New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday while addressing a program marking Vigilance Awareness Week of Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) in Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, urged the officers of the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) to march ahead to do their duty honestly and not be defensive while making the country corruption-free.
The Prime Minister launched the new Complaint Management System portal of the CVC. The Prime Minister said “The entire life of Sardar Patel was dedicated to honesty, transparency, and the building of a public service system based on these values,”. He said this at the Vigilance Awareness Week that began with the birth anniversary of Mr. Sardar Patel.
The PM said that the campaign is revolving around the awareness and alertness based on these principles. The campaign of Vigilance Awareness Week was taking place to realize the dreams and aspirations of a corruption-free India and underlined its importance in the lives of every citizen.
The PM said that for a developed India, trust and credibility were critical and that people’s trust in the government enhances people’s self-confidence.
The Prime Minister had made a clarion call from the ramparts of Red Fort for a decisive battle against corruption. The PM said the two key reasons responsible for corruption and hindering people’s progress are lack of amenities and unnecessary pressure from the government.
The PM said. “We have been trying to change this system of scarcity and pressure for the last 8 years. The government is trying to fill the gap between supply and demand. The three ways adopted to achieve this are advancement in technology, taking basic services to the saturation level, and finally heading towards Atmanirbharta.”
In connection with the use of technology, the PM said by linking PDS to technology, crores of fake beneficiaries had been removed, saving over Rs.2 lakh crore from going to the wrong hands by adopting Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).
The PM said that the adoption of transparent digital transactions and transparent government procurement through GeM was making a huge difference.
The PM while speaking on taking the basic facilities to the saturation level, he pointed out that reaching every eligible beneficiary of any government scheme and achieving the goals of saturation puts an end to discrimination in society while eliminating the scope of corruption.
Highlighting the principle of saturation that is adopted by the government for the delivery of every scheme, the PM gave examples of water connections, pucca houses, electricity connections, and gas connections.
The PM highlighted the push towards Atmanirbharta in defence and underlined that the possibility of scams was ending as India would be manufacturing its defence equipment, from rifles to fighter jets to transport aircraft.
Terming CVC an institution that encourages everyone’s efforts to ensure transparency, he recalled his request last time for ‘preventive vigilance’ and praised the efforts of CVC in that direction.
The PM asked the vigilance community to consider about modernizing their audits and inspections. For a developed India, we have to develop such an administrative ecosystem, which has zero tolerance on corruption,” he said. The PM asked for a system where corruption-related disciplinary proceedings were completed in a time-bound mission mode.
The PM also asked for streamlining of the vigilance clearance process with the help of technology. “There is a need for auditing the data of public grievances so that we can go to the root causes of corruption in the concerned department,” he said.
Even today, some people give arguments in favour of the corrupt who have been found guilty. It is very necessary for such people, such forces to be made aware of their duty by society. In this also concrete action taken by your department has a big role.”
The PM emphasized that institutions acting against the corrupt and corruption like the CVC did not need to be defensive in any way. He said that there was work towards making the lives of ordinary citizens simpler. “I am sure that you will continue to play a vital role in building a transparent and competitive ecosystem in Amrit Kaal,” he said. The PM stressed the need for constant dynamism in the methodology to tackle this challenge.
He also expressed delight in interacting with the winners of the essay competition and suggested the introduction of a speech competition in the future. Observing that four of the five winners who received the essay prize for the fight against corruption were girls, the PM urged the boys to take up the mantle and rally together in this journey. The PM stressed the need to adopt technology as much as possible in this fight against corruption.
Principal Secretary P K Mishra, Minister of State for Personnel and Parliamentary Affairs Jitendra Singh, Cabinet Secretary and Central Vigilance Commissioner Suresh N Patel, and Vigilance Commissioners P K Srivastava and Arvinda Kumar were present on the occasion.
