and young adults,” said a BJP lawmaker, requesting anonymity. We will also reach out to the younger lot in schools, who may be young, but are clued in and active on social media,” said a second senior party functionary. “Both in Bankipur and Datia, we failed to counter a particular narrative, which hurt the party… We felt some issues did not merit a response, but in hindsight, we should have been more forthcoming in tackling those.”
