Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Oct 30: On the eve of the birth anniversary of India’s first Home Minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the Vice President of India, Venkaiah Naidu, along with Union Minister-in-charge Personnel and Vigilance, Dr Jitendra Singh, today formally inaugurated Vigilance Awareness Week with the introduction of first-ever “Vigilance Excellence Awards” for outstanding officers.
Speaking on the occasion, Venkaiah Naidu quoted Sardar Patel’s first address to young Civil Service officers soon after independence in which he had said that even though “we cannot boast of incorruptibility, yet we can hope that the young new officers will not be led by the black sheep among them … …”.
Venkaiah said, it is essential to create corruption-free India if we wish to have an India where everybody can prosper with ease and comfort. He referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s emphasis on “reform, perform and transform”. For the “New India” that we have envisaged, he said, it is essential to ensure corruption-free governance.
The Vice President said that the example of corruption-free governance has to come from the top and complimented the Modi Government for having set this example.
Dr Jitendra Singh, in his address said, no amount of legislation or law can provide a fool-proof impunity against corruption unless the entire system including the civil society evolves to a level of “incorruptibility”.
Describing the Modi Government’s policy against corruption as a two-pronged approach, Dr Jitendra Singh said, on the one hand the Government is following zero tolerance against corruption, while on the other hand it is seeking to provide maximum protection to honest performing officers who show integrity and efficiency.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, there have been a number of laws enacted in the past beginning from the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 to Right to Information Act 2005 to the Citizen’s Charter and Grievance Redressal Bill 2011, but corruption still continued because, for the first time, in the last three years, under Prime Minister Modi, there is political will and conviction in crusade against corruption and in favour of transparency.
Dr Jitendra Singh complimented the Central Vigilance Commission under its Chairman K.V. Chowdhary for undertaking a thorough study on preventive vigilance and new technology, saying that as those indulging in corrupt practices innovate new methods for doing so, the Vigilance Commission will also have to keep evolving its techniques to check them.
Earlier, Chairman CVC K.V. Chowdhary presented a detailed resume of the recent activities and achievements of CVC.
Cabinet Secretary P.K. Sinha, Vigilance Commissioners Rajiv Kumar and T.M. Bhasin and senior members of various investigation agencies, among others, attended the function.
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