The Sentinel: Editorial: Thursday, September 14, 2017.
India’s fight
against corruption is led by a robust and time tested institutional and
legislative framework including the Prevention of Corruption Act, an
independent Central Vigilance Commission, the Comptroller and Auditor General,
the Judges (Inquiry) Act, the Lok Pal and Lok Ayukta Act 2013, Whistle Blowers
Protection Act 2011, Prevention of Money /Laundering Act, Benami Transactions
(Prohibition) Act which cover a number of areas of criminalization and bribery.
All civil servants are mandatorily required to declare their assets on an
annual basis. The elected representatives are required to declare their assets
every election cycle.
India’s “zero
tolerance to corruption” approach, as well as “minimum government and maximum
governance” approach has resulted in simplification of governance model in
recent years. Some of the steps included abolition of the system of
attestation/ authentication by government servants for submission of
certificates, abolition of personal interviews for recruitments to lower level
posts and weeding out inefficient public servants and those of doubtful
integrity above the age of 50 years, prematurely. Further the Government
demonetized high value currency to eliminate black money and corruption. A
special investigation team was constituted to fight black money. The Government
also conducted online auctions of coal blocks.
India has
sought international cooperation in G-20 meetings on ending tax havens in
Europe and other countries. In bilateral meetings with Swiss authorities, India
has said combating the menace of black money and tax evasion was a “shared
priority” for both the countries.
In a recent
visit to Jharkhand, the Prime Minister gave away a few smartphones to sakhi
mandals (self help groups) in Jharkhand and said he was surprised by the
answers he got from the villagers about the usages of smartphones. India’s
focus on “making government smarter” has been at the forefront of the nation’s
fight against corruption. The same quantum of subsidy could be far more efficiently
spent by a ‘smarter’ governance model than in a manual system.
The Jan Dhan
Yojana provided universal and clear access to banking accounts with overdraft
facility. In 2016, the Aadhar Act was promulgated to ensure targeted delivery
of financial and other subsidies, benefits and services. The Act provided for
an efficient, transparent and targeted delivery of subsidies to individuals,
through assigning aadhar identification numbers. The third major step initiated
by the Government was the introduction of BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money)
which is a mobile application developed by National Payments Corporation of
India. The BHIM application facilitates e-payments directly through banks and
can be used on all mobile devices. Collectively, the Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhar
Act and BHIM Application have provided for a smart government where subsidy
flows reach the beneficiary in a timely and effective manner.
The
Government has sought to promote preventive vigilance through the Central
Vigilance Commission. Several preventive vigilance measures have been
introduced by the CVC. Measures like Government E-Market (GEM) have helped
improve the accountability and integrity in public procurement. The Commission
has sought to promote ethics through education of students and youth,
observance of vigilance awareness weeks, process simplification to reduce
discretion and interface with public servants, focus on training and skill
development and awarding exemplary punishment in all cases of proven misconduct
to create deterrence. The CVC has sought to create a people’s movement against
corruption through an e-pledge to be voluntarily taken by the citizens and
organizations.
Further the
Government has sought to strengthen the auditing and accounting processes. Some
of the big changes introduced in financial governance are amalgamation of the
Railways and General budgets, the merger of plan and non-plan expenditures,
opening up of a number of sectors for foreign direct investment and the
introduction of Goods and Services Tax. Looking at the enormity of the flow of
funds to urban and rural local bodies, the C& AG has identified their audit
as a critical area. The C& AG has also focused on the large volumes of
digital information emerging from increasing automation of tax filing,
assessment and recovery procedures.
There have
been significant efforts made to promote transparency in government. The Right
to Information (RTI) Act is a rights based law that has created a durable stake
for citizens in the administration of the nation. The RTI Act has led to
improvements in governance. By sharing information, the citizens have become
part of the decision making process, which leads to creation of trust between
citizens and Government.
The
Prevention of Corruption Act is an Act to consolidate the law relating to the
prevention of corruption. The law provides for punishments for taking
gratification other than legal remuneration in respect of official acts. The
investigative powers have been given to the CBI and State police authorities.
The Government has said that accountability standards for public servants have
to be kept at realistic levels so that officers do not hesitate in taking
honest decisions.
In order to
give statutory protection to whistle blowers in the country, Government made
amendments to the Whistle Blowers Act in 2015. The amendments addressed
concerns relating to national security and strengthened the safeguards against
disclosures, which may prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of
the country.
Further the
Benami Transactions (Prohibition) Act, 1988 was amended to empower the Income
Tax authorities to attach and confiscate benami properties. Besides, if a
person is found guilty of offence of benami transaction by the competent court,
he shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment and shall also be liable to
fine. Several benami transactions have been identified since the coming into
effect of the amended law.
To conclude,
it may be said that India continues the fight against corruption and black
money. These efforts led by the focus on smart governance are yielding positive
results. (PIB)
(V Srinivas
is an IAS officer of 1989 batch, and is currently posted as Chairman Rajasthan
Tax Board with additional charge of Chairman Board of Revenue for Rajasthan.)
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