According to the Berlin-based watchdog Transparency International, India figures 85th among 180 countries in the corruption perception index.

A Transparency International survey backed by the Centre for Media Studies says that Indians cough out a whopping Rs.8,830 million ($176 million) in bribes in rural India alone to avail themselves of governmental services.

The Asian Development Bank says that corruption is the third largest 'problematic factor' in India after poor infrastructure and inefficient bureaucracy.

Activists and officials admit that corruption has enveloped virtually every aspect of life and almost every sector in India. The worst sufferers of the sleaze are the mass of poor people, experts say.

'Corruption hurts poor people the most. This is the biggest challenge for the country,' said former CBI chief Vijay Shankar. 'It's due to corruption that the poor fail to benefit from development schemes.'

CBI officers have in the past pointed out that the agency needs more and more staff to step up its crusade against corruption.

The CBI has only 5,000 agents. It registered 752 cases against government officials in 2008. Over 9,000 trials are pending in courts. Till June this year the CBI had registered 565 cases against 823 government officers.

'It needs political will to fight corruption,' said Gandhian S.D. Sharma. 'This is a war we have to win.'

(Sarwar Kashani can be contacted at s.kashani@ians.in)