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'Mindless negativity' over graft damages
nation's image: PM
Wednesday October 10, 2012 03:28:43 PM,
IANS
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New Delhi: The
government was committed to doing "everything possible to ensure
transparency and accountability" but the negativity and pessimism
sought to be created over the issue of corruption could do no
good, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Wednesday.
Addressing the 19th Conference of the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) and State Anti-Corruption Bureaux here, the
prime minister said the anti-corruption law would be amended to
fill gaps in the legislation and bring it in line with
international practices.
"Our government stands firm in its commitment to do everything
possible to ensure probity, transparency and accountability in the
work of public authorities," Manmohan Singh said.
"Mindless atmosphere of negativity and pessimism that is sought to
be created over the issue of corruption can do us no good. It can
only damage the nation's image and hit at the morale of the
executive," he said.
The remarks come in the backdrop of the government's image taking
a beating in recent years over corruption charges in 2G spectrum
allocation, Commonwealth Games and the allotment of coal blocks.
The latest salvo against the Manmohan Singh government came from
India Against Corruption member Arvind Kejriwal, who has suggested
a quid pro quo in business deals between UPA chairperson Sonia
Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra and a private realty major.
Reiterating the government's commitment to fighting corruption,
the prime minister stressed on the need to protect honest public
servants and keeping the morale of the executive intact.
Even while the corrupt were relentlessly pursued and brought to
book, he said, the innocent should not be harassed.
In this regard, Manmohan Singh stressed the importance of
distinguishing between bonafide mistakes and colourable exercise
of power, while investigating corruption cases.
Discussing key anti-graft measures initiated by his government in
recent days, he said experience had also shown that big ticket
corruption was mostly related to operations by commercial
entities.
"It is therefore proposed to include corporate failure to prevent
bribery as a new offence on the supply side," he said.
The government is also exploring the possibility of providing an
effective legal protection to honest public servants, he added.
"A clear and unambiguous definition of the term 'corruption',
covering both the supply and demand sides, is being sought to be
provided."
He also noted that the government has put in place an
institutional architecture to facilitate a shift to a system in
which benefits from the government would get transferred directly
to the bank accounts of individual beneficiaries.
Referring to the two-decade-old economic reforms, the prime
minister said it had reduced the "old forms of corrupt practices
associated with the controls and the licence-permit raj".
But the faster economic growth and new areas of economic
activities have in turn led to newer opportunities for corruption,
"ones associated with specialisation and expansion of an economy".
Calling this a big challenge faced by the anti-corruption
agencies, Manmohan Singh warned that it would be difficult for the
investigators to reach the right conclusions without a firm grasp
of the complexities involved in the formulation and implementation
of economic policy.
"Today, different sectors of our economy follow development models
that are increasingly becoming more and more sophisticated... As
our economy grows and becomes more integrated with the global
economy, the big challenge before the anti-corruption agencies is
to keep pace with these developments," he noted.
For this reason alone, he called for the investigation agencies to
"continuously upgrade their skills and techniques to match the
newer methods of corruption".
He also asked them to take the help of professionals with
expertise in special economic activity to conduct impartial probe
in complex cases.
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Picture of the Day |
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Prime
Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh presenting the trophy for the best
branch of CBI to M.S. Khan, SP, CBI, ACB, Bhubaneswar at the
19th Conference of CBI and State Anti-Corruption Bureaux, in
New Delhi on October 10, 2012. |
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