The Indian government is committed "to do everything possible to ensure probity, transparency and accountability in the work of public authorities" but "mindless atmosphere of negativity and pessimism" on corruption will not help, said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the 19th Conference of CBI and State Anti-Corruption Bureaux in New Delhi, the prime minister stressed on the need for the investigation agencies to continuously upgrade their skills and techniques to match the newer methods of corruption.
"Our government stands firm in its commitment to do everything possible to ensure probity, transparency and accountability in the work of public authorities," said the PM. "We are also considering amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act, not only in view of the judicial rulings on its provisions, but also with the purpose of filling certain gaps in the legislation and bringing it in line with current international practice."
The PM stressed on the "need to protect honest public servants and keep the morale of the executive intact", even as the government fight the menace of corruption.
"The 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 our nation's image and hit at the morale of the executive. We need to ensure that even while the corrupt are relentlessly pursued and brought to book, the innocent are not harassed," said the PM.
The PM warned that new forms of corruption have cropped up after the economic reforms in the early 1990s wiped out the old forms of corruption. He said that the investigating agencies have to be on their toes to check corruption.
"As our economy grows and becomes more integrated with the evolving global economy, the big challenge before our anti-corruption agencies is to keep pace with these rapid developments," said the PM.
"Today, different sectors of our economy follow developmental models that are increasingly becoming more and more sophisticated. Therefore, in many cases, it would be difficult for the investigating agencies to reach the right conclusions without a firm grasp of the complexities involved in the formulation and implementation of economic policy," he added.
