Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Feb 13: Addressing a seminar on “Fighting Bribery in Business Transactions” organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here today, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances,Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the ultimate solution for lasting and meaningful eradication of corruption or bribery from society as well as from administration is to cultivate the practice of incorruptibility as a conviction and not as a compulsion. In other words, the Mantra is, “avoid corruption by conviction, not by compulsion” he added.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, from his interaction for several decades with different Government departments, one unflattering conclusion that he has drawn is that a large number of officials in Government and outside, who are widely known as being honest or non-corrupt, are actually those who never got the opportunity of a placement or posting where they could indulge in corruption or they were too timid to take a bribe. The true test of incorruptibility lies in the person being placed in a position from where he or she has ample opportunity to indulge in corrupt practices or embezzlements but, out of conviction, he or she has a capacity to resist this temptation.
Citing the example of Mahatma Gandhi, Dr Jitendra Singh said, it is the same case as in the practice of non-violence which cannot be the virtue of weak or meek because the test of one’s conviction for non-violence lies in an individual having all the means and arms to be violent and oppressive, and yet not attacking the feeble opponent in front of him simply out of conviction of non-violence. Just as one who is too weak to be violent cannot put up the excuse of having a belief in non-violence, similarly one who has no opportunity to indulge in corruption cannot claim to be non-corrupt, he explained.
Reiterating Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment for good governance, which is easy and corruption-free, Dr Jitendra Singh referred to several laws recently enacted by the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) like the Self-Attested Single Affidavit, Right to Service, Citizens’ Charter, Lokpal Act, etc. He said, we often fail to realize that the founding fathers of the Indian Constitution like Dr Ambedkar could have also included these laws in the Indian Constitution but they did not, because they could have never imagined or visualized a situation wherein, six decades after independence, Indian society would be faced with the challenge to check corruption through legal means or law-and-order enforcement.
Complimenting the Confederation of Indian Industry for taking up the responsibility of deliberating on the methods to provide corruption-free business transactions in India, Dr Jitendra Singh said, in the government sector also, we need to overcome the public perception that bribery is an essential evil to ensure efficient and expedient disposal of files or other routine office work. .
Secretary, DoPT, Government of India, Sanjay Kothari, Chairman CII-NR Deep Kapuria and Head, Anti-Corruption Division, Directorate of Financial Affairs, Patrick Moulette also spoke on the occasion.
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